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Adding a camera by its stream address

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When this is the way

Some devices do not follow the shared standard that lets ViewTile find and talk to a camera: older cameras, doorbells, video servers, and the channels of a recorder. They still send video, and the way in is the stream address — a line that starts with rtsp://, printed in the manual or shown on the device’s own settings page.

Add it under Add a camera › By address. There is nothing to configure afterwards, because there is no camera to ask; the picture simply plays.

What the address looks like

The shape is always rtsp:// + the camera’s IP address + :554/ + a path that depends on the brand. Type the username and password into their own fields in ViewTile, not into the address: they are then kept in the device’s secure storage and never written into a file or a report.

Brand Full picture Smaller picture
Hikvision (and HiLook, Hiwatch) rtsp://IP:554/Streaming/Channels/101 …/Streaming/Channels/102
Dahua, Amcrest, Lorex, Imou rtsp://IP:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0 …&subtype=1
Reolink rtsp://IP:554/h264Preview_01_main …/h264Preview_01_sub
Axis rtsp://IP/axis-media/media.amp add ?resolution=640x360

For a recorder, the channel number is in the path: Hikvision channel 2 is 201, Dahua channel 2 is channel=2. Other brands print theirs in the manual; the phrases to look for are “RTSP URL”, “stream URL” or “third-party client”.

When it does not play

  • The address is right but nothing comes — RTSP may be switched off on the camera, or moved to another port. Look for “RTSP” or “ONVIF” in the camera’s own settings page in a browser and turn it on; if the port is not 554, put it after the IP address.
  • It asks for a password again — some cameras keep a separate user for streams; create one on the camera’s page and use that.
  • It plays full screen and not on the wall — give ViewTile the smaller picture’s address as well, on the same camera, under Video streams.

The brand table above was checked against the makers’ published documentation on 22 September 2026; the makers change paths between firmware versions, so the manual for your model wins.