RTSP stream for VLC / Homebridge

[Cadjockeygm]

Hi

I have a HIKVISION DS-2CD2385G1 camera connected to a DS-7604NI-K1 NVR. Its all working fine with HIK-Connect. I now want to push a stream from the camera into other systems, such as Homebridge (or VLC for testing) I can't get a stream in VLC, it just gives an error. (can't open stream)
Cameras all have been setup with virtual hosting on the NVR for direct IP access and its all on the same local network
I have removed encryption, enabled ONVIF and changed the authentication settings to digest, and can access the NVR and camera by the http interface. For the life of me I can't get a stream from it though. Im running fw 4.3 on the NVR and have run through the notes on this post but didn't help both URL formats

seems it should work, so I must be missing something obvious. Any thoughts anyone?

thanks

 

[ians83]

Nearly a year later and I've stumbled across this issue also.

I can have rtsp working flawlessly if I connect the camera directly to my network using a poe injector, if however I connect it to the NVR and let that assign it an IP I cannot get this to work.

I have enabled virtual host, but for the life of me I cannot get a RTSP stream when connected directly to the NVR.

Did you manage to fix this or can someone please offer some advice

 

[JB1970]

Nearly a year later and I've stumbled across this issue also.

I can have rtsp working flawlessly if I connect the camera directly to my network using a poe injector, if however I connect it to the NVR and let that assign it an IP I cannot get this to work.

I have enabled virtual host, but for the life of me I cannot get a RTSP stream when connected directly to the NVR.

Did you manage to fix this or can someone please offer some advice

How are you trying to get the RTSP stream exactly? I answered another post a few days ago regarding the url needed to open in VLC.

 

[ians83]

I think it might just be a limitation of it going through the NVR, I have managed to access the main stream but I cannot get the sub-stream

I’m using the following address

rtsp://{username}:{password}@{NVR IP}:{Port}/Streaming/Channels/101

If I try 102 or 103, VLC outputs an error.

I’m also noticing inconsistencies with the virtual host function, applied settings in camera management don’t seem to ‘stick’, with bitrates always defaulting back to the original.

I might give up on the NVR route and either build a blue-iris system or look at alternatives for MAC OS

 

[JB1970]

I think it might just be a limitation of it going through the NVR, I have managed to access the main stream but I cannot get the sub-stream

I’m using the following address

rtsp://{username}:{password}@{NVR IP}:{Port}/Streaming/Channels/101

If I try 102 or 103, VLC outputs an error.

I’m also noticing inconsistencies with the virtual host function, applied settings in camera management don’t seem to ‘stick’, with bitrates always defaulting back to the original.

I might give up on the NVR route and either build a blue-iris system or look at alternatives for MAC OS

I've tried it on mine and get any camera or stream - all my home cameras are on the PoE ports of the NVR. Out of interest are you trying this from within your network using the local address of the NVR or remotely using your routers external address? Also on what platform are you using VLC? and are your main and sub stream sharing the same encoding (H264/H265)?

With regard to settings not sticking. The likelihood is that they are applied and will "stick". It's just that if you apply a setting in camera, the NVR may still show the previous value in it's menu (until reboot)...clicking apply/save in the NVR menu will then overwrite the value in the camera to that which is displayed (the previous value). I always advise programming all settings into the cameras using the NVR menu where possible first. Once complete - any remaining settings (those not accessible from the NVR menu) can be applied directly in the camera. This keeps what's displayed in the NVR menu screen in sync with whatever is actually set in the camera.

 

[ians83]

All my testing has been done on the local network, with virtual host enabled and navigating to Camera Management, I am getting a notice saying ‘this feature isn’t supported’ when I drop down from the main steam settings to sub stream.

when I log into the camera directly through its virtual host assigned port I can select the sub stream

I thought going down the NVR route would open up even more functionality, not restrict it further. I can’t even get live view to work on Mac OS through the NVR but this was working when I had the cam on my network using a Poe injector.

Can you or anyone recommend some Mac NVR software for 24/7 recording. I’ll put a SD card in to handle recording of events unless a trigger can be sent to the software

 

[JB1970]

All my testing has been done on the local network, with virtual host enabled and navigating to Camera Management, I am getting a notice saying ‘this feature isn’t supported’ when I drop down from the main steam settings to sub stream.

You can access the sub stream settings for each camera without going into camera management or using Virtual Host. For the reasons mentioned in the last paragraph of my last reply, that's what I'd advise. Just login to the NVR via your browser and check/amend the settings for the connected camera in Video/Audio as shown below:

Virtual host is just there to enable you to access the cameras webpage menu and is not required/has no effect on programming the camera via the NVR menu.

I thought going down the NVR route would open up even more functionality, not restrict it further. I can’t even get live view to work on Mac OS through the NVR but this was working when I had the cam on my network using a Poe injector.

