ONVIF-UTIL(1)

✨ ONVIF-UTIL 💅

okay bestie, welcome to onvif-util, the command-line tool from the onvif-util manual page that lets you query and adjust onvif compatible cameras. yes, actual IP cameras. we're hacking the surveillance state but make it cute 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

onvif-util [-ah] [-u <user>] [-p <password>] [ip_address]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea: you can view and set parameters on onvif compatible IP cameras with this thing. use it to find and identify cameras, and then to open up an interactive session where you can query and set camera properties. it's giving remote control but for a camera on your network, and honestly? iconic. 👑

the flags, bestie 🫶

• -a, --all — show all cameras on the network. yes all of them. no cap.
• -h, --help — show the help for this command. when in doubt, ask for help. self care. 💖
• -u, --user — set the username for the camera login
• -p, --password — set the password for the camera login

quick starters ✨

to view all cameras on the network:

onvif-util -a

to login to a particular camera:

onvif-util -u username -p password ip_address

to login to a camera with safe mode disabled:

onvif-util -s -u username -p password ip_address

once you're in the session 🧚

once you're logged into the camera you can view data using the get command followed by the data requested. and btw, the (n) in these commands means an optional profile index to apply the setting — if you don't pass it, the current profile is used. iykyk.

Data Retrieval Commands (start with get)

get rtsp 'pass'(optional) (n) - Get rtsp uri for camera, with optional password credential
get capabilities
get time
get profiles
get profile (n)
get video (n)
get video options (n)
get imaging
get imaging options
get network

Parameter Setting Commands (start with set)

set resolution (n) - Resolution setting in the format widthxheight, must match option
set framerate (n)
set gov_length (n)
set bitrate (n)
set bightness value(required)
set contrast value(required)
set saturation value(required)
set sharpness value(required)
set ip_address value(required)
set default_gateway value(required)
set dns value(required)
set dhcp value(required) - Accepted settings are 'on' and off'
set password  value(required)

heads up fr fr: that's bightness, not brightness. that's exactly how the manpage spells it. do not come for me, i am simply the messenger. 😭

Maintenance Commands

help
safe - set safe mode on.  Viewer and browser are disabled
unsafe - set safe mode off.  Viewer and browser are enabled
browser - Use browser to access camera configurations
view (n) - View the camera output using ffplay (ffplay must be installed in the path)
view player (n) - View the camera output with user specified player e.g. view vlc
sync_time 'zone'(optional) - Sync the camera time to the computer
dump - Full set of raw data from camera configuration
reboot

To Exit Camera Session

quit

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💖 EXAMPLES 💖

a typical session would begin by finding the cameras on the network:

> onvif-util -a

Looking for cameras on the network...
Found 8 cameras
192.168.1.18 localhost(TV TV-IP319PI)
192.168.1.7 (IPC-BO IPC-122)
192.168.1.14 IPC(Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A)
192.168.1.6 IPC(Amcrest IP2M-841EB)
192.168.1.12 (AXIS M1065-LW)
192.168.1.12 (AXIS M1065-LW)
192.168.1.2 IPC(Amcrest IP3M-HX2W)
192.168.1.11 R2(IPC-model)

to start a session with a camera, use the login credentials:

> onvif-util -u admin -p admin123 192.168.1.12

found host: 192.168.1.12
successfully connected to host
  name:   AXIS M1065-LW
  serial: ACCC8E99C915

get current settings for video:

> get video

Profile set to profile_1_h264

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Frame Rate: 25
Gov Length: 30
Bit Rate:   4096

get available video settings:

> get video options

Available Resolutions
  1920 x 1080
  1280 x 720
  640 x 480
  320 x 240
Min Gov Length: 1
Max Gov Length: 32767
Min Frame Rate: 1
Max Frame Rate: 30
Min Bit Rate: 1
Max Bit Rate: 2147483647

set video resolution:

> set resolution 1280x720

Resolution was set to 1280 x 720

exit session:

> quit

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🌈 COPYRIGHT 🌈

Copyright (c) 2020 Stephen Rhodes

this program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. this program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. see the GNU General Public License for more details. you should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

there's a gui version of this program included with the libonvif package which will implement most of the same commands. it may be invoked using the onvif command. the gui has the ability to view camera video output using a player such as ffplay, provided that the player executable is installed in the computer path. so if the terminal is giving too much and you want a little window moment, she's there. 💅

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🍓 NOTES 🍓

okay this is the part where i hold your hand, bestie. 🫶

camera compliance with the onvif standard is often incomplete and in some cases incorrect. success with the onvif-util may be limited in many cases. cameras made by Hikvision will have the greatest level of compatibility with onvif-util. cameras made by Dahua will have a close degree of compatibility with some notable exceptions regarding gateway and DNS settings. time settings may not be reliable in some cases. if the time is set without the zone flag, the time appearing in the camera feed will be synced to the computer time. if the time zone flag is used, the displayed time may be set to an offset from the computer time based on the timezone setting of the camera.

if the camera DNS setting is properly onvif compliant, the IP address may be reliably set using onvif-util. some cameras may not respond to the DNS setting requested by onvif-util due to non compliance. note that the camera may reboot automatically under some conditions if the DNS setting is changed from off to on. like, surprise reboot. main character behavior from the camera honestly.

video settings are reliable. the Admin Password setting is reliable, as well as sync_time and the reboot command. if there is an issue with a particular setting, it is recommended to connect to the camera using the browser command, as most cameras will have a web interface that will allow you to make the changes reliably. the gui version has a button on the Admin tab that will launch the web browser with the camera ip address automatically. slay. ✨

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this whole thing comes from the onvif-util manual, dated 09 November 2022. mwah, take care of her. 💜