IP camera

9 min readScreens and objects

Use the IP Camera object to place the live image of a camera (RTSP H.264, MJPEG or JPEG) on a screen: address, channel and stream settings, test image, the camera server in Live, reconnection and limits.

IP Camera object

The IP camera object shows the image of an IP camera or recorder (NVR) in a box on the screen. The object is in the Toolbox group of the Toolbox; it also exists in the 3D library as a monitor on a stand.

The image does not come from the camera to the screen directly: the main program of Live reads the camera and passes the image on to the screen. For this reason the address, user name and password of the camera never reach the screen or the browser that is monitoring remotely; the viewer does not need network access to the camera either.

Setting up the camera

Place the object.
Drag Toolbox › Controls › IP camera onto the screen. Studio draws the object as a dark camera frame: title strip, source badge (RTSP, MJPEG, JPEG or DENEME) and an address / channel / stream summary. The live image appears in Live.
Select the source type.
The General category of the Inspector has a Camera group. Source type: RTSP (H.264) (cameras and recorders of any brand), MJPEG (HTTP), JPEG snapshot (HTTP) or Test image. The test image is for presentations and testing when no camera is available: the main program generates a test image containing color bars, the brand and the time; the address, user and password fields are hidden.
Enter the address.
In the Address (IP or name) field, enter the IP address of the camera or recorder, or its computer name; do not type rtsp:// or http:// in front of it (if you do, the main program discards the scheme, and also the user name and password if they are written in the address). If Port is 0, the default is used: 554 for RTSP, 80 for HTTP.
Specify the path.
When you select Address pattern, Hikvision compatible, Dahua compatible or Axis compatible from the Uniview compatible list, Path (and Port, if Port is empty) is filled with that brand's common address; Generic (path entered manually) leaves the path untouched. Three placeholders are used in the path: {kanal}, {akisNo} (main stream 1, substream 2) and {akis0} (main stream 0, substream 1). The address may differ depending on the manufacturer's firmware; correct the path manually.
Channel, stream and credentials.
Channel is the camera number on the recorder (1 – 256). Flow: Main stream (high resolution) or Sub stream (low resolution); the sub stream is sufficient in a small box and in remote monitoring. If credentials are required, enter User name and Password. Refresh interval (ms) appears only for a JPEG source (100 – 60000; default 500).
Check the address.
Below the camera group, the Resulting address (without password) row shows the address with the path placeholders filled in (for example rtsp://192.168.0.10:554/Streaming/Channels/101). The Live preview button connects to the camera at that moment and shows the image in Studio; this button works only inside the Studio program.

Three IP camera objects: two test images and one RTSP camera (address, channel and stream are summarized in the box).

Camera group: source, address pattern, address, port, path, channel, stream, credentials; below it, the resulting address and the Live preview button.

Channel, stream, Stream on and Title can be bound to a tag: the operator or the PLC can change the camera number and the stream at run time and switch the stream on and off. Address, port, path, user and password cannot be bound.

Appearance properties

Title, Title strip: If Title is empty, the name of the object is shown. If the strip is turned off, the status and clock disappear along with the title (in the Studio drawing, only the source badge remains).
Connection status and time: On the right of the strip: the status dot with its text, and the clock.
Image layout: Fit (keep ratio), Fill (keep ratio, crop overflow), Stretch (fill the box).
Background color, Border color, Corner radius: The frame of the box.
Enlarge on click, Buttons on hover: The operator's ability to enlarge and use the buttons (see below).

Operation in Live

In a tile, Live shows a title strip (name, connection state and clock, source badge), the image, and three buttons that appear when the mouse is over it: Enlarge, Save snapshot and the MAIN / SUB stream button. The status text can be Off, Queued, Connecting, Connected or Error.

Enlarge. Clicking the image (or the Enlarge button) opens the main stream in a large window in the center; at that time the stream of the small box is released, so two streams are never opened on the same camera. Esc or clicking outside the window closes it.
Snapshot. Saves the current frame as JPEG. In the Live program the Save window opens; in the remote monitoring browser the file is downloaded through the browser. If the camera delivers no image, a message states that there is no image to save.
Switching the stream. The MAIN / SUB button is a temporary selection by the operator; when the stream is changed by a tag, the temporary selection is discarded.
Authorization and control. The buttons and enlargement do not work if the object's Operable setting or the control of the screen is off, or if the object's authorization is missing; the image still appears. On a TV there are no buttons or enlargement (display only).
Hiding. When the screen is closed or the object is hidden (layer, visibility binding), the stream is released.

Camera server, reconnection, limits

Topic	Behavior
Single connection	However many objects or viewers show the same camera (address + channel + stream + user), only one connection is opened to the camera. It is closed 10 seconds after the last viewer leaves. The main program reads at most 32 sources at the same time.
RTSP	It connects over TCP (RTP interleaved); the authentication methods are Basic and Digest. Only H.264 is played. If the camera delivers H.265, the message The camera is sending H.265; select the sub-stream or H.264 as the encoding appears; if it delivers another codec, the message The camera is sending an encoding other than H.264; select H.264 as the encoding appears.
MJPEG, JPEG	It is read over HTTP; authentication is Basic and Digest. https is not supported. The connection timeout is 5 seconds and the data timeout is 10 seconds. A JPEG source requests a snapshot at intervals equal to Refresh interval.
Reconnection	When the connection drops, the main program retries automatically; the wait is 2, 4, 8 … seconds and at most 30 seconds; when the image arrives, the wait resets. If the network is cut in the screen, it reconnects after 2 seconds; 401 / 403 / 404 / 503 responses are displayed with an understandable message and retried every 10 seconds. If no data arrives for 8 seconds, the connection is considered dead.
Simultaneous streams	In normal streaming, 9 or 16 cameras play together on a screen. If the fallback path of the stream is used, at most 6 streams in the local window and 4 in remote monitoring are opened at the same time; any more wait as Queued.
Latency	If the image falls more than 0.8 seconds behind the live edge, it jumps to the edge.

The error messages are shown in the interface language and contain no address, user name or password. The main ones are: User name or password is incorrect, The camera refused the connection (the address or port may be wrong), The camera address was not found, The camera cannot be reached (timeout), The camera does not recognize this address (the path or channel may be wrong), No key frame is received from the camera, No camera address has been entered. For solutions, see the topic Troubleshooting.

Camera in a 3D screen

The IP camera in the 3D library is a monitor on a stand. In the Displayed camera field you select a 2D IP camera object of the project; the address, user and password remain in that 2D object, and the main program opens the stream with its settings. Stream is Sub stream by default (recommended). Frames are drawn on the monitor at most 12 times per second; when there is no image, a camera icon and a status text are shown on the monitor.