Is the Nx Cloud up? Visit our Status Page for the current health and performance of the Nx Cloud.

Status Page

Howto debug if the server can't open/play an RTSP video stream?

Answered
Markus Krainz
Edited

Hi!

I have several cameras on my Nx Witness server that work great. Now I have a new RTSP video appliance that I want to record with Nx Witness.

I can open its URL in VLC player on a Windows Computer: rtsp://192.168.131.146:8080/test.sdp and the camera video is shown without any problems.

If I add the same device in Nx Witness it finds the URL rtsp://192.168.131.146:8080/test.sdp And when I add it in Nx Witness as a new camera device it is added as new "GENERIC_RTSP-test.sdp" camera.

The RTSP source should be an H.264 stream without audio. 

However when I click on the new camera in NxWitness Client no video is shown! And also I can not start recordings. The camera icon flickers between normal and a camera with a red cross over it.

I don't know how to debug this. I checked the camera event log but it is empty and I don't see anything unusual in the Linux system syslog with Nx Witness server. How can I find the error message why the video won't play?

Maybe it has unsupported transport stream? Is there some ffmpeg error log or something on the server that I can view to diagnose the problem? Thanks in advance!

 

0

Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • Anderson Chang
    • Network Optix team
    Edited

    Hi Markus Krainz,

    Please follow the below instructions to perform basic troubleshooting and provide more information with us.

    1. The software version of the Nx Server
    The latest Nx Witness version is 4.2.0, if your Nx Witness is not running the latest version, you could first try to update the Nx Witness to the latest release.
    Check: https://my.networkoptix.com/#/download

    2. Collect the server DEBUG log
    2-a. Remove the RTSP stream from your server.
    2-b. Follow this support ARTICLE to set the server log level to DEBUG
    2-c. Add the RTSP stream again.
    2-d. Collect and share the DEBUG log with us.

    3. Screenshot of the Camera Settings
    Please take a screenshot of the Camera Settings page of the RTSP stream camera and share it with us.

    4. Share the diagnostic result
    Click the Diagnostics button and share the result by screenshot or paste the content with us.

    Thank you.

     

     

    1
  • Markus Krainz

    Thank you Anderson Chang!

    If I click on your link to the support ARTICLE to set the server log level to DEBUG,
    I get a new tab with "about:blank#blocked" and nothing is shown. Can you please send me the correct link? Appreciate it!

    0
  • Anderson Chang
    • Network Optix team

    Hi Markus Krainz,

    Sorry for providing the incorrect link, the link to the support article is:
    https://support.networkoptix.com/hc/en-us/articles/236033688-How-to-change-software-logging-level-and-how-to-get-logs

    I have also fixed the link in my previous post, in case of any other users with a similar issue tracing this post and get the incorrect link.

    1
  • Markus Krainz
    Edited

    Thanks for the suggestion and for updating the help link. I have now updated the server to version 4.2.0.32840 and set the general log level to DEBUG. Now I can see in log_file.log:

    2021-10-12 10:06:57.484 2319 DEBUG nx::vms::server::analytics::wrappers::Engine(0x7fc8e05ff210): Device info for the Device GENERIC_RTSP-test.sdp ({eafeaae8-df51-e10f-a51d-3a3531a8057b}): true
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.484 2319 DEBUG dw_mtt_analytics_plugin: [engine] Unsupported camera vendor: "GENERIC_RTSP"
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.484 2319 DEBUG nx::vms::server::analytics::wrappers::Engine(0x7fc8e05ca660): Device info for the Device GENERIC_RTSP-test.sdp ({eafeaae8-df51-e10f-a51d-3a3531a8057b}): true
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.484 2319 DEBUG dw_mx9_analytics_plugin: [engine] Unsupported camera vendor: "GENERIC_RTSP"
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.485 2319 DEBUG nx::vms::server::analytics::DeviceAnalyticsContext(0x7fc89400f4e0): Received "Device status changed" signal, Device: QnThirdPartyResource(0x7fc89805afb0, 6a4d830127d29d501e41dfb47e5cde51)
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.485 2319 DEBUG nx::vms::server::analytics::DeviceAnalyticsContext(0x7fc89400f4e0): Device status changed, Device: QnThirdPartyResource(0x7fc89805afb0, 6a4d830127d29d501e41dfb47e5cde51), previous status: Offline, >
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.496 3052 DEBUG QnThirdPartyResource(0x7fc89805afb0, 6a4d830127d29d501e41dfb47e5cde51): Save 6a4d830127d29d501e41dfb47e5cde51 stream CR_LiveVideo URL: rtsp://192.168.131.146:8080/test.sdp
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.497 3052 INFO ThirdPartyStreamReader(0x7fc8e06dd440): got stream URL rtsp://192.168.131.146:8080/test.sdp for camera rtsp://192.168.131.146:8080/test.sdp for role 1
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.497 3052 DEBUG QnThirdPartyResource(0x7fc89805afb0, 6a4d830127d29d501e41dfb47e5cde51): Save 6a4d830127d29d501e41dfb47e5cde51 stream CR_LiveVideo URL: rtsp://192.168.131.146:8080/test.sdp
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.543 3052 DEBUG QnRtspClient(0x7fc828016018): Sucessfully opened RTSP stream rtsp://192.168.131.146:8080/test.sdp
    2021-10-12 10:06:57.565 3052 DEBUG QnRtspClient(0x7fc828016018): Response failed: RTSP/1.0 461 Unsupported transport

    It looks like the camera does not support the transport TCP/UDP/?? that the Nx Witness server requests. I will check with the camera RTSP setting. Thanks for the help finding the cause. PS: Is there a way to force Nx Witness to use a particular transport?

     

    0
  • Markus Krainz

    With fixed camera RTSP setting it works great now. Problem solved. Thanks again for the support!

    0
  • Anderson Chang
    • Network Optix team

    Hi Markus Krainz,

    Thanks for updating the status.

    I'll set this post as answered at the moment accordingly. If there's any further query about this issue, feel free to re-open the ticket by simply replying to this post.

    Have a nice day.

    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Didn't find what you were looking for?

New post