HAI Camera Controller (87A00-1) or alternative?

xynamax

New Member
Hi all:
 
I have two OmniTouch 5.7e panels in my home setup; now looking to expand my security cameras with the touchpanels. Basically, I have a camera covering my driveway as well as another covering my front door. I already have triggers so that when someone comes down my driveway or rings the doorbell, the image is split-screen on some of our TVs. I want to expand that now and have the image also sent/display on my OmniTouch 5.7e panels.
 
It appears the 87A00-1 camera controller is discontinued and not able to find one.  Are there alternatives? It appears that it's just emulating some type of IP stream. Wondering if I can just use some other emulation/video-to-ip converter to get it working with the OmniTouch units.
 
Also, if anyone has a used one, I'd be interested in that as well.
 
Thanks in advance,
 
Richie
 
 
I want to expand that now and have the image also sent/display on my OmniTouch 5.7e panels.
 
The current firmware of the HAI OmniPro II broke the video pop up feature on the Omnitouch 5.7e's.  I opened a ticket on this last year.  The dysfunctional firmware was validated by Leviton HAI CT's.
 
They screwed up the OmniPro firmware for use of the Omnitouch 7 touchscreens making the Omnitouch 5.7 and 5.7e's disfunctional (kind of really dumb thing to do)..
 
Here have legacy HAI video hub and use an Axis, ZM server, Grandstream encoder / decoder and direct IP feeds to feed video to the Omnitouch 5.7e's. / Omnitouch 5.7's.
 
I have the Omnitouch 5.7e's & Omnitouch 5.7's configured for this video and IP video from other cams and it works fine except for the issue mentioned above.
 
The 87A00-1 is just a modded for HAI Axis server.
 
pete_c said:
The current firmware of the HAI OmniPro II broke the video pop up feature on the Omnitouch 5.7e's.  I opened a ticket on this last year.  The dysfunctional firmware was validated by Leviton HAI CT's.
 
They screwed up the OmniPro firmware for use of the Omnitouch 7 touchscreens making the Omnitouch 5.7 and 5.7e's disfunctional (kind of really dumb thing to do)..
 
Here have legacy HAI video hub and use an Axis, ZM server, Grandstream encoder / decoder and direct IP feeds to feed video to the Omnitouch 5.7e's. / Omnitouch 5.7's.
 
I have the Omnitouch 5.7e's & Omnitouch 5.7's configured for this video and IP video from other cams and it works fine except for the issue mentioned above.
 
The 87A00-1 is just a modded for HAI Axis server.
Pete:
 
Thanks for the info. I'm actually running a much older firmware version (3.0!) that is still on the EPROMS, my OmniPro was shipped well before they went to the field-upgradable firmware units so I would have to upgrade to anyway to a newer version.
 
Do you know which model Axis server I can use? I saw quite a few of them, the one that is "most" compatible would work great, it looks like they are considerably cheaper then the HAI 87A00-1 model but I want to make sure I'm going to purchase the right one..
 
I'm using legacy style cameras (BNC composite video) through a DVR, I can use the loop-out connections on my DVR to route the video feeds that I want to the video server to feed to the OmniTouch 5.7e's..
 
-Richie
 
Do you know which model Axis server I can use? I saw quite a few of them, the one that is "most" compatible would work great, it looks like they are considerably cheaper then the HAI 87A00-1 model but I want to make sure I'm going to purchase the right one..
 
I'm using legacy style cameras (BNC composite video) through a DVR, I can use the loop-out connections on my DVR to route the video feeds that I want to the video server to feed to the OmniTouch 5.7e's..
 
The HAI 87A00-1 firmware was very customized to the OmniPro panel.  That said I never owned one.  Here my analog cameras are Optex with BNC connections.  Many years ago here just went to connecting them to a ZM 8 port analog capture card running on an NVR.  Before the cables went to the card the signals were amplified (with one video amp per feed).  One cable one camera went to the the HAI legacy video hub and the other to the NVR.  Over time as I kept adding IP cameras switched over to Axis servers removing the video capture card from the NVR.   Specficially went to the Axis 2400+.  It is a bit convoluted here and have kept the older OmniPro 5.7 legacy monitors / video going with the old Video / Omnitouch hub and just putting in the IP's of the specific Axis 2400+ feed in the PCA configuration for the Omnitouch 5.7e's.  Wanting to add the newer IP cams to the older legacy hub I am using a Grandstream encoder / decoder to one analog video port on the HAI video hub. 
 
