IP camera connection: circuit, setup, instructions

The organization of video surveillance is no longer a luxury, as it was before. Today, this is a necessity, without which the protection of an enterprise or other facilities can not be organized. Therefore, it is important to know how to configure the IP camera connection. Note that there is nothing complicated in this and you can set up yourself. You just need to follow simple advice.

So, an IP camera is an ordinary digital video camera that can transmit video stream in digital format over an Ethernet network with the IP protocol. Each such camera has its own IP address. Actually, these are its main differences from a conventional camera.

Location:

Most users who connect the IP camera themselves, usually dissatisfied with the result of its work. It is not uncommon for a device to work with distortion or to shoot a video with an explicitly out of sync sound and video stream. To avoid such troubles, it is necessary to consider in more detail the process of connecting an IP camera through a router.

Check the quality of signal reception

The very first thing you need to do is to choose the right camera location. If you find a great place where you can attach it and then get a good picture, then you need to check whether it is possible to receive a signal at all (talking about wireless cameras).

The easiest way to find out is to bring the laptop or phone to the place where the camera is planned and check the signal strength of Wi-Fi. If the signal is weak or disappears altogether, the camera will not be able to connect to the network and transmit the signal. Moreover, it will not be able to continuously transmit the video stream. Remember that concrete partitions are barriers to the Wi-Fi radio signal path.

Uploaded channel

Also note that even in the absence of interference to the signal Wi-Fi problems are not excluded. And it's not even the signal itself, but the traffic of the network, through which the camera transmits the signal. So keep this in mind when connecting the IP camera to the computer. If such a problem occurs, and even at a normal signal level, the picture will "brake", then it is necessary to check in the camera control interface whether there are signals on the same channel from other networks. If they are present, then the camera signal should be switched to another network, but the channel remains the same.

All these issues must be solved immediately before connecting the IP-CCTV camera. Only after this you can proceed to our question.

IP camera connection

Depending on which camera will be used, it will be necessary (or not required) to lay the UTP cable. As you already knew, this cable is needed for a wired camera, the wireless works via a wi-fi interface. There is nothing complicated in this: connect the cable to the computer, install the driver (comes bundled), after which the camera is detected in the system. The instruction is quite simple.

With a wireless connection is about the same, just do not need to lay the cable. That is, the scheme of connecting IP-cameras does not change much, the changes concern only the method of connection.

Customize

To provide access to the camera via a local network or the Internet, you need to start the web server using WebcamXP or by configuring the router and camera programmatically. Before starting the server and organizing access to it from the Internet, we need to know your IP-address. If access to the camera via the Internet is not particularly needed, then you can do without an IP address.

By the way, IP-address is a unique identifier of any device (it can be a computer, a router or even a camera). Can be local or external. The latter are divided into static and dynamic. Static, in turn, is permanently assigned to a device connected to the Internet. As for dynamic addresses, they are temporary and usually work until the connection session is terminated.

Remember that your router connected to the network must have a "white" static address, otherwise you will not be able to access the camera via the Internet. If your provider provides you with a "gray" internal address, then either ask for the service of the allocated ip-address, or change the provider. Without this, you can not connect an IP CCTV camera.

To verify the address, you must first look at it in the status of the connection over the local network, and then check it on the site 2ip. If two addresses are the same, then you have a dedicated IP address, and an IP camera connection is possible. Otherwise, you need to contact the provider.

How to connect an IP camera to the Internet?

The camera is usually connected through a home router. It is through it that the camera transmits the stream. The most common router is TP-LINK TL-WR941. Let's show the camera connection on its example. It is assumed that the camera is already installed in its place and is ready to transfer the video stream. After installing the camera driver, we can change the port from 80 to another in the menu in the Basic - Network - Information sections. Take, for example, 20000. Also here you need to know the address of our camera (it usually starts with 192.168.0 ...)

What does the instruction say? From the computer we open the settings of the router (usually you need to go to the address 192.168.1.1 via the browser), where we are interested in the Port forwarding section. Depending on the model of the router, it can be called differently. In popular TP-LINK models, you need to open the Forwardint-Virtual Server section. In the appeared window it is necessary to create a new record. We enter the value 20000 in the PORT line, in the line - IP Adress - the address of our camera. Then click the Save button.

So we created a virtual server, and the connection of the IP camera to the computer is almost complete. If you type http: // your_ip_address in the browser: 20000, you will immediately get to the camera menu that you just connected. Now you can see the broadcast from any point where there is Internet.

In the settings of the camera itself, you can set a password for accessing it. This is necessary so that no one can connect to it via the Internet. Access will only be available to those users who have a "login / password" pair.

Additional functions

If the camera will work round the clock, then a simple video is enough. Many other functions may not be required. For example, almost all more or less normal cameras have the function of tracking the movement, thanks to which the camera "sleeps", but sharply "wakes up" if motion is detected in the frame. When organizing a security system, a large number of cameras must be connected. In this case, you can not do without the IP Surveillance program, which supports the connection of up to 16 cameras. Therefore, the organization of protection of offices, warehouses and other premises is made only with the help of similar programs. A simple virtual server is not sufficient for setting up routers.

Conclusion

There is nothing fundamentally complicated in connecting a wireless or wired IP camera. The difficulty is only in the installation and laying of cables to the network and the computer (if this is not a wireless camera). And the whole setup takes an average of 10 minutes, and sometimes less.