How to enable automatic/MPEG-TS multicast?

Malvineous

Getting the hang of it
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Hi all,

I have just bought a couple of Hikvision IP cameras to try out (DS-2CD2T45G0P-I and DS-2CD2H86G2-IZS) however I can't work out how to get multicast set up. I'm after automatic multicast, sometimes called MPEG-TS multicast, where the cameras start sending H.264 data immediately on powerup, as soon as they have finished booting. Unlike RTSP, there's no need to connect to the camera or anything, it just starts streaming the video on its own, so any device on the network that happens to be listening immediately picks up the video stream once the camera finishes booting up.

I had the same issue with some Dahua cameras I recently tried out, however I was able to activate this mode by using an undocumented setting so I'm wondering whether the Hikvisions have a similar setting? The multicast options in Config/Network/Basic/Multicast don't seem to do anything, and the latest firmware version specifically lists them as RTSP and SRTP which both require something to initiate the process. Those protocols don't start multicasting on their own.

Does anyone know how to set up automatic/MPEG-TS multicast streaming with a Hikvision camera?
 

Malvineous

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Jan 7, 2023
Messages
35
Reaction score
33
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Just to follow up on this, after a few months of back and forth with Hikvision support it turns out that their cameras don't actually support true multicast in this manner. It looks like there are some options that may introduce this for some newer models, but it wasn't available on either camera I purchased.

So I ended up returning the Hikvision cameras and replacing them with Dahua ones, and now multicast is working fine.
 
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