How to access the A129 over Wi-Fi without the Viofo App

[Nigel]

Curious if there is any hack to perminately change the WiFi operation mode to station (client) instead of AP. Preferably something that will survive reboot such as a special file on the SD card similar to the action cams.

I think you will have to wait for a firmware update.
I'm not sure if it will be included or not in the next update, but it has certainly been requested.

 

[mentadent]

RTSP URL worked great. I also used my router to connect as a station to my A129 and set up a simple script to automatically download videos.
It would be great if wifi mode could be set up to automatically turn on every time. Then I could make videos download while my car is parked outside.

 

[SirVival0001]

RTSP URL worked great. I also used my router to connect as a station to my A129 and set up a simple script to automatically download videos.
It would be great if wifi mode could be set up to automatically turn on every time. Then I could make videos download while my car is parked outside.

I assume, your router will stop its own access point and all the local network (DHCP, DNS, ...) , when connected as client to dash cam?

 

[HonestReview]

I'm having issues getting station mode to work with rtsp://

So I flashed to version 2.1 on my A129 Duo. Setup Station Mode, setup my phone to be a hotspot, and connected the camera. It got assigned an ip of 192.168.43.133. When connected locally to my hotspot using a computer (or my cell), I was able to access http://192.168.43.133 and browse the files. Soo clearly port 80 works. When I attempted to access the rtsp:// 192.168.43.133 via vlc it generated errors.

ERROR:

Your input can't be opened:

VLC is unable to open the MRL 'rtsp://192.168.43.133/'. Check the log for details.

Connection failed:

VLC could not connect to "192.168.43.133:554".

I also tried having my laptop connected to my home network and camera to my cell phone as a hotspot. Trying to use the REAL IP neither http:/realip or rtsp://realip worked.

Do I need to configure vlc to connect to rtsp on a specific port?

 

[mentadent]

On mine just rtsp://IPADDRESS works in VLC.

 

[HonestReview]

On mine just rtsp://IPADDRESS works in VLC.

I'm going to test hooking my camera to my home router later today and forwarding ports. See if maybe my cell phone as a hotspot filters traffic and 554. Hopefully that's the issue.

 

[Nigel]

I'm going to test hooking my camera to my home router later today and forwarding ports. See if maybe my cell phone as a hotspot filters traffic and 554. Hopefully that's the issue.

You don't need to use rtsp, you can use http for video instead.

 

[HonestReview]

You don't need to use rtsp, you can use http for video instead.

How to access the A129 over Wi-Fi without the Viofo App

I've been playing with my new A129 Duo before I install it. You don't need to use the Viofo app to download saved files or to stream live video, like for camera placement. Turn on Wi-Fi on the A129 and connect to it with a client device, which will get an automatic IP via DHCP in the...

dashcamtalk.com

So far the only thing I've gotten to work is turning on the camera's Wifi. Connecting to the camera directly with my cell phone, and using http://192.168.1.254:8192 via an Mjpeg Player to view the front video only.

I could also browse files via http://192.168.1.254

I absolutely cannot seem to get the camera to work via VLC using rstp://192.168.1.254 when connected directly to the camera with my cell phone.

When attempting station mode with Camera and using my phone as a Hotspot, I couldn't get VLC or Mjpeg player to show any live video.

I tried the http://192.168.43.133 ip the camera was given and had zero success with rtsp or mjpeg viewer.

Going to try the camera to my home wifi with port forwards and see if that changes anything.

 

[jokiin]

Going to try the camera to my home wifi with port forwards and see if that changes anything.

shouldn't need to port forward anything if the camera is connected to your home wifi and you are accessing from a computer on the same wifi network

 

[HonestReview]

shouldn't need to port forward anything if the camera is connected to your home wifi and you are accessing from a computer on the same wifi network

Ya theoretically yes. Yet i cannot access the rtsp or video stream if connected to the camera via a hotspot. Where camera is operating as Station mode. I can browse files via http://. If my phone is connected direct to the camera, I can use mjpeg and view the front video. Couldnt get rtsp:// to work.

Going to test it on my home router vs hotspot maybe today or tomorrow.

 

[mentadent]

Have you considered your hotspot might have 'wireless isolation' where it doesn't allow wifi clients to communicate with each other?

 

[jokiin]

Ya theoretically yes. Yet i cannot access the rtsp or video stream if connected to the camera via a hotspot. Where camera is operating as Station mode. I can browse files via http://. If my phone is connected direct to the camera, I can use mjpeg and view the front video. Couldnt get rtsp:// to work.