So you can take the outputs from your NVR to the inputs of the Axis 2400+.  This device is a 4 port analog to IP server.  Each camera feed is just one line in the PCA camera configuration.  The Axis 2400+ is an oldie but a goodie and can be purchased used at a reasonable price on Ebay. 
 
The firmware level you are currently at on the OPII panel should suffice relating to your CCTV needs.  The PCA configuration is plug n play.  Here is my Axis 2400+ configuration per camera.  You can go to two Axis 2400+ servers for more than 4 cameras. 
 
1 - hxxp://IPOFAXIS//axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=1&resolution=704x480
2 - hxxp://IPOFAXIS//axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=2&resolution=704x480
3 - hxxp://IPOFAXIS//axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=3&resolution=704x480
4 - hxxp://IPOFAXIS//axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=4&resolution=704x480
 
BTW my oldest panel is the same one you have and it's been stuck in yesterday's firmware for a long time and it works fine for me.  
 
Here is some good news I thought I would share with everyone here. For a few years, I was using the AXIS video servers to convert 12 cameras to IP so they could be seen on the Snaplink applications, Omnitouch PRO, and the new Omnitouch 7. I was never impressed with the video quality of the units but they worked. A recent posting online about trying to view MJPEG streams from IP camera's on multiple omnitouch 7's and how it was not working with the pop up scripting led me to discover a few things.
 
Most IP camera's only have 1-3 streams that can be viewed at any one given time. Usually the first is for HD recording, the other one or two can be mjpeg if configured as such. ie) watchnet camera's. At most, you could get maybe 2 Omnitouch 7's to work this way, the others would never connect because the mjpeg stream is unicast to a specific IP that requests the video feed.
 
Video servers on the other hand like the AXIS video servers, don't have this issue. Many separate IP's can tap into the video server without and issue. This is a problem however because if you invest in IP camera technology, you know it's amazing and comparing it to the axis and an analog camera via an omnitouch, is like trying to view HD video on your 1970's zenith tv.. the image and picture ability of the device is lost.
 
So the solution is this, HD cameras that have more than 1 stream, have an MJPEG request that works to the HAI series of products and is stable so many devices connect seamlessly. Good luck.. after testing 4 camera's , none have passed the test.
 
HOWEVER,
 
In my testing and trials of thing, I found out from a cryptic post about geovision that their DVR's (capture cards in a PC) have an actual MJPEG requestor that is not documented or if it is, I have never found it. I have used HAI, the AXIS and a geovision DVR for recording, the HAI encoder for the older 5.7's for years now and did not realise I could eliminate the AXIS video encoder.
 
http://<ip>/mjpeg?cam=x will send an mjpeg stream to any and all HAI devices at once, same as the axis but the video quality is outstanding on analog cameras. The PC is doing all the pushing so as long as the CPU is descent, no issue with sending the stream to many devices at once.
It gets better, if you have IP camera's, the IP camera only needs one stream to get to the geovision. The mjpeg request works the same regardless of the source be it IP or Analog. Now I get HD video on my PC's and Snaplink and not to mention all the Omnitouch 7s when the doorbell goes off.
 
This will address a few peoples issues here regarding IP camera's and HAI
 
Ok, so I finally landed an Axis 2400+ and have it on my network. I can get to it no problem from my PC's on the network, although not sure how to get it viewing on the OmniTouch 5.7e.
 
I configured the 5.7e with the IP address of the Axis 2400+ server using port 80, although anytime I try to view a camera it shows "Disconnected" on the OmniTouch 5.7e.
 
Any ideas? Do I need to configure any special usernames on the Axis 2400+ controller?
 
-Richie
 
 
Do I need to configure any special usernames on the Axis 2400+ controller?
 
No.
 
I use an Axis 2400+ server here (couple of them) for the older cams.  I also feed the Axis 2400+ to ZM here.
 
BTW after I configure PCA and upload the stuff I reboot the Omnitouch 5.7e's.
 
