How to view Hikvision IP camera on iPhone and Mac using RTSP and VLC

Bought a Hikvision camera recently? There is more then one way to view the camera feed on your iOS device. Read now to know your options!

HikConnect App from Hikvision

The standard & easy way to access your Hikvision camera is by downloading the HikConnect app. From there on it's pretty straight forward. You can add your new device from the control panel inside your app.

For devices that don't support ONVIF, you can add them manually. You will need the following camera information to add the camera manually

1. IP Address: You will find this on the camera box or on the back of the camera. Alternatively, you can use a software like iSpy or Fing to scan your network for camera equipment

2. Port: 8000 (default)

3. username: admin (default)

4. password: You will be prompted to setup a password when you access the device for the first time. Otherwise, use any previously set password. You are all set!

Hikvision web interface and RTSP access with VLC

If you don't want to use the HikConnect app, you can also connect and view the camera from any browser on your computer or phone or use software like VLC to stream your camera on your local network. Here is how you can do this. First, you will need the local IP address of your Hikvision camera. You will find this on the camera box or on the back of the camera. Alternatively, you can use a software like iSpy or Fing to scan your network for camera equipment

Once you have the IP address, open up a browser on your computer (must be connected to the same WiFi/LAN as the camera) and key in the local IP address of your Hikvision camera.

If you are accessing your device for the first time, you will be asked to setup a password. The username is usually 'admin' by default. Otherwise, you will see a login screen as below.

If you have the username and password, you are all set to access your Hikvision camera using RTSP. The last thing you need is a RTSP address URL. For Hikvision cameras, this is of the following format: rtsp://<username>:<password>@<camera_ip_address>:<port>/Streaming/Channels/101 For example, the URL to my camera looks like the following:

rtsp://admin:myPwd@192.168.1.64:554/Streaming/Channels/101

You can now use this URL to access your Hikvision camera over RTSP using any software like Cam Hero or VLC. Learn how to access camera using the generated URL with Cam Hero and protect your privacy

To open the link with VLC, open VLC > File > Open Network then input the above RTSP URL and click "Open", it should start playing your camera stream.

That's it for today!

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