Mangocam help

Introduction

The Mangocam cloud IP camera recording service (also referred to as Video Surveillance as a Service or VSaaS) has been created to be as easy to use as possible. However, since there is a certain level of complexity, this is not always achievable. The following information has been collected to help you with the setup and day to day tasks.

Setup instructions

You need an IP (wireless or wired) web camera. Also required is a broadband internet access. Most ISPs don't track or charge for uploads, but you need to verify this before setting up Mangocam to avoid unexpected data excess payments.

To start you need to create a free user account. To set this up only your email address is required, at this time no other personal information is necessary for basic functionality.

Mangocam offers you two different configuration modes: Direct stream mode (Mangocam is accessing your camera via HTTP / mjpeg) and FTP upload mode (your camera is pushing jpeg images to Mangocam via FTP). The FTP mode is easier to set up and is compatible with all IP cameras that support ftp upload, but the frame rate is lower than in Direct stream mode. Also Direct stream offers Mangocam more control - frame rate, schedules, pan and tilt etc.

For Direct stream mode, you need to configure your internet router to allow Mangocam remote access to the camera(s). This is sometimes called NAT, PAT, Virtual server, address / IP forwarding. Almost all routers support this feature. You can find an easy to follow guide here. You can check if your port is open here.

If your ISP can only supply a dynamic IP address (that changes every time your router connects to the internet), you may need to setup a free Dynamic DNS account. This allows Mangocam to always connect to the current IP address of your camera using the host name provided by the dynamic DNS provider. Again, most likely your internet router / modem supports dynamic DNS updates. Foscam IP cameras come with a free Foscam DDNS account.

The next step is to configure your camera in Mangocam. Go to Config / Cameras and add a new camera. Once completed, please go to the Control Panel and start live stream (in the View submenu). Please check under View / Event log for error messages.

Questions and Answers

Q: What cameras are supported?
A: For Direct stream mode, Cisco, Foscam, Axis, Panasonic, Vivotek, Linksys, Apexis, Wansview, Y-Cam, Aviosys, D-Link, TP-Link, Lorex, iPUX, Tenvis and others are supported - check here for a full list of all currently supported models. You can purchase Foscam IP cameras here. Other brands may work as well, if they support mjpeg. Please email us if your camera brand / model is not supported yet. For FTP upload mode, all IP cameras will work that support ftp upload.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: The basic account is free. But your retention period is 24 hours and you can only configure one camera. Please find pricing information here.

Q: How do I get started on the site
A: After signing up, you need to add your camera (either in direct stream mode or FTP upload mode) in the Camera configuration menu. Once done, you can view the live stream and also perform instant recording. To record automatically - and also for motion detection and the camera proxy function you need to create one or more schedules.

Q: H.264 recording - what's supported and how does it work
A: Mangocam.com now supports recording of Foscam's H.264 cameras (FI8602W, FI8608W, FI9820W, FI9821W and similar) - using RTSP (H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 / AVC) over HTTP. This option is only supported by some premium plans, please refer to the plans page for more information. The recommended camera video stream settings are: Bitrate 96-128 kBps, max frame rate: 4, key frame interval: 4, VBR, highest image quality (1), no OSD, 640p resolution. If you are using a Foscam HD camera, you can configure this on the secondary stream (640p), otherwise the primary stream should be configured and used for recording (or you will need to use QVGA resolution).
All existing features (motion detection, live streaming, external viewing, alerting, motion graphs etc.) are supported for H.264.

Q: How many schedule and group entries are supported?
A: There is no limit.

Q: How many cameras are supported?
A: This depends on your membership status - up to 24 cameras are supported. One camera is free.

Q: What are groups used for?
A: Groups allow you to group similar cameras (all outdoor cameras etc.) together, so the same rules and schedules can be applied. Also multiple cameras can be viewed in live streaming mode together using groups.

Q: What about motion detection?
A: Motion is visually represented during viewing of recordings and you can also configure SMS and email alerts. You can also use the cameras built in motion detection software and receive emails with 6 single jpg pictures attached. Mangocam allows free email forwarding to any mail account.

Q: How do I configure motion detection and alerting?
A: The camera sensitivity is configured in the camera configuration menu. Once done, you setup a schedule with "recording + motion detect" action. In the recordings viewer you will see a new graph displaying motion events. Clicking on these events will skip the viewer to the new time / location. Email and SMS alerts are configured in the new "Alert settings" menu.

Q: I can't see a picture?
A: There can be many reasons for this. Please look at the event log to see system messages. If Mangocam can't connect to your camera or has other access problems, you can see appropriate messages in the event log.

