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Getting started

This guide shows you how to configure and stream video from an Axis camera.

Prerequisites​

  • Administrator access to the camera
  • RTSP enabled on the camera
  • ffplay installed on your machine
  • curl installed on your machine

Step 1: Check available APIs​

Different devices have different APIs available. Use apidiscovery.cgi to confirm which APIs are supported on your device:

curl -s -d "{\"apiVersion\": \"1.0\", \"method\": \"getApiList\"}" --anyauth -u '<user>:<pass>' "http://<ip>/axis-cgi/apidiscovery.cgi"

Step 2: Configure capture mode (optional)​

If your use case requires a specific resolution or wide dynamic range, set the capture mode before streaming. See Configure capture mode.

Step 3: Get a video stream​

Start a live video stream from the default channel:

ffplay -rtsp_transport http "rtsp://<user>:<pass>@<ip>/axis-media/media.amp"

Step 4: Access a specific channel​

Many devices have more than one video channel. Read the number of available channels:

curl -s --anyauth -u '<user>:<pass>' "http://<ip>/axis-cgi/param.cgi?action=list&group=Image.NbrOfConfigs"

Then access a specific channel by adding the camera parameter:

ffplay -rtsp_transport http "rtsp://<user>:<pass>@<ip>/axis-media/media.amp?camera=2"