Help RTSP with DVR

studentofipcam

studentofipcam

n3wb
Feb 1, 2025
6
0
USA
Hello esteemed IP Camera experts,

I have purchased this camera system and have set it up as home security: NDK800 4K 16 Channel 6 Camera PoE Dual Lens Security System - ANNKE Store

I understand that this is a rebranded Hikvision product.
  • Device model is N96PBD.
  • Camera models are I91BI / I91BH
DVR Port config:
  • HTTP 80
  • RTSP 554
  • HTTPS 443
  • Server 8000
  • IOT 30999
IP Config:
  • DVR 192.168.1.2
  • Cameras are 192.168.254.2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , etc

I did not realize this when I purchased it, but there is no linux plugin for viewing this stuff via browser. So I am stuck viewing it in a windows VM. It works ok but leaves much to be desired in terms of timely accessing the video feeds. I tried running the Annke Vision android app via waydroid, but that's am arm64 app and even if I trick it to install with libndk it doesn't launch. I also have tried to install Annke Vision through Wine, but that did not go well :)

I did some research and found that I can RTSP into these cameras. I have enabled ONVIF protocol and created a username and password as Operator level user.

Question 1: Under ONVIF authentication, should I set it to "digest&ws-username token" or to just digest to use the rtsp:/user:password way of connecting?

I have found a cool app for linux called CCTV-Viewer ( GitHub - iEvgeny/cctv-viewer: CCTV Viewer - viewer and mounter video streams. ). It seems like it will do what I want. But I am having trouble figuring out how to connect to this to the cameras. It has a default stream with the URL rtmp:/live.a71.ru/demo/0 that is perfectly working.

Question 2: How can I find the stream/channel name? I know the cameras are using Channel 1.
I have found this code snippet for connecting: rtsp:/user:password@192.168.1.2:554/Streaming/Channels/101/ /201/ /301/ /etc/, but I am unable to view anything using this address. I suspect that I just have the URL incorrect. What's the trick for finding the channel names? I have also tried it with VLC with no success.

So, in short, my intent is to be able to live view the cameras using CCTV-Viewer application. We can pretend it is VLC if that makes providing instructions easier. I would like to connect to the DVR using RTSP / ONVIF. But I am at a loss as how to ascertain the correct address and whether my settings are correct. You folks seem knowledgable in the area and can hopefully save me a lot of frustration with your expert advice.

I am also open to running a DVR VM on my home server and routing the cameras through a POE switch. But that is a discussion for some months in the future. So please ignore this topic so we can focus the discussion on establishing an RTSP connection.

I hope that I have posted this thread in the appropriate forum, and if not I ask the moderators to place it where it belongs. And that I have demonstrated my due dilligence in researching the matter before begging for help. I place my fate in your hands.
 
Friends,

Small update. As typical, writing your issue out helps you make progress.

I have found that in System>Camera Management>Protocol Customization the stream path is set to ch1/main/av_stream ,
[Type]:/[IP Address]:[Port]/[Resource Path], rtsp:/192.168.0.1:554/ch1/main/av_stream

I have set it as that and pressed OK.

But, to my dismay, there is no success establishing a connection.. I have tried:
  1. rtsp:/onvifuser:password@192.168.1.2:554/ch1/main/av_stream
  2. rtsp:/,admin:password@192.168.1.2:554/ch1/main/av_stream
  3. rtsp:/192.168.1.2:554/ch1/main/av_stream
 
Thank you for replying, I have attempted connections to the URLs provided but without success (and yes I put two /). I have exhausted my efforts for this night and must sleep. I will leave some images in hopes someone may find fault or solution:
 

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Since you're running a Windows VM and you show it's ONVIF-compliant and is enabled, have you tried ODM to see if the URL you're trying gee-haws with what ODM discovers?
 
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I tried ODM, but it keeps giving me an error when I try to connect. And I was unable to find any encryption settings. I followed relevant help pages but they noted a setting that did not appear on my end or that I should have platform access enabled (which I don't).

Perhaps my efforts are better spent on setting up a VM and running these cameras through a poe switch. Which I am in the process of doing now. Starting with the blueiris demo, for which a windows VM is needed, hopefully it will allow me to access it via browser without stupid plugins. If not, I'll try shinobi/zoneminder/frigate.
 

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I've an update on my progress,

I disconnected the DVR and plugged the cameras into a poe switch. I reset the first one using the reset button, but then I realized my Annke Vision app was picking up the rest and used that to change their IP and passwords. In the Annke Vision I set up a camera password (for http access) and another Annke Vision decryption password. I set them up on my local subnet and CCTV viewer connected right away using rtsp:/admin:annke_vision_decryption_password@192.168.1.101 . I was also able to view the camera streams directly connecting to the camera IP using my browser without any stupid plugins.

So I set up a Windows virtual machine on my server to run BlueIRIS. And boy was that annoying. Apparently M$ changed the oobe/bypassnro method to not work and it kept bugging me to create an account. Got past it by detaching the network device. So many reboots and update checks. Then when I had blueiris set up correctly I did a final reboot to install another update the stupid OS threw up an inaccessible boot device bluescreen. I had some flashbacks to darker times and I remembered why I don't use this damned OS.

Then I set up a debian 12 VM, attached my storage drive to it, mounted, set up Frigate using docker, but it became obvious that without working AMD GPU passthrough I wasn't going to have any luck running more than two 5120x2560 streams.

So I'm giving up on VMs. They will not bring me success. My hypervisor does not have gpu passthrough for my hardware.

What has become apparent as result of this excercise is that the DVR was doing something to prevent rtsp access.

It seems my options are:
  1. Buy a bunch of 512GB SD cards and stick them in the camears.
  2. Bring back the DVR and somehow configure it to use my regular subnet or not to block direct access to the cameras.
I did spot a cat on the CCTV-Viewer and took a screenshot of him so that was a highlight of this struggle.

cats2.png
 
Another update. I found a legit workaround:

This doc explains how to install an old version of windows firefox and make the plugin work:

github.com

View-Hikvision-CCTV-Camera-on-Ubuntu/INSTRUCTIONS.md at main · kamipakistan/View-Hikvision-CCTV-Camera-on-Ubuntu

This repository provides step-by-step guide on how to view Hikvision CCTV camera feeds on Ubuntu using the Firefox web browser. The guide explains the process of setting up Wine to run Firefox and ...
github.com github.com

I skipped all of that and just opened the paf with wine, then opened the plugin with wine from /FirefoxPortableESR/Data/plugins/, and now it works. Hope what I wrote above is helpful to someone else. This is effectively resolved.

edit: actually I don't even need the ESR firefox anymore... it just works in regular firefox wine loads the plugin
 
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