2012. 6. 27. 23:49 Gadgets
Remote-view Your Android Phone Camera
Have you got an obsolete android smartphone which is so embarrassingly old that you can't take anywhere so you now use to pacify your whining kid? See if it has a camera on it. If it still works fine, you can reuse it as an IP camera. A decent IP camera costs hundreds of dollars and it works no better.
This is how wikipedia defines the IP camera: An Internet protocol camera, or IP camera, is a type of digital video camera commonly employed for surveillance, and which unlike analog closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras can send and receive data via a computer network and the Internet. Although most cameras that do this are webcams, the term "IP camera" is usually applied only to those used for surveillance.
The idea
If you give your smartphone a fixed internal IP using your router and have the DDNS up and running, you can access the smartphone camera and use it like an IP camera. Wherever you are, see what is happening at home either from your other smartphone or desk/laptop. We'll see what DDNS is in a little while.
Before you start, get a wifi router
Most importantly, get your smartphone that will work as an IP camera(the server phone) hooked up to your wifi router. You may have to trade in your car to pay the bill otherwise.
IP cameras can be accessed through your home network or remotely(outside home network). In either case, you need a router. If you want to connect to your camera from outside, for example, you're at work and you want to see if your suspicous nanny is doing something terrible to your baby, you're going to need a router that supports DDNS. Most routers have this functionality these days but remember, 'caveat emptor' you know.
If you click on some of the screenshots, they will grow bigger.
Now, here's how-to.
Get the app
Switch on your old android phone. Download and install 'Ip Webcam' from Google Play Store. It does all the tricks we want perfectly so don't pay for other apps unless you have money coming out of your ears. Some phones will not show this app due to compatibility.
Preferences Settings
Run the IP Webcam you just installed on the phone and the preference screen pops up. Set them to your liking as you read your way down the items. If you're not sure what the item is going to do, stick to default.
Port
You can change the port number as you like of course, especially when you have more than one IP webcam. You must have the same port number on your server phone(camera side) and on your router. When you remote-access one of your IP cameras, you have to give a different port to each camera. Leave it as default if you're going to operate only one smartphone IP camera or if you don't know what I'm on about. We'll talk about it further later on at the router setting stage.
Audio Activation
Select 'enable' for 'Audio mode' if you think you need to listen and check what kind of swear word the nanny utters watching TV on your couch.
Start Server
If you're finished, touch 'Start server' and your old ugly smartphone changes into a slick server IP camera.
Working or not?
When you start the IP camera, you'll have a screen with an IP and port number. If you don't have an IP shown on the screen, you won't be able to access the camera. You have to get your phone connected to wifi first. There are some more options opening up if you touch the 'Action' button in the top right hand corner.
Router setup
1. DDNS setup
As I said before, to access your IP camera remotely, your router needs to support DDNS, which most routers do. Wikipedia defines DDNS like this: Dynamic DNS or DDNS is a method of updating, in real time, a Domain Name System (DNS) to point to a changing IP address on the Internet. This is used to provide a persistent domain name for a resource that may change location on the network.
To get on to your router setup screen and activate DDNS, read up on the manual or turn to the customer service of the manufacturer. I can't explain it here because the settings will vary depending on the router and its firmware. For me, the router has its own built-in software DDNS server. So I didn't have to mess around on the sites where you can get a free DDNS host separately.
If your router doesn't offer a free DDNS host and you can't be bothered to get a freebie, you can also buy one and it won't break the bank. Here's a company that provides the service http://dyn.com/ and you can even get one for free there when you don't mind the hassle. Come to that, I've got nothing to do with the company.
2. Assigning an IP
To avoid the IP for the smartphone camera changing, you have to assign a specific IP to the smart phone. The IP will be displayed on the screen of the phone like the screenshot above so when you're outside and the IP changes everytime you run the app, there's no way of identifying the ip for the camera unless you call your nanny and ask her to read it to you loudly and she'll ask what this is all about. Routers generate hundreds of IPs. Check the range of IPs your router provides. Give it one of the IPs such as '192.168.0.30'. Make sure other devices don't use the same IP. You can also do this on your router setup. I did it under 'internal network setup' menu or something to that effect on my router. Again, read the manual for this.
3. Port forwarding
When you access the server smartphone(IP camera) from outside, you have to open the port on your router beforehand. The port number has to be the same as the one on the preference screen of the 'IP Webcam' app. How you do the port forwarding depends on the router but in most cases you're asked to put the IP for the smartphone(server camera) and external and internal port number in the gaps. The IP must be the one you assigned on the router to the server camera, for example 192.168.0.**. Put in the same number for both external and internal port as the one on the server camera phone. A 4 digit number is usual. You can change the port number as you wish but remember to have the same port number on both sides. Once the DDNS service is activated, the only way to connect to a particular server phone is by the port number because all the server phones have the same DDNS host name. So when you have a number of server phones, you have to give each one a different port to identify and access it.
Viewing
It doesn't matter whether you're within your home network range or outside once your DDNS setup has been done. But of course if you get on to your DDNS domain over a 3g or LTE connection, it's just like watching youtube over 3g or LTE. Mind your data plan.
1. From your desktop or laptop
Open a web browser. If your 'Audio mode' is set for 'enable' on the ip webcam app, use chrome or firefox to hear the sound. IE doesn't support it. Type the DDNS host name with the correct port number after it like 'http://DDNS host name:port number' into the address bar. Then you will have the first screenshot below. Click on the fourth line. It reads Use javascript to update frames in browser ...... and you will see the second screenshot below.
If you want to hear the sound, click on the 'click here to play audio with browser' button. Your browser has to be either chrome or firefox for this option.
If you want to remote-control the camera, click on the 'open camera controls' button. You can turn on the flash light, focus and so on.
2. From your other smartphone.
The client device doesn't have to be an android phone as long as it has a browser. Open any browser, and type the DDNS host name followed by the port number separated by colon in the address bar just as you do it on your desk/laptop computer. Then it shows the same page that says 'Android webcam server' at the top. The rest is history. I haven't found any smartphone browser that supports sound though.
That's it for now. Enjoy spying on your nanny then.
