Configuring RTSP Server module

General info

The RTSP Server object is used for transmitting video from Server to remote workplaces using the RTSP protocol. Use of the RTSP protocol allows viewing video from IP cameras and video archive on remote Clients by means of Axxon PSIM or using video players that support this protocol. Transmitting the archive of the Videogate and Backup archive is also supported.

If there live video with audio or the archive is recorded with audio, then video transmission with audio through RTSP Server is supported—for this specify the ID of microphone from which the archive is recorded when requesting video (see the table with requests examples at the foot of the page). For the audio to play correctly in VLC Media Player, set the VLC media player compatibility mode checkbox (see below).

Note that when configuring, each RTSP Server loads only one CPU core. To increase the number of rtsp streams, you must create several RTSP Server objects and configure them on several cameras. Each RTSP Server entity runs in a separate system process (StreamingServer.run).

Creating the RTSP Server object 

Create the RTSP Server object as follows:

1. In the context menu of the Computer object, select Create object → RTSP Server.
2. Specify the name and ID of the object in the opened panel.
   
3. Click the Apply button to create the object.

Configuring the Unicast mode

1. Open the settings panel for the RTSP Server object. For this select the created object in the Axxon PSIM objects tree.
   

2. In the Cameras table, set the checkboxes next to video cameras video from which is to be displayed (1). If camera has several streams, the default stream is broadcasted.

   Note

   If default stream is changed on the corresponding Camera object settings panel after applying RTSP Server settings, it is mandatory to click Apply on the RTSP Server object settings panel to apply changes to it as well. See also Configuration of multistream video.

3. If video from the camera must be received through the videogate, then select the Videogate object from the Gate drop-down list (2).
4. If archive from the camera must be received from the backup archive, then select the Backup archive object from the Backup archive drop-down list (3).
5. Set the Unicast checkbox if signals from all cameras must be broadcast through one port (4).
   

6. In the RTSP port field, specify the port via which the video is transmitted (5).

   Note

   The "Windows Media Player Network Sharing" service can use the default port 554. Change the port number or disable this service for broadcast.
   To disable the service go to the Control panel → Administrative Tools → Services and double-click the service name and click the Stop button in the opened window.
7. In the HTTP port field, specify the port that must be used for transmitting video via http protocol (6).

Configuring the Multicast mode

Features of the Multicast mode:

1. To get a multicast video in Axxon PSIM (see Configuring multimedia receipt using RTSP protocol) set the multicast value to the RTSP parameter in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\AxxonSoft\PSIM\Video\TransportProtocols registry section (for 64-bit system the path is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\AxxonSoft\PSIM\Video\TransportProtocols) on computer where the Camera object is created. For detailed information on this parameter, see Changing the transport protocol used by IP-device.
2. RTSP Server can broadcast simultaneously in Multicast and Unicast modes. Receiving both such streams on the Axxon PSIM client is impossible due to RTSP key which determines the connection mode (see above). However, the VLC player allows receiving streams in both modes in the same time.
3. The ports that are assigned to each camera in this mode will not be displayed in the Windows OS Resource Monitor and other similar operating system resource monitors.

Using the Multicast mode allows you to reduce the load on the Server by reducing the amount of transmitted data. To distribute the transmitted signal among different RTSP ports, do the following:

1. Go to the RTSP Server object settings panel.

2. Set the Multicast checkbox (1). The Port column is displayed in the Cameras table.

3. Specify a data transmission port for each video camera in the Port field (2). Bear in mind the following when specifying ports:

   1. The following ports are in use for each camera in the Multicast mode: nPort, nPort + 18000 (rtp), nPort + 19000 (rtcp), where nPort—port number specified for camera in the Port column.
      For proper operation of RTSP server in the Multicast mode these ports are to be vacant.
   2. Specified ports are not addressed directly. Use RTSP port to get video from all cameras in the Multicast mode.

