Revision as of 02:01, 5 January 2011

Features

• Stylish & compact
• Human Detection Sensor

If it detects someone, it notifies you by e-mail!

• Color Night View mode

View images even in low light

• Privacy mode

Privacy mode ensures your privacy.

• Setup is easy with UPnP

Even a beginner can setup the camera thanks to UPnP support!

• Camera control

Even when away from home, you can change the direction of the camera lens!

Pan/Tilt

Viewing the camera via mobile phone

Other features

Multi-camera feature

Image buffer feature

• Viewnetcam.com service
• Built-in web server

The configuration page : http://<camera_ip>/CgiStart

Panasonic BL-C10 website.

Installation

This camera can either be installed as a Motion device (but Pan/Tilt/Zoom will not work, there are various mentions of this on the forums) or it can be installed as a simple viewer with Pan/Tilt/Zoom controls (this is PnP).

I did both; once under motion (for recording motion), and then as a viewer (for the Scenarios). This may not be the best way of doing things, but it worked for me.

Note: If to begin with the camera is not detected, perform a factory reset; this is achieved by holding the reset button down for a few seconds. Especially important if you bought the camera second hand.

Motion

1. Install motion wrapper. In web admin (type "192.168.80.1" in a browser of your choice), click "Show devices tree" (very bottom of left-hand pane), click on "CORE" and then "Create Child Device". Then press the "Pick device template" button, which will open a new window. Under "Device Template", select "Motion Wrapper" and press the "Pick device template" button.
2. Add camera MAC address to Generic Motion IP Camera template so that it is automatically detected. MAC addresses are usually in hexadecimal form; it must be converted to decimal form. Once you've done this, go into web admin, then to Advanced -> Configuration -> Device Templates. Under "Device template", select "Generic Motion IP Camera", and click the "Pick device template" button. Under the "Plug & Play" section, insert your decimal MAC address in the "From" and "To" fields, and select "DHCP" under "PNP protocol". Press the "Save" button and "Close".
3. Plug in your camera. Take a look at your nearest orbiter. The camera should be detected as both a Panasonic IP Camera and a Generic Motion IP Camera. Click on "Generic Motion IP Camera", and then select the room in which the camera is situated.
4. At this stage I set up the username and password for the camera. This has to be done with a Panasonic utility which I assume accompanies the camera on the driver CD. My cameras did not come with the CD, but I easily found the utility online. (Drop a PM to "purps" on the forums if you can't find it). If you do not have a windoze box, this utility can be run under wine. Run the utility, give it a second, and the camera should pop up. Make a note of the IP address and enter it into a web browser. Set the username and password.
5. Find the camera in web admin, under Wizard -> Devices -> Surveillance Cameras. Or look in the devices tree under "Motion Wrapper".
   1. Under the "Device Info" section, type in a description of your choice.
   2. Check the IP address. If it's not the one you saw in the Panasonic utility, change it. Click "Save"
   3. Under the "Device data" section, define the path as "http://192.168.80.XXX/nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=640x480&Quality=Motion", where "XXX" is the camera's IP.
   4. Define the TCP Port as "80"
   5. Add the username and password you specified earlier to the Username and Password field respectively. Click "Save"
6. Do a Quick Reload, and that should be it. This camera can now be used as a motion sensor and/or for recording movement (recordings are stored in "/home/cameras/XX" where XX is the device number of the camera, and last for 5 days I believe). A scenario will automatically be generated. I chose to remove this scenario (due to aforementioned lack of PTZ control), and added the camera again as a standalone viewer only.

Viewer