Cameras & Video
Camera availability, live streaming, and recorded-video issues.
Camera - Offline or No Live Video
Symptom: A camera shows no live image, and/or its icon is greyed out.
First, identify which of these you are seeing - only the first is a fault:
| What you see | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Camera icon greyed out | The camera, its controller, or its integration is offline - continue below |
| Icon normal, window shows CAMERA FEED DISABLED with a power button | Privacy Mode is on for that camera. Not a fault - press the power icon to resume (requires camera:privacy-mode). If the camera has a motorised lift it will also be retracted. |
| “You do not have permission to view live feed” | A permissions issue, not a camera fault - your role needs camera:live |
Causes and checks for a genuinely offline camera - most likely first:
- Has the camera lost network connectivity? This is the most common cause. Check the camera’s network link, its switch port, and any intermediate switch or network run. Confirm the camera responds on its own address from the network the platform sits on.
- Has the camera lost power? The next most common cause. Check the camera’s power - for PoE cameras that means the switch port or PoE injector, and the switch’s overall power budget.
- Is the whole integration down? If every camera from the same VMS/NVR is greyed out, the fault is the integration, not the cameras - check Settings → Modules & Devices for an Offline provider and restart that service. See Device - Greyed Out or Unavailable.
- Is the recorder/VMS itself reachable? Confirm the NVR or VMS server is powered, on the network, and its services are running.
- Is it only one stream? If the camera has multiple streams, use the stream selector in the camera window to try another. A single failing stream points at that stream’s configuration rather than the camera being offline.
- Does live fail but playback work (or vice versa)? Live and recorded video take different paths - if only live fails, see Live Video - Network Requirements (WebRTC); if only playback fails, see Camera - Gaps in Recorded Video.
Once the camera is reachable again, its icon returns to normal automatically - no re-import or re-scan is needed.
If the camera’s IP address has changed
This is rare - cameras are normally given static IP addresses, or DHCP reservations tied to their MAC address, precisely so this does not happen. But if an address genuinely has changed, note that running Scan for Devices is not sufficient: the camera’s IP and RTSP URLs are held in the video system’s own configuration and must be corrected there.
| Setup | What to change |
|---|---|
| External VMS (e.g. Milestone, Orchid) | Update the camera’s IP / RTSP URLs in the VMS configuration |
| Aware VMS | Re-enter the address on the camera device itself |
Plan for downtime. Applying the change usually requires a VMS restart, which takes the camera system offline for roughly 10–15 minutes. Schedule it accordingly rather than doing it reactively during an incident.
Live Video - Network Requirements (WebRTC)
Symptom: Live camera video will not start, or connects then drops, on a workstation or tablet, while recorded playback and the rest of the app work normally.
Cause: Live streaming uses WebRTC. If the browser cannot establish a WebRTC connection to the video server - usually because the required ports are not reachable across the network/firewall - the live stream fails to negotiate.
Resolution:
- Confirm the client can reach the video server’s WebRTC signalling/HTTP port and its ICE media ports (a TCP port plus a UDP port range) as configured for your deployment. Ask your installer for the exact values if unsure.
- Ensure any firewall between the client and server allows those ports, and that the configured STUN/TURN server is reachable.
- Confirm the browser is supported (Chrome is recommended).
Live video ports are set per deployment. If in doubt, raise a support request with the diagnostics bundle.
Camera - Gaps in Recorded Video
Symptom: The playback timeline for a camera has gaps where no footage is available.
Causes:
- The requested time is older than the recorder’s retention window - footage has been rolled off to reclaim storage.
- The recorder or camera was offline for that period, so nothing was stored.
- The camera is configured to record on motion/event only, so quiet periods have no recording.
Resolution: Playback is only available for footage the recorder actually stored. Check the recorder’s retention setting and recording mode, and confirm the camera and recorder were online for the period in question. Recording configuration maps a camera stream to a recorder - see CCTV & Video Surveillance.