Sony Camera IP Setup

Unofficial RM-IP Setup alternative for macOS and Linux.

Discover Sony SRG/BRC PTZ cameras on the LAN and set their IP address, subnet mask, gateway, and name. This is a Python implementation of Sony's Camera IP Setting Command — the same UDP protocol used by the Windows-only RM-IP Setup Tool. It is not affiliated with Sony.

The command-line tool is installed as sony-camera-ip-setup.

Why

Sony's official tool is Windows-only. The cameras themselves speak a UDP broadcast protocol on port 52380, so a small Python CLI is enough.

Install

Python 3.9 or newer is required. No third-party packages are needed.

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

After that the sony-camera-ip-setup command is available.

You can also run the module without installing:

PYTHONPATH=src python3 -m sony_camera_ip_setup discover

Usage

List cameras:

sony-camera-ip-setup discover

Change IP address, mask, gateway, and/or name:

sony-camera-ip-setup set --mac AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF --ip 192.168.42.52 --mask 255.255.255.0 --gateway 192.168.42.1 --name CAM1

If you only want to rename a camera, pass its current IP as --ip and add --name:

sony-camera-ip-setup set --mac AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF --ip 192.168.0.100 --name STUDIO1

Show the packet without sending it:

sony-camera-ip-setup set --mac AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF --ip 192.168.42.52 --name CAM1 --dry-run

Print raw TX/RX hex dumps with -v. Bind to a specific local address with --bind 192.168.0.10.

Camera name rules

Sony limits the name to 8 characters: letters, digits, and spaces.

Important notes

• The camera must be in LAN mode (VISCA/LAN switch ON).
• Network settings can only be changed while the inquiry reply shows WRITE:on.
• WRITE turns off automatically about 20 minutes after power-on. Power-cycle the camera and retry.
• Factory defaults are typically 192.168.0.100 / 255.255.255.0 / CAM1.
• Discovery and IP changes use UDP broadcast to 255.255.255.255:52380. The Mac or PC must share the same Ethernet segment (same switch or VLAN) as the camera. The IP subnet does not have to match: a host on 192.168.42.0/24 can still find a camera at the factory address 192.168.0.100.
• A temporary address alias is only needed if broadcasts are filtered or you want unicast access (for example VISCA on port 52381) before the camera is moved onto your subnet:

sudo ifconfig en0 alias 192.168.0.10 netmask 255.255.255.0

Protocol

Sony frames the setup messages as:

STX (0x02) + ASCII field + 0xFF + ... + ETX (0x03)

Inquiry:

ENQ:network

Inquiry reply includes MAC, MODEL, SOFTVERSION, IPADR, MASK, GATEWAY, NAME, and WRITE.

A change is accepted only when the MAC in the setting packet matches the camera. Success is ACK:<mac>, failure is NAK:<mac>.

Documented in Sony command lists such as the SRG-300H technical manual (IP Related Setting Command) and later SRG command lists (Camera IP Setting Command).

VISCA camera control (pan/tilt/zoom) uses a different port, 52381, and is out of scope here.

Tests

source .venv/bin/activate
PYTHONPATH=src python3 -m unittest discover -s tests

Publishing to PyPI

Releases are published by GitHub Actions when you create a GitHub Release. No PyPI token is stored in the repository. Authentication uses Trusted Publishing.

One-time setup on pypi.org:

1. Add a pending trusted publisher (the project does not have to exist yet).
2. PyPI project name: sony-camera-ip-setup
3. Owner: saschaludwig
4. Repository: Sony-Camera-IP-Setup
5. Workflow: publish.yml
6. Environment: pypi

In the GitHub repo, create an environment named pypi (Settings → Environments). Optional but recommended: restrict it to the main branch.

To publish a new version:

1. Bump version in pyproject.toml and __version__ in src/sony_camera_ip_setup/__init__.py.
2. Commit and push to main.
3. Create a GitHub Release (for example tag v1.0.1).
4. The Publish workflow runs tests, builds the package, and uploads it to PyPI.

License

MIT