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Affected Roles: Administrator
Related Digital Watchdog VMS Apps: DW Spectrum, Web Viewer
Complexity: Medium
Software Version: DW Spectrum v3.2 or later
Last Edit: May 1, 2020
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In some cases, cameras will need to be added manually to an HDSPOTMOD, rather than relying on the device to scan for cameras automatically.
This article will outline how to add an RTSP stream from DW Spectrum to an HDSpotMod.
The DW Spot™ Monitoring Module (DW-HDSPOTMOD) allows viewers to monitor and observe the live video streams from select cameras - available in either a 4-channel model or a 16-channel model.
While it may seem more convenient to have your camera(s) stream directly to both the recording device and the HDSPOTMOD, it can actually cause streaming issues as that configuration would be creating more "work" for the camera. This article will go over how to manually assign cameras to an HDSPOTMOD from Spectrum, while avoiding this issue.
NOTE: The DW-HDSPOTMOD only supports H.264 format from cameras. To change this setting, you may need to connect with the camera's web client and change this output setting before adding it to the HDSPOTMOD.
DW Spectrum IPVMS (Internet Protocol Video Management System) communicates by ONVIF with IP cameras to monitor and record video streams over a network.
To avoid overdrawing network bandwidth, it is recommended to avoid having the cameras simultaneously stream to both the DW Spectrum Server and to an HDSPOTMOD. If both devices draw ONVIF video from the camera at the same time, you may encounter issues like video loss or other network-based streaming issues. Instead, manually adding cameras to the HDSPOTMOD using an RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) address can mitigate such an issue.
To obtain and manually assign an RTSP stream from DW Spectrum to an HDSPOTMOD:
Note: If you have not completed the network setup for the HDSPOTMOD, outlined in the Quick Start Guide provided with the HDSPOTMOD, you will not be able to communicate with the device. Please follow the instructions in the guide.
Enter the administrator User ID and Password for the HDSPOTMOD and log in.
Click on Registration, then select Manual Registration.
Change the Protocol to RTSP, then select the Channel that you will be assigning the RTSP stream to.
Open a new tab in your web browser and enter the NVR’s local IP address and port (default is 7001) to connect with the Server.
Note: If you are performing this from the DW Spectrum Server itself, entering http://127.0.0.1:7001 (loopback IP & default port) will also prompt the DW Spectrum web client.
Select your camera from the Device List, then click on the Gear icon.
Select Camera Details.
Click on RTSP for either the High Stream or Low Stream of the camera.
Copy the RTSP URL address from the browser.
Enter the User ID and Password of the camera’s ONVIF profile.
Paste the copied RTSP URL into the corresponding fields.
Click the Manual Add button to add the camera, then click the Save button.
Repeat Steps 7-9 for any remaining cameras that you want to add to the Spot Module.