PTZ works in SecuritySpy, behaves oddly with SpyGlass
I'm using a Dahua IPC-HDB4300F-PT camera which works great in SecuritySpy. I configured it as a Dahua Technology camera in SecuritySpy's video device configuration window. I can use the SecuritySpy built-in PTZ window to control it--I can turn it left and right in small increments.
However, when using SpyGlass on the iPhone, the camera can only turn 360 degrees left/right. What might be causing this? I would think that SpyGlass sends generic commands to SecuritySpy, which then knows how to control the camera based on its type. I'm surprised that one causes different behavior than the other.
Thanks.
However, when using SpyGlass on the iPhone, the camera can only turn 360 degrees left/right. What might be causing this? I would think that SpyGlass sends generic commands to SecuritySpy, which then knows how to control the camera based on its type. I'm surprised that one causes different behavior than the other.
Thanks.
Comments
-
Hi Thomer;
Are you using this camera via SecuriutySpys (built-in) web server in SpyGlass;
Or are you accessing the camera directly?
If the former, have you brought this to the attention of SpyGlass themselves? -
Hi Thomer, are you saying that when you press the left or right button in Spyglass, the camera rotates all the way in one direction? If so, it sounds as if Spyglass is sending a "start moving" command but not a corresponding "stop moving" command. Are you using the latest version of Spyglass, available from the App store? I'll do some testing here to see if I can reproduce this, but ultimately it will be up to the developers of Spyglass to fix. I'll contact them and let you know what I hear back.
-
Ben, confirming the behavior you describe. Interestingly, Remote Patrol exhibits the same behavior, which makes me want to believe it's not (only?) a bug in SpyGlass. (Or in both, I guess.)
I take it that the API that SecuritySpy exposes is "start rotating left", "stop rotating", and not "rotate left a bit". Correct? -
Rod, I'm accessing the camera via the SecuritySpy web server. The camera is going to be running in a remote location, so accessing it directly is not an option without port forwarding, etc.
-
Ben, for what it's worth, both SpyGlass and Remote Patrol exhibit the following behavior: if I click on rotate-left, the camera will rotate 360 degrees left. However, I can't do that twice in a row. I can only make the camera turn right 360 degrees after making it turn left 360 degrees. And vice versa.
-
That sounds about right. The camera can't spin indefinitely, there's wires in there that can only wrap so far. So once it reaches the limit in one direction, it has to go the other direction to unwrap the wires.
-
Flyingdiver, you are correct. Even with the camera built-in PTZ I can only rotate it a maximum of 360 degrees. All in all, Ben's suggestion must be true: the stop-move command is never issued. The only reason the camera stops is the built-in wire tangle prevention.
-
I've now had a chance to test this myself and it appear that while Spyglass does not appear to issue a "stop moving" command, Remote Patrol actually does. So I'm surprised to hear you're having the same issue with Remote Patrol. Please could you test this again in Remote Patrol and confirm?
In the meantime I'll contact the developers of Spyglass to ask them to fix this. -
I've just heard back from the developers of Spyglass - they are very responsive! They say that they are aware of this PTZ problem and will be releasing an update soon to fix it.
@thomergil - to answer your question, some cameras require the simple "move a bit left" model and other cameras require the "move left", "stop moving" model. SecuritySpy exposes its own commands via HTTP based on the latter model, which it then translates to camera-specific commands in the best way possible. This means that for cameras that support the simple model, the "stop moving" command will do nothing, and HTTP clients will have to repeat the "move left" command to continue the movement in steps (i.e. repeated button presses in the HTTP client's user interface). -
Hi - there's definitely a problem with Spyglass. I can see that it's not sending the "stop moving" command, and the developers themselves have informed me that they are aware of it and will be providing a fix.
However I really can't explain why Remote Patrol is doing the same thing! In my testing it does appear to be sending the "stop moving" command correctly. I'll do some more testing here, and I'll contact the developer of Remote Patrol and see if we can resolve this mystery. -
Good to hear Remote Patrol is now working as expected. As for Spyglass, I know they are currently working on the next update but I don't know exactly when this will happen, sorry.
