Is it the right way to record a network camera stream

[here_and_there]

Hello,

I am using VLC to capture a stream coming from network cameras. I would like to ask whether I do the things the right way.

I have 4 Axis M1011 cameras. Normally I can set them up to detect motion and to upload a stream on a ftp or http. The trouble is that the stream is in mjpg format and it is very painful to explore the data. My first question is -- is it possible for a program (vlc or ffmpeg ?) to listen on a port and when receives a mjpeg stream to turn it into a mpg video.

Otherwise the cameras are also streaming through rtsp. I can manage to capture that stream using vlc and then write it on a hard disk with a command like

Code: Select all

cvlc user:pass@hostname/stream --sout file/ps:/path/to/file

I encounter two problems. First the files are starting to get big very fast. I think that it is to be set on the cameras. Is there a way however to tell vlc to capture only certain frames or it is not the right way do things.

The second trouble I run in is that the capturing from all the 4 cameras suddenly stops -- it could be after 30 min or after 3 hours. Is there any flags that I can add to vlc to tell it to monitor the stream and if it stops to restart capturing or it should be done with a script.

Thanks in advance to your answers.

[here_and_there]

Is it here to ask this question or maybe is it another part of the forum ?

Thanks