IP cameras

[portlandsda]

I just bought two new IP Cameras for my church and have hooked everything up. My problem is when i add the cameras ip address to a new media source, it acts like it worked, but does not appear on my preview or Program screen. If somebody could help me figure this out, it be much appreciated. thank you

 

[John Hartman]

Not sure what "acts like it worked" means, but take a look at the OBS log files (Help, Log Files, then either "Show Log Files" or "View Current Log")

You should see some messages related to OBS trying to access your cameras. You may see messages that help you resolve the problem. Otherwise, upload the log file (another option on the Log File menu) and link it to this message.

 

[portlandsda]

thanks for replying. when i said "acts like its working" what i meant is yesterday the preview screen would be blank and when i transitioned it to the program, it would show up. today i had to redo everything and it is not appearing in either screen. this is what it says in the log files...
13:15:22.121: warning: Found EOI before any SOF, ignoring
13:15:22.121: fatal: No JPEG data found in image
13:15:22.121: Video Capture Device 3: Error decoding video

again..i appreciate your help. we have an event tomorrow and its getting down to the wire with this. Our normal tech guy is no longer with us and i am learning as i go

do i have to put something in the "input format" spot of the media source. right now i am putting the ip address of the camera with /1 at the end of the address in the input spot

 

[John Hartman]

Our cameras are either USB connected or HDMI, so I have no direct experience with IP cameras in OBS.
But the error messages would seem to indicate some configuration error, or mismatch in configuration with your camera.

I assume you've googled "obs configure ip camera," but this thread
https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/rtsp-camera-into-obs-stream-url-advice.171005/
has some details, and includes a suggestion to use VLC to do a non-OBS test with the camera. And a Google query including your camera's model number might turn up particular quirks.

You say "right now i am putting the ip address of the camera with /1 at the end of the address in the input spot". Did you mean literally JUST the IP address and /1? It seems you need at least something like "rtsp://192.XXX.X.XX:8554/1" (replacing 8554 with whatever port your camera is using, and adding username and password if required by the camera). And "/1" may be some other path on some cameras. Do you camera docs give any relevant details?

Something that has bitten me in other contexts: are you sure your cameras are at the IP addresses you think they are? Even if they have static IP addresses, is there a DHCP server that isn't configured to avoid that range and might have handed out those addresses to another device.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Adding IP cameras is not a 'standard' (or at least wasn't)... and not all protocols are supported. if I recall correctly, RTSP can be added with native support, but NDI can not. And even RTSP, you have to configure the camera correctly in terms of output settings.. FIRST, before trying to add in OBS Studio
DO NOT assume the default camera settings will work with your computer, network, and/or OBS Studio... as to what should those settings be? that depends on your camera, computer, your network, your expectations/requirements, etc. ie, it depends.

As with all Audio and Video sources, the most direct troubleshooting step is to make sure your connectivity (feed) is working correctly at the Operating System level. Then make sure Operating System permissions are properly configured such that OBS Studio can access whichever device is involved. And beware that for an IP camera, web browsing to the camera and seeing expected video feed is NOT even close to be the same as sending a video feed from the camera to the computer, and running software on the computer to receive that video feed

Personally, I prefer NDI over RTSP for our PoE PTZ cameras for House of Worship, but due to licensing such cameras tend to be more expensive.. but I also use a camera vendor that provides a virtual NDI to USB applet that makes the NDI video feeds available as though a locally attached USB camera to all applications (including OBS Studio) which makes things so much easier than the NDI Tools and NDI plugin route