   3. In spite of specifying video data port, it is required to specify camera number in the data source address (see the table below).
      

4. In the Receiver IP address field (3), specify the address from which the broadcast in Multicast mode will be performed. Address must be in range from 224.0.1.0 to 239.255.255.255. By default, the receiver IP is 224.0.1.150. Bear in mind the following when specifying Receiver IP address:

   1. 224.0.0.0-224.0.0.255 address range is reserved for routing protocols and other service protocols. Destination IP address cannot be set from the specified range.

   2. RTSP-server can broadcast to one network simultaneously. The network with minimal metric is selected by default. To change the broadcast network, go to the Advanced settings tab (see below).

   3. Set different Receiver IP address and RTSP port if several RTSP Servers are in Multicast mode.
5. In the RTSP port field (4), specify the number of port through which video signal will be sent in the Multicast mode. When requesting video data from the camera using the RTSP protocol, it is necessary to specify this port. The system itself forwards the request to the port of the requested camera.

Advanced settings

To specify the advanced settings of RTSP Server, do the following:

1. Go to the Advanced settings tab.
   

2. If the current time must be sent to VLC Media Player instead of the frame time, then set the VLC player compatibility mode checkbox (1). This option can be used in case of problems when playing back the archive received over RTSP in VLC Media Player.

3. If RTSP Server is used to broadcast video data to the ECHD system, then for the correct operation of navigation through the archive, set the ECHD compatibility mode checkbox (2).

4. If there are captions on the video (see Configuring captions display on a video image), set the Use captions track checkbox (3) to send them together with video via RTSP Server and to display them in the receiving app—VLC player.
   Also, when this checkbox is set, time captions are added to the video image in the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ. If the video is archive (see request examples below), then the captions show the archive time. However, if the VLC player compatibility mode checkbox is set together with the Use captions track checkbox, the time in the captions is current.

   Attention!

   Correct video playback and captions operation are guaranteed in VLC Media Player version 2.0.0. These features are not guaranteed to work in other versions of VLC Media Player or other programs.

5. If you want to eliminate a delay of several seconds when requesting a video via RTSP, set the Hot connection mode checkbox (4).
   

   Note

   The delay when requesting a video via RTSP can also depend on the camera key frame rate (FPS) settings or the frame buffer size settings in the player.

6. From the Source IP interface drop-down list, select the name of the network interface that must be used to broadcast the RTSP server (5).

7. If the RTSP Server is used for broadcasting the video data to the ECHD system, and the Video Surveillance Servers are behind NAT, then it is necessary to specify the NAT settings:

   1. In the IP address field, specify the IP address of the router that performs the NAT broadcasting (6).

   2. In the Port field, specify the port of the router, which is accessed by the client when executing the ECHD requests (7).

      Note

      To enable the substitution of the router's specified IP address and port to the ECHD requests, it is necessary to set the corresponding checkbox in the settings panel of the Web server object—see Enabling the processing of ECHD requests and selecting rtsp server.

8. Click the Apply button to save the changes.

Bulk settings for cameras

In case any changeable setting must be the same for several cameras, it can be duplicated. This feature is available for editable columns: Added, Gate, Port, Backup archive.

To specify the bulk settings, do the following: 

1. Go to the settings panel of the RTSP Server object.
2. Set the value of one or more reference parameters Added, Gate, Port, Backup archive for one of the Camera objects.
   
   
3. When holding down the Ctrl key, select the (full) rows in the table, which must have the same values ​​in the corresponding columns.
4. Right-click in the reference cell.
5. In the opened function menu, select Set for selected rows: "Value". As a result, the corresponding column in all selected rows are filled the value equal to the reference parameter.
6. Repeat steps 4-5 for all parameters that need to be applied to the selected lines.

Examples of addresses to receive video from RTSP Server

To connect to Server and display video in the video player that supports RTSP protocol, specify the address of data source in the format given in the table:

The figure shows how to view video from the Server.