Ambient Weather AmbientCamHDA

[aznetcowboy]

How do I get the "Ambient Weather AmbientCamHDA Outdoor WiFi WunderCam with Free Wunderground Hosting Services" (http://www.ambientweather.com/amambientcamhd.html) to display on my weather website? I don't seem to be getting any answers in the Webcam topic area, so I am posting my question here seeing as I am using the Saratoga templates and Cumulus.

I must assume there are others using this type of webcam. I am not going to take the webcam out of the box and try installing it before I hear from others on how to to get this webcam to be able to display on my website.

[PaulMy]

I am not familiar with that camera or of any software that comes with it. However it should be somewhat similar to Hikvision IP, get the camera to upload a picture to your webhost either by software with the camera or third party such as WebcamXP. Then link your website to that uploaded image. It may need port forwarding from the camera's local IP address. I had been able to get my Hikvision uploading, but not sure if I can give any good technical advise.

Paul

[Windsurfer]

Hi Tom,

Quick Installation Guide say:

3 Access the Camera

1. Enable the DHCP feature of your router (enabled by default
normally), then open the IP Camera Tool program. It should
display the camera’s IP address in your LAN (Local Area Network).
2. Make a note of the IP address in this window. For example, the
camera IP address may be http://192.168.1.100:88 (this is an
example only, your results will vary)

4. When setting up your camera for the first time, it will request
that you modify the default username and/or password if both
are still set to default. Input the New username, New password
and Confirm the password, click Modify to complete the
modification. You will now use the new username and password
to log in to the camera in the future.

--> end quick guide

Almost all IP cameras support the rtsp protocol, check this for the AmbientCam.
Using this protocol, access is possible.

example:

rtsp://username:password@192.168.1.100:88/path-to-livestream

If you do not have a fixed IP address, still have an address that is recognized from the Internet.
Use a free DDNS service.

example:

rtsp://username:password@your-ddns-adress:88/path to livestream

The implementation in a wxnewpage.php could look like this:

Code: Select all

<!-- start rtsp-Livestream example with original videolan vlc-plugin -->
   <center>
   <h3>headline</h3>
   <p>
      <object classid="clsid:9BE31822-FDAD-461B-AD51-BE1D1C159921"
        codebase="http://downloads.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/latest/win32/axvlc.cab"
        width="640"
        height="480"
        id="vlc"
        events="True">
        <param name="Options" value=":sout-transcode-venc=Direct3D" />
        <param name="Src" value="rtsp://username:password@your-ddns-adress:88/path to livestream" /> <!-- customize username, password, ddns and path -->
        <param name="ShowDisplay" value="True" />
        <param name="AutoLoop" value="False" />
        <param name="AutoPlay" value="True" />
        <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" />
        <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
        <embed id="streamip"
                marginwidth="1"
                type="application/x-vlc-plugin"
                src="rtsp://username:password@your-ddns-adress:88/path to livestream"  <!-- customize username, password, ddns and path -->
                progid="VideoLAN.VLCPlugin.2"
                marginheight="1"
                width= "640"
                height= "360"
                pluginspage="http://www.videolan.org"
                toolbar="true"
                name="streamip"
                ShowDisplay="True"
                AutoLoop="False"
                AutoPlay="True"
                dynamicStreaming="True"
                bgcolor="#666666">
          </embed>
      </object>
   </p>
   </center>
   <!-- end rtsp-Livestream exemple with original videolan vlc-plugin -->

All you need is the browser plugin from videolan.
Here is a concrete example with the same code:
http://wetter.due-m.de/wxlivecam.php
The charging time may be slightly longer, it's a full HD stream
I hope you understand me, it's a google translation.

Best regards

Volker

[aznetcowboy]

Hi Tom,

Quick Installation Guide say:

3 Access the Camera

1. Enable the DHCP feature of your router (enabled by default
normally), then open the IP Camera Tool program. It should
display the camera’s IP address in your LAN (Local Area Network).
2. Make a note of the IP address in this window. For example, the
camera IP address may be http://192.168.1.100:88 (this is an
example only, your results will vary)

4. When setting up your camera for the first time, it will request
that you modify the default username and/or password if both
are still set to default. Input the New username, New password
and Confirm the password, click Modify to complete the
modification. You will now use the new username and password
to log in to the camera in the future.

--> end quick guide

<snip>

I may have gotten a defective Ambient webcam as the only way it would connect to my system was via cable. I was on the phone with their tech support for about 20 minutes (found out that their policy is only 15 minutes of support via the phone) before they ended the call.

I also communicated numerous times via emails. Nothing worked to get the camera to work via wireless to my router which supports wireless connections. I finally gave up and returned the unit.

I will wait until I return from my vacation to try again.

BTW, my router's DHCP is active, but no matter how much I tried, it wanted to be 192.168.0.101 which is the IP address of my security system. I can't say much about Ambient's tech support. I will look elsewhere for a camera before preceeding further when I return.