How easy it has become to carry out surveillance monitoring using just a cell phone and P2P IP Camera.
With HDX P2P cameras – use a smartphone, download the app, scan the QR code and start viewing a live feed of the camera. Before P2P IP camera came along, cameras used to be a nightmare to setup. Setup the camera, then login to the router and setup a DDNS and open ports to allow access.
P2P stands for “Peer to Peer”. It is a technology that makes it simple to link the camera with a smartphone.
In camera speak, there is a UID (unique ID) assigned to each camera. When the smartphone app is opened, it pings the P2P server which in turn looks for the listed UIDs and where they are located. If the camera can be pinged, it shows as online, others are offline.
Once the cameras are reached, it creates a direct connection between the app and the camera. Just like the popular Bittorent peer to peer file sharing platform.
Advantages of P2P technology used in HDX IP Cameras
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- P2P networks are highly scalable. e.g. Torrent sites have millions of users worldwide.
- As P2P is de-centralised, i.e. services are spread out over various peers, it makes the system quite reliable.
- Cheap and affordable, no recurring costs for users.
- P2P streams can be used to connect with multiple devices simultaneously.
- P2P stream can be used to backup data to the cloud
- Allow secure connections between the camera and viewing client with encrypted streams
- Not limited or blocked by closed ports, no DDNS setup, firewalls, etc.
- P2P UID is installed into the camera before shipment, no further settings are required.
- The stream doesn’t pass through a cloud server, the cloud only helps establish the connection.
- The camera doesn’t use bandwidth to constantly upload data to a cloud. It only uses bandwidth when a viewing device logs in to receive the feed.
- Not easy to hack the P2P platform as we must authenticate with at least 2 different servers for the connection to establish.
Comparison between regular IP camera vs HDX P2P IP camera
Traditional port forwarding based IP camera
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- DDNS server required. Often times unreliable / paid
- Port forward or port mapping on the router is necessary to reach the device from outside the network.
- Firewalls need to be disabled putting your network at risk
Peer to Peer based IP cameras
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- Linking to the camera can be done in a couple of seconds.
- QR code scanning for convenience in linking.
- As server pings the camera, its easy to know when the camera is offline or unreachable.
This architecture also has its drawbacks, which are listed here:
It is a ‘pull’ based system where the viewing device taps in to the camera to pull the stream. In this case, the camera cannot notify the server if it is no longer live.
You cannot view the camera via a browser as it requires the p2p library built into the viewer. It is not possible to build such a library into a browser. It can be accessed by iOS, android and windows apps.
Want to order P2P IP Cameras? Check out our product range.
Comments 18
you mentioned that the P2P software pings the P2P server, who maintains the server ? If i buy a different brand of P2P camera, will this means there are two different servers and i couldn’t use the same software to view both cameras at same time?
Author
There are P2P companies that sell licences to use their P2P technology and servers which are installed into the camera, so they maintain the servers. They provide the user with an app that links the camera with the smartphone. If you buy a different brand of camera, most likely it won’t work with the same app / server unless the app for both cameras is the same.
Which P2P company that you are using for your IP cameras?
Can we change it if we purchased your IP cameras?
Author
We develop our own P2P solution and have deployed CDNs around the world for fast access. (this is not something most manufacturers do, however we have integrated this technology into more than just cameras so we must have end to end flexibility). We can change the P2P to any other you prefer, it will require some integration with our camera software to work seamlessly.
I got both P2P with UID and a normal ipcam. My P2P ipcam work very well but my normal ipcam won’t work. Can we re-configure the normal ipcam in order to act as P2P ipcam? Any method to create UID manually for this ipcam? Thanks.
Author
There is no way for the user to create a UID for a camera. The P2P base must be integrated at a developer level with the camera’s software. Only once that is done can a generated UID be added into the camera.
Thanks for the info. If I understand correctly, the P2P server only handles the connection between the client and the camera (host). The live feed from the camera is not sent via the P2p server(acting like a proxy). Is that correct? What are the security implications to the user if the p2p servers security is compromised? Thanks again
Author
Correct, it only handles the connection. Our P2P server authentication must be done by at least 2 servers to ensure security as well as connectivity incase a server goes down temporarily.
First off, thank you Harry for explaining this new camera technology. Can you please take a moment to cover:
1) Security – Is it SSL from app to server and then app to camera?
2) Is there any tunneling from app to camera?
3) How does the camera keep a TCP window open so that the app can get to the camera from the outside? (I thought the only way past a FW/NAT/Router is to initiate the connection from the inside out)
Thanks again in advance for your input.
Author
There is tunnelling from the app to the camera.
This does initiate the connection from the inside out i.e. camera to P2P server.
About the SSL, I am not sure what type of encryption is done at this stage.
Hi. Can we record from p2p cameras? If yes, how?
Author
Yes you can..
1. If the camera has an SD card slot, you can record to the onboard SD card and access recordings through the app
2. P2P cameras are also ONVIF compliant so on the same network a standard NVR can be used
3. For our P2P cameras, we have a PC client that can be used to view and record directly on a computer.
Can I know how to register with your p2p server and if you have coverage in Africa.
Also please confirm your IP camera
Author
Only our cameras and automation hub can be authenticated by our P2P server.
This includes our entire range of home and professional series cameras that use the same app and can directly be viewed from outside the network.
Do you have p2p analog cameras as well? If yes would they work the same way as what you mentioned?
Also it it possible to build our own app to access your cameras?
Author
Analog cameras have no real on-board processing (except signal processing), they just capture and pass the image to the DVR. Most DVRs these days also have P2P system built into them so that they can be accessed from outside the network easily. An analog camera by itself cannot have this feature.
You can build your own apps to access our cameras. We have a P2P API and can also provide you support to have this done.
Harry can i offer my app or stream on my local cloud platform using your P2P camera.
Author
Yes, you can integrate our cameras to stream through your app. Streaming through your cloud platform may require some custom development.