We have an AXIS camera that is setup in Xprotect and we are attempting to control it via an ONVIF controller application by sending PTZ commands via the Open Network Bridge. For example, we are sending an AbsoluteMove command via the ONVIF port to the camera.
We have noticed that the PTZ functionality will vary greatly with the same ONVIF command depending on which driver the hardware is setup as in Xprotect.
For example, if it’s setup with an Axis driver (the default), the AbsoluteMove “pan” and “tilt” parameters are not respected. It seems to only respect the “zoom” parameter. However, if we change this driver to be the generic ONVIF driver, the same PTZ AbsoluteMove command correctly tells the camera to change pan, tilt, and zoom.
I’m curious to understand more here. Ideally we would like to be able to issue PTZ commands through the Open Network Bridge plugin and have it work regardless of what driver is selected. Is there something we are missing that would allow our ONVIF PTZ commands to achieve consistent behavior?
Also, please check “All tested firmwares” too. If it says Onvif, then you can use the camera with Onvif driver and functionalities (such as PTZ) are tested.
On the other hand, if it says Axis then you should use the camera with Axis driver (in this case, Milestone cannot guarantee functionalities (such as PTZ) with Onvif driver).
The symptom that you saw is interesting but I assume that your AXIS camera might support Zoom-only in PTZ support.
They seem to indicate that it is fully featured in terms of PTZ. It says PTZ, Zoom-only, and PT-only are supported. However, with the Axis driver utilized, PTZ support seems very limited (AbsoluteMove commands with PTZ options only impact Zoom - neither pan nor tilt change). If we switch the driver to Generic ONVIF, PTZ works much much better (AbsoluteMove commands with PTZ options impact all 3 parameters).
We are going to have to tell our customers to change their drivers from Axis to ONVIF because of this. Is this the expectation?
Thank you for sharing the camera information. I also check the device page of P5655-E and seems a bit strange to me too. Let me ask you a few things more. Can you please check your camera’s firmware version and your VMS Device Pack (DP) version? Is the firmware supported by the device pack? I usually recommend to use the newest firmware and DP.
I just upgraded the VMS Device Pack from 12.3 to the latest 12.6a.
Axis firmware is also on the latest 11.3.70.
I can confirm the functionality hasn’t been fixed, even after updating and restarting Milestone. I’m happy to provide access to my box or demo it 1:1 if it’s helpful. Just let me know!
Good to know it, OK, thank you for the quick answer. For further investigation, can you please tell me the VMS version and edition? We would like to see if it is possible to reproduce the issue. Thank you. BR, Rie
Hi Rie, we are specifically trying to integrate via the Open Network Bridge plugin. Smart Client seems to function ok. However, we are trying to issue ONVIF commands via the Open Network Bridge plugin and that is where we are seeing inconsistent behavior.
Milestone Development tested it with couple of Axis cameras and PTZ is working both on ONVIF and Native driver, but they do not have exact model in the office.
So, they would advise you to use Onvif device manager (free app) to check if camera is working or not.
thank you for the response. can you confirm they are testing PTZ not through the Xprotect UI but rather by issuing ONVIF commands through the Open Network Bridge? We are seeing substantial differences in functionality when issuing the same ONVIF command programmatically via Open Network Bridge when the camera is setup using an Axis driver vs a generic ONVIF driver.
Milestone Development said that provided link in the previous comment is for third party Onvif Device manager app which Milestone Development uses to test ONVIF bridge, it connects directly to it. Did you try with it? If so, did it work?
could you pls confirm if you have reported the same issue in two different channels? We have received a support request about the same (or at least very similar) topic by your colleague Olivier.
If the two cases are about the same issue, let us know which one we shall work on, and which one to close.
I see that you somewhat vaguely confirmed that the SmartClient seemed to work ok.
Could you pls carry out some more detailed and exhaustive tests if the camera behaves? Try different PTZ modes, different zoom steps. Pan, tilt, and zoom as separate commands or all three of them combined. (FYI, the Smart Client and the ONVIF Bridge are clients to the same recorder, and they interact with the recorder in the same way. Therefore it is very valuable comparing the two).
Eventually, it would be good if you could provide us with a bit more detailed description of them problem:
does it work at all?
does it fail randomly?
does it fail if you combine operations
you wrote “the AbsoluteMove “pan” and “tilt” parameters are not respected” - does that mean the camera does not move at all, or does it move to the wrong position / in the wrong direction?
you wrote “but have also noticed this with other Axis cameras also”. Pls provide a list of those models
