Script to pull videos from a thinkware wifi camera via ftp

pull_from_thinkware.sh

#!/bin/sh
set -e
#set -x

usage () {
    cat <<EOF
Usage: $0 [-v|--verbose] [-h|--help] [-f|--from "dirs on camera"] [-t|--to "backup location"] camera_ip
EOF
}

unset verbose
unset camera
unset backup_dir
#check these dirs for any new files
dirs="evt_rec manual_rec parking_rec"
while [ $# -gt 1 ]; do
    case $1 in
        -v|--verbose)
            verbose=1
            ;;
        -h|--help)
            usage
            ;;
        -f|--from)
            dirs=$2
            shift
            ;;
        -t|--to)
            backup_dir=$2
            shift
            ;;
        -*)
            echo "Unkown opt '$1'"
            usage
            exit 1
            ;;
    esac
    shift
done

if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
    echo "Missing camera_ip arg"
    usage
    exit 1
fi

#ip address or host name of the camera
camera="$1"

if [ -z "$backup_dir" ]; then
    backup_dir="~/${camera}/"
    echo "Destination dir not specified, backing up to ${backup_dir}"
fi

cd ${backup_dir}

#ftp port to start on the camera
ftp_port=2121

log () {
    if [ -n "$verbose" ]; then
        echo $@
    fi
}

#use fping to see if the camera exists
if ! fping -c1 -q "$camera" 2> /dev/null; then
    log "$camera not found, exiting"
    # for running in cron, just return 0 if the camera isn't on the network
    exit 0
fi

#ok, it's connected, pull some footage then
#there are a bunch of ways to do this, easiest is probably starting an ftp server

if ! nc -z "$camera" $ftp_port; then
    log "Starting ftpd server on $camera..."
    #note the -w flag to ftpd allows you to delete files on the remote end
    set +e
    {
        sleep 1;
        echo "root";
        echo "start-stop-daemon -S --quiet --pidfile /var/run/ftpd.pid --exec /usr/bin/tcpsvd --make-pidfile --background -- -vE 0.0.0.0 ${ftp_port} /usr/sbin/ftpd -w /tmp/SD0";
        sleep 1;
    } | telnet "$camera" > /dev/null 2>&1
    set -e
fi

#now make sure the ftp server is up
if ! nc -z "$camera" $ftp_port; then
    echo "Could not launch ftpd on $camera, exiting"
    exit 1
fi

# common ncftp options
# user: root, no pass, port from above
# -DD delete files after transfer
# -R recursive
# -T do not tar a dir
#ncftpget does some weird stuff, turn some of it off because our busybox ftpd is super basic
# -o useCLNT=0,useMLST=0
ncftp_opts="-u root -p '' -P $ftp_port -o useCLNT=0,useMLST=0"

unset found_files
for dir in $dirs; do
    unset files
    files=`ncftpls $ncftp_opts ftp://${camera}/${dir}`
    if [ -n "$files" ]; then
        log "Found files in $dir:"
        for file in $files; do
            log $files
        done
        found_files=1
    else
        continue
    fi

    mkdir -p "${backup_dir}/${dir}"

    for file in $files; do
        ncftpget $ncftp_opts -V -DD ${camera} "${backup_dir}/${dir}" "${dir}/${file}"
    done
done

if [ -z "${found_files}" ]; then
    log "No files found"
fi

Thanks for posting this script, this was super helpful. In your experience, how long does it normally take to download the videos? My plan is to download them to a PI and then upload those to AWS, but in my first test using my laptop 15 minutes in only about 1/2 of the first video had downloaded from the Thinkware to the laptop -- at that rate the download will never catchup. Did you have a similar experience?

Hmm, to be honest I don't remember how long it was taking, but I don't think it was very quick. My plan was to have a micro board (maybe a pi zero or something) control the 12V sense line to the camera. Then when I got home it would leave the camera (and wifi) on and initiate the transfer automatically between the camera and my home server overnight. But I didn't get that far.

…

On Sun, Dec 13, 2020 at 3:59 PM Tim Irvin ***@***.***> wrote: ***@***.**** commented on this gist. ------------------------------ Thanks for posting this script, this was super helpful. In your experience, how long does it normally take to download the videos? My plan is to download them to a PI and then upload those to AWS, but in my first test using my laptop 15 minutes in only about 1/2 of the first video had downloaded from the Thinkware to the laptop -- at that rate the download will never catchup. Did you have a similar experience? — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <https://gist.github.com/8fee743db3a92e31a354d4bc3351a181#gistcomment-3560159>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABAIL5GGDFEVYYJAMJXNHSDSUUTMTANCNFSM4UZZBLAQ> .

It looks like thinkware completely removed ftp from the new firmware (U1000). Any suggestions..?