Use RTSP to view your Arcdyn security cameras in VLC Media Player
Overview
RTSP is one of the most useful things that an IP camera provides over Analog counterparts. Since the encoding is done at the camera, we can pull the RTSP stream right from the camera. NVR/DVR's also have an RTSP Stream that can be used for live viewing the streams. This write up will cover both products. An excellent tool for testing and implementing solutions is VLC media player. It is Open Source and free to use.
Arcdyn Cameras & Arcdyn NVR/DVR
All Arcdyn IP cameras can have their live view accessed by RTSP. The same applies for NVR's and DVR's. Arcdyn cameras and recorders use the following format for accessing the RTSP stream.
RTSP://UserName:Password@IPAddress:RtspPort/ISAPI/Streaming/channels/XXYY
Let's touch on each part of the requirements for RTSP.
RTSP://: This defines the protocol in use, RTSP
UserName: The username for the Camera/DVR/NVR.
Password: The password for that user.
IP Address: The IP address of the Camera/NVR/DVR.
RTSP Port: The RTSP port on the device.(default 554)
XX: Channel Number (1, 10, 6, etc.)
YY: Stream Type (Main Stream = 01, Sub Stream = 02)
Camera Main Stream
RTSP://admin:password@192.168.1.174:554/ISAPI/Streaming/channels/101
NVR/DVR Sub-Stream (Channel/Camera 6 )
RTSP://admin:password@192.168.1.174:554/ISAPI/Streaming/channels/602
VLC Media Player
If you do not already have VLC Media Player, you should go ahead and download it, and install it on your desired system. You can use the default install settings. VLC supports all platforms which make's it a great tool for all users.
Configuring VLC
Once you have installed VLC go ahead and open the application on your system. Once the application is open, go to Media>Open Network Stream. (See Picture Below)
The next step will be adding in the correct information to view the Network Stream. You will need to know a few things for the RTSP to stream the live view of the camera. They are the IP address, Username, Password, RTSP port, Channel, & Stream Type. In this example, we are using the following information.
Username: admin
Password: changeme123
NVR/DVR/CAMERA IP Address: 192.168.1.174
RTSP Port: 554
Channel: 1
Main Stream: 01
Your RTSP information should look very similar to these Pictures.
You should now be able to hit play and open up the stream.
Summary
RTSP has a wide variety of uses (such as our free Control4 Camera Driver) and can be helpful in a lot of scenarios. Maybe you want to have one camera on display in your office, but you are unable to run the HDMI cable that far for a dedicated display. Maybe you want to hook up an old computer or Raspberry Pi to a TV via HDMI and have live view in a remote area of the house.