Hello,
I am about to start building a project with an arduino, 1ch dvr and a security camera, but I have got a lot of questions according to the connectivity between arduino and dvr. I couldn't find out a similar to that project.
The thinking I am following is to connect a PTZ (Pan, Tilt and Zoom) dome security camera to a 1ch dvr, the dvr to arduino and the arduino board to a computer running only apache web server. I want to be able to control the camera via internet as a customer. Moreover I don't care as much right now about the security between the Internet and those components so I thought using an arduino uno R3 connected via USB to the computer, and by adding an ethernet shield to arduino, connecting it to dvr locally by a switch and of course the camera to 1ch dvr via coaxial cable. But I have no idea if I am able to stream a low quality video through an arduino to the internet. I don't even know if the connectivity between those components is able to transfer the data I want succesfully.
If you got any reccomendations, suggestions or ideas please feel free to reply because it is the first time I am doing a project that has to do with connection between hardware.
Thanks
Zusss
If you have a PTZ camera, then presumably it is designed to be controlled and has an interface to receive commands. What type of interface is it? If it's designed to be controlled by a computer then controlling it by computer would seem the most sensible bet. The computer could also host your web application to steer the camera. If the web application will be public facing then I'd advise you to pay attention to security issues, or your whole PC could be compromised.
I don't know whether you need the Arduino at all, but if you do then I'd only envisage using it to control the physical position of the camera, not to deal with the video stream from the camera.
Thanks for reply. Well, I found the cheapest PTZ dome camera (http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/1{47}3-Sony-CCD-Mini-PTZ-Dome--Camera-5%252d15mm-Vari%252dfocal.html) and I don't know if it has got an interface for the controling but it sais in the description that supports a lot of PTZ protocols and I suppose that those protocols should be the control "interface". Moreover this is a CCTV camera, so I can only connect it with a DVR, I couldn't find a PTZ camera supports USB cable or ethernet (not an IP camera because by that way I could do all those things by 1 click and I don't want such thing). I don't know yet if it is better to host the web application to steer the camera to the web server or to arduino and at this level I don't care about the seurity at all. Furthemore I can't imagine or find on internet how I am going to stream the video from the camera to the internet via DVR and arduino board because the connection sequence will be: camera connected to DVR, DVR connected to arduino, arduino connected to computer (web server) and then with the help of JSP I will be able to control the camera through arduino. May I need to change the components sequence for improving the system but I don't know even the basic options I have for the whole project yet like the streaming thing.
The thinking I am following is to connect a PTZ (Pan, Tilt and Zoom) dome security camera to a 1ch dvr, the dvr to arduino and the arduino board to a computer running only apache web server.
The video won't go thru an arduino, so you can count that out. You can run a web cam application on a windows pc to supply video and use apache and arduino for cam movement control (depending on what moves the cam around). Below is a simple web cam pan/tilt setup I made. The cam now has a bad wire when moving, but not bad for being on 24/7 since 2004.
Well the think is that the camera will be a security one, so it should be independent from any other OS (like windows). I found an arduino shield (Arduino Shield: Video Experimenter - MAVROMATIC) which I can attach to the main arduino board, but I don't know yet If I am able to stream the video through that component. Generally the idea is to have an independent security camera stand alone with the arduino behinde it do all the job for the controlling and the only thing I am searching for now is a way to stream the video to the web through apache web server!
You need to look at this as 2 separate projects. First one is getting the video viewable remotely and the second one is sending commands to the dome via the RS485. By far the easiest solution is to buy a DVR that does all this out of the box, there's not many that don't nowadays via a remote client or some via browsers.
The other way is the way you're looking at going. The above shield won't do what you think it will, although I'm not sure what you're thinking it will do. You will need the DVR, a PC for web server, video capture card, and software on the PC. Again, this sort of leaves the Arduino etc.. redundant though if you just use an old PC, a capture card and some software like Zoneminder it will do the remote viewing and PTZ control.
I start wrote a topic using to decode pelco D protocol from DVR side.