Mini 1080p wifi camera from Aliexpress, how to use without app (FtyCamPro)?

@insmod do you have 18-pin GC0328C and does TXW detect it?

>>21731356
Nope, the closest i have is GC0329

OK no worries. I was trying the pocket wifi cam sensor (https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic4150112.html) GC0328C on TXW earlier and it wasn't even giving me i2c address, as the others have, when using i2c driver softscan.

I was starting to think it wasn't the same 18-pin pin-out as the others after all, but it was detected and worked in a BK7252N (a different device) with factory firmware. The sensor that BK7252N shipped with does work on TXW, so... yes. Hope that makes sense.

I built TXW from CDK with original scan frequencies and still no sign of a match.

More investigation required.

Added after 13 [minutes]:

szyszko wrote:

Warm welcome,

Sorry to rehash the topic, but can someone give me a working link to Windows 10 software for viewing V9 cameras ?

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks in advance!

Windows 10 software = RTSP streaming from an A(?)9 camera?

Your options depend entirely on the type cam cam you have. Do you have pictures of outside, inside, PCB?
What app is used to pair with factory firmware?

something a little different. TXW816-810


MEMS microphone?

I have a TXW817-810 based A9 with a blue PCB (IOT_V1.2, D250609) that uses ZIOT (i.e. the same board earlier used by @d1nuc0m), but I have been less successful.

After successful flashing OpenTXW81X_1.18.221.bin (or the Taixin demo firmware txw81x_v2.5.2.6-31320_2025.5.25_IOT_AT_PC6-PC7.bin) using the C-SKY Flash Programmer, "nothing happens." I.e., after restarting the camera, the "mode" light comes on momentarily, but there is nothing written to serial output (at 115200 or 921600 baud) and there is no Wi-Fi access point.

Reflashing the original firmware returns the camera to normal operation.

At times I encounter "flash driver error 55555555", and often firmware writes don't actually succeed (even though they successfully "verify"), so I am manually reading back the binary and comparing against the original to confirm a successful write, so I am sure that I *am* writing successfully, especially as I can reflash the original firmware.

Can anybody offer any suggestions?

Thank you

odd.

"flash driver error 55555555" always means no boot for me but "success" after write/verify has always meant a booting firmware. Have you tried a lower IceClk speed?

Added after 14 [minutes]:

confirming latest release OpenTXW81X_1.18.221.bin does still work







Added after 17 [minutes]:

do you have "chip erase" selected?

Yes, definitely odd. I do need a lower IceClk in order to get successful writes (and I know they're successful because I can read them back again), but the only firmware that seems to do anything is the original firmware.

Does anybody have a "hello world" application that only writes to the UART and does nothing else? Maybe that will work...

P.S. Yes to chip erase. My screens match your screenshots.

This is my X5; the board is STD-X5-817-V02 20241101 with a TXW817-810 chip and it uses the Z-IOT app.




If I understand correctly, this board has JTAG but not serial, and I'd use JTAG to dump or flash the firmware. Did anyone else already dump the original firmware for this model?

I would be interested in modifying the existing firmware and reflashing it, like this project, and trying the open-source firmware.

Is there somewhere a summary of what is supported on the open-source firmware?

Thanks!

>>21786246

https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic4033757.html#21638429

I have tried to summarize below my experience with the topic I am posting in.
We all love cheap Chinese hardware. A recent example is the cheap $3 (under 15 RON) video cameras recently found in abundance at Aliexpress promotions.
I bought two such camera models, one "dot" type -A9 and another "barrel" type -X5, both generically called "WIFI CAMERA / HD VIDEO CAMERA" - only they are not HD, A9 has a 320*240 sensor and X5 640*480. A9 comes with a LiPo battery, but it is useless anyway. The models I bought used X-IOT as an application for Android. That's exactly what was missing, another obscure application full of ads, to install on the phone.
As a processor, both cameras use TXW817-810 produced by Taixin.


The problem with these cameras is related to the security/privacy risk and the fact that initially they can only be used with the application mentioned above and hence the desire to be able to use them in the local network. This is possible thanks to the efforts of some contributors who developed the procedure I describe below:
1. to program the TXW817-810 we need a C-SKY Flash Programmer, which can be emulated by a "blue-pill" circuit.



The procedure is described in https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic4120455.html
and to accomplish it we need the following:
hardware - STM32F103C8T6 "blue pill" and a cheap J-Link clone
software - I downloaded J-link from https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink/
firmware - https://github.com/cjacker/cklink-lite-fw-con.../blob/main/cklink_lite-2.36_for-stm32f103.hex
connect the J-Link clone to the "blue-pill"
with J-link we will write cklink_lite-2.36_for-stm32f103.hex in the blue-pill and thus we will have a usable C-SKY Flash Programmer.

