Connecting A Stream; Connecting Over The Internet - avertX HIGH DEFINITION NETWORK DOME CAMERA User Manual

Connecting a Stream

AvertX IP cameras are optimized for use with AvertX HDIP recorders,
but you can also connect to your AvertX IP cameras using third party
software like VLC media player (http://www.videolan.org).
To connect the camera you may need to provide the stream URL. All
AvertX IP cameras are capable of delivering two RTSP streams, as well
as streaming MJPEG over HTTP. The stream URLs are listed below.
rtsp://<ip address>/mjpeg
rtsp://<ip address>/mpeg4
rtsp://<ipaddress>/h264
http://<ipaddress>:8008
The MJPEG over HTTP stream is identified by a port number. The
default port is 8008; this port can be configured in the cameras Network
page:
16

Connecting Over the Internet

There are some challenges with connecting to AvertX IP cameras over
WAN (internet) connections because the camera streams video over
RTSP. RTSP is an excellent protocol for media and is now used on
many IP cameras (including AvertX) as the default streaming option.
However, RTSP is not suitable for transmission between two locations
that are behind different routers. In this case, the client (for example, the
AvertX HDIP server software) connects to the camera, then requests a
stream. The camera uses that connection to return a stream, but since
the connection originated on the client side and has now switched to the
camera (remote) side, the router does not have any way to determine
where the traffic should be routed, so no video appears at the recorder.
There are three solutions to this:
1. Connect modems on both sides directly to the recorder and
camera. If there is no router, no network address translation is
needed.
2. Use routers with VPN support and set up a small VPN. Once this is
done, the traffic will be treated as though it were all on the local
network.
3. (Best solution) – Use routers with connection tracking. This is
quite easy; VOIP also uses RTSP and faces the same challenges.
If a router is marketed as having "VOIP Support", it will have the
necessary connection tracking capability to allow any type of RTSP
communication (not just VOIP).
With proper planning and the correct equipment, RTSP cameras CAN
stream over the WAN to a recording device for minimal additional cost
and labor.
Please contact technical support if you require any additional
information on these topics.