General setup instruction for IP cameras
There are two ways to read a jpeg snapshot from an IP camera. One uses http and the other rtsp. In both cases you need to know the jpeg snapshot command string for your particular camera. Just entering the IP address for your camera won’t work. Camera manufacturers have defined a unique command string for this purpose.
1) Consult your camera user manual
2) Search online for keywords rtsp and your camera model.
3) Consult this amazing camera database
Examples of http and rtsp snapshot command strings –
HIKvision cameras: rtsp://IPADDRESS:554/Streaming/Channels/1
Sharx cameras: http://IPADDRESS/snapshot.jpgrtsp://username:password@IPADDRESS/live/0/h264.sdp
Hanwha Techwin CCTV Camera: rtsp://<DeviceIP>/profile<no>/media.smp
Example: rtsp://192.168.1.100/profile1/media.smp
Special setup instruction for Google Nest cameras:
1) Open your public Nest camera link “https://video.nest.com/live/xxxxxxxxx” in Microsoft Edge browser.
2) Right-click on the picture and select “Inspect element”
3) In the search box on the top right enter “.m3u8”. Press enter. The string to copy will look something like this: https://stream-us1-charlie.dropcam.com:443/nexus_aac/*************/playlist.m3u8?public=HWrEgHbcLy (If you don’t see the line with .m3u8 you may need to enable “inspect element” in Microsoft Edge. To enable Inspect element in the Edge browser in Windows 10, you will need to enable one switch. Open Edge (if it isn’t already open) and open a new tab. In the address bar, type: about:flags. Under Debugging for Packed Apps, select the dropdown: Enabled. Then restart Microsoft Edge and seach again for .m3u8)
4) Copy the string beginning with https and containing .m3u8 (and not including quotes) and enter in IPTimelapse Pro. Press the Take Picture button in IPTimelapse Pro to test image capture.
Legal note – IPTimelapse calls FFmpeg as an external process.