nodejs ONVIF camera framework

While working with regular streaming on OBS and Restream, I found that WiFi cameras could be a good use for streaming tasks. You can power them up with powerbank and drop to any location of the room, you can then easily move their position or rotate them remotely.

The only problem is that you need ONVIF camera interface. While working with OBS (openbroadcaststudio) software it's uncomfortable to switch windows just to control the camera and you actually don't need additional view window because you already have one in OBS. So I though of creating hotkeys so I could move my PTZ-enabled WiFi ONVIF camera without switching a desktop or window and without any actual interface for that.

So I found ONVIF node sources, checked and re-written them so they could use single config file (one-time setup) and now they can be easily runned like scripts from the system hotkey setup.

It's easy now to use this repo as a basis for your own online service or desktop app.

Node ONVIF

This source code repository helps you to write own nodejs-based ONVIF camera application or set up system hotkeys to use the camera. This repository aims to make super-easy, basic camera controls with NodeJS.

Camera

Technology stack

This is minimal node framework so it uses solo node(js) and 3 node modules.

Dependencies & requirements

node
node modules: xml2js, html, node-onvif
npm
any camera that supports ONVIF

Github repo link

node-onvif

Functions

Find cameras over the network
Identify their UID, IPC and IP (onvifcamtest.js)
Get information on found camera: manufacturer, model, firmware, serial number, id (caminfo.js)
Find real RTSP stream address (streaminfo.js)
Turn the camera left, right, up, down; zoom in & out (files: turnleft.js, turnright.js, turnup.js, turndown.js; zoomin.js, zoomout.js)
Get snapshot from the camera (getsnapshot.js)

Notes

Not all PTZ functions work with all PTZ cameras (for example, zoom functions may absent)
Not every camera has the same snapshot functionality (so, the getsnapshot might return 404 error)
There might be some errors worth noting or fixing (if you find them, please create an issue here)

How to use

Install dependencies (npm, git and then npm modules): ubuntu sample - sudo apt install npm git; npm install xml2js html node-onvif
Clone this repository: git clone https://github.com/sxiii/node-onvif
Enter the repo directory: cd node-onvif
Run the detection JS node script to find IP of the camera: node onvifcamtest.js
Copy the IP & Port address to clipboard or remember them.
Open the config.js file and replace the IP & Port with yours. Save & close the file.
Now you can run any .js file in the folder like: node streaminfo.js

Using options

You can use this script to make an instant camera snapshot, or, for example, control the camera while streaming from it with OBS (OpenBroadcastStudio). For this usecase (eg.: turn the camera right), just create keyboard shotcut with the following command: node /home/username/node-onvif/turnright.js and then arrange the hotkey. You could set up keys for rotating the camera to all directions, taking the snapshot, etc etc.

Example of config.js file

Please replace the IP, port and user/pass combination according to found information (onvifcamtest.js output) and/or the datasheet of the camera. The file should look like this:

module.exports = { 
  xaddr: 'http://192.168.1.100:5000/onvif/device_service',
  user : 'admin',
  pass : '123456'
 };

All other scripts (except onvifcamtest.js) takes camera configuration from this file.

Sample output of onvifcamtest.js

Start the discovery process.
1 devices were found.
- urn:uuid:2419d68a-2dd2-21b2-a205-000C437D0EF6
  - IPC 10704807
  - http://192.168.1.100:5000/onvif/device_service

Sample output of caminfo.js

{
  "Manufacturer": "Technology",
  "Model": "IPC",
  "FirmwareVersion": "21.00.00.35",
  "SerialNumber": "10704807",
  "HardwareId": "Ver 2.1"
}

Sample output of streaminfo.js

rtsp://192.168.1.100:554/onvif1

Sample output of getsnapshot.js

Look for file saved in the directory: snapshot.jpg

Done!

Sample output of any rotation or zoom files

Done!

Further development, community help, issues etc.

I would like to improve this repo but not making it monstrous. If you have your commits for better ONVIF snapshot features or some other useful (but still small) functions, please add them. Found a bug? Make an issue in this repo. You can support my work - contact me on telegram @fakesnowden for details.