How to Setup Multi-Camera viewing in Panasonic IP cameras (BB and BL)

Multiple Panasonic IP cameras from the BB and BL range can be viewed together through one camera interface by using the Multi-Camera page. This guide walks you through how to set up this feature for viewing your cameras locally and over the Internet.

Think about where the cameras will be viewed from

The way the Multi-Camera view works means that address settings will depend on whether you want to view the cameras locally (from the same network location) or across the Internet.

Setting up multi-camera view with local addresses will mean access to those cameras across the Internet will not work. Conversely setting up with Internet addresses will mean access to the cameras (via multi-camera view) locally will likely not work. Take this into account when choosing which addresses to enter in Step 4 below.

Initial setup

We’re presuming that your cameras are set up and you can already view them locally (i.e. not across the Internet). If you only want to view them locally you can skip straight to Step 4: Camera Settings. However if you want to view your cameras remotely across the glorious Internet then it is best to go through the following steps as changes to camera ports do affect local address settings.

Step 1: Set up each camera on a separate port number

To access multiple cameras over the internet you need a way to differentiate between them and this is most easily done with a port number. For more information see: What is a Network Port and why do I need one?

For each camera, one at a time, log in and click on the ‘Setup’ tab, then in the main window click on ‘Static’ under ‘Connection Mode’.

For each camera change the ‘Port No’ to a unique number. We would suggest 50000 for the first camera, 50001 for the second and so on for all your cameras.

After changing the ‘Port No.’ click ‘Save’.

You should be prompted that the settings are saved and asked to restart the camera.

After about 90 seconds you will be prompted to re-enter your username and password to login to the camera. After login you will see in the address bar that the IP address of the camera is followed by a colon and the port number you have just changed. This is what you will now need to enter to access your camera, for example if your camera was accessed locally on http://192.168.0.253 and you have chosen port number 50000 you would need to enter http://192.168.0.253:50000.

Step 2: Port forwarding

Each camera will need to be port forwarded through the firewall in your router to allow you to connect to the camera remotely. Unfortunately, there is no common way to do this as each router is different. For more information see: how to access an IP camera remotely.

You will need to forward the correct port number to your chosen camera IP address for each camera using the TCP/IP protocol.

Step 3: Setting up a Dynamic DNS service (only required for non-static IP addresses)

If you are using a dynamic public IP address then you will need to setup a dynamic DNS service to keep track of it. With multiple cameras you will only need to set up one dynamic DNS service with one camera since the public IP address will be the same for each. For information on how to do this see How to set up dynamic DNS with Panasonic’s Viewnetcam.com.

Step 4: Camera setup

Log into the camera you want to use to be able to view multiple cameras (your ‘master’ camera) and click on ‘Setup’, then under ‘Advanced’ on the left click ‘Multi-Camera’. This ‘master’ camera is automatically added to the list as ‘selfcamera’ so you don’t need to add it again.

On the main page click ‘Add’ at the bottom of the ‘No.’ Column.

Enter details of the camera you want to add:

• Display: tick this box (enabling the camera to be displayed in multi-camera view)
• IP Address or Host Name: enter the IP address or host name (your-chosen-name.viewnetcam.com) of the camera you want to add without “http://”
• Port: enter the port you changed in step 1 or if you have not changed the port the default will be 80
• Camera Name: this is just a descriptive name to help you identify your camera

Click ‘Save’.

TIP: Remember the caveat above – if you want to view your cameras in multi-view across the internet you must enter the camera’s internet address, NOT it’s local IP added. The reverse applies for local camera viewing.

Your camera should now be added to the list and can now be viewed on the ‘Multi’ page.

When you first view the Multi page you will be asked to enter the username and password for each camera. The pop-up authentication box will indicate the IP address or hostname of the camera, so you may want to have all the username and passwords the same. Though we don’t recommend this many people can’t resist ;-).

You should now be able to see multiple Panasonic IP cameras on the same page.

Remember you can only view multiple cameras if the settings in the camera are correct for where you are trying to view them from.

Repeat step 4 to add all the cameras you want to view in multi-view.

TIP: If you want to view multiple cameras both remotely and locally but don’t want to have to reconfigure all cameras each time you move from external to local viewing (or vice versa), you can go back and set up the cameras again, but this time with the alternate settings (up to a maximum of 16 cameras).

Published on April 12th, 2010 by Kevin Bowyer