How to find a Connection Address for an IP Camera

Before being able to configure an IP camera in Shinobi, or even another VMS, you need a Connection Address.

By : Moe Alam

Date Added : Thu Dec 13 2018 16:11:41 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Last Updated : Thu Dec 13 2018 16:11:41 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Find a Connection Address for an ONVIF Camera that doesn't appear in Scans

Some camera vendors deviate from ONVIF standards, such as not using port 8000 for ONVIF requests but there are tools that support some of these strange quirks.

ONVIF Device Manager for Windows is a good one. There are many others like it.

How to find a Connection Address without ONVIF

  1. Find the Model Number and Manufacturer of the Camera.
    • Example : Reolink C1 Pro
    • Example : AXIS 1011W
    • Example : Grandstream GXV3610FHD
  2. See if the camera appears in the Documentation's Stream URLs page.
    • Tip : If your camera doesn't appear then check out iSpyConnect's website for a more up to date listing.
  3. Look for a Stream Path accompanying the listing of Camera Models.
    • Tip : Look for H.264 over RTSP, Shinobi works best with these kinds of Streams.
    • Tip : In rare occaisions a camera will provide H.264 over HTTP
    • Example for AXIS 1011W H.264 over RTSP : /axis-media/media.amp
    • Example for Reolink C1 Pro H.264 over RTSP : /
    • Example for Grandstream GXV3610FHD H.264 over RTSP : /
  4. Build the path for your camera.
    • Format for H.264 over RTSP : rtsp://USERNAME:PASSWORD@CAMERA_IP/STREAM_PATH
    • Format for an HTTP Stream : http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@CAMERA_IP/STREAM_PATH
  5. Now that you have a Connection Address you can test it in Shinobi's Probe tool or in VLC.
    • Testing with VLC
      1. Open VLC. If you don't have it you can download it from here.
      2. Select the Media menu then Open Network Connection.
      3. Paste your Connection Address and press Play.
    • Testing with Shinobi's Probe Tool (FFprobe)
      1. Open the Dashboard.
      2. Open the main menu by clicking your Username in the top left.
      3. Select Probe.
      4. Paste the URL in the window presented and begin probing.
  6. After meeting success with your Connection Address add them in Shinobi

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