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 ONVIF 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 ONVIF Bridge.
• The IP address or computer name of the computer where the Milestone ONVIF Bridge is installed.
• The GUID of the device that you want to stream video from.

Tip: 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.

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 http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html, 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 RSTP string. Replace the variables in the square brackets [ONVIF Bridge IP Address] and [Camera GUID] with the correct information:
   • To view a live video stream, enter rtsp:// [ONVIF Bridge IP Address]:554/live/[Camera GUID]
   • To view recorded video, enter rtsp:// [ONVIF 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 ONVIF Bridge.

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