Access IP Camera in Python OpenCV

Question

How do I access my IP Camera stream?

Code for displaying a standard webcam stream is

import numpy as np
import cv2

cap = cv2.VideoCapture(0)

while(True):

    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow('frame',frame)

    if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
        break

cap.release()
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

How do I do the same exact thing but with the IP Camera?

My system:

• Python 2.7.14
• OpenCV 2.4.9
• Teledyne Dalsa Genie Nano XL Camera

Help will be highly appreciated

Answer 1

An IP camera can be accessed in opencv by providing the streaming URL of the camera in the constructor of cv2.VideoCapture.

Usually, RTSP or HTTP protocol is used by the camera to stream video. An example of IP camera streaming URL is as follows:

rtsp://192.168.1.64/1

It can be opened with OpenCV like this:

capture = cv2.VideoCapture('rtsp://192.168.1.64/1')

Most of the IP cameras have a username and password to access the video. In such case, the credentials have to be provided in the streaming URL as follows:

capture = cv2.VideoCapture('rtsp://username:password@192.168.1.64/1')

Answer 2

First find out your IP camera's streaming url, like whether it's RTSP/HTTP etc.

Code changes will be as follows:

cap = cv2.VideoCapture("ipcam_streaming_url")

For example:

cap = cv2.VideoCapture("http://192.168.18.37:8090/test.mjpeg")

Answer 3

The easiest way to stream video via IP Camera !

I just edit your example. You must replace your IP and add /video on your link. And go ahead with your project

import cv2

cap = cv2.VideoCapture('http://192.168.18.37:8090/video')

while(True):
    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow('frame',frame)
    if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
        cv2.destroyAllWindows()
        break

Answer 4

I answer my own question reporting what therefore seems to be the most comprehensive overall procedure to Access IP Camera in Python OpenCV.

Given an IP camera:

• Find your camera IP address
• Find the port where the IP address is accessed
• Find the protocol (HTTP/RTSP etc.) specified by the camera provider

Then, if your camera is protected go ahead and find out:

• your username
• your password

Then use your data to run the following script:

"""Access IP Camera in Python OpenCV"""

import cv2

stream = cv2.VideoCapture('protocol://IP:port/1')

# Use the next line if your camera has a username and password
# stream = cv2.VideoCapture('protocol://username:password@IP:port/1')  

while True:

    r, f = stream.read()
    cv2.imshow('IP Camera stream',f)

    if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
        break

cv2.destroyAllWindows()

NOTE: In my original question I specify to being working with Teledyne Dalsa Genie Nano XL Camera. Unfortunately for this kind of cameras this normal way of accessing the IP Camera video stream does not work and the Sapera SDK must be employed in order to grab frames from the device.

Answer 5

For getting the IP Camera video link:

1. Open the IP Camera with given IP and PORT in browser
2. Right click the video and select "copy image address"
3. Use that address to capture video

Answer 6

To access an Ip Camera, first, I recommend you to install it like you are going to use for the standard application, without any code, using normal software.

After this, you have to know that for different cameras, we have different codes. There is a website where you can see what code you can use to access them:

https://www.ispyconnect.com/sources.aspx

But be careful, for my camera (Intelbras S3020) it does not work. The right way is to ask the company of your camera, and if they are a good company they will provide it.

When you know your code just add it like:

cap = cv2.VideoCapture("http://LOGIN:PASSWORD@IP/cgi-bin/mjpg/video.cgi?&subtype=1")

Instead LOGIN you will put your login, and instead PASSWORD you will put your password.

To find out camera's IP address there is many softwares that you can download and provide the Ip address to you. I use the software from Intelbras, but I also recommend EseeCloud because they work for almost all cameras that I've bought:

https://eseecloud.software.informer.com/1.2/

In this example, it shows the protocol http to access the Ip camera, but you can also use rstp, it depends on the camera, as I said.

If you have any further questions just let me know.

Answer 7

This works with my IP camera:

import cv2

#print("Before URL")
cap = cv2.VideoCapture('rtsp://admin:123456@192.168.1.216/H264?ch=1&subtype=0')
#print("After URL")

while True:

    #print('About to start the Read command')
    ret, frame = cap.read()
    #print('About to show frame of Video.')
    cv2.imshow("Capturing",frame)
    #print('Running..')

    if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
        break

cap.release()
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

I found the Stream URL in the Camera's Setup screen:

Note that I added the Username (admin) and Password (123456) of the camera and ended it with an @ symbol before the IP address in the URL (admin:123456@)

Answer 8

In pycharm I wrote the code for accessing the IP Camera like:

import cv2

cap=VideoCapture("rtsp://user_name:password@IP_address:port_number")

ret, frame=cap.read()

You will need to replace user_name, password, IP and port with suitable values

Answer 9

You can access to most of ip cameras as below

import cv2 

path = "http://username:password@your_ip:your_port/tmpfs/auto.jpg"

while True:

     cap = cv2.VideoCapture(path)

     ret, frame = cap.read()
     if not ret:
         break

     cv2.imshow('frame', frame)

     key = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF

     if key == ord("q"):
        break

cap.release()
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

But, I am not sure this method will perform well because it is accessing image.

Answer 10

Here you go,

import numpy as np
import cv2

cap = cv2.VideoCapture('rtsp://<username_of_camera>:<password_of_camera@<ip_address_of_camera')

while(True):

    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow('Stream IP Camera OpenCV',frame)

    if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
        break

cap.release()
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

For example:

import numpy as np
import cv2

cap = cv2.VideoCapture('rtsp://admin:admin@192.168.7.251')

while(True):

    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow('Stream IP camera opencv',frame)

    if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
        break

cap.release()
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

Then save the file as camera.py (.py), go to command prompt or terminal, locate file and type python camera.py or python <file_name>.py enter to run script.
If you want to exit from script windows just press "q" or close cmd.

Hope this helpful.