Q. How do I get started on the site?
AnsPlease have a look at the how to section first. After signing up, you need to add your camera (either in direct stream mode or FTP upload mode - see here) 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 export function you need to create one or more schedules. Once you have footage recorded, you can view or download your footage via View / Recordings.
Q. What cameras are supported?
Ans For Direct stream mode, Cisco, Foscam, Axis, Panasonic, Vivotek, Linksys, Apexis, Wansview, Foscam, 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. Other brands may work as well, if they support mjpeg or H.264 / RTSP. Please email us if your camera brand / model is not supported yet. For FTP upload mode, all IP cameras will work as long as they support FTP upload.
Q. How much does it cost?
AnsThe basic account is free. But your maximum retention period is 24 hours (with 1 GB disk space storage) and you can only configure one camera. Please find detailed pricing information here.
Q. What happens when I reach my data limit?
AnsOnce your data usage exceeds the amount included in your plan, the oldest video data will be automatically removed (everything above your quota) and you will receive an email from our system. Your cameras always keep on running / recording. You can see your disk space use per camera and in total on the dashboard and statistics pages.
Q. H.264 recording - what's supported and how does it work?
AnsMangocam.com supports recording of Foscam's H.264 cameras (FI86* and FI98*) - using RTSP (H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 / AVC) over HTTP or RTSP. 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). Other brands are supported for H.264 as well. All existing features (motion detection, live streaming, external viewing, alerting, motion graphs etc.) are supported for H.264.
Q. How many schedules, group entries and alerts are supported?
AnsThere is no limit. Schedules can overlap and you can configure a different priority for each, which allows you to send email alerts at certain times and still retain motion events and video data at other times.
Q. What is the maximum number of cameras?
AnsThis depends on your selected plan - up to 50 cameras are currently supported per account. One camera is free (with the free plan).
Q. What are groups used for?
AnsGroups 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. How does motion detection work?
AnsMotion detection is available for selected premium plans. Motion is visually represented during viewing of recordings and you can also configure SMS and email alerts (including links to images). Also all motion events for all cameras can be viewed under View / Motion Events . Some premium plans allow masking (selecting an area of the image to be excluded from motion detection) as well as advanced motion detection (brightness normalization for example.)
Q. How do I configure motion detection and alerting?
AnsThe camera sensitivity is configured in the camera configuration menu. Once done, you can setup a schedule with "recording + motion detect" action. In our recordings viewer you will see a 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 Alerts menu. Alerting can be configured for different thresholds (percentage of image change) and different schedules can have alerting enabled or disabled.
Q. I can't see a picture?
AnsThere can be many reasons for this. Please look at the event log to see system and error messages. If Mangocam can't connect to your camera or has other camera access problems (authentication issue, incorrect camera model selected), you will see appropriate messages in the event log. If you are using IE9, please make sure you have java installed as a java plugin is necessary to view the mjpeg stream in IE9. This is not required for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, IE10/11 and Safari.
Q. How do I stop recording?
AnsThere is manual (instant) and scheduled recording available. Manual recording can be stopped in the Dashboard using the "Stop REC" button. Scheduled recording will stop automatically according to the schedule. You can disable the schedule, which will stop recording almost immediately (with one minute delay).
Q. How do I stop streaming?
AnsStreaming stops automatically 10 minutes (default configuration, can be changed) 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. What is ONVIF?
AnsONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum) is a standard interface for IP cameras. This includes media / stream access, pan and tilt, configuration etc. Mangocam supports the relevant sections of the ONVIF protocol to access your camera's video streams.
Q. How does the email forwarding work?
AnsOnce 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. Is Mangocam safe / secure?
AnsOur 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 footage, user information or cameras.
Q. How much data is being generated?
AnsA typical IP camera (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 via the View / Statistics page.
Q. What are people using Mangocam for?
AnsThe main reasons for use can be seen under Why Mangocam, however our (link this) features lend our service to unlimited opportunities.
Q. How exactly does Mangocam work?
AnsAfter configuring cameras and schedules, Mangocam will connect directly to your camera (direct stream mode), reading the motion jpeg or H.264 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?
AnsMangocam is Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari and Opera compatible. Most browsers support mjepg streams, but for example for IE9 the recordings and live feeds need to be viewed using a java class - so java 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?
AnsFor Foscam cameras this can be set manually via the camera's web browser, whatever settings were used at the last access 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?
AnsThe camera offline alerting schedule will check the camera's availability every few minutes and alert you immediately via email or SMS if configured to do so. There is no offline recording, we always recommend to use cloud based services in combination with local recording. The site will try to reconnect to your camera every few minutes. If the site still can't connect to your camera after 24 hours, the camera will be automatically disabled and the user notified.
Q. I want to secure my camera using a firewall. Which IP addresses should I allow?
Ans A list of source IP addresses being used by Mangocam can be found here. As new nodes are being added or removed, the list will be updated automatically. We are recommending to check this file daily (automated).
Q. What is offline alerting and how do I configure it?
AnsCamera 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?
AnsPlease make sure you have the following configured: The camera has motion sensitivity enabled (Camera configuration menu). The schedule used for recording uses the "Recording + motion detection" or "Motion event recording" action and has alerting enabled. 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.
Q. It’s excellent but why do you have a Free Plan?
AnsNothing could be more important than your safety and security - with this in mind, we designed Mangocam. Family matters to us, and so this is what we have chosen to give back to you and your families.
Q. Does my camera require a static IP address?
AnsNo. You are fine for direct streaming with a dynamic IP as long as you are using a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) provider. For our FTP upload mode the IP address is not relevant.