It doesn't restrict a great deal and enables (virtually) everything to be programmed from a common menu using the NVRs web address. I find it preferable to use the NVR PoE ports to keep all of the CCTV traffic separate from everything else on the network. Even when I use external PoE switches to connect cameras, I'll usually uplink that switch to an NVR PoE port to keep that segregation in place. Hikvisions support for Mac OS is pretty woeful to be fair and depending on the web browser and age of camera can be hit and miss in Windows.

Can you or anyone recommend some Mac NVR software for 24/7 recording. I’ll put a SD card in to handle recording of events unless a trigger can be sent to the software

There's not much available for Mac as far as I know (I'm a Mac only user myself). Blue Iris is what I'd use but that's Windows only. Depending on the number of cameras and frame rate/resolution/encoding your wanting to record at, you may find that the specification for the hardware required makes it cost prohibitive. Most would recommend a dedicated machine for the cameras rather than using your everyday PC/Mac. The NVR is generally the most cost effective way to go. That said if your happy to have your cameras on your LAN with the rest of your devices there's nothing to prevent you from doing it that way.

 

[ians83]

I tried adjusting it in that menu also, same error.

I think I’ve given up on it now, I’m gonna connected the cams into a managed POE switch, have a play with VLANs to separate the traffic and leave a Mac mini handling the recording.

I set the NVR up last night and writhing the space of 5 hours, I had to reboot 3 times because it stopped picking up the mouse so therefore I couldn’t access the menus.

Considering the fans sound like a jet is about to take off, I’d expect a bit more performance. My Mac mini draws a max of 39Watts at peak

I have been playing around with SecuritySpy this morning with 1 5mp colorvu connected it is at around 6% load.

I realise a Mac mini is overkill but I can merge a few other things of got running (file server, homebridge etc)

 

[JB1970]

I tried adjusting it in that menu also, same error.

I think I’ve given up on it now, I’m gonna connected the cams into a managed POE switch, have a play with VLANs to separate the traffic and leave a Mac mini handling the recording.

I set the NVR up last night and writhing the space of 5 hours, I had to reboot 3 times because it stopped picking up the mouse so therefore I couldn’t access the menus.

Considering the fans sound like a jet is about to take off, I’d expect a bit more performance. My Mac mini draws a max of 39Watts at peak

I have been playing around with SecuritySpy this morning with 1 5mp colorvu connected it is at around 6% load.

I realise a Mac mini is overkill but I can merge a few other things of got running (file server, homebridge etc)

It's unusual that you're getting that error. My only thought as to what could be causing it is the (previous) configuration of the camera. I wouldn't normally think that, but you mentioned that you'd had the camera connected to the LAN first and you may have some settings in there that are misconfigured for the present connection and that's causing the issue.

Usually if the camera was straight out of the box, and more importantly, not configured - you would just connect it directly to an NVR PoE port. The default setting of the channel is Plug and Play and so that would do 3 things - activate the camera, assign it an IP address in the 192.168.254.xxx range and set the admin user password to that of the NVR (or the channel default password if different). As you have now connected it to a PoE port on the NVR you'd need to either reset the camera to defaults, before reconnecting it for the Plug and Play to work as described above; or you'd need to manually configure the NVR channel, after first changing the IP of the camera to a 192.168.254.xxx address. Incorrect IP subnet (something other than 192.168.254.xxx), changes of port numbers etc would quite probably cause issues.

It would definitely be worth a full reset of the camera before condemning the NVR

 

[ians83]

Thanks for your help with this, I did a full restore of the cam before I connected it to the NVR, I should have mentioned that in my original comment.

I still couldn’t get it to configure using plug and play though, I had to amend something (I can’t remember what though) as it was saying abnormal network

 

[JB1970]

Thanks for your help with this, I did a full restore of the cam before I connected it to the NVR, I should have mentioned that in my original comment.

I still couldn’t get it to configure using plug and play though, I had to amend something (I can’t remember what though) as it was saying abnormal network

I have had one or two that wouldn't configure with Plug and Play, but that was some time ago with older firmware. It does need to be the "default" rather than "restore" to reset it to deactivated status ready for plug and play.

I usually set all mine up manually now whether they are connected to the PoE ports of the NVR directly or otherwise in this order:

• Power the camera separately (12V or PoE injector) and connect to the camera at it's default IP address with a web browser
• Activate the camera using the same admin password as that of the NVR
• In network settings set the camera IP to 192.168.254.1{camera number} IE for cam 6 - 192.168.254.106 (this is just my way of doing it so I always know what the IP address of the camera is by adding 100 to the channel number)

Then with the camera still disconnected from the NVR, connect to the NVR with a browser at its IP address:

• Go to Configuration > System > Camera Management
• Check the box for the channel you're adding and click modify to get the popup box
• Change IP address to that just set in the camera
• Enter user name admin, enter the password and confirm
• Change adding method to manual and click OK

Finally connect the camera to the PoE port and that's it. I find this way works best for me as when I want to replace a camera I just need to give it the same address and replace it.