Monitor a place with a network camera

Security cameras and many other IP cameras publish a video stream on the network, usually over RTSP. CV-Scope can read that stream directly, so a run can watch an entrance, a platform or a car park for days.

Step 1. Find the stream address

The stream address is in the camera’s manual or its app. It usually looks like this:

rtsp://user:password@192.168.1.20:554/stream1

user and password are the camera’s login.
192.168.1.20 is the camera’s address on your network.
554 is the usual RTSP port.
/stream1 is the stream path. It differs between makers.

Many cameras offer a main stream and a smaller sub stream. The sub stream is often enough for counting and needs less processing.

Cameras that publish MJPEG over the web use an address that starts with http:// instead. Choose HTTP / IP camera for those.

Step 2. Add and test the camera

Open Cameras and click Add camera.
Set Camera name and Location, for example Entrance and Main door, facing north, and pick a Project.
Set Connection type to RTSP stream.
Paste the address into Stream address.
Click Test connection. It reports one of these results:

Result	What to do
Stream connected and a frame was decoded.	The stream works. Its size and frame rate are shown.
Could not connect.	Check the address, the login, that this computer can reach the camera, and that port 554 is open.
Connected, but no video frame arrived within the timeout.	Check the stream path. The camera may also limit how many viewers it accepts, so close its app and other viewers.
The address must start with rtsp://, http://, https://, rtmp:// or udp://.	Fix the start of the address.

Set Processing frame rate to 5. People and cars are followed well at 5 frames per second, and a long run then costs far less processing.
Click Add camera. The live picture appears on the right.

The stream address, including the password, is stored in CV-Scope’s database on this computer. Protect the data folder like any file with passwords in it.

Step 3. Keep the run alive

Networks drop out now and then. CV-Scope reconnects on its own.

Select the camera on Cameras and tick Advanced settings.
Keep Reconnect on stream loss ticked.
Reconnect delay (s, initial / max) starts at 1 second and doubles after each failed attempt, up to 30 seconds. CV-Scope keeps trying for as long as the run lasts. Keep these values unless the camera needs longer to restart.
Click Save camera.

If the picture freezes or breaks up, change the transport. Open Settings, tick Show advanced, set RTSP transport in the Cameras panel and click Save changes. It applies to runs started afterwards. TCP is the default and the most reliable. UDP has less delay but loses frames on a busy network.

Step 4. Start the monitoring

Create an experiment for the camera and draw its scene, as in the earlier guides. The Scene Builder shows the live stream. Press F to freeze a frame while you draw.
Click Start. A run on a live camera continues until you click Stop.
Keep the CV-Scope server running. Closing its terminal window stops every run.

Step 5. Watch it

Live shows every active run, with its picture, counters and newest events. The row of figures at the top shows the load on this computer:

CPU and GPU use of the whole computer.
Pipeline load GPU / CPU. An estimate of what the active runs need. A warning appears with suggestions when the computer cannot keep up, for example a lower processing rate or a smaller detector.

On a run’s results page, the Diagnostics tab counts Stream reconnects. While a stream is down, the run waits and carries on when the camera is back. Nothing is recorded during the gap, so a long outage shows up as a quiet period in the counts.

Step 6. Plan storage

A run stores events, not video. A busy entrance can still record many thousands of events a day.

Store sampled trajectories on Settings, in the Storage panel, adds up to ten positions per second per person, one per processed frame. At a processing rate of 5 that is about five. Turn it off if you need counts only.
Event retention (days) is recorded in the privacy list, but this version does not delete old events yet. Export the data now and then from Data, as in guide 10, or through the API, as in guide 20. Delete old runs when you no longer need them.

Several cameras

Each camera runs one experiment at a time, and several cameras can run at once. Live shows them together. Watch the load figures when you add cameras. Lower the processing rate first when the computer falls behind.

Guide 19 picks the detector and tracker that suit your computer and your scene.