Author Topic: SETUP HELP  (Read 3349 times)

ddwatkins

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
SETUP HELP
« on: June 21, 2013, 10:11:30 AM »
I have tried to read and read many topics on here but I cant seem to find a straight answer. Here is my set up:

4 laptops all with built in web cams ( currently they all are running icamsource and all have same user name and password.)
I have i cam on my ipad.

I am able to see all 4 cameras on my ipad sometimes...It is very hit and miss to get more that 2 to work.
I have read on many post that I should not have icamsource running on more than one computer on the same network but I am not able to add the other cameras to any one icamsource ( they are not in the drop down)  the only cam that shows in the source is the internal webcam for that laptop.

What do I need to do make this work correctly?

OUAnthony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 801
    • View Profile
Re: SETUP HELP
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2013, 11:30:47 AM »
You are almost certainly going to have to use manual port forwarding to get all 4 computers working. In your situation, you might strongly consider purchasing some IP cameras. You could easily monitor 3-4 IP cameras and a built-in USB camera by using only one laptop (assuming it has decent processing power--aka probably not a netbook). I use the LOFTEK CXS-2200 and love it...good picture, pan/tilt, and audio (all features supported in iCam)...and it's only about $70/camera. The downside of this camera is that it's a pain to setup the first time. I'd also recommend that you wire the IP cameras if you go that route...and reduce the frames per second from 30 to 5 or so (it'll reduce your energy and processor usage).

If you're committed to using 4 laptops (which will use much more electricity than the alternative setup I described), these are the basic steps you'll have to follow:

1) Configure manual port forwarding in icamsource on each computer, using a range of 6 UDP ports per camera/computer...with none of the ranges overlapping. Ex: Computer 1: 12000-12005; Computer 2: 12006-12011; etc. There is a .reg file linked on the forum that will allow you to make the manual port forwarding feature visible on Windows computers.

2) Assign each computer a static IP address on your local network. The first 3 set of number in the IP address should be the same as the IP address of your router. The final set of numbers should be between 1-254, and should not match each other or any other device on your network.

3) In your router, configure port forwarding for each computer, using the appropriate IP address and range of UDP ports for each computer.

4) Reboot everything (including the router) just to make sure all changes have taken effect.

ddwatkins

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
Re: SETUP HELP
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2013, 01:15:31 PM »
Thanks for the great reply.  I will be picking up a few of those IP cameras.  I will also like to monitor a couple of the laptops and I am trying to foward the ports.  I have a sonicwall Tz205w and I have watched the videos on how to foward I just have one question about one of the settings while setting up the foward:

What type of protocol do i need to use?

OUAnthony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 801
    • View Profile
Re: SETUP HELP
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2013, 02:15:46 PM »
You should have 2 choices: UDP or TCP. UDP is the only one that will work for iCam. Post back if you have any issues with port forwarding...it can be tricky to set up correctly in some routers, as there are typically a couple of screens that look very similar to the port forwarding settings. It's easy to get it wrong (I speak from experience).

OUAnthony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 801
    • View Profile
Re: SETUP HELP
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2013, 02:18:02 PM »
Also, once you get the IP cameras, you'll want to assign them a static IP address on the local network. If you get the LOFTEK CXS-2200s, let me know and I'll send you the correctly formatted link that will allow you to use all of the features that I described in iCam.

ddwatkins

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
Re: SETUP HELP
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2013, 02:22:26 PM »
I watched this video many times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1T-iAblitw

But I am missing something...It is not working. In the video he is adding these port fowards under the firewall but I am getting some error saying that the netowork object is not found..I am lost at this point

ddwatkins

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
Re: SETUP HELP
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2013, 02:39:31 PM »
Never mind I got it!!

Thanks so much!!

OUAnthony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 801
    • View Profile
Re: SETUP HELP
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2013, 01:31:27 PM »
So it's working consistently now with all 4 laptops?