Action Cams that can easily be hacked in order to have movies uploaded to FTP servers

[martafiguei]

I am looking for a solution that allows an action cam to automatically upload videos to an FTP server or an S3 AWS bucket.

It can be a solution based on
- hacking the cams firmware
- connecting it to a raspberry pi via USB


- any other that enables this


Many thanks!

 

[Nigel]

There are a number of action cameras that will stream video to RTSP, or use HTTP streaming if a server connects to them. The Gitup Git2 can also work with its network in client mode and connect to a network, although the server is still going to have to make the RTSP connection. I think there is an example on the Gitup.com website with it streaming to Youtube live via a server.

 

[martafiguei]

The thing is that I need cameras to work offline, wifi isn't available

 

[lacibaci]

This would be practical only if a cam would support 5G and you have an unlimited data plan.
The fact is that even a short drive will likely produce gigabytes of data (assuming 1080p or better) so the transfer would take a long time.

 

[martafiguei]

Exactly! would be the easiest but its not viable

If anyone has any ideas I would really appreciate

 

[kamkar]

But ? Why will you want upload to FTP, if there are no internet ( wifi or mobile internet ), is it just cuz you can not be bothered to move the memory card to the computer when you get home ( what is normal )
Or are you afraid someone will steal your memory card / or use its content against you.

A 1080p camera produce around 120 MB data every minute it record, and this is modest bitrate dashcams, a high bitrate action camera i assume will generate 3 - 4 X larger files every minute.

 

[martafiguei]

We are doing a project for a client of ours, and they have this requirement because they want to easily record videos and upload them to an FTP server as soon as the machine has wi-fi available. I was investigating this Sony cam (SONY HDR-AS50) and it looks like an option.

They have an API/SDK, we could have a custom app running on a raspberry pi, connecting it to the machine and having the app uploading the videos.

What do you think?

Are there any other cams with API or SDK available?

 

[Nigel]

Several of the cameras that use Novatek processors provide HTTP file access over the wifi, along with a set of HTTP requests to control the camera, and as previously stated, some Gitup cameras can also work as a network client rather than host.

Reverse engineering, Web API, Live feed...etc

Hi everyone. For first: I'm not an engineer or programmer. I'm just a enthusiastic user. I spent my whole night to research anything about capabilities of Novatek 96655 in the hope of changing bitrate, AE table, etc. During this research I found some intresting things. Maybe some of you already...

dashcamtalk.com

Not saying it is a good solution, but it is feasible. Note that the wifi on these cameras is not fast, to download a minute of video is likely to take a minute.

 

[nutsey]

Almost all HiSilicon based cams have busybox with ftpput command. What other device requirements were set by your client?

 

[lacibaci]

Accessing the videos is not a problem. Transfer them to a cloud is a different story. There could be a few minutes to few hours delay until your videos are pushed to the server depending on network availability. It's not going to be in real time or even close.

 

[martafiguei]

transfering them to the cloud we can manage

Do you think that a raspberry pi 8MP camara has good quality?

 

[lacibaci]

The quality of the new RPI HQ camera module is great (IMX477) but I am not sure about long term exposure to extreme conditions that it will have to endure. Then there is a matter of software that you will have to write...