Panasonic

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All members of the BL and BB model families are likely to be compatible, including PTZ support. The "Panasonic IP" monitor preset in ZoneMinder is known to be compatible with these Panasonic netcam models:

  • BL-C1A, BL-C1CN, BL-C1E
  • BL-C20A, BL-C20CN, BL-C20E
  • BL-C30A, BL-C30CN, BL-C30E
  • BL-C101A, BL-C101CN, BL-C101E
  • BL-C111A, BL-C111CN, BL-C111E
  • BL-C121A, BL-C121CN, BL-C121E
  • BL-C131A, BL-C131CN, BL-C131E
  • BL-C140A, BL-C140CN, BL-C140E
  • BL-C160A, BL-C160CN, BL-C160E
  • BB-HCM381A, BB-HCM381CN, BB-HCM381E
  • BB-HCM511A, BB-HCM511CN, BB-HCM511E
  • BB-HCM527A, BB-HCM527CN, BB-HCM527E
  • BB-HCM531A, BB-HCM531CN, BB-HCM531E
  • BB-HCM547A, BB-HCM547CN, BB-HCM547E
  • BB-HCM580A, BB-HCM580CN, BB-HCM580E
  • BB-HCM581A, BB-HCM581CN, BB-HCM581E
  • KX-HCM10


Initial Hardware Setup

  1. The camera uses a default IP address of 192.168.0.254 if it does not get a DHCP lease. Many firmware revisions ship with DHCP disabled by default. If you are not using the configuration utility for Microsoft Windows, then you may need to do something like `sudo ifconfig eth0:0 192.168.0.2` at a terminal prompt to access the camera and enable DHCP.
  2. Upgrade the firmware. ZoneMinder 1.25 expects the latest firmware release.
  3. Enable the guest account:
    1. Click Setup in the top menu.
    2. Click Administrator in the side menu.
    3. Choose Permit access from guest users.
    4. Click the Save button.
  4. Set privileges on the guest account for ZoneMinder:
    1. Click Setup in the top menu.
    2. Click General User in the side menu.
    3. Choose Guest User in the menu.
    4. Click the Modify button.
    5. Change Video Display Time to Unlimited.
    6. Enable all Access Level checkboxes.
    7. Click the Save button.

Only set access credentials on Panasonic equipment after you have a working ZoneMinder configuration. ZoneMinder handles network camera authentication very poorly, which can cause frustrating problems like the "white screen" error, the "blue screen" error, "exit 255" crashes, or segmentation faults.


MJPEG Configuration

Example

At the Monitor -> Source page for the camera:

 Remote Protocol: HTTP
 Remote Method: Simple
 Remote Host Name: 192.168.1.254
 Remote Host Port: 80
 Remote Host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard
 Remote Image Colors: 24 bit color
 Capture Width (pixels): 640
 Capture Height (pixels): 480
 Preserve Aspect Ratio: Off
 Orientation: Normal

Example for Old Firmware

Change nphMotionJpeg to nphContinuousServerPush or cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush if the camera has old firmware like this:

 Remote Host Path: cgi-bin/nphContinuousServerPush?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard

Cameras models that only have the old firmware interface are:

  • BL-C20A

Parameters

The required Quality CGI parameter sets JPEG quality and can be one of Clarity, Standard, or Motion.

The required Resolution CGI parameter can be one of 1280x1024, 640x480, 320x240, or 160x120 pixels.

Note: Only hi-def models support the 1280x1024 resolution, and some low end models like the Panasonic BL-C1A Petcam do not support the 640x480 resolution.

MJPEG Frame Size Quality=Clarity Quality=Standard Quality=Motion
Resolution=1280x1024 ? ? ?
Resolution=640x480 50kB 30kB 20kb
Resolution=320x240 25kB 15kB 8kB
Resolution=160x120 8kB 5kB 3kB

The optional Framerate parameter can be 0.1 through 30.00 frames per second in one-tenth increments. For example, to take an image every other second:

 Remote Host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard&Framerate=0.5

Performance

In MJPEG mode, ZoneMinder can sustain approximately 5 fps from a Panasonic netcam. In ideal conditions the maximum is approximately 25 fps.

On busy systems, ZoneMinder performs better if the frame rate is externally limited at the camera. For example, to limit capture to 10 fps, set:

 Remote Host Path: nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard&Framerate=10

On the Source -> General configuration page in ZoneMinder, leave the Maximum FPS field empty.


RTSP/MPEG4 Configuration

Note: Low end models like the Panasonic BL-C1A Petcam only support MJPEG because they do not have an MPEG4 encoder.

Example

At the Monitor -> Source page for the camera:

 Remote Protocol: RTSP
 Remote Method: RTP/Unicast
 Remote Host Name: 192.168.1.254
 Remote Host Port: 554
 Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/g726-640x480
 Remote Image Colors: 24 bitcolor
 Capture Width (pixels): 640
 Capture Height (pixels): 480
 Preserve Aspect Ratio: Off
 Orientation: Normal

Parameters

Audio can be disabled on models that have it by changing g726 to nil like this:

 Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/nil-640x480

Available resolutions are:

 Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/g726-160x120
 Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/g726-320x240
 Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/g726-640x480
 Remote Host Path: nphMpeg4/g726-1280x1024

Note: Only high definition models support the 1280x1024 resolution.

Performance

In RTSP mode, ZoneMinder can get 30 fps from a Panasonic netcam that has an MPEG4 encoder. The raw idle RTP output of a quiet scene for these cameras is approximately 400 kbps, or 5GB per day.

To force a particular MPEG4 quality, set the minimum and maximum bitrates to the same value on the "Setup -> Video Streaming" tab of the web interface built-into the camera.

ZoneMinder transcodes the MPEG4 stream to add a banner or stream through the web interface. Doing this on one 640x480@30fps stream can consume an entire core on a modern CPU. If the CPU becomes overloaded, then the zmc process will crash and the Feed Watch page will be blank or show the broken image icon. An easy way to reduce CPU load is to set the "Maximum FPS" field on the monitor General tab to 15 or less.

Model Notes

BL-C140A

ZoneMinder must authenticate with a username and password to use the BL-C140A. Using the anonymous guest account will result in a black box or this error in the zmdc.log file:

 zmdc.ERR ['zmc -m 1' exited abnormally, exit status 255]

Put the credentials under the Source tab in the Remote Host Name field like this:

 Remote Protocol: HTTP
 Remote Method: Simple
 Remote Host Name: MyUser:MyPass@192.168.1.254
 Remote Host Port: 80
 Remote Host Path: /nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Standard
 Remote Image Colors: 24 bit color
 Capture Width (pixels): 640
 Capture Height (pixels): 480
 Preserve Aspect Ratio: Off
 Orientation: Normal

External Resources