Q: How do I stop recording?
A: There is manual (instant) and scheduled recording available. Manual recording can be stopped in the Control Panel using the "Stop REC" button. Scheduled recording usually stops automatically according to the schedule. You can disable the schedule, which will stop recording almost immediately.

Q: How do I stop streaming?
A: Streaming stops automatically 10 minutes after the last viewer and starts automatically when a new viewer connects. This is also true for external viewing, but only during the scheduled period.

Q: How does the email forwarding work?
A: Once you create a Mangocam user account, you can select this feature under user settings. You can then configure your camera mail settings like this: Sender: admin@mangocam.com, Receiver 1: your user name@users.mangocam.com, SMTP Server: users.mangocam.com, Port: 25, Need Authentication: no. Please remember to save / submit these settings before you click Test.

Q: Why do you need my mobile number?
A: This is not required, however, you can decide to receive mobile notifications (SMS alerts) for certain events.

Q: Is it safe / secure?
A: Our site has been designed with security in mind. We are using the latest Linux operating system versions, industry standard servers, firewalls, traffic encryption, application servers and databases. We are using secure session cookies to verify your identity. Unless you allow people access to the camera footage / feed (for use as webcam or sharing your animals with friends), nobody has access to your data / information / cameras.

Q: How much data is being generated?
A: A typical IP webcam (640x480 resolution) generates pictures somewhere between 20 kB and 60 kB in size. If you transfer one picture every second for one day, you can end up with about 1.5 GB of data, translating into around 40 GB per month. But since lower resolutions, frame rates and schedules can be configured, it should be much less in practise. Your usage can be tracked under the View / Statistics.

Q: What are people using this service for?
A: Usually for general security cameras around the house, offices or restaurants. It is also often used for watching pets, babies and toddlers from work, and recording over night.

Q: How exactly does it work?
A: After configuring cameras and schedules, Mangocam will connect directly to your camera, reading the motion jpeg stream and saving the data on our servers. You can then watch and delete videos at your leisure. If you decide to share the videos with others, only one connection is made to your camera at any time. Recordings expire automatically after a set amount of time (retention) while recording from your camera continues, at the moment 24 hours for the free plan and up to 31 days for premium plans.

Q: Which web browsers are supported?
A: In theory all, but the site has only been tested with Chrome, Firefox and IE. Most browsers support mjepg streams, but for example for IE and Opera the recordings and live feeds need to be viewed using a java class - so a java JRE needs to be installed. However, the public / external viewing mode only uses a simple browser refresh, so is compatible with all modern web browsers.

Q: Where can I configure resolution, mirror and flip image?
A: For Foscam cameras this can be set manually via the webcams web browser, whatever settings were used there the last time will also be used for recording. This feature may be added in a later version of the Mangocam site.

Q: What happens if my internet connection goes down?
A: The site will try to reconnect to your camera every 5 minutes. If the site still can't connect to your camera after 24 hours, the camera will be automatically disabled and the user notified. There is no offline recording unless you are using specific software or Foscam's recording software.

Q: I want to secure my camera using a firewall / access list / filter. What IP addresses should I allow?
A: Currently the source IPs 69.64.52.134, 175.107.163.107, 85.25.208.92, 199.217.115.141, 199.217.117.33, 173.242.116.230, 69.64.36.121, 199.217.117.101 and 188.138.95.165 + 69.64.34.158 (new) are being used by Mangocam. The IP addresses 63.147.124.43 and 198.74.231.130 are no longer in use. As new nodes are being added or removed, these will be updated here and communicated via Twitter.

Q: What is offline alerting and how do I configure it
A: Camera monitoring / offline alerting will let you know if your camera is not accessible or unavailable. This can either be caused by dynamic DNS change, power outage, wifi or internet issues or hardware fault etc. For this to work you need to setup a 'camera monitoring' schedule (to enable camera testing) and also a 'camera offline notification' alert (for the actual notification email or SMS). The event log will show camera check messages. Mangocam will connect to your camera once a minute. If the camera is not available for two consecutive checks, an alert will be generated. Depending on the schedule configuration this can be done only while the camera is recording or outside of actual recording times as well.

Q: I don't see any motion events and am not receiving alerts emails
A: Please make sure you have the following configured: The camera has motion sensitivity enabled (Camera configuratio menu). The schedule used for recording uses the "Recording + motion detection" action. The camera as well as the schedule has to be enabled. There are no connectivity errors or network timeouts in the event log. Also for alerting via email or SMS you need to configure and enable an appropriate alert.

If you have any other queries or feedback please send us an email support@mangocam.com.