This article will describe how you can export and import the settings of your Avonic camera. This guide features a CM7x-IP series camera, but this is applicable for all CMxx-IP/NDI series, like the CM93-IP.



TABLE OF CONTENTS


Why would you want to export and import settings into your camera?

There are various reasons why you want or need to export the settings of your camera. Here are some examples;

  1. You are in the process of giving your camera a factory default but you want to restore all or some settings later.
  2. You are deploying multiple cameras and you want all cameras to feature the same settings and easily deploy to multiple cameras with one click.
  3. You are troubleshooting multiple cameras and want to compare the settings of the cameras.


Perhaps these examples describe your scenario, or you are dealing with something else and want access to those settings in a file. This guide will walk you through the process to get the right file and how to import this again into the camera.


Export your settings

You can export all the settings of the camera into a text file called "EnvParam_Customized.txt". This file contains the values and settings of your camera in clear text. It's a little hard to read, but with some general knowledge of IT systems, you can decypher the settings.


To export the file, open your camera's WebGUI by typing in the IP address and loging in with the administrator details. Your default address is 192.168.5.163 and log in with user: admin & password: admin.


Go to System and find "Import/Export Params"



Right click the export button and click "Save link as.."



Choose a name, don't use any spaces or special characters. If you are downloading multiple configs, name them something like "EnvParam1921685163.txt" or "EnvParamGood.txt". This will ensure you have no error uploading the file later.



You have now successfully exported your settings of the camera.


Understanding your settings file called "EnvParam.txt".


Don't change the contents of the EnvParam.txt file, unless you are absolutely certain you know what you are doing!


Now that you have downloaded the file, what can you do with it? If you know what Visual Studio Code or Notepad++ is, you probably have enough technical knowledge. You could then change some settings to these files to upload to other cameras. Otherwise, our recommendation is that you don't alter the file. You can change the settings in your camera, and then export them to import them elsewhere.

The most common settings you want to carry over to another camera are the Video > Camera settings. In the file, you recognize them here under "VideoParam".


These numbers correspond with the applicable settings in the camera. Again, if you don't know what you are doing here, do not open or alter the file in any way.



Quickly Deploying multiple cameras with the same settings

If you happen to have multiple cameras to setup in the same environment, meaning you have a certain kind of light or need a specific white balance so that all cameras have the same output. You could login to all cameras separately and browse and edit all individual settings, or you can set up one camera, export these settings, and import them again into another camera.


This last step will save you some time in the deployment, the more cameras you have, the quicker this will go.


Depending on your setup you can either change the VISCA address in the settings, or if you configured static IP on your base camera, edit the IP in the files for the next cameras.



Importing EnvParam.txt into the camera

When you have looked at the above steps and you have saved a file on your computer with the settings or edited settings you'd like to import into your cameras, you can follow the next procedure.


Open your camera's WebGUI by typing in the IP address and logging in with the administrator details. Your default address is 192.168.5.163 and log in with user: admin & password: admin.


Go to System and find "Import/Export Params"


Click on "Choose file" and select your file on your PC ("EnvParam_Customized.txt" below is an example of a configuration file to import). Click the button Import and in a few seconds the camera will import the camera configuration file:

Importing parameters


Some settings do not need any reboot to be applied but some do, therefore it might be always best to reboot the camera after importing some new settings. 


Don't forget that if the camera settings include a different IP address you will need to use that IP address to open again the camera web GUI.