Sip video door phone

I constantly seem to need things that don’t exist.
Or… well they exist but I seem to have standards that are hard to meet.

  • I want a door phone that includes a camera. Easy enough, many of them exist.
  • Video should be better than the 5 frames per second I see on quite a few units. Ok, number of options decreasing.
  • Audio should be g722. Oops, that cuts every device I have found, best remove this criteria!
  • Simple single output to activate a door release based on pressing # or something during the call. Many devices I find are designed for an android app. Ugh.
  • Here’s the killer- two part. Only the speaker/mic/button/camera should be in the external unit. The ‘brains’ including the ethernet wire and the connections for the lock should be safely ensconced inside the building, dammit!

Every device I have found puts everything in one box. A nice IP66 rated box for sure, but all someone needs to do is remove the mounting screws and you have access to the LAN for one, and shorting two wires will open the door. Who designs this crap?

So. Do I need to frankenstein my own, or does such a thing exist? Anyone used a video door phone before?

Did you check this too?
http://www.akuvox.com/productsClass.php?m_id=11

(note: I don’t want advertise this brand, Only my experience sharing )

Actually yes, I did look at that one already. Looks like it (the SDP-R25) was hit with the ugly-stick a few times too many, and while it states 20fps, it’s also 320x240 and has the “rip it off the wall to open the door” problem.

I’m starting to think I need to manufacture my own!

1 Like

This is about the “price”. So you can manufacture this but you can’t sell it very easy :))

http://www.algosolutions.com/products/doorphones-security/8028-sip-doorphone.html looks pretty close. I’d start with a call to Anixter and see what their guys can help you with.

Does succeed in the ‘two part’ factor, but fails everywhere else. It’s analogue door phone with a SIP ATA, so no video there. I’ll drop them an email though, see what they can do.

Turned out it was worth contacting Algo! They claim they have a sip video door phone coming out shortly that does indeed separate the interface from the controller, don’t know what it looks like yet, but it sounds very promising.

1 Like

Thats a difficult one.
On a gate I fitted a removable cage over the whole unit, an analog one, and bolted it on from behind. Not very pretty but it did the job. That was done mainly to prevent casual vandalism rather than to stop a determined attempt to get in. Its still working after 5 years.

1 Like

Nearly a year later, an update:
One device that does good-quality video and is claimed to be asterisk-compatible is the Axis A-8004-VE

This can be fitted with an anti tamper relay which will probably do what the OP wanted. Only problem? Its pretty expensive, just that relay costs over USD $120, and the doorphone itself goes for around USD $1,000.

I am now extremely happy with my new door phone solution. I wanted something that looked sophisticated and was programmable through a Web interface, I wanted the ability to change the screen (directory) remotely, no printed labels. I needed Video and ability to open the door remotely, normal stuff. I found a few Andriod based door phones that did everything on paper that I wanted, even tamper proof.

I worked for weeks attempting to make a version of the Akuvox R29 work, The Actual Akuvox R29 was hard to find and not cheap, so I found alternatives. I first tried with the Denwa version (Denwa DW-V-AXT-ANDROID), then got a chance to work with the Tenerio version (TR-29), they all look exactly alike but the firmware is quite different, each manufacturer lets you access different features. The Denwa had some real issues with the interface, portions of it in English and some in Spanish. I did find out that a provisioning file could be created and most of the features could be accessed that way. Not much documentation on any of this. I actually finally got the device to work as designed with FreePBX, but it was a real struggle. Initially, I could call the door phone and get video, but when the door phone called an extension internally, it would not start video. found that if I placed the call on hold then took it off, I would be able to get video. Finally in the config file I placed on the provisioning server and pointed to in the Tenerio configuration, I found the following settings in the config file allowed the video to work correctly:

Config.Account1.Video00.Enable = 1
Config.Account1.Video00.Name = H264
Config.Account1.Video00.Priority = 2
Config.Account1.Video00.Payload = 104
Config.Account1.Video00.ProfileLevel = 0
Config.Account1.Video00.PacketizationMode = 0
Config.Account1.Video00.MaxBR = 512
Config.Account1.Video00.BandWidth = 4000000

Config.Account1.Video01.Enable = 0
Config.Account1.Video01.Name = H263
Config.Account1.Video01.Priority = 1
Config.Account1.Video01.Payload = 34
Config.Account1.Video01.ProfileLevel = 0
Config.Account1.Video01.PacketizationMode = 1
Config.Account1.Video01.MaxBR = 512
Config.Account1.Video01.BandWidth = 4000000

H263 was the default and it was enabled, I changed that above as well as “Config.Account1.Video01.PacketizationMode = 1”, this was set to 2

So now I add users through the web interface, add their ext and name, set the default screen to show the directory, a visitor walks up presses a button name/ext, it rings extension/group, when call is answered, video is displayed, then you select a button, we use * and the door opens. A lot of work, but well worth the effort. I have a lot more info I can provide if needed.

What version of FreePBX and Asterisk do you have video working for?

FreePBX 14.0.1.20
Asterisk 13.17.1

Interesting…Do you have video working with any softphone apps?

No, I am not really using anything other than Zulu

I’d be interested to know if your setup works with either Zoiper or Bria. Bria has a free 7 day trial if your interested.

Any news about this?

I’ve tried out Akuvox R20 audio and video are good.
With a Fanvill X7 I get also the preview of the video and everything seems good.
Only video get stuck on a Yealink T58A, but only on this one device.

Any idea on how to understand the problem what’s wrong on the T58A?

This topic was automatically closed 31 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.