Going to test it on my home router vs hotspot maybe today or tomorrow.

hotspots generally aren't routers, if it's a cellular device they're effectively part of a WAN as 99% of providers don't give them public IP's, they're really not made for what you're trying to do, your home wifi router though is a different story, you won't need port forwarding as both devices will be in your internal network, NAT / Port Forwarding is used when directing traffic from external to internal networks, if you wanted to access the car camera while it was connected at home and you were offsite somewhere then you would either setup port forwarding to direct external traffic to the camera, or you would use a VPN to get onto your internal network first

 

[HonestReview]

hotspots generally aren't routers, if it's a cellular device they're effectively part of a WAN as 99% of providers don't give them public IP's, they're really not made for what you're trying to do, your home wifi router though is a different story, you won't need port forwarding as both devices will be in your internal network, NAT / Port Forwarding is used when directing traffic from external to internal networks, if you wanted to access the car camera while it was connected at home and you were offsite somewhere then you would either setup port forwarding to direct external traffic to the camera, or you would use a VPN to get onto your internal network first

Ya the hotspot is only issuing an internal ip (192.xxx.xxx.xxx - in my case 192.168.43.133). And not a real outside ip. Though I'd think the hotspot would allow me to connect to live view with the camera from my cell phone within the same network. Yet, only http://192.168.43.133 works to browse the file folder and not live view.

I was trying to test out station mode for a user. His interest was to take his A139 (I have an A129 Duo) and use live view while away. I was trying to test out the practicality of this for him. I was hoping he could setup a vehicle hotspot and then access his camera from anywhere in the world through the use of Station Mode + Hotspot.

Similar to Blackvue Cameras (which have a dedicate 4G LTE Modem) and Thinkware Cameras. Both utilize the cloud for emergency capture video and also allow live view.

I was hoping that use of Station Mode would be a work around for the Viofo Camera Line of Products for him.

 

[jokiin]

Ya the hotspot is only issuing an internal ip

as they all do

the difference with a hotspot is your internet connection, 99% of providers don't provide public IP's, you're effectively a part of a WAN in the providers corporate network

on your home network these are not issues, accessing from within the same network is easy, when you want to access from a remote network that's when things change, this can be reasonably easy on devices that are built with on board internet access or cloud functionality, for others just adding station mode is only part of the equation if remote access from external networks is the goal

 

[HonestReview]

as they all do

the difference with a hotspot is your internet connection, 99% of providers don't provide public IP's, you're effectively a part of a WAN in the providers corporate network

on your home network these are not issues, accessing from within the same network is easy, when you want to access from a remote network that's when things change, this can be reasonably easy on devices that are built with on board internet access or cloud functionality, for others just adding station mode is only part of the equation if remote access from external networks is the goal

That's my suspicion. I plan to connect the camera in station mode to my home internet later today and see if I am able to use "Live Mode". If that indeed works, then we are right. Hotspots aren't going to let "Live View" work in Station Mode unless a real ip (outside ip) that is unfiltered on port 554 (rtsp) is achievable. Or unless the hotspot allows port forwarding.

Meaning that Blackvues LTE Modem (and I presume Thinkware must have a Modem Option for Cloud) have LTE modems specifically configured to allow Remote Live View from anywhere within the world.

 

[Nigel]

Hotspots aren't going to let "Live View" work in Station Mode unless a real ip (outside ip) that is unfiltered on port 554 (rtsp) is achievable.

What do you think the advantage of rtsp is over http for live view?

You can change channels using an http command.

Also, I’m not sure the A139 supports rtsp, I found it didn’t work on some of the latter cameras, though I have no idea why.

 

[Nath]

Also, I’m not sure the A139 supports rtsp, I found it didn’t work on some of the latter cameras, though I have no idea why.

Yes, it does support rtsp. At least on the latest firmware the stream is active (not sure how about in 2/3CH though because i run it in 1CH now).

 

[HonestReview]

Yes, it does support rtsp. At least on the latest firmware the stream is active (not sure how about in 2/3CH though because i run it in 1CH now).

Can you live view it remotely or only when connected to the same LAN (Local area Network)?

 

[HonestReview]

What do you think the advantage of rtsp is over http for live view?

You can change channels using an http command.

Also, I’m not sure the A139 supports rtsp, I found it didn’t work on some of the latter cameras, though I have no idea why.

http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:8192 was for front. What is the rear Channel Port?

Can RTSP view both channels at once or is it only a single channel view, too?

 

[Nigel]

Can RTSP view both channels at once or is it only a single channel view, too?

I think you always get what is shown on the LCD screen (if there was an LCD on the A139), so you have a choice of either or both/all, and that choice can be changed over http, that is how the app displays the live view.