Labview and IP camera interface

[joyce940]

Hi,I was wondering if it would be possible to capture the live video from my wireless-n IP camera using Labview 2011(National Instruments).

[MoviJOHN]

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/9446A8C25CC99F7586257A56004D513D

[pranjall]

Haha...that software never works! At least not with 4-5 IP cameras that I have. 

[joyce940]

Hi,wonder if there is any other any possible solution to capture live video from the wireless ip camera into labview.

[pranjall]

There is a way....buy an Axis IP Camera or a super costly Basler IP Camera, LabVIEW interfaces with them like a charm. NI wants you to work with the IP cameras from these two companies only. Every other method I found on the net fails with LabVIEW. 

Let me know if you find a way on how to do this. 

[MoviJOHN]

I just connected it to several IP cameras, no problems.  You do need to give it the proper URL, otherwise it cannot be expected to function.  The camera must also support MJPEG.

You can find hundreds of test subjects at http://www.opentopia.com/hiddencam.php . Cameras are organised by country, and other criteria.  Select the camera you want to view, then select the "Live Feed" from the drop down (this is usually the MJPEG stream).  To get the URL, you then look at the page source, by right-clicking on the browser page.  You will need to filter through a lot of text, bu t look for a string that begins with <img src=

For example:

<img src="http://217.17.220.110/mjpg/video.mjpg" width="715" height="576" style="z-index:100;width:715px;height:576px" />

When you then paste this as your camera URL, the stream will appear in MAX.

[pranjall]

I am trying to do this and its not happening.....just not happening! Every MJPEG viewer out there is able to show the stream except MAX and LabVIEW. 

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/3D9CEA3E7B26FA4586257A56004E4507

[MoviJOHN]

OK.  Tell me which app/driver you are trying to use, or have tried to use.  I've done this with IP cameras, and my Android phone.

There are in fact many apps that will turn your smart phone camera into a pseudo-web cam.  These solutions require you to install an app on your phone, and a driver on you PC.  The video from the phone then appears as if it is a USB camera, attached directly, but is in fact streaming from the phone to the driver.  If you can get setup this far, there is no MJPEG stream to worry about on the PC end, or LabVIEW/IMAQdx, since you are essentially talking to a (virtual) USB camera at that point.

If you don't want to go that route, and you want to use an app like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.webcam&hl=en , then you need to figure out what the URL to the MJPG stream looks like.  You will usually find this listed in the settings, or will need to contact the developer of the app for support.

[MoviJOHN]

One other thing.  Don't expect this to work over your carrier network.  These kind of things only function on local WiFi networks, and sometimes over bluetooth.

[joyce940]

I am using an IP camera(PIC 1006WN) by Prolink(www.prolink2u.com) which is not a gige vision standard compliant. Buying an Axis IP Camera or a Basler IP Camera is too costly for me. Is it possible to provide an example for this solution? I've tried what you had suggested and quite a number of solutions but it did not work.