How do I find IP address of camera?

Question

How do I find IP address of camera?

I'm trying to find the IP address of a Panasonic webcam (BL-C131) that's on my network. While setting it up at one point, I apparently managed to change it's address, and now the camera doesn't appear on the network. I have its MAC address from a label on the camera itself. Can I somehow use that to locate the IP address? I've tried using Network Utility and IP Scanner, and neither show this camera. I've done the search with it connected to my router, as well as directly to the ethernet port on my PB. What am I missing? Thanks for your help.

15.2 Al PB 1.25G4, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 60GB Video iPod, 20GB gen2 iPod, 1GB shuffle, 3G iPhone

Posted on Nov 9, 2008 8:00 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Nov 9, 2008 11:52 AM in response to Roger Basquette

What range is your Network... 192.168.x.x or 10.0.x.x?

The Factory default for the Camera is 192.168.0.253.

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Answer 2

Nov 9, 2008 12:39 PM in response to BDAqua

My network is 192.168... Tried the default IP with no luck, Safari says server not responding. I think the IP address got changed somehow, and I can't figure out what the current one is.

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Answer 3

Camelot

Level 9

54,333 points

Nov 9, 2008 1:06 PM in response to Roger Basquette

Do you know the subnet the camera is in? Knowing this will help but you can still get around without it.

If you know the subnet (e.g. 192.168.0.x/255.255.255.0) then:

1) connect the camera directly to your Mac's ethernet port.
2) Use System Preferences -> Network to configure your ethernet port with an address in the same network (e.g. 192.168.0.1)
3) Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and run: ping 192.168.0.255

The address you ping is the broadcast address of the network, so adjust if you're not using 192.168.0.x.
What should happen is you get a reply from each device on the network. Since you only have two devices (the Mac and the camera) it should be pretty easy to work out the camera's address.

If you don't know the subnet, you can also try pinging 255.255.255.255
This is the universal broadcast address, but not everything will respond to it.

Finally, if that doesn't work you can try a tcpdump to identify traffic on the network, but it'll take a little decoding. If you configure your ethernet port as 192.168.0.1 then the following command in Terminal.app will show any traffic from any other device on the network:

sudo tcpump -i en0 not host 192.168.0.1

You should be able to see broadcast traffic such as ARP from the camera, from which you can determine its IP address.

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Nov 9, 2008 1:23 PM in response to Roger Basquette

Is that 192.168.0.x?

Might try reseting the cam to defaults...

Press the factory reset button while the camera is powered up. You’ll find the button at the back of the camera near the power and data inputs.

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Answer 5

Nov 9, 2008 3:55 PM in response to Camelot

I've reset the camera to factory defaults, tried the default IP, nothing changed.

When I open the Network Prefs, a dialog opens saying that "network settings have been changed by another application.". When I click OK, the window closes then reopens. Click, close, reopen. This cycle continues until I quit Prefs. So, I can't get into the Prefs to make the changes you mention.

Tried pinging the 255. string, got an address, but it wouldn't respond in Safari. This was with camera plugged into PB, airport off.

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Answer 6

Nov 9, 2008 5:48 PM in response to Roger Basquette

Got it working!!

Went back and hard wired everything together, reset the camera, and entered the default address. Camera came right up. Apparently both camera and PB needed to be wired to the router to work. Now that it's set up, I can view and control wirelessly. Thanks for all the advice.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Nov 9, 2008 6:55 PM in response to Roger Basquette

Good news Roger! 🙂

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Answer 8

Nov 14, 2008 6:41 PM in response to Roger Basquette

I just bought the same camera. Total mystery how to make it work with my Mac. How is this set up??
All the documentation is for PC. I saw that others have been able to use it with a Mac. I really would like to get it up and working wirelessly!

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Answer 9

Nov 15, 2008 3:40 PM in response to colorgrader1

I'll do my best to remember the process... connect the camera to your router (hard wired) and make sure the switch on the bottom is set to "Wired". Enter the default IP address of 192.168.0.253, and a setup page should open in your browser. Once you've done that, it should be pretty much straight forward. I recall that there's an automatic setup page which will setup the router for port forwarding and so forth.

The problem I was having was adding a second camera, where I needed to change it's IP address. In my haste to get it set up before leaving town, I managed to change the settings and couldn't view the camera. After resetting the camera, I entered the default IP and all was well.

This is a great little camera. I've been impressed with it's quality and ease of use once you get it set up, although it's a bit more of a challenge for us Mac users. Once you've got it set up, be sure and register it with ViewNet (it's on one of the setup pages) which will give you a permanent address for the camera if your ISP doesn't give you a static IP address.

Panasonic also has a help line that is unpublished, apparently. The number is 800-272-7033 M-F 9a-9p, S-S 10a-7p ET. I've not used it yet, but will soon as I'm still unable to get the wireless function to work properly. I hear they have excellent support for these cameras. Good luck to you.

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Answer 10

Nov 16, 2008 5:43 PM in response to Roger Basquette

I've tried the wired trick (switch on wired) and connected to the Airport - the light on the camera does turn green. I entered the IP address 192.168.0.253 but still nothing.

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Answer 11

Nov 16, 2008 10:13 PM in response to colorgrader1

I found that the Mac and the camera must both be wired to the router to set this up. You might also try pressing the reset switch on the camera near the power plug, then entering the default IP again. It took me awhile to figure out that both had to be wired to the router. Good luck.

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Answer 12

Nov 17, 2008 10:42 AM in response to Roger Basquette

...and that is exactly what I have been doing(hard-wired to router, etc.) but to no avail. I think that maybe the default IP address has been changed by Panasonic. I'll call the number you provided a bit later today - hopefully they can help.

Message was edited by: colorgrader1

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Answer 13

Nov 17, 2008 12:36 PM in response to colorgrader1

Yeah, it took me awhile trying different things out... not sure exactly what the magical combination was. Hope they can get you pointed in the right direction.

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Answer 14

Nov 17, 2008 7:18 PM in response to Roger Basquette

I now have the camera working (I had to enter 10.0.1.253) on the local wireless network. That's all I had to do.

But.

Now I need to figure out how to make it all visible on the internet. I successfully registered with viewnetcam.com and have a domain name but when I enter my assigned URL nothing loads - server not responding. Humph!

Now what?

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Answer 15

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Nov 17, 2008 7:50 PM in response to colorgrader1

Hi, it would probably get more help if you started a new topic on the new problem! 🙂

http://discussions.apple.com/post!default.jspa?forumID=755

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