Whether it's monitoring your cat, a production machine or your children, there's nothing like a network camera, better known by the nickname of IP camera. To know everything about the installation and use of such a device, follow the guide, with a model that we have selected for its simplicity.
For this tutorial, we have chosen to use Trendnet's TV-IP762IC model. Why this camera and not another, when we have had several in our hands, from different brands? For its interesting characteristics-price ratio and its operation relatively representative of the models on the market. Indeed, it offers a maximum definition of 1280 x 720 pixels honorable - it is certainly not the highest definition, but it is enough in many cases. There are also infrared night vision functions, access from a mobile application, a microphone and a speaker, a micro SD card reader for recording and motion detection, all for less than € 100.
Trendnet TV-IP762IC
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Set up the camera
To begin with, you need to install the camera utility. Two options are available, either you have a DVD player on your computer, in which case you can use the CD provided in the box, or you go to the manufacturer's website and download the version of the software suited to your product and your system. operating.
Once the software is downloaded, just launch it. A window appears with several options, we select the first, Camera installation. We then say that we completely agree with the terms of use, which - for once - are quite digestible.
There follows a page indicating where you can find the MAC address of the product, either on the back of it. Then click on Next. A page appears, offering us several options to connect your camera: Ethernet, Wi-Fi by WPS or manual Wi-Fi. Whichever option is chosen here, you should know that you can subsequently configure the IP camera differently without having to start from scratch. We choose here the third option, namely a Wi-Fi connection that we will configure manually.
The next step speaks for itself, just plug in the power to the camera and wait a minute. Although we have chosen the wireless connection, we are asked to connect the camera to the network via an Ethernet cable.
Once connected, the software will search for the camera on the network and should eventually display its model and MAC address. The next step is to choose a username coupled with a password. We will therefore choose a new password for our camera by filling in the last two fields.
Finally, you select the network on which you want to install it and enter the password for it. We click on Next then, after a few moments, we are asked to unplug the Ethernet cable.
To create a shortcut on the desktop, all you have to do is click on the small logo of the camera.
Connect to your camera from the computer
If a shortcut has been created, just click on it to open the camera management page. Otherwise, it can be accessed at xxxxxxxx.cam.trendnetcloud.com, which is on the back of the camera. You enter your username and password to connect.
On this management page, in addition to having a live view of what the camera is filming, we have access to a few parameters for video, sound and even image adjustment. To go further, go to the Advanced tab and click on Settings. This leads us to a new page on which we fill in our identifiers again.
By default, this page is in English. To switch to a Spanish version, we will replace "eng" in the address bar by "fr" and press enter.
Now that the interface is in Spanish, we can start by changing the username which is, by default, admin. To do this, we go to System / Admin then we change the information.
In the Network tab, you can configure the Wi-Fi, if the initialization had only been done in Ethernet.
One of the interesting functions of this camera is the possibility of triggering a recording in the event of motion detection. We then go to the Motion detection tab and check the Activate box.
You can define the motion sensitivity from which the recording is triggered as well as a particular area of the screen in which the motion is to be detected. This is useful if one of the areas of the image is occupied by an element that is constantly moving.
In the Sound detection tab, you can apply the same thing as for movement to the noises detected by the microphone of the camera.
These functions can then be programmed in the Action tab. You can define in which case a recording is triggered, as well as the destination of the recorded file. You can also select the micro SD card, a particular network path or even sending by email to be notified immediately.
The mobile application
Trendnet offers a mobile application, available on iOS and Android.
This allows access to the live image and offers the same adjustment possibilities as the web interface. To add a camera, all you have to do is click on the small tab with a "+" at the top right of the screen. We then enter a name for the camera in question, its ID - these are the 8 digits at the start of the web interface address, it can be found on the back of the camera - then its identifiers .
