The RTSP Media Router role in version 5.3 GA has been renamed Media Gateway in Security Center version 5.5.
This role allows external applications to access live and recorded videos using a standard RTSP URL. When requested, Security Center directly provides the compressed video (H.264, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, or MJPEG) to the external application. The video will either come directly from the camera or a redirector, depending on the video redirection rules.
To access this feature, you must have a valid license that provides at least one RTSP stream. When obtaining the license, you can select the desired number of RTSP streams.
Only one instance of the Media Gateway role can be created per system.
Here are some common ways to use this system:
Another system can ask for compressed video feeds to analyze and activate certain events.
An app can show the video on a webpage by using a pre-made viewer that is compatible with the camera's unique encoding.
The Media Gateway role comes with the following features:
It supports the standard RFC 2326 for the RTSP protocol. The default RTSP port is 654, but you can change it in the Config Tool application. This port is different from the Media Router port, which is 554 by default.
You can assign the role to multiple servers for load balancing.
You can request live and playback streams, but you cannot request non-video streams like audio, PTZ commands, overlays, or metadata.
Note that the Media Gateway role only sends compressed video to the external application. The application itself needs to choose the correct codec to decode the video. Typically, most applications can decode standard streams like H.264 and MJPEG. However, if the video is encoded in non-standard formats like MPEG-4 or MPEG-2, an additional codec installation might be required.