Introduction
Once you have your encoder connected to a network that hosts your IP camera(s) you need to provide the camera login details to the encoder so that it can record and transmit your camera's video to your users.
Supported IP cameras and video formats
A compliant ONVIF Profile S camera should be able to supply your encoder with a valid video feed. The supplied feed must:
Use H.264 for the video format
Use G711 for the audio format (if present)
Use a video resolution 1080p or lower (720p, 576p or 480p)
Use a frame rate 30fps or lower
Use a bitrate no higher than 10 Mbps. Higher bitrates can negatively affect encoder performance and recording duration.
From the encoder's web set up interface select the Video inputs item from the home page:
The Video inputs page will then show the list of cameras currently added to your encoder (on a new encoder this list will be empty.
Select the Add video input button on the right - this will present you two options that you can use to add a camera:
Auto discover a connected IP Camera
The easiest way to add a camera is to search for the camera using the Search local network option.
Is your encoder configured to connect to your camera's network?
Your IP camera and the LAN port on your encoder must have compatible IP Address settings.
This usually means that the IP Address of the camera, and IP Address of the encoder port must both be 192.168.X.Y, where X is the same, but Y is unique on the network.
The encoder will search all enabled network interfaces for IP cameras and display a list of all cameras available.
To select a camera, click on its entry in the list. This will then prompt for:
A friendly name that EdgeVis should use to refer to this camera
The login details of the camera (required for most cameras)
Whether to allow EdgeVis Client to access the camera’s web interface via SecureConnect
Whether to automatically configure the camera to ‘safe’ quality settings – see Supported Camera Settings section for further details.
Once entered, the camera should now be added to the encoder’s list of video feeds.
If the desired camera is not listed in the discovered cameras:
try again! Sometimes the camera is too slow to respond to the encoder the first time.
check our camera is powered! Some cameras require power-on-LAN which requires the use of encoders/switches that offer power on their LAN ports.
check your encoder's LAN port configuration (this may be a different LAN port to your internet connection). This must be on the same IP range as the camera.
Try adding the camera manually.
Adding a camera manually
There are two reasons why it may be necessary to add a camera using the add manually option:
The camera was not discovered using ONVIF discovery
The camera does not support ONVIF, but you do have the RTSP address of the camera feed.
To add an ONVIF camera… you must know these details in advance:
The camara’s IP address
The port number (this is usually 80, but some cameras allow this to be changed)
A username / password that has permission to view the stream
To add an RTSP camera… you must know these details in advance:
The camera’s IP address
The port number (this is usually 554, but some cameras allow this to be changed)
A username / password that has permission to view the stream (some cameras allow unauthenticated access)
The URL path to the appropriate camera feed
You may be supplied the IP camera’s RTSP address as a full URL. For example:
rtsp://admin:password@192.168.10.1:554/playstream.sdp?channel=1&subtype=0
This can usually be broken down to obtain the information using this format (although many fields are optional and may not be present)
rtsp://<user name>:<password>@<ip address>:<port>/<url path>
Adding the camera manually
Select the encoder interface the camera is connected to
Select the feed type (either ONVIF / RTSP)
Enter the IP address and port of the camera (the port number will automatically be set to the appropriate default port number)
(RTSP Only) Enter the URL Path
Enter a friendly name for the camera – this will be displayed to the user in EdgeVis Server and EdgeVis Client
Most cameras will also require a username and password to access the camera feed
The last two options allow you to decide:
Whether to allow EdgeVis Client to access the camera’s web interface via SecureConnect
Whether to automatically configure the camera to ‘safe’ quality settings – see Supported Camera Settings section for further details
Supported Camera Settings
When adding an ONVIF camera, by default, the encoder will automatically configure the camera to 1080p, 25/30fps @ 10 Mbps. This ensures that the quality is the highest possible, while keeping the camera bitrate to recommended levels.
It is possible to stop this default behaviour by unticking the Auto configure ONVIF camera to optimal settings while adding the camera. It is then the user’s responsibility to check the camera meets the above requirements. After adding the camera, the Stream Information section will display the live characteristics of the received stream:
Connecting directly to attached IP cameras
The camera details page allows the user to connect directly to the web interface of any IP camera by proxying the data via the configuration web page. This functionality can be accessed by selecting the Connect directly to this camera menu option. This feature allows for easier configuration of any camera specific settings that require the camera’s web interface.
The Return to encoder button can be used to navigate back to the encoder configuration pages. The button in the top right of the page will open the camera’s web interface in a new browser window, which may be required if the camera web interface fails to load.
Tips for ONVIF cameras...
Some cameras require to perform additional steps to work using the ONVIF standard. These include:
Enabling ONVIF access specifically in the camera's settings
Creating a user that has ONVIF access (e.g. instructions for Axis cameras)
The easiest way to test this/troubleshoot is to use ODM on your local PC to see if you can access your camera on your network before adding it to your encoder. If you can view your encoder in ODM, you should be able to add it to your encoder.
Add a Picture-in-Picture or Quad View layout
For an encoder with more than one camera it is possible to create virtual video feeds which can either contain:
a 4-way quad view, where each camera fills one quarter of the image
a Picture-in-Picture view where one camera fills the whole image, and a second camera is superimposed in a smaller window on top of the image in one of the corners (selectable)
To create a new layout, use the Add video layout menu option and select the desired layout format.
Next Article in series: Make sure your recording settings are correct
'Setting up your encoder' series:
Add your IP cameras to your encoder
Once you've completed these steps, the encoder Quick Start Guide can provide more information on the next stage of completing your EdgeVis set up.