Configure Foscam FI9831P Wireless IP
PTZ Camera for Cloud Recording, Remote Monitoring and Playback
Contents
Introduction
Step 1: Connect camera to the network and find IP address
1.1 Connect camera to the network
1.2 Find the Camera’s IP Address
Step 2: Configure the Camera Using the Web-based Configuration Tool
2.1 Setup or Re-configure Wi-Fi
Step 3. Configure the FTP settings
Step 4. Configure Video or Image Snapshot Settings
4.1 Configure Video / Image Settings (Resolution, Frame Rate, Bit Rate)
4.2 Configure Image Snapshot Settings
4.3 Configure alarm recording for both image and video recording
4.4 Configure continuous (or scheduled) video recording
5. Configure Alarm / Motion Detection Settings
6. CameraFTP Viewer
Foscam FI9831P is a 1.3 Megapixel (1280x960p) H.264 Pan/Tilt Wireless IP Camera with
night-vision of up to 24 feet. It has great features and excellent video /
image quality. Foscam cameras use a less popular video format
of .mkv, which is incompatible with some web browsers. However, you can use Microsoft's Internet Explorer to view the recorded footage. You can also download
CameraFTP Viewer app for Android/iOS or download the video clips to your PC and
play them with Windows Media Player or VLC Player.
Basic camera information
| Video / image resolution |
1280x960, 1280x800, 1280x720, 640x480, 640x360, 320x240, 320x180 |
| Audio recording |
Supported |
| Image upload frequency |
1 image/s to 1 image/5s |
| Video frame rate |
1,2,3,...,30 fps |
| Night-vision |
Up to 24 feet |
| Image snapshot recording |
Supported |
| Video clip recording |
Supported. |
| Motion detection |
Supported for both image and video clip based recording |
| Continuous recording |
Continuous recording is supported, but
each video clip is 2-hour long, making it not ideal for real-time monitoring. |
| Supported video format |
.MKV (you can play the video files in Internet Explorer, or download and play locally using Windows Media Player or VLC Player, or use our CameraFTP Viewer app for
Android / iOS) |
| Connection type |
Wi-Fi and Ethernet cable; supports WPS |
| PoE (Power on Ethernet) |
No |
| Indoor / outdoor |
Indoor |
| Lowest pricing (as of 6/1/2016) |
$79.99 |
Note: This document is not designed to
replace the product manual from the manufacturer. The information provided is
based on our knowledge of the model Foscam FI9831P.
It may not be accurate or completely up-to-date. Users shall contact the
manufacturer for all camera-related issues and contact us only for
CameraFTP-related (cloud service / FTP) issues.
Most of the setup steps below are camera
related and are very trivial. If you have finished these basic steps before,
then you can skip Steps 1 and 2.
There are two ways to connect the IP
camera to the Wi-Fi network.
(1) If your Wi-Fi
router does not support WPS, then you need to connect the camera with the
router using an Ethernet cable first. You can configure the Wi-Fi settings in
the camera's configuration pages later.
(2) If your Wi-Fi
access point/router supports WPS, then it is very easy to connect your device
to the network.
Turn on the
camera and press the WPS button on your Wi-Fi access point (router) for 3
seconds; the WPS button will usually start flashing. Next, quickly press the
WPS button on your camera. In about 1 minute, you will see the network light (above
the red power light) change to slow flashing green, indicating it is connected
to the wireless router.
(Note: It
is a little odd and less intuitive as usually it should change to solid green
to indicate good connection).
This camera can automatically disconnect
Wi-Fi when you connect a network cable and it will keep the same IP address;
and if you unplug the Ethernet cable, Wi-Fi will be re-enabled and keep the
same IP address.
Please refer to the manufacturer’s manual for more detailed information.
If your camera
is connected to the Wi-Fi router, or if you have connected the camera with a
router using an Ethernet cable, you can run the manufacturer’s setup program to
find the camera’s IP address. From a PC in the same
network, insert the camera’s software CD. Browse the content of the CD and run
IPCamSetup.exe, it will install the necessary software for the camera. After it
is finished, run the installed IP Camera Tool and it will launch a tool to
detect Foscam cameras:
Double clicking on the camera name in the IP Camera Tool will launch a web browser (IE
or Firefox is recommended for this camera) and access the Camera’s
configuration page at:
http://IP_ADDRESS:PORT_NUMBER/(e.g. http://192.168.1.13:88)
(You can also manually enter the URL with the correct IP address and Port number):
The default username is: admin, the password is blank. (It is recommended
that you change the password.)
Try to install the ActiveX/Plug-in. Foscam’s old version ActiveX / Plug-in does not
work. You can fix the problem with a firmware upgrade. So if you cannot install
ActiveX/Plug-in, you can ignore it for now and upgrade the firmware later. After
you log on with a blank password, it will ask you to change your username and password:
Enter a new username (e.g. newadmin), new password and confirm the password, then
click Modify. You are then required to log on again with the new username and
password. After logon, you will see the Setup Main screen:
With CameraFTP’s service, most regular setup steps are not required. (You can check
these steps, e.g. click Basic Settings à Camera Time to set the
camera time.)
If you had already connected the camera with your wireless router, then skip this step.
Otherwise, click the Network tab, then click Wireless Setup, you will see the screen below.
Click Scan to find all available Wi-Fi routers, then select your connection. Enter
the wireless password, after done, click Save.
If Wi-Fi is configured successfully, you can unplug your network cable later.
Click Network à FTP
Settings, you can see the screen as follows. If you don’t have an account on
CameraFTP, please visit www.cameraftp.com and
sign up a free trial account. CameraFTP offers 3-day free trial. When the trial
is up, you will need to order a subscription to continue using the service.
