A live camera or video stream, including RTSP.
On this page
A live video stream inside a card. Most people use it for security cameras over RTSP.
This card is marked Experimental in the app. It works, but video support differs between Android, iOS, web and desktop, and some streams that play on one platform will not play on another.
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| URL | The stream address |
| Mute video | Play without sound |
| Title | The card's heading |
| Show title | Show or hide the title |
URL
An RTSP address usually looks like:
rtsp://username:password@192.168.1.50:554/stream1
The exact path differs per manufacturer — check your camera's manual or its web interface. Many cameras offer a high-resolution main stream and a smaller sub-stream; the sub-stream is almost always the better choice for a dashboard, because a dashboard card is small and a 4K stream is a lot of decoding for no visible benefit.
Mute video
Leave this on unless you have a reason not to. A wall panel that suddenly plays camera audio is startling, and several unmuted streams at once is chaos.
Performance
Video is by far the most demanding card:
- Each stream decodes continuously, which uses CPU and, on a tablet, battery.
- Several streams on one dashboard can overwhelm an older device.
- On a wall panel running permanently, this is the card most likely to cause heat or slowdowns.
If a dashboard has become sluggish, video cards are the first thing to suspect.
Video or Image?
For a camera you glance at rather than watch, a refreshing Image card pointed at a snapshot URL is lighter, cooler and kinder to the battery. Use Video when you genuinely need live motion.
Tips
- One at a time. Rather than four camera cards on one dashboard, use a Dashboard card per camera, so only one stream runs at a time.
- Credentials in the URL. An RTSP URL usually contains the camera password. Anyone who can open your dashboard in edit mode can read it — worth remembering on a shared panel.
- Test in a player first. If VLC cannot open the URL, the card will not either. That narrows the problem to the camera rather than the app.