hazer/android-rtsp-ipcam-viewer

Android app to view RTSP IP camera video streams.

RTSP IPCam Viewer

Android app to watch RTSP video streams; this format is typical of inexpensive IP security cams.

Background

• tinyCam PRO by Tiny Solutions LLC
  • is great
  • is the defacto standard for this kind of app
  • is inexpensive ($4 MSRP, occasionally $1 on sale)
  • cons:
    • none
      • this a personal quirk..
        • I prefer to not add Google account(s) to most of my Android devices
• IP Cam Viewer by Robert Chou
  • has pretty good reviews
  • is the go-to free option for this kind of app
  • available variations:
    • limited functionality w/ ads
      • Basic
        • uses Google's in-app purchase to upgrade
      • Lite
        • uses an unlock code to upgrade
    • full functionality w/o ads
      • Pro
        • $4 MSRP
  • cons:
    • size of APK is over 25MB
    • requires a lot of permissions
    • most buttons/features are crippled
      • open a prompt to purchase pro license
    • basic functionality is (imho) not very impressive
• there are no (good) open-source options

Goals

• an extremely light-weight open-source app
  • minimal features
  • minimal UI
• ability to add video streams
  • data structure:
    • required fields:
      • name
      • low-res video stream URL
    • optional fields:
      • high-res video stream URL
      • is enabled?
  • data import methods:
    • manual entry via dialog
    • import via text file (JSON format)
• display of enabled video streams:
  • list view of low-res video streams
  • grid view of low-res video streams
    • number of columns is configurable
  • full-screen view of a single high-res video stream
    • (TBD) ability to zoom/pan
    • (TBD) ability to record to external SD card

Notes

• minimum supported version of Android:
  • Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (API 16)
• when videos are displayed in list/grid views:
  • audio is mute
  • click to open video in full-screen view
  • long click to toggle pause/play
• when a video is displayed in full-screen view:
  • audio is not mute
  • controls are visible

Screenshots

Credits

• ExoPlayer pull request 3854 by github users tresvecesseis and Pablo Ortiz
  • adds support for playing RTSP streams
  • the code in this project is based on commit 865ced0
• MaterialFilePicker
  • great little library to browse the file system and select a file

Legal

• copyright: Warren Bank
• license: GPL-2.0