Today, in order to facilitate the installation and viewing of home IP cameras, manufacturers use a Cloud to establish reverse connections to the cameras. This architecture allows us not to have to open ports to the IP camera, nor do we need to configure dynamic DNS to remotely access our home IP, everything is done through the Cloud in a transparent way. The negative part is that, generally, we only have an app to view the cameras from the smartphone or tablet, but not from the computer. Today in this article we are going to explain how you could see the IP cameras from a computer, either locally or through the Internet.
How to see the IP camera in real time from the PC
Depending on the manufacturer of the camera and also the model of the camera, we will have the possibility to visualize it through a computer using different protocols . However, there are manufacturers that only allow viewing through an app for smartphones and tablets. Next, we are going to give you a couple of examples of manufacturers and models that we know very well, such as D-Link and also EZVIZ, two leaders in home IP cameras of any range.
The manufacturer D-Link started with a policy where you could only view your cloud IP cameras through the mydlink app, however, we also have the possibility of viewing them in real time through the official mydlink website without having to do anything. special configuration. We simply access the main menu of mydlink and we can see all the cameras that we have registered in the application.
If we want to view a specific IP camera, all we have to do is remove the privacy mode (if it is activated), and we will be able to see it without any problem from anywhere in the world, we only need to have an Internet connection. Of course, we can do this without making any kind of configuration on the camera, since the manufacturer’s own Cloud will take care of the connection.
Not only can we view it, but we can also make different settings , modify the resolution, activate the night mode with infrared and other actions that we have available in the app.
Many models from the manufacturer D-Link and also from EZVIZ allow us to view the IP camera in real time through the RTSP protocol . If we are in the local network, we will be able to access the visualization of the cameras using this RTSP protocol, using programs as popular as VLC among many others, although we could also use specific programs for video surveillance where the content can also be recorded in real time. . A very important aspect is that not all D-Link cameras support this protocol, we must make sure in the technical specifications area if it supports it or not:
As you can see, in this case it would support the RTSP network protocol, so we could view the camera with any software that supports this standard protocol. In the case of EZVIZ cameras, the vast majority of models do support this protocol, so we could also view it through VLC or any other program to open RTSP data streams.
In general, if the IP camera supports the RTSP protocol, we will be able to view it with our computer, either on the local network or through the Internet. In the case of wanting to access the visualization of the cameras with RTSP from the Internet , what we must do is the following:
- Set up a VPN server on your home network.
- Connect with the computer to the VPN at home.
- Once connected to the VPN server, we then open the software we use for RTSP normally, with the local private IP address of the device in question.
In other cases, there are IP cameras that have a complete configuration firmware via the web , from this menu via the web we could view the camera in real time without problems, although these cameras are generally aimed at a more professional audience. For example, an Edimax camera not only has a configuration web interface, but also allows you to configure certain RTSP parameters.
RTSP configuration
As you have seen, depending on the manufacturer and camera model, we can access our IP camera with the computer in one way or another, although in general, many cameras support the RTSP protocol, which is the industry standard for IP cameras. . Our recommendation is that before buying a camera, investigate whether or not it has this protocol and if it can be used.
