Troubleshooting What can I do if fail to stream the Tapo camera via the RTSP/ONVIF protocol?
Note: currently, some battery-powered cameras, such as Tapo C420, C400, and D230, do not support being viewed via the RTSP/ONVIF stream.
1. If the camera has subscribed to the Tapo Care service and inserted a microSD card, the RTSP stream can’t be established.
2. Check if the configuration on the camera is correct.
The link below includes some basic parameters that need to be configured on the camera.
How can I connect my Tapo camera to a NAS or NVR?
Note: Try to change the camera account(username and password) if they include special characters.
3. Check your network diagram, and confirm if you are streaming the camera locally or remotely.
If you are streaming the camera remotely, more configurations are required on your home network, for example, open port 554 or 2020 on your router for the camera, and find the public wan IP address on your router.
For example, the typical network diagram of streaming a camera via RTSP protocol on a PC locally:
4. Confirm the detailed phenomenon on the third-party apps/programs.
For example:
1) Third-party apps/programs are used, such as iSpy, VLC, etc.
2) The URL used to stream the camera, for example, rtsp://IP Address/stream1(For high-quality stream1).
3) The error message that appears if there is one.
5. Try to stream the camera on a PC with an iSpy or VLC program.
How to view Tapo camera on PC/NAS/NVR through RTSP/ONVIF Protocol?
Note: If several devices watch the camera simultaneously, close the Tapo app, and disconnect other RTSP/ONVIF connections first.
Please reply to this thread or start a new thread with the following information to get further help if the RTSP/ONVIF stream cannot be established.
1. The results of the above steps.
2. Collect the camera log if possible.
How to get the log of Tapo Camera?
3. The MAC address of your Tapo camera. You can find the MAC address on the camera’s Device Settings>Device Info page, and please send it to me(@Solla-topee) via a private message.
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I just received a new C120, promptly popped in an SD card, and hooked it up. Got it added into the app, no problems and detections/notifications/recordings/playback all work great. No Tapo Care was configured or used.
I figured I would test the ONVIF and RTSP but no luck getting either to work...
I retrieved the IP address from the Tapo app as shown and added the camera user, also as shown. If I read things correctly, it appears the SD card would not allow using ONVIF/RTSP, so I removed the card. Just for sanity, I pinged the camera's IP and that worked. Everything is on the same network subnet, so no issues to contend with there. Everything seemed good to go, so I went on to testing.
For RTSP, I used VLC Media Player, put in the url, rtsp://<camera IP>:554/channel1, opened it, was prompted for username and password, entered that, then opening the stream failed:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'rtsp://192.168.1.131:554/channel1'. Check the log for details.
I tried the same with 'channel2' URL and had the same results.
Next, I moved into trying ONVIF with DW Spectrum IPVMS. I went to add device, put in camera IP address, username, and password then hit Search. The results were, "No Devices Found". OK, so I moved on to my favorite troubleshooting tool, ONVIF Device Manager. Did a network scan and it pulled in the usual local cameras, but no Tapo C120. I added the camera into ODM manually with URL of 'http://192.168.1.131/onvif/device_service' and when trying to connect, I got the message, "There was no endpoint listening at http://192.168.1.131/onvif/device_service that could accept the message.
I tried turning off and back on the camera user in app settings. Tried deleting and re-adding the camera user. Tried turning off the camera in the app to disconnect any unneeded streams. Tried restarting the camera a few times. No love.
Any suggestions for what to try next?
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the pc must be connected to the same network as the cameras
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Update:
I removed camera from app and it reset according to voice prompt. I also did the 10 second reset button reset procedure. Once that was done, I added it back to app and changed nothing else. There was no SD card in the camera at any time after resetting. Still getting the same messages and not able to connect with ONVIF or RTSP.
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Update 2:
I figured out the ONVIF to DW Spectrum problem. Default port Spectrum was trying to connect over was 80. Changed that to 2020 and the C120 was discovered immediately. Added camera in with no problem at that point. Pulled in both high and low streams, Spectrum's motion detection works fine, recording good, etc. 2560x1440 high res stream and 640x360 low res stream.
ONVIF Device Manager also works fine now as well using port 2020
Still no RTSP to VLC though. Will fiddle with that some more.
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Update 3:
Figured out the VLC issue... the correct URL for RTSP is: 'rtsp://<ip_address>:554/stream1' NOT '.../channel1'. My mistake. I noticed it when looking at the camera properties in DW Spectrum.
All is working as it should now. I can actually stream to VLC, Spectrum, and the Tapo app all at the same time. Sweet.
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Hi,
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Btw, the SD card and the RTSP/Onvif connection can work simultaneously when the camera has not subscribed to the Tapo Care service.
Best Regards
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