Dericam H503W Review

The Dericam H502W was a huge success due to the exceptional follow up of its developer, Maygion.

The new H503W has more potential to brings up the missing features of its predecessor, like the preset positions.









The H503W keeps the well-known design of its older brother.
The double antenna and the removal of the WPS button are the only visible differences.

The unit tested came with the firmware 14.08.19.02 which is also found on Dericam.com

User Interface
I've been tempted to do a copy/paste of my previous review, because that's what the user interface looks like. The only change in the interface is the, now operational, Presets page

Always backup your board.dat!

Connectivity: FTP is still there and login is unchanged: MayGion/maygion.com
so first things first, backup of the board.dat, which can also be done via the unadvertized page /debug_hw.htm






A Wi-Fi hotspot option has been added so the IP Camera now supports a router-less connection to its clients.


Better PTZ control
The H503W does a full rotation when powered up. That's good news! The motors have been upgraded to support preset positions (preset.html seen before).

ONVIF and Synology Surveillance Station
Nothing has changed really with the H503W, there's still no audio capabilities detected by Synology Surveillance Station (ONVIF Profile S certified), nor patrolling option. It's still better to select the H502W in the list so at least the PTZ control is possible.





Video quality:
No change from H502W, both model have the same excellent picture quality.
The streaminfo.htm page tells you all you need to know to intercept the video stream

Audio quality:
The audio quality seems unchanged. I found it good. There are reports of audio being lost after a while, just like with the older H502W but I rarely used the audio it simply doesn't work with Synology Surveillance Station.


Conclusion:
The H503W is not a revolution.
Apart from the welcome addition of the PTZ presets, it shows the same limited Synology compatibility as before. The rest is virtually unchanged and I suspect the double antenna to be there only as a visual distinction with the older model.

However for the price (67.54€ on ebay), it is worth spending the mere 4€ extra for that newer model. Unlike many IP Cameras, the developer has earned some credit in improving his firmware at regular interval.

Better: 
Position presets
Nothing else

Not changed: 
Synology limited compatibility: no audio, no presets control.(Who's fault is not clearly determined).


Similar models:
Cybernova WIP604SW (not WIP604MW),
EyeSight ES-IP922W

Software Download 
Dericam: www.dericam.net/Support.asp?i=1
From Cybernova; www.ipcam-online.com (includes SDK)

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Hacking the Dericam H502W

The Maygion H264 IP Camera is a very open device with great customization potential.
This article contains some examples of hacks that enable telnet, load an alternate ftp daemon, extract
information, etc...
If keeping the camera under guarantee is no longer a concern for you, please read on... (-:

Important Notice: 

Before performing any firmware change, make a backup of firmware files, including the board.dat file, 
and make yourself familiar with recovery options. Proceed at your own risks, or don't...

This post is based on the information found in macmpi's post on forum.hardware.fr

Basics:
The /app folder contains typically 3 files loaded when the camera is powered on:
cs -> the main firmware application file
cs.def.ini -> the default config file
cs.ini -> the current config file loaded by cs

A universal way to talk to the camera is to replace its cs file with another one containing a valid script, such as the following that loads the telnetd daemon:

#!/bin/sh
cp /etc_ro/rcS /tmp/eye/app/.cd /bintelnetd& 
Once a terminal access is possible via telnet, the possibilities are endless: change the services loading at startup (including telnetd itself) via the file /etc_ro/rcS, use a different ftp deamon (MayGion unlimited fd, or restricted ftpd)

Hackmaster...
The hacks below are an extension of this simple idea.

The files must be first renamed as app.bin to be installed like normal application updates from the IP Camera interface. Each file has a specific purpose and the System Information panel will show which ones are active. 
 

inject.bin: This is the "Hackmaster" module, which opens the camera to further hacking via the other files below. It is based on fw v.5.60 but will remain active after a traditional firmware update. It is reversible thanks to a clean-up file also provided.  

tnt.bin: This enable the telnet daemon. 

bbx.bin: Installs the latest full Busybox which provides a more completes set of linux commands. It requires an Internet access to work. Check the log under /tmp to verify if the installation was successful.

ocx.bin: Removes the ocx2.exe file from /www (saving 600KB of space), and provides an Internet access to this file instead. 

mSD.bin: Mounts the SD Card for access via FTP (e.g. ftp://user:pass@IP/app/SD). The status of the SD mount is logged under /tmp. 

ftM.bin: Enables the unrestricted MayGion FTP daemon (login: MayGion, password: maygion.com). 

ftB.bin: Enables the basic FTP daemon which uses the admin login

log.bin: Generates a log file in /app. Can be helpful for troubleshooting. Since it's only occasionaly needed, it will self-destruct on restart. 

no_hack.bin: Removes all the hacks but leave the enabler intact (i.e. Hackmaster). 

clean-up.bin: Cleans up all traces of hacks (including the Hackmaster), and restores the camera in its normal state. 

The HackMaster files can also be obtained from the original article: Forum.hardware.fr

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