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Creating TV channel from IP Camera

This article will explain how to add an IP camera to Flussonic and then add it to an MPTS stream broadcasted to a cable or satellite network. Such a value added feature may become a pleasant bonus for your viewers; for example, you can use it when deploying a TV broadcast in a gated community to display a public camera surveilling the gates as a separate channel, or broadcast the process of construction of some important infrastructure facility. If desired, you can give viewers access to the camera archive.

To add a camera to the multiplexer:

  1. Find out the camera's RTSP URL.
  2. Create a stream with this RTSP URL in Flussonic.
  3. Add the created stream to a multiplexer.

The instructions on those are given below on this page.

RTSP URL

Flussonic allows you to connect any cameras supporting RTSP so you have to find out the RTSP URL of your camera. Usually you can find it in the camera's web interface. Pay attention to the following points:

  • The URL must contain login and password
  • You need the IP address of the camera to be accessible from Flussonic.

Normally RTSP URL looks like this: rtsp://admin:4321@192.168.45.32/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1. It's important that usually there's some path after the IP address. Your camera won’t stream without it.

Some cameras include a login and password in the URL, and then it takes the form of rtsp://192.168.0.213/user=admin_password=tlJatbo6_channel=1_stream=0.sdp?real_stream.

Sometimes when the camera is in a closed network, it's necessary to forward ports on a router. In this case, the IP address and port of the web interface are not equal to the IP address and port of your camera. Some cameras handle this situation incorrectly, and may offer you an RTSP URL that contains an internal IP address. In this case, it's necessary to replace the address and port with external ones.

Note

In some cases, you can use Flussonic Agent to connect cameras from a closed network. Read more about Agent in Using Flussonic Agent.

So, to sum up, please note that the IP address of the camera isn't enough for connection with Flussonic, you must specify a correct and accessible RTSP URL.

Creating a new stream

Now you need to create a new stream in Flussonic.

  1. Go to Media — Streams and click +.
  2. In the stream creation form, specify the stream name name and the RTSP URL that is described in the section above.
  3. Click Create.
  4. The profile of the created stream opens on the Overview tab. If the URL is correct, you will see statistics of bitrate and tracks, as well as the stream preview in the player, etc.

  5. If necessary, you can configure the RTSP-specific settings of the stream. To do so, go to the Input tab ang click Options next to the input URL. RTSP settings include:

    • RTP transport type: select TCP or UDP transport protocol.
    • RTSP tracks: enter specific tracks of the RTSP stream that are to be captured.
    • Output audio: select the output audio codec if the source one does not play.

  6. To enable the archive recording, go to the DVR tab in the stream profile.

See also:

Adding the stream from the camera to a multiplexer

Adding the stream from the camera to a multiplexer is not different from adding any other stream. This can be done in the UI:

  1. Go to Media — Multiplexers.
  2. Find the required multiplexer or create a new one.
  3. In the Add program field, enter or select the name of the camera stream that you have created earlier.
  4. Click +.

Done, now the video from the camera will be added to the multiplexer. Mandatory settings such as program number (PNR), track number (PID), etc. are set automatically. If necessary, you can expand the settings and set all parameters of the program and the multiplexer, see article about configuring multiplexer.