There are four options for IP cameras to connect with Teleport.
Teleport connects to the camera directly. This requires a public IP address and usually port forwarding port 80 (and 554 for video streaming). Recommended
Teleport on-camera app in installed on the camera. Easiest setup, no public IP needed, however Axis cameras only at this time. Pre-configured cameras are available from our store Recommended
Camera FTPs images/video clips to Teleport. Any camera with FTP function works, no IP address needed, easy setup, but not as flexible and can use more bandwidth.
Teleport Station app runs on Linux/Windows PC and connects to the camera and Teleport. No public IP address needed, but this adds another point of failure.
What is public IP address?
A public IP address is an address devices on the Internet (such as the Teleport server) can use to reach a device on the local network, in our case the IP camera. Options listed above that require a public IP address won't work without one.
Most broadband ISPs provide a public IP address, however many cellular 3G/4G providers do not, but sometimes it is available as an add-on. For example Verizon in the USA does not offer public IP addresses as standard.
Option 1: Connect Teleport directly to the camera
Step 1: Getting the camera IP address and port number
Teleport must connect to your camera externally from the Internet, so the 'myPublicCameraIP' part must be an public IP address or host name Anything that starts with 192.168 will not work! The local network you're on now has an external IP of 185.92.26.179, if the camera is on the same network, it will also have this IP address. You can also get your external IP address here and read more about them here.
You camera likely doesn't have a public IP address. So for Teleport to access your camera from outside your local network you will need to forward an external port on your router to the local network IP and port of the camera.
For image capture forwarding port 80 is recommended for most cameras. For example forward port 9080 (you can choose the port) to port 80 on your camera. Then in Teleport you can test 'http://myPublicCameraIP:9080' in your browser to make sure the forwarding works.
For video or for high frequency image capture (1-10 seconds per image), forward port 554 on the camera to for example port 9554 on the router. This will enable video streaming or video clip features and can be used for image capture as well. Some cameras do not have port 80 jpeg image access, for these cameras rtsp port 554 will be required to capture images. To test the port forwarding configuration outside of Teleport, you would use an app like VLC.
Step 2: Getting the camera image url
Now that we have the internet facing external IP and port for the camera, we need a url for the actual image stream. Here is some guidance on finding the ever elusive direct JPEG, MJPEG or RTSP url for IP cameras. SRT is also supporter allowing streams from SRT encoders.
What is needed is something like http://myPublicCameraIP:port/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi, the part beginning with /axis.. is the image stream path. Each manufacturer has a different format for this part of the url.
For example, AXIS cameras use http://myPublicCameraIP:port/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi
Note that the IP address alone i.e. http://234.23.13.4 will not work as it points to a website not the actual image stream. The url must point directly to a JPEG image or a MJPEG/RTSP/SRT stream for your device.
Test the url in your browser, you should only see the image on the page and no other html! For MJPEG streams use Firefox or Chrome to test.
Every camera manufacturer uses a different url format. Teleport and VideoVelocity have a database of urls. Select your camera manufacturer and we will suggest urls to use.
If your camera model is not listed, or none of the urls work, please search the web for your camera and 'jpg url' or 'mjpeg url', or contact the camera manufacturer to obtain the proper url. Feel free to contact us with information listed below and we'll try to help.
For AXIS, you can also add parameters such as 'resolution=1920x1080' or 'camera=1', to specify different frame sizes or channels. The url then looks like http://mycameraip:port/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi?resolution=1920x1080&camera=1
Note that specifying wrong parameters will cause the connection to fail, so if you're not sure remove the parameters altogether including the '&camera=' part.
RTSP H.264 based streams can be used to capture images, however this requires the Control plan. Video streaming and video clip rtsp will work on any plan. For rtsp based capture TCP/UDP port 554 must be forwarded on the camera. Noe that if video is not required, for time-lapse purposes port 80 JPEG capture is recommended. JPEG is often better quality and has a separate quality control in the camera firmware.
The SRT protocol is also supported for image, time-lapse and live video streaming. Enter your srt:// transmitter url in the same place you would enter the rtsp:// url. H.264 is recommended as H.265 is not yet broadly supported by browsers.
Finally your camera may require a username and password. Usually this isn't part of the url, but some manufacturers do require it to be in the url as a parameter.
Getting the right url can be tricky so be patient! Nearly every IP camera supports JPEG and MJPEG and thus should work with Teleport and VideoVelocity without a problem. Some will support RTSP only in which case you must use the Control plan and enter the corresponding rtsp:// url to capture images.
If you're having trouble connecting to your camera, please contact us and we'll do our best to find the url for you. Please provide the following:
Camera make and model
IP address and port number
Username and password we can use to test with
Any urls you're already tried
Option 2: Use Teleport Station on camera app
The recommended way for Axis and capable Hikvision cameras (Dahua coming soon). Teleport Station app is installed on the camera and it talks directly to our servers. Works behind a firewall and does not require any port forwarding or network configuration. Also works on any 3G/4G provider as no public IP address is required. As soon as the camera gets internet connectivity it will begin to capture. Great if you need to move the camera from site to site.
Option 3: FTP images from the camera to Teleport
Most IP cameras have an FTP function. Go to the feed 'capture' dashboard, select FTP and use the connection information provided.
This option does not offer as much flexibility and can use more bandwidth than direct connection. However in cases where port forwarding can't be configured for direct camera access this is a good option.
Option 4: Use Teleport Station or VideoVelocity apps on a PC
In cases were the above options aren't possible. here is how this works:
Install Teleport Station or VideoVelocity on a PC. Teleport Station supports Linux as well including Raspberry Pi. And pair it with a Teleport feed.
The app connects to the camera using a local IP address (so your camera does not need to be accessible from the internet),
The app acts as a proxy and broadcasts to Teleport. With Teleport Station you can have complete remote control of the device and also be able to connect to the camera through a tunnel for remote management.
This method should be used as a last resort, direct connect or on camera app approaches are preferred. This method is more flexible than FTP so you may want to . This option isn't generally recommended as it adds another point of failure (the PC) and lowers reliability.
This option can be used as a recording redundancy, along side the other options. That is VideoVelocity and Teleport Station can capture time-lapse locally on your PC, which would be a second copy of the content recorded in Teleport.