warren-bank/Android-RTSP-IPCam-Viewer

RTSP IPCam Viewer

Android app to watch RTSP and RTMP video streams; these formats are 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:
- Android status bar is visible
- audio is disabled
- video playback controls are disabled
when a video is displayed in full-screen view:
- Android status bar is hidden
- audio is enabled
- video playback controls are enabled

Usage

activity: list of all video streams
- action bar
- icon:
  - click to add new video stream
- overflow menu: Open List
  - display all enabled video streams in a single-column vertical list
- overflow menu: Open Grid (2 col)
  - display all enabled video streams in a two-column grid
- overflow menu: Open Grid (N col)
  - display a dialog to allow the user to specify the integer value of N
  - display all enabled video streams in a N-column grid
- overflow menu: Read File
  - display a file chooser to allow the user to specify the path to a JSON file
  - parse the JSON to obtain an ordered list of new video streams
  - append the new video streams to the list of all video streams
- overflow menu: Exit
  - exit the application
- any video stream in the list
- swipe (left or right) to remove
  - permanently deletes record of the video stream
- drag (up or down) to change ordered position in list
  - modified order is persistent
- click (single, short) on the checkbox to toggle: enabled
- click (single, short) on the name to edit
activity: list of all enabled video streams
- any video stream in the list
- swipe (left or right) to remove
  - temporarily hides the video stream
  - its record is not altered
  - the video stream will be visible once again when the list is recreated
- drag (up or down) to change ordered position in list
  - modified order is temporary
  - the order of records is not altered
  - the video stream will appear in its original ordered position once again when the list is recreated
- click (single, long) to toggle: pause/play
- click (single or double, short) to open in full-screen view
activity: grid of all enabled video streams
- any video stream in the grid
- click (single, long) to toggle: pause/play
- click (single or double, short) to open in full-screen view
activity: full-screen view of a single video stream
- video surface
- click (single, short) to toggle: display of the video playback controls
  - which are automatically hidden after a brief timeout