RTSP Video Feed
The RTSP Video Feed node connects to an RTSP video stream from an IP camera or NVR and extracts still frames as PNG images.
The node orchestrates ffmpeg to acquire and decode the video stream. By handling the video decoding externally, ffmpeg reduces the processing load on the main FlowFuse event loop. However, higher frame rates and image resolutions generate more image data, which can increase CPU and memory usage as frames are transferred and processed within your flows. The node is a source node with no input connector. It begins capturing frames as soon as the flow is deployed and displays a green Running status on the canvas when it has successfully connected to the stream. If ffmpeg exits unexpectedly, the node restarts it automatically after a short delay and displays the exit code in the node status.
Extracted frames can either be emitted as messages into the flow or written directly to disk as a numbered sequence of PNG files. See Operating modes for details.
ℹ Note: The RTSP Video Feed node is not available by default. It is part of the FlowFuse Edge Certified Nodes paid add-on. Please contact our sales team at Contact us to learn more or to request access.
Requirements
The node requires ffmpeg. In most cases this is handled automatically: the node pulls in ffmpeg-static on install, which provides a prebuilt ffmpeg binary for your platform.
If a prebuilt binary is not available for your platform, the node falls back to an ffmpeg binary on the system PATH. If neither is found, the node will not load and an error is written to the FlowFuse log.
Install
- Open the Palette Manager from the top-right menu in the FlowFuse editor.
- Switch to the Install tab.
- Find the FlowFuse Edge Certified Nodes collection.
- Locate
@flowfuse-certified-nodes/rtspand click Install.
ffmpeg is pulled in automatically during install.
ℹ Note: Existing devices and hosted instances will not pick up newly installed nodes until they are restarted. Restart any instance you plan to use the node on after installing.
Configuration
Open the node's settings by double-clicking it on the canvas.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| RTSP URL | Yes | The stream URL, e.g. rtsp://192.168.1.50:554/live/ch1. Must be a valid URL. |
| Username | No | Username for streams that require authentication. |
| Password | No | Password for streams that require authentication. Stored as a FlowFuse credential and never written to the flow file. |
| FPS | No | Frames per second to capture, from 1 to 60. Defaults to 1. |
| File path | No | Directory frames are written to in disk-writing mode. If left empty, the OS temp directory (e.g. /tmp) is used. |
Output image as msg.payload |
No | Switches between message mode and disk-writing mode. Enabled by default. See Operating modes. |
| Name | No | Optional label for the node in the FlowFuse editor. |
| Topic | No | Sets msg.topic on emitted messages. Useful when routing frames to MQTT. |
Operating modes
The Output image as msg.payload checkbox controls how the node handles captured frames.
Output enabled (default)
The node emits each captured frame as a message at the configured FPS rate.
Output properties:
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
msg.payload |
Buffer | The captured frame as a PNG image buffer. |
msg.topic |
String | The topic configured on the node. |
The output can be wired to any node that accepts an image buffer, including FlowFuse Dashboard widgets,MQTT out nodes, and FlowFuse AI nodes.
ℹ Note: Every captured frame becomes a message in the flow. A high FPS value increases the number and size of messages being processed. Set FPS no higher than your use case requires.
Output disabled
The node emits no messages. Instead, ffmpeg writes a continuous numbered sequence of PNG files to the directory set in File path, named as follows:
rtsp-<node-id>-<counter>.png
If File path is left empty, files are written to the OS temp directory (e.g. /tmp). On many Linux distributions this is a RAM-backed filesystem, so frames consume memory rather than disk space and are cleared on reboot.
The node does not delete files written to disk. At a high FPS rate, files will accumulate and eventually fill the available storage. Monitor available disk space when using this mode.
