Use a media player to view a video stream

This example describes how to use the VLC media player to retrieve and view a live video feed or recorded video from a camera in an XProtect installation.

VLC media player is a free, open source multimedia player from VideoLan that supports various streaming protocols, including RTSP. For example, using VLC media player is useful when you want a very fast way to connect to a camera, or just to test the connection to a camera.

When you connect to a camera to view recorded video, the Milestone Open Network Bridge streams the video sequences, starting with the first sequence.

Before you start, get the following information from the person who administrates the XProtect installation:

  • The login credentials for the user account that is assigned to the Milestone Open Network Bridge
  • The IP address or computer name of the computer where the Milestone Open Network Bridge is installed

In addition, depending on the schema that you use, you need the following information:

  • If you use rtsp://[rtsp_server]:554/live/[camera_id]

    Then you need the GUID of the device that you want to stream video from

    The camera GUID is available in Management Client. To find the GUID, select the recording server where the camera has been added, and then select the camera. Click the Info tab, press and hold CTRL on your keyboard, and then click the camera’s video preview.

  • If you use rtsp://[rtsp_server]:554/live/[camera_id]/[stream_number]

    Then you need the stream number. This is a numeric value between 0 and 15.

  • If you use rtsp://[rtsp_server]:554/live/[camera_id]/[stream_id]

    Then you need the stream ID. This is the GUID that identifies the stream in XProtect VMS.

    The current XProtect VMS multi-streaming implementation GUIDs that identify the steams are fixed to:

    • 28dc44c3-079e-4c94-8ec9-60363451eb40 - for stream 0

    • 28dc44c3-079e-4c94-8ec9-60363451eb41 - for stream 1

    • ...

    • 28dc44c3-079e-4c94-8ec9-60363451eb4f - for stream 15

This description is based on VLC 2.2.4 for Windows.

To install the VLC media player, and connect it to an XProtect system, follow these steps:

  1. Go to https://www.videolan.org/vlc/, and then download the installer for the VLC media player.
  2. Run the installer, and follow the instructions for each step.
  3. On the toolbar, click Media, and select Open Network Stream.
  4. In the Open media dialog box, enter the following RTSP string. Replace the variables in the square brackets [Milestone Open Network Bridge IP Address] and [Camera GUID] with the correct information:
    • To view a live video stream, enter rtsp://[Milestone Open Network Bridge IP Address]:554/live/[Camera GUID]
    • To view recorded video, enter rtsp://[Milestone Open Network Bridge IP Address]:554/vod/[Camera GUID]
  5. Click Play, and then enter the user name and password of the user account that was added to the Milestone Open Network Bridge.