A ZoneMinder PTZ control script for the Tapo C500 camera.
Tested on:
- Ubuntu: 24.04 LTS server
- zoneminder: 1.36.33
- Tapo C500: 1.1.4
Thanks to oparm for solid background of this work
- Pan
- Tilt
- Zoom (through ZoneMinder)
- Sleep : Lens Mask On
- Wake : Lens Mask Off
- Up to 8 presets
- Reset (camera recalibrates and returns to its default position)
- Reboot
The camera will recalibrate by panning and tilting itself.
It does indeed reboot the camera...
This was tested on Ubuntu Server 20.04, just after installing ZoneMinder (following their wiki).
Install dependencies :
sudo apt install libjson-pp-perl libjson-parse-perl
On your system, copy the file named TapoC200.pm to /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Control/ :
cd /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Control/
sudo wget https://github.com/fabriziopicconi/zoneminder-tapo-c500/raw/main/TapoC200.pm
sudo systemctl restart zoneminder
Make sure it has the same permissions as the existing control scripts in that directory :
user@zmserver:/usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Control# ls -alh -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12K Feb 23 2023 3S.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 16K Feb 23 2023 Amcrest_HTTP.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15K Feb 23 2023 AxisV2.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18K Feb 23 2023 Dahua.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.8K Feb 23 2023 DCS3415.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.2K Feb 23 2023 DCS5020L.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13K Feb 23 2023 DericamP2.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23K Feb 23 2023 FI8608W_Y2k.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26K Feb 23 2023 FI8620_Y2k.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.2K Feb 23 2023 FI8908W.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.6K Feb 23 2023 FI8918W.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22K Feb 23 2023 FI9821W_Y2k.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23K Feb 23 2023 FI9831W.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.2K Feb 23 2023 Floureon.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.7K Feb 23 2023 FoscamCGI.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9.5K Feb 23 2023 FOSCAMR2C.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12K Feb 23 2023 HikVision.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.9K Feb 23 2023 IPCAMIOS.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.1K Feb 23 2023 IPCC7210W.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.9K Feb 23 2023 Keekoon.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9.6K Feb 23 2023 LoftekSentinel.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11K Feb 23 2023 M8640.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.2K Feb 23 2023 MaginonIPC.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.6K Feb 23 2023 mjpgStreamer.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.6K Feb 23 2023 Ncs370.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28K Feb 23 2023 Netcat.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25K Feb 23 2023 onvif.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.6K Feb 23 2023 PanasonicIP.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18K Feb 23 2023 PelcoD.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19K Feb 23 2023 PelcoP.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9.7K Feb 23 2023 PSIA.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39K Feb 23 2023 Reolink.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.4K Feb 23 2023 SkyIPCam7xx.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.2K Feb 23 2023 Sony.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7.7K Feb 23 2023 SPP1802SWPTZ.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14K Aug 6 17:56 TapoC200.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.2K Feb 23 2023 Toshiba_IK_WB11A.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12K Feb 23 2023 Trendnet.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20K Feb 23 2023 Visca.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.6K Feb 23 2023 Vivotek_ePTZ.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8.9K Feb 23 2023 WanscamHW0025.pm -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13K Feb 23 2023 Wanscam.pm
Use the same configuration when testing, unless stated otherwise.
In ZoneMinder "Console" Tab, click "Add" to add a new camera.
Go to "Control" tab and click on "Edit" next to "Control Type".
Click on "Add New Control" :
Now fill each tab as shown in the following captures.
Use the same settings as :
Use the same settings as :
Use the same settings as :
Use the same settings as :
Use the same settings as :
Now click on "Save" to save the new control.
Important : Click on cancel in the previously opened window (the Monitor one), and in ZoneMinder "Console" Tab, click again on "Add" to add a new camera. This is needed to refresh the "Control Type" dropdown list with the new control we just added.
Source Path is the RTSP path used to display the stream inside ZoneMinder, it has nothing to do with the control script. Inside the mobile application, create an account linked to the camera and use those credentials in the "Source Path".
Change user, password and IP. Leave the port to 554 and /stream1.
Control Address is the HTTPS path used to control the camera inside ZoneMinder.
Change admin_password to the password you created when you installed the mobile application (the password linked to your email address).
Change the IP address. Leave the username to "admin", and the port to 443.
Control Type : Select "Tapo C200" inside the dropdown list.
Now click on "Save" to save the new monitor.
If everything went smoothly, you should now be able to control the camera.
You can see the script's output in two ways :
- Inside ZoneMinder in the by clicking on "Log" in the main menu
- Or directly inside /var/log/zm/zmcontrol_*.log, here is how it should looks like :
...
05/09/2021 20:08:43.224080 zmcontrol_1[18057].INF [main:134] [Starting control server 1/TapoC200]
05/09/2021 20:08:43.264927 zmcontrol_1[18057].INF [main:141] [Control server 1/TapoC200 starting at 21/05/09 20:08:43]
05/09/2021 20:08:43.401039 zmcontrol_1[18057].INF [ZoneMinder::Control::TapoC200:165] [Token retrieved for https://192.168.1.1:443]
05/09/2021 20:08:43.406488 zmcontrol_1[18057].INF [ZoneMinder::Control::TapoC200:109] [Tapo C200 Controller opened]
...
If you need to troubleshoot more deeply, enable the script debugging :
...
my $tapo_c200_debug = 1;
...
Reload the script by clicking "Save" in any window shown on the screenshots.
Now you can reload the script easily by clicking the "Reset" buttons inside ZoneMinder.
When the variable is set to 1, the "Reset" button in ZoneMinder will reload the script instead of calibrating the camera position. This allows you to edit the script file and click on "Reset" so that your modifications are taken into account by ZoneMinder.
When you are done set that variable back to 0.
...
my $tapo_c200_debug = 0;
...
Set this variable to either 5/10/15. Those are the steps used by the mobile application, so they are supposed safe.
...
my $step = 15;
...