Introduction

This article documents third party software that helps resolve deployment issues.

Advanced Port Scanner

In order for BI to connect to cameras, it primarily uses the RTSP port to pull the video. It uses the ONVIF port, if available, to get information about the camera depending on what the vendor shares with their ONVIF implementation. With ONVIF, BI may be able to pull over as little as the URI values to get the video streams. Ofthe PTZ functionality is also shared. Occasionally, audio and two-way talk information is shared.

Advanced Port Scanner (APS) is a popular tool to identify the devices on a network. For each device, APS provides the IP address and all the corresponding ports available on the device. This short three minute video on YouTube explains how to download/use Advanced Port Scanner.

BI, by default, tries ports 80, 554, 8999. Why? Because some vendors share ONVIF information on port 80 in addition to providing a web interface for logging into the camera. Some vendors use 8999 as the ONVIF port. 554 is the default RTSP port.

Cameras do not have to stick to above conventions. So, if your camera does not follow the above conventions, APS allows you to identify what ports are available on the camera or NVR. Then, you can try those ports in the IP Config dialog. Again, BI needs the RTSP port and the correct URI to access the video stream. If additional functionality like PTZ exists on the camera, then ONVIF is needed to pull the control information over.

One tip is if Advanced Port Scanner discovers port 8554 is open, fill in the RTSP port value in the IP Config dialog accordingly. The RTSP port is either 554 or usually some permutation of 554, e.g. 8554. The video may still not come up if the URI path is wrong. You may need to research documentation or reach out to the vendor to attain the correct URI path. Just ask the vendor whether they support RTSP and how to connect 3rd party systems to the camera video.


Try all the remaining available ports discovered by Advanced Port Scanner for the ONVIF port. For each ONVIF value entered, hit Find/Inspect and see if BI can connect via ONVIF. If an ONVIF connection were made you should have all the pieces to establish a BI connection. Select the URI paths in the IP Config Dialog accordingly. See Camera Connector article for details.

You can also see if the camera has a web interface on any of the ports by using a web browser.

Basically, advanced port scanner can provide available ports on a camera. The above techniques help figure out whether the ports provide a web interface, rtsp port or ONVIF port which BI can leverage.