2. Download and install C-SKY from https://github.com/openshwprojects/FlashTools/tree/main/C-SKY
The procedure is described in https://www.elektroda.com/news/news4123724.html
We make a backup of the original firmware of the camera "just in case"
We write OpenTXW81X_1.18.221.bin and thus we will have an accessible camera from the local network


3. After we have written the new firmware, the camera will be visible with SSID OpenTX81X_xxx as AP.

Its IP will be 192.168.4.1 We will connect to it and open a browser with this address http://192.168.4.1


To start the stream we will execute the custom command "startdriver TXWCAM" or we will execute it permanently in the "startup command".




We will also configure our network from the "Configure WiFi & Web" menu, where we fill in our network SSID and password.
This way the camera will be accessible (from VLC for example) at rtsp://{ip}:7070/webcam


4. Possible problems
-under no circumstances, the camera did not connect to my AC-600 router, dual band (2.4 and 5GHz) even though I filled in everything correctly, and the signal was very good, the distance being small, after the reset, I could not find the camera in the router interface. It was necessary to put an "extender" on it with which it worked instantly (by the way, the camera connected instantly in a test with a hotspot on the phone).
-programming problems with C-SKY - error 55555 and other errors related to programming/verification/connection - I used the camera powered by a power bank and the "blue pill" C-SKY Flash clone from the USB on the PC - usually all problems were solved with reset/connection/disconnection of the camera. Sometime is good to lower IceClk speed (under Advance->local JTAG) from 12000 to 1200

hey, great to hear about your experience freeing your Taixin cameras from the cloud. That

error 55555

C-SKY programmer response became a standard thing every other flash attempt for me and a reset of the cam and/or STM32 was almost always the answer to overcome.

Not sure what's going on with your AP though

>>21863902 And even stranger is the fact that after I connected the extender, the router shows me that the cameras are connected via wire. Thanks to @divadiow and others for the effort and sharing the experience

for the library. new build of SDK

@adriantarce is your AC-600 router WPA3 or WPA2/3 or just 2? have you tried just WPA2?

>>21864773 WPA2-PSK 2.4 GHz Network mode is 11b/g/n mixed, channel is auto, bandwidth 20/40, SSID is different between 2.4 and 5 GHz. But it's ok, I can live with that, using a Wi-Fi extender; what I recently tried was to see the stream encoded with ffmpeg through an NPM server on a browser, and the differences are visible compared to VLC, it's almost real time

Ok. Bought several of these: TXW817-810 based A9 with a blue PCB (IOT_V1.2, D250609)

All flashed successfully, but I'm new to this. How to enable LEDs?
Also, what I notice, they only work powered from USB? Doesn't the battery work? As soon as I unplug USB, Wi-Fi is gone...

I never tried OpenTXW81X with a battery connected. I don't think all the power saving/ADC stuff for measurement was sorted. Testing has been with USB power.

d1nuc0m wrote:

Hi, I got all the necessary - the STM32 is flashed and now shows as CKLink-Lite in device management, but when I try to run the flash programmer I get "Error - DebugServer Start error, can't connect to target"

Maybe is the pinout wrong? I connected (A9/STM32) GND/GND, PA9/A5 and PA10/A1; both powered through USB

The PIN layout is OK, I had the same issue, in my case it was a solder problem, once resoldered the one that wasn't soldered correctly, error was gone, it just means that the A9 can't be found to program

pergolafabio wrote:

it just means that the A9 can't be found to program

indeed. Battery removal before flashing has been a step before all my cam adventures

divadiow wrote:

pergolafabio wrote:

it just means that the A9 can't be found to program

indeed. Battery removal before flashing has been a step before all my cam adventures

ah, didn't have to remove my battery
is the LED light working for you so we know at least the camera is ON?
i hope the RTSP quality will be better in future, it's a huge difference, is the development still going on on these cameras?

pergolafabio wrote:

is the development still going on on these cameras?

nothing has been developed in the last few months since additional camera drivers were added after initial port by @insmod

pergolafabio wrote:

i hope the RTSP quality will be better in future, it's a huge difference

I don't recall much of a difference between the streaming quality seen with factory firmware/app and the RTSP from OpenTXW. The major issue with quality is the cheap/old nature of the cams themselves. Do you have a comparison example of the difference between factory app captured image and OpenTXW?

Added after 2 [minutes]:

also, which cam did yours come with? is it one of these in this sensor list? https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic4121965.html

divadiow wrote:

pergolafabio wrote:

is the development still going on on these cameras?

nothing has been developed in the last few months since additional camera drivers were added after initial port by @insmod

pergolafabio wrote:

i hope the RTSP quality will be better in future, it's a huge difference

I don't recall much of a difference between the streaming quality seen with factory firmware/app and the RTSP from OpenTXW. The major issue with quality is the cheap/old nature of the cams themselves. Do you have a comparison example of the difference between factory app captured image and OpenTXW?

Added after 2 [minutes]:

also, which cam did yours come with? is it one of these in this sensor list? https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic4121965.html

i have these: TXW817-810 based A9 with a blue PCB (IOT_V1.2, D250609)

indeed compared with ziot app and flash, it isn't that great indeed!!
i had some older A9 cameras bought like 5 years ago, using Hidvcam, they had rtsp open out of the box, and quality was super!
But below quality is normal? cause its really bad imo

>>21768828