Assuming you already have a CameraFTP Account, then you need to enter the following info:
- FTP Server: ftp://66.220.9.45/Foscam1
- Port: 21
- FTP Mode: PASV (This is very important!)
- Username / Password:
FTP username is your CameraFTP username, FTP password is available in
Configure IP Cameras page. (Your CameraFTP password may also work).
Note:
Unlike most other IP cameras, this Foscam model does not support a parameter of
Folder, Directory or Path. The folder name is included in the FTP server
parameter. In the above screenshot, “Foscam1” is the folder name, which is the
same as the camera name that you created on www.CameraFTP.com website
when you added a new camera.
Click Save to save the settings. After that, you need to configure the storage
location for FTP. In the Record tab, click “Storage Location”, then set the
location to FTP. See the screenshot below.
Based on your subscription, you only need to configure video settings or image
snapshot settings. You shall not configure both settings, otherwise, you need
to order two separate camera licenses.
If you ordered a video plan, then you can click the Video tab à Video Settings as shown below. (Otherwise, please skip this step). You
only need to configure the Main Stream Video Settings.
With the latest BIOS version 1.4.1.10 (or higher), the screen is
slightly different:
Set the stream type to 0 or HD mode;
The resolution and frame rate should be based on the plan you subscribed to;
Key Frame Interval is usually set to be 2 or 3 times of the frame rate, but not less than 5;
The Bit Rate is a little tricky. Setting it too high will use too much bandwidth,
thus dramatically slow down your network, causing failed uploads; setting it
too low will affect the video quality. You can use our bandwidth calculator to
estimate the bandwidth. Visit www.cameraftp.com,
click Pricing, and then customize a service plan. See the screenshot below.
Note for estimating the bandwidth, Number of Cameras should be set to 1.
For the video plan of 640x480, 5 frames/s, the estimated bandwidth is 216Kbps. Usually
you can set it to 200Kbps or 256Kbps. However, the MKV compression ratio
seems to be not as high as MP4. If you see some 0-byte .MKV files, you need to
increase the Bit Rate (e.g. to 512Kbps).
If you ordered an image plan, then you only need to select the
correct video resolution. The resolution of the image snapshots will be the
same as the Main Stream video.
Click Save to save the video settings.
If you ordered an image plan, then you should configure Image Snapshot Settings. (Otherwise,
skip this step). Click on the Video tab à “Snapshot Settings”, you
will see the screen as follows.
If your subscription is for 1 image/2 seconds, then enter 2 in the “Capture Interval” field.
If you ordered a plan with motion detection enabled, please read further below.
Click the Record tab à Alarm Recording as shown below.
The default parameters are usually fine. So just click Save.
If you ordered an image plan, or a video plan with alarm recording, you can skip this step.
Otherwise, click the Record tab à Scheduled Recording, you will see the screen as follows.
Assume you ordered a continuous video service plan, you can enable the checkbox of
“Enable Scheduled Recording”, then click All to select all time slots.
Click Save to save the change. Your camera will upload video clips to CameraFTP
continuously. This camera will record 2 hours of video in each clip file,
making it not idea for real-time monitoring. If you need real-time monitoring,
please use our image service or motion detection-based video service.
NOTE: Please do not configure both video service and image service. It will be
considered as two camera licenses!
With the latest firmware, Foscam finally brought the much-needed motion detection
feature. You can check your firmware version. The version we tested is 1.4.1.10
as shown below:
If you have an older version firmware, you need to follow the device's manual,
visit Foscam website to download the latest version firmware, and upgrade the
camera's firmware. Please make sure you connect your camera with the router
using an Ethernet cable for firmware upgrade. For more info/support, please
contact Foscam directly.
Click Alarm à Motion Detection, you will see the following screen.
If you ordered a video plan with motion detection enabled, then you need to:
- Check "Enable" checkbox and "Recording" checkbox.
- Click "Set Detection Area" to draw a motion detection area. Note: This is a required step for motion detection. After done, click Ok.
- Click "All" to enable motion detection at all times. Otherwise,
select the time slots that motion detection should be turned on.
Click Save to save the settings. The camera will record video clips based on motion
detection.
If you ordered an image plan with motion detection enabled, then you need to:
- Check "Enable" checkbox and "Take snapshot" checkbox.
- Select a Time Interval based on your subscription. E.g. if you ordered a plan
with upload frequency of 1 image/2 seconds, then select 2s.
- Click "Set Detection Area" to draw a motion detection area. After done, click Ok.
- Click "All" to enable motion detection at all times. Otherwise,
select the time slots that motion detection should be turned on.
Please note snapshot settings should have been configured as follows.
Note: It
is quite odd why you must check "Enable
timing to capture". In our testing with this camera, it is required
for motion detection-based image service. To avoid the camera from uploading
snapshots continuously, you must not select any
time slots.
Click Save. Your camera will be uploading image snapshots to CameraFTP. The
resolution of the image is defined in your video setting.
You are all done!
Note: Please do not check both "Take snapshots" and "Recording"
in the Motion Detection screen. It will be considered two separate camera
licenses.
You can disconnect the Ethernet cable if
you want to use Wi-Fi. If you need to make changes, you can run the setup
program again to find the camera’s IP address (as it may change with DHCP), and
then access the camera’s Configuration pages.
After your camera is setup, you can
visit www.cameraftp.com to live monitor
or play back your recorded footage from anywhere. You can also download
CameraFTP Viewer App for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
Cannot get it to work? Please read our
Trouble-shooting Guide.