PCA Axis 2400+ cams are configured like so. (type=mjpeg - doesn't matter on number, fps, quality or resolution)
 
1 - hxxp://IPOF2400+/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=1&resolution=704x480
 
2 - hxxp://IPOF2400+/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=2&resolution=704x480
 
3 - hxxp://IPOF2400+/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=3&resolution=704x480
 
4 - hxxp://IPOF2400+/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=4&resolution=704x480
 
If you go to the Axis Server 2400+ IP and right click on properties of one of four cams you will see the same as above using Firefox.
 
OK, I see what you mean now. I didn't see the "extended setup" in my PCA until I did a version override. My firmware is currently 3.0 but the extended setup doesn't appear until version 3.9.  Once I did that, I see where I can enter those URL's for the cameras.
 
Does this mean I need to update my OmniPro to version 3.9 or better?
 
pete_c said:
The HAI 87A00-1 firmware was very customized to the OmniPro panel.  That said I never owned one.  Here my analog cameras are Optex with BNC connections.  Many years ago here just went to connecting them to a ZM 8 port analog capture card running on an NVR.  Before the cables went to the card the signals were amplified (with one video amp per feed).  One cable one camera went to the the HAI legacy video hub and the other to the NVR.  Over time as I kept adding IP cameras switched over to Axis servers removing the video capture card from the NVR.   Specficially went to the Axis 2400+.  It is a bit convoluted here and have kept the older OmniPro 5.7 legacy monitors / video going with the old Video / Omnitouch hub and just putting in the IP's of the specific Axis 2400+ feed in the PCA configuration for the Omnitouch 5.7e's.  Wanting to add the newer IP cams to the older legacy hub I am using a Grandstream encoder / decoder to one analog video port on the HAI video hub. 
 
So you can take the outputs from your NVR to the inputs of the Axis 2400+.  This device is a 4 port analog to IP server.  Each camera feed is just one line in the PCA camera configuration.  The Axis 2400+ is an oldie but a goodie and can be purchased used at a reasonable price on Ebay. 
 
The firmware level you are currently at on the OPII panel should suffice relating to your CCTV needs.  The PCA configuration is plug n play.  Here is my Axis 2400+ configuration per camera.  You can go to two Axis 2400+ servers for more than 4 cameras. 
 
1 - hxxp://IPOFAXIS//axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=1&resolution=704x480
2 - hxxp://IPOFAXIS//axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=2&resolution=704x480
3 - hxxp://IPOFAXIS//axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=3&resolution=704x480
4 - hxxp://IPOFAXIS//axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=4&resolution=704x480
 
BTW my oldest panel is the same one you have and it's been stuck in yesterday's firmware for a long time and it works fine for me.  
Pete:
 
I just want to say THANKS for your help.  You saved me a bundle of time and $$ by using a generic video server, I picked up an Axis 2400+ off of ebay for $70us and it works wonderfully. I also contacted HAI and they sent me a firmware upgrade chip free of charge as well (3.14a) since I can't purchase a new one elsewhere.
 
I can now view my cameras on my touchscreens and have all the logic worked out!!
 
-Richie
 
Pete I know this is an old old post I am responding to but as a fellow OP II user I am about to purchase a Ring Pro Doorbell and am wondering if its video can be made to come up on my 5.7E's.  Your thoughts please?  I do not have any cameras currently.
 
If you can stream the Ring doorbell video via a web browser mpg wise then it'll work with the OmniPro 2 panel.  The firmware upgrade relating to the CCTV stuff on PCA has removed much of the legacy HAI CCTV server stuff and it is as easy as just doing a copy and paste of the link.
 
The if then pop up video link now works fine these days.
 
Way back tested it while watching the Omnitouch 5.7 and Omnitouch 5.7e's and it worked fine. 
 
I also utilize the Omnitouch Pro software on tabletop touchscreens and it works ok.
 
Preliminary googling on the Ring door bell shows it works with an application and IFTTT but do not see an mjpg link.
 
Googling some more see someone at the Homeseer forum that figured out the link:
 
hxxp://user@[email protected]/bha-api/video.cgi
 
note that xx is tt above.
 
This should work with the Omnitouch 5.7e and PCA.  I do not have a Ring doorbell here and cannot test it.
 
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