Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 10 years and 5 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.
Now that the wireless network re-design was done, I wanted to replace my aging Foscam outdoor cameras with newer, HD models. Installing the Ubiquiti UniFi AP was my first introduction to power-over-ethernet and I decided to move to PoE (instead of wireless) cameras. I already had TRENDnet cameras in my current setup, along with TRENDnet switches, so I decided to stick with that brand and selected the TV-IP311PI outdoor cameras and TPE-TG44g PoE switch.
The TV-IP311PI is a small dome, outdoor, night vision, HD network camera. Despite the dome look, it’s a fixed-position camera: you have to manually adjust the horizontal and vertical position of the camera and it stays that way (no PTZ). Unfortunately, the only way to adjust the horizontal axis of the camera is by physically moving the entire base, so this is important as it will determine where you will drill the holes to mount it. I didn’t realize this at first, thinking the internal black metal stand of the camera rotated. I had it all mounted to the ceiling and then realized it wasn’t pointing in the right direction and could not be moved. So I had to take it down and re-drill the holes to get it positioned correctly. (update 09/15/2014: see comment below) I already had ethernet running to one location (the wireless had died in one Foscam), so it was easy to connect to the network (and power, thanks to PoE, see below).
The video quality (2048×1538 at highest quality) is excellent, as is the night vision, and the 70 degree horizontal viewing angle is wide enough for my needs. The camera comes with the TRENDnetVIEW Pro software (and can also be used with TRENDnet’s mobile apps), but I prefer to use ZoneMinder. It took a little research to determine what direct URL to use for the video feed (I’m using RTSP), and I had to ratchet down the resolution a bit to prevent CPU hogging by ZoneMinder’s motion detection analysis, but I’m very pleased with the final result.
On the other side of the ethernet cable from the camera, the TRENDnet TPE-TG44g is an 8-port gigabit switch with 4 PoE+ ports. I simply replaced one of my existing TEG-S80g switches with the new one, pulled new CAT5e cable through the attic from the camera locations (one was already wired, but I was also replacing a wireless one), and connected them into the switch. I was a little disappointed that the switch doesn’t have any holes on the bottom for wall-mounting, but I guess they figure since it gets warmer than a regular switch it shouldn’t be hung vertically. Also, it requires a larger-than-average power brick (for a switch, anyway). If you don’t need gigabit, the TPE-S44 will save you about $40.
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- Porch, daytime
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- Porch, nighttime
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- Lanai, daytime
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- Lanai, nighttime
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- TV-IP311PI installed
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- Backyard, daytime
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- Backyard, nighttime
If you don’t mind me asking, what were the zoneminder settings/url you used to get this camera working?
On the Source tab:
Source Path: rtsp://user:password@address//Streaming/Channels/2
Remote Method: RTP/Unicast
Thanks,
I found the configuration didn’t work for me.
I managed to get it working by setting the camera to do h.264, 1920*1080p, Highest Quality, then set FPS (i set mine to 6). I also set the camera to not authenticate rtsp as we vlan cctv traffic. Then use ZoneMinder, source type Ffmpeg, Max Frames 7, source path rtsp://x.x.x.x/Streaming/Channels/1, 24 bit colour, 1920, 1080. Lowering the FPS in zoneminder below what is set on the camera caused bad blocks on the image.
Sorry my settings didn’t help, but it sounds like it pointed you in the right direction and you got it working!
Unfortunately, the only way to adjust the horizontal axis of the camera is by physically moving the entire base, so this is important as it will determine where you will drill the holes to mount it. I didn’t realize this at first, thinking the internal black metal stand of the camera rotated.
So, I was wrong about this. I just installed another TV-IP311PI and found that the black metal base inside the dome does indeed rotate! You can slide it, but there’s a metal tab that prevents it from rotating too far. I was trying to rotate it in the wrong direction so the metal tab was preventing movement. Turn it the other way, and it rotates just fine. I feel like a complete idiot now after what I went through mounting the other two cameras thinking the base was fixed.
