CameraFTP Support

Camera FTP Service

Make your security cameras really secure with Cloud Recording, Offsite Storage, Remote Playback and Real-time Monitoring.


Table of Contents

Introduction

If you’ve got a new security camera, or multiple security cameras that you want to set up around your home or business, you need Cloud Recording and Remote Playback; if you don't have a security camera, but you still want to monitor your home, your kids, your old parents or your pets, you can use our WebCam FTP Service.

Why Camera FTP service? Because:

(1) Security cameras are not secure themselves

They can be easily stolen or destroyed. For example, a burglar may break into your store and steal valuable goods. After that, if he sets a fire, your security cameras and all the recorded images and videos will be burned.

Using Camera FTP service, your cameras can automatically upload recorded images to our FTP server, which is hosted in a secure and remote location. A burglar can destroy the cameras, but he can never delete the recorded images in the cloud!

(2) Play back recorded images remotely

If anything happened to your house, your business or your loved ones, you can easily "rewind" and play back the recorded images from your PC, Mac or Smartphone. It is more than just monitoring, it is about offsite storage and preserving evidences.

(3) Real-time monitoring remotely

CameraFTP.com has web-based camera viewer, mobile viewer and mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Phone. You can monitor your cameras in real-time from anywhere.

(4) Easy and low cost

CameraFTP.com is easier than any other services. You don't need to order DDNS (Dynamic DNS) service, you don't need to configure your router or firewall, you don't need to worry about your dynamic IP address, just configure the FTP settings for your IP camera, and your camera will automatically upload images to CameraFTP cloud storage.

Using local storage or local FTP server will cost you more on hardware. You will have to be computer savvy to do so. Moreover, it cannot match our security and service features.

CameraFTP is designed for the mass market. Our price is dramatically lower compared with services offered by traditional security companies, and it is so easy to setup. You can do it yourself!

Getting Started

If you haven’t already done so, you’ll need to sign up a CameraFTP.com account. Go to www.CameraFTP.com and click on “Sign Up” or "Free Trial". ( DriveHQ users must sign up a new account using a different username and email address. ) CameraFTP offers two-day free trial. After 2 days, you must order a paid plan to continue using our service. Our plan starts at only $1.5/month/camera, 10 times lower than other company's.

For those users lookig for a free service, sorry we cannot offer it for free. A security camera may keep uploading images to CameraFTP every second, it can easily generate 100 times or 1000 times more traffic than a regular user. With our price starts at only $1.5/month/camera, it is extremely affordable to any user. Please check out our service pricing here.

Configuring Your Security Camera

The configuration interface will be different for different camera manufacturers, but the basic information is the same. We recommend reading the manufacturer's instructions included with your camera, and following our instructions below as a general setup guide.

· In your camera setup page, find the section for FTP setup. The camera will need FTP information as follows:

o Host name: Enter ftp.cameraftp.com. Some cameras may only accept an IP address. If so, enter 66.220.9.45. The port number is 21.

o Username and password are the same ones you use to log on www.cameraftp.com.

o FTP Mode: In most cases, you should use Passive Mode. Active FTP Mode is often blocked by your firewall / router.

o The Path or Directory should be the name of the folder you want the images uploaded into. It is also the same as the Camera Name. Usually you name a camera based on the monitored scene, e.g. FrontDoor, Backyard, LivingRoom or Driveway, etc. You can add a new camera (name) after you logon www.cameraftp.com. If you have added a new camera with the name "FrontDoor" on www.cameraftp.com, then from your camera's configuration page, you can enter "/FrontDoor" as the Path (or Directory).
If the folder doesn’t already exist in your CameraFTP account at the time of this configuration, it will be automatically created by the camera before the first image is uploaded.

o Connection (or upload) frequency – you must ensure that the camera connects to the FTP server no more than 5 times per second. Going over this frequency may be considered as abuse of the service; if you require higher connection frequency, please contact CameraFTP’s sales team first.

o Motion Detection: Most cameras support motion detection. It is recommended enabling motion detection. This can help lower the bandwidth usage so that your camera is less likely to affect your Internet connection speed.

o Image Resolution: Please set your image resolution based on your CameraFTP subscription.


Example of a security camera FTP configuration page

When your camera is setup correctly, images will be uploaded to ftp.CameraFTP.com. For better efficiency and to support playback, images are packaged into zip files. You can download the zip files using FTP, or use CameraFTP's online viewer or mobile apps to view the recorded images.

Camera Show Player

To play back images, click on the Camera Show button. The player will launch. You can also download CameraFTP mobile apps for iOS and Android.




The player will begin to playback images, beginning with the latest zipped set. The timeline is on a 24-hour scale and you can drag the selector to play at the desired time. You can set how long you want to play images and also the length of time each image is displayed.

Need help?

