Setting Up Your Cameras in Drawbridge

Before You Start

Before adding cameras to Drawbridge, you'll need two things:

• Your camera's IP address —This is a number that looks like 192.168.0.2. You can find it inside your camera's app (e.g., ReoLink) or in your router's device list.

• Your camera's password — This is the admin password you set when you first set up the camera. For ReoLink, the default username is admin and the default password is blank (no password).

Write these down before continuing you'll need them to build your connection string.

Step 1: Add Your Cameras to Drawbridge

1. In Drawbridge, go to your game's settings and find the Camera section

2. Click Add Camera

3. Give it a name like "Room 1" so you know which room it belongs to

4. Find your camera brand in the list below and copy the recommended connection string

5. Replace the placeholder values (anything in < >) with your actual camera info

6. Click Test Cameras to verify there are no errors

7. Click Preview Cameras and view

What does a connection string look like?

It's just a web address that tells Drawbridge how to connect to your camera. You'll replace the parts in angle brackets with your real values. For example:

rtsp://admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1

Becomes:

rtsp://admin:mypassword@192.168.0.2:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1

Step 2: Optional Settings

Audio — Some cameras let you listen in on the room. Check the Audio checkbox next to the camera to enable this. Note: this feature can sometimes cause the camera to freeze or crash, since it's not the camera's main function. Use it if you need it, but be aware it may be unstable.

Delete a camera — Click the x at the end of the camera's row.

Main stream vs. substream — By default, Drawbridge uses a lower-quality "substream" to reduce network usage and prevent lag, especially on Wi-Fi. If you want full-quality video, you can switch to the main stream by changing "sub" to "main" in the connection string (or changing subtype=1 to subtype=0). Only do this if your network can handle it — it significantly increases bandwidth usage.

Camera Setup by Brand

Find your camera brand below. If yours isn't listed, email support@drawbridgesolutions.com and they'll add it.

Important for all cameras: Your camera must be set to use H264 video encoding (not H265/HEVC). H265 is not supported by Drawbridge. If your camera defaulted to H265, the setup instructions for your brand below will show you how to change it.

Amcrest

Amcrest cameras are standalone — they connect directly to your network, not through an NVR. No special settings changes are needed.

Recommended connection string:

onvif://admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>?subtype=MediaProfile001

Alternative:

rtsp://admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1

Cortex

Cortex cameras default to H265 encoding, which Drawbridge does not support. You must change the encoding to H264 before connecting.

How to change the encoding:

1. Log into your Cortex camera's web interface

2. Click Remote Setting (top right corner)

3. Click Encode (under the Recording section)

4. Click MainStream

5. Change "Video Code Type" from H265 to H264

6. Change Bitrate to 1024

7. If you want audio, make sure Audio is enabled

8. Click SubStream and repeat steps 5–6

9. Save your settings

Recommended connection string:

onvif://admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>?subtype=Profile_1

(Profile_1 = main stream. Use Profile_2 for substream.)

Alternative:

rtsp://admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>:554/rtsp/streaming?channel=01&subtype=0

(subtype=0 is main stream, subtype=1 is substream)

LaView

LaView cameras are standalone — they connect directly to your network. No special settings changes are needed.

Recommended connection string: onvif:

//admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>?subtype=Profile_2

Alternative: rtsp://admin:

<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1

ReoLink

ReoLink cameras connect through an NVR (a small recording box). The IP address you'll use is the NVR's IP address, not the individual camera's address.

Step 1: Connect to your NVR in the ReoLink app

1. Install the ReoLink app on your phone or computer

2. Tap Add Device

3. Enter the IP address of your NVR (not a camera)

4. Log in — default username is admin, default password is blank

Step 2: Configure the NVR settings

1. Tap the settings cog next to the NVR in your device list

2. Go to Networking > Advanced > Server Settings

3. Enable: HTTP, HTTPS, RTSP, and ONVIF

4. If you want audio, make sure Audio is enabled

Step 3: Set encoding to H264

1. Go to Settings > Stream > Stream Settings (the cog icon)

2. Set Encoding Format to H264

Step 4: Set your bitrate (fixes lag)

1. In the same Stream Settings screen, set Max Bitrate to 1024–2048 Kbps

Connection strings:

Recommended (HTTP FLV):

http://<IP_ADDRESS>/flv?port=1935&app=bcs&stream=channel{CHANNEL}_sub.bcs&user=admin&password={ADMIN_PASSWORD}

ReoLink channel numbers start at 0, not 1. If your camera shows as Channel 1 in the app, use channel0 in the connection string. Subtract 1 from the number shown in the app.

RTSP alternative:

rtsp://admin:<ADMIN_PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>/Preview_0{CHANNEL}_sub

RTSP uses the same channel numbers as the app (starting at 1). Use two digits — so Channel 1 = 01.

ONVIF alternative:

onvif://admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>:8000?subtype=0<CHANNEL>1

ONVIF uses the same channel numbering as HTTP FLV — subtract 1 from the app's channel number.

Ubiquiti UniFi UNVR

You'll need to manually enable RTSP for each camera in the UniFi interface.

For each camera:

1. Log into your UniFi NVR

2. Click UniFi Devices

3. Select the camera from the list

4. Click the settings cog in the camera sidebar

5. Scroll down to Advanced

6. Enable either:

   • High Resolution stream (set Max Bitrate to 1024 Kbps), or

   • Medium Resolution stream

7. Copy the link that appears

8. Paste it into Drawbridge, then make these two changes:

   • Change rtsps:// to rtsp://

   • Change :7441 to :7447

   • Remove ?enableSrtp from the end

Example:

rtsps://192.168.0.2:7441/xVpmkpZdR25KbLaM?enableSrtp

Becomes:

rtsp://192.168.0.2:7447/xVpmkpZdR25KbLaM

HikVision

Step 1: Configure camera settings

1. Go to Configuration > Video/Audio

2. If your camera supports audio, set Video Type to Video/Audio

3. Set Video Encoding to H.264

4. Set Max Bitrate to 1024

5. Set Bitrate Type to Constant

6. Repeat these steps for each camera by selecting each channel at the top

Connection strings:

Main stream:

rtsp://admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>:554/Channels/301

Sub stream:

rtsp://admin:<PASSWORD>@<IP_ADDRESS>:554/Channels/302

Troubleshooting

Note: Fisheye camera lenses are not fully supported at this time.

Still Need Help?

If you've gone through these steps and are still having trouble, the Drawbridge support team can remote in and help you get set up.

📧 support@drawbridgesolutions.com