Add cameras using their RTSP stream

Last modified: Wednesday September 28, 2022.

For some cameras that either do not support the ONVIF protocol, or that for some reason do not provide the streams requested by Alta Video, you can still add them to Alta Video by specifying their RTSP URL.

See Adding cameras to Alta Video for information about the different methods of adding cameras to your Alta Video deployment.

You can only add a single stream from an RTSP camera.

Prerequisites

You can only add cameras using their RTSP steam to Alta Video deployments that include an Alta Cloud Connector

Ensure you have configured the camera to produce a suitable RTSP stream, and that you have created the relevant RTSP URL for the camera.

The RTSP stream from the camera must be suitable for the Alta Video analytics:

Table 1 – Stream requirements for RTSP cameras
Parameter	Value
Resolution	720p (ideal) — 1080p (maximum)
Key frames per second	2 I-frames Some cameras require separate configuration of the Frame rate and Group of Pictures (GOP) settings to achieve this. For example, setting 10 fps and GOP of 5.
Protocol	H.264

Task — Add an RTSP stream

Choose Tools > Devices.
Click Add cameras
Select Add RTSP streams.
Enter the name for the camera, the RTSP address, the Cloud Connector to connect the stream to, the Group, and the Configuration for the RTSP stream.
Click Next.
Select the Username and Password combination to use for the new camera.
You can select multiple Username/Password combinations, or add new credentials.

Some devices have account lockout policies based on failed attempts. This may cause the device to fail to be added when selecting multiple credentials. If this happens, wait for the accounts to become unlocked and try again with only the correct credentials for the device selected.
Click Next.
After checking that the selected Username and Password and all other information matches the selected camera, the camera is added to Alta Video.