  • Check out other helpful guides and our support forum at the Support Page
  • Contact us 7 days a week by email at support@cameraftp.com.
  • Phone support is available Monday – Friday 9-6 PM PST. Call us at 1-800-836-0199
Security Camera Basics
  • Security Cameras

    Security cameras, also known as surveillance cameras, are used to monitor homes, businesses, and other types of properties. Typically, they are connected to a recording device such as a tape recorder or a disk. In the last few years, IP-based security cameras have become increasingly popular. Security cameras enable you to remotely monitor a scene and play back recorded images.

  • Analog CCTV Cameras

    Analog Closed-Circuit Television cameras record pictures or videos as analog signals. Most of old surveillance cameras are analog cameras. This type of camera records directly onto a video tape recorder. In order to save recordings to a PC, the analog signal must be converted to a digital format; this can be done with a video capture card.

  • Digital CCTV Cameras

    Digital CCTV cameras directly capture images and videos as digital signals. The signals are compressed and encoded into a standard video format such as MPEG. Digital CCTV cameras usually record videos onto a hard drive or a storage server.

  • IP / Network Cameras / Webcams

    An Internet Protocol camera or network camera is a type of digital video camera that can send and receive data via a computer network. This type of camera has become increasingly popular among homeowners and business owners in the last few years because of steep price drop. A webcam can also be considered as a network camera because it can send or receive data via a computer.

  • Security Camera Vulnerabilities

    Security cameras themselves are not completely secure. They can fail due to dust, smoke, fog, loss of power, or damage. They are also easily susceptible to tampering. If a security camera records data onsite, both the camera and the recorded data can be destroyed – by intruders, burglars, or anyone else who wants the data gone forever.

  • Camera Features
  • Motion Detection

    Many security cameras now support motion detection - a technology that triggers recording only when something changes in the scene. Motion can be detected by image changes or sound changes. Many security cameras can only detect image changes. As minor scene changes can occur due to events such as natural light changes or wind changes, many security cameras allow you to configure a “threshold”. By setting a higher threshold, minor scene changes will be ignored and only scene changes that reach the “threshold” will be recorded. Motion detection is very useful if you want to significantly reduce bandwidth and storage usage.

  • Night Vision Cameras

    One of the main usages of a security camera is to monitor night-time scenes. If the scene is not well lit, it is recommended that you use a camera with night vision capability. Those cameras use an infrared spectrum of light at night and can take pictures of objects in the dark.

  • Wireless Security Cameras

    Wireless security cameras transmit video and audio signals wirelessly to a receiving device. There are analog and digital types of wireless cameras. Digital security cameras have become much more popular recently because they can be accessed over the Internet.

  • FTP Cameras

    FTP cameras are a type of IP cameras that support uploading of recorded images and videos to an FTP server. Almost all modern IP cameras support FTP upload. FTP offsite storage is by far the most popular way to store image and video files from a security camera.

  • Camera Storage & Image Size
  • Security Camera Storage

    Most security camera systems can store recorded images and videos to a tape, hard drive, or onsite storage server. However, storing data in this manner leaves it susceptible to tampering and damage by intruders. For better protection and security, offsite storage is the best solution.

  • Storage Requirement

    The required amount of storage is dependent on your camera’s image resolution, frame rate, compression ratio and days of retention. Setting up your camera to use motion detection can significantly reduce storage usage.

  • Camera Retention Time

    Security cameras can generate a large amount of data. The amount depends on the compression ratio, images captured per second, and image size. Most cameras provide a limited amount of storage space; therefore, recordings are usually kept for a preset amount of time before being overwritten by new images.

  • Camera Image Resolutions

    An analog security camera usually supports PAL (768x576 Pixels) or NTSC (720x480 pixels) format. A digital security camera can support many different image resolutions, e.g. 320x240, 640x480, 800x600, 1280x960, and more.

  • CameraFTP.com Service
  • Offsite Recording

    Offsite recording addresses one of the biggest vulnerabilities of a security camera. Instead of storing recorded data onsite, recorded images are uploaded to DriveHQ FTP server in real-time. Even if an intruder destroys a security camera, he cannot destroy the recorded data, which can be immensely helpful for tracking down the intruder.

  • Remote Play Back

    Once a security camera uploads the recorded images to DriveHQ FTP server, you can play back the recorded images from anywhere using DriveHQ’s CameraShow feature. The CameraShow feature is a browser-based feature and works on PC, MAC, tablets and even smart phones.

  • Real-time viewing

    DriveHQ Camera FTP service supports real-time viewing of a scene using the CameraShow feature. Many IP cameras can support real-time viewing; however, such feature usually only works at the same location. With DriveHQ’s Camera FTP service, you can view images over the internet from anywhere.

  • Camera FTP Setup

    Your IP camera should have a web-based configuration wizard where you can enter cameraftp.drivehq.com as the FTP server. The FTP port number is the default port number 21. For username and password, put your CameraFTP.com username and password. Please note that accounts on cameraftp.com are not the same as accounts on DriveHQ.com. Your DriveHQ username and password will not work on CameraFTP.com.