Connecting iSpy to an Amcrest IP2M-841 webcam

Connecting iSpy to an Amcrest IP2M-841 webcam

This was more annoying than it should have been. When setting up my Amcrest IP2M-841B camera, I was able to use the Amcrest IP Config tool to log in and watch my camera without issue.

When using iSpy 64, however, the darn thing couldn’t figure out how to connect to it. Here’s how I did it. I left the camera on channel 1, set the encoding to plain H.264, and then did the following.

Test your camera using Amcrest IP config.

The first thing is to make sure your camera is working at all:

  1. Be sure you can open the IP config tool and see your cameras.
  2. Make sure passwords are correct, you can get a live view, and that it’s set to H.264 encoding and the channels are correct.

 

Test your rtsp line using VLC:

  1. Open VLC (install it if you need)
  2. Media->Open Network Stream
  3. Copy in your rtsp: address
    1. example without the username/password:
      1. rtsp://192.168.1.99:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
      2. VLC will ask for your username/password and you can enter it.
    2. example with the username/password:
      1. rtsp://<username>:<password>@<ipaddress>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
      2. I left the arguments as –rtsp-caching=100 (the default)
  4. You should see your stream come up in VLC
  5. NOTE: When setting your password, if you have any special characters like %!&#$ – or the like – be sure to convert them to their equivalent hex ASCII codes. See this chart here.
    1. Example: if your password is ‘cat&dog’, you should use the password: ‘cat%26dog’

Connecting to iSpy

If connecting via VLC worked, your 75% of the way there.

  1. Start iSpy
  2. Add->IP Camera
  3. Select the VLC Plugin tab (I have VLC installed, not sure if that’s 100% necessary)
  4. Set the VLC URL to what you had above (with the username+password):
    rtsp://<username>:<password>@<ipaddress>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
  5. When setting the password, if you have any special characters like %!&%#$ – or the like – be sure to convert them to their equivalent hex ascii codes. See this chart here.
    1. Example: if your password is ‘cat&dog’, you should use the password: ‘cat%26dog’
  6. I left the arguments as –rtsp-caching=100 (the default)

Once you have iSpy connected, you can set up events and connect to the cloud for full web monitoring.

 

Resources:

So, where did I get that rtsp line? Directly from the Amcrest HTTP API SDK Protocol Specification. Section 4.1.1, p14 – Get real-time stream. It’s also a handy guide on all the other parameters you can send the camera.

One thought on “Connecting iSpy to an Amcrest IP2M-841 webcam

  1. Matt,
    I know this post is fairly old, but I just ran across it while doing some research on cameras. I have an iSpy setup at home and used a couple old Android phones with the IP Webcam app as a proof of concept in setting up a security system. I’m now looking at getting some more permanent cameras and was wanting to know… following your procedure were you able to get/record your streams at 1080p@30fps using iSpy? I read some had difficulty getting decent frame rates in iSpy and I was hoping to make sure there was a method before purchasing the cameras.

    Thanks!

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