I had a strange problem setting up my latest TV-IP311PI: I couldn’t “find” it on the network, either via my router’s DHCP client page or the TRENDnet installation utility. I even tried resetting it to the factory settings by holding down the reset button while powering it on. Eventually what I had to do was configure my laptop with a 192.168.10.xx address and then I was able to manually connect to the camera’s default 192.168.10.30 IP address via a web browser to change the IP. I’m not sure why TRENDnet’s software wouldn’t find it, but at least after some work I was able to get it connected to my regular subnet.
I also found that Trendnet’s setup software didn’t find the camera. But I did find the address in the DHCP list on the router and then used the web browser to connect and configure it.
The images of this camera are of excellent quality. I also had to discover the rotation of the internal base unit. However, this didn’t help me as I had it wall mounted and no matter what I tried the image was always shown sideways. I could flip it 180 degrees via the Browser config but not 90 degrees.
So I am always recording with a sideways image.
can this camera record directly to an external harddisk connected to a router (that is capable of support external harddrive) bypassing any computers after initial setup?
I think it can. I’m recording directly to my NAS, but running Synology’s Surveillance Station product on it, which is capturing the streams directly from the cameras. The web interface of the TRENDnet camera does allow for network storage:
It looks like as long as your router-connected hard drive appears as a samba share on your network, it should work. I would refer you to page 50 of the user guide.
Hi and thanks for this article.
Impossible to me to get TV-IP311PI with ZoneMinder :s
Can you tell me what’s your configuration ?
– Fedora ? Ubuntu ? Debian ? Version ?
– ffmpeg version ?
– Zoneminder version ? From git (because ffmpeg/x264 for rtsp is not active without ffmpeg)
Thanks you very much for any help …
I haven’t used ZoneMinder in a while since I switched to running Synology’s Surveillance Station directly on my NAS. But when I did I was running Ubuntu and probably ZM 1.27. Back then I would also compile my own custom ffmpeg from source. Sorry I can’t be of any more help on this.
Hi Have a IP311 camera for some years. Now I have windows 10, and I can acces the camera, but i can’t save changes, and I can update firmware. Wirying No permission or invalid ??
What to do
What browser are you using? I don’t tinker with my camera setup much but if I recall I did have issues with IE11/Edge. Have you tried Firefox or Chrome?
Hi Windracer. Yes I have tried all browsers, it seem like firefox is best for Trendnet. I also found out thiss weekend, when it goes wrong! I made a hardware reset, The reset button on , and teh power up camera, the camera is set to default, and at least that works. Then I slowly fut ind all new setting in the camera, and saved – it works – BUT WHEN I CHANGE PORT FROM default 80 to 82, and change dhcp server to fast IP adress, and then saved – somethings get wrong. 🙁 Port was changed, but NOT IP adress, I from here . camera is locked 🙁 I can’t change anything and I can read saved config file, all is locked! Therefore there MUST be an error in the new firmware ?? I have tried from 2 defferent PC one with 32 bit and o´ne with 64, also from Windows 7 – all the same I have 2 cameraes, they are cable RJ45 connected, same error on both:-( HELP PS: All browsers=Ixplorer11/Firefox/Chrome
I’m running the V5.3.4 build 160616 firmware on my IP311PI cameras (which seems to be the current version). And I do have a custom port and static IP address set. Have you tried making one change at a time (i.e., IP address first, make sure that takes effect and works, and then change the port)?
Hi again, YES! failure 44 🙂 I use to log into the camera with extra user. I have to use admin and them my code, then it works 🙁 Thanks you
Well, one of my TRENDnet TPE-TG44g switches seems to have gone wonky. I was experiencing some strange network issues (Nagios kept reporting devices dropping off the network and reconnecting) and traced it to the switch. It seems to be rebooting a lot (see this video). I’ve opened a support ticket with TRENDnet but since the unit is almost four years old to the day (and out of warranty) I don’t expect them to do anything about it. Time for a new piece of hardware!
I replaced the TRENDnet TPE-TG44g with the Ubiquity Unifi Switch 8 POE-150W.