Camera connections
Many cameras allow only a small number of simultaneous RTSP sessions. An existing recorder and its operators may already use several. Cameras don't report this limit, and opening streams until one fails could disconnect another recorder, so EverNVR never tests for it.
Without a limit, EverNVR uses one connection per camera. If you know a camera's simultaneous connection limit from its documentation, enter it under Cameras → Streams & connections. The available budget is then that limit minus the reserved connections, and with two or more available EverNVR uses a second stream. At least one connection is always reserved for the existing recorder and phone apps. When a known limit leaves no slot, EverNVR pauses instead of competing for it.
One stream or two
When the budget allows, a recording stream provides the retained video and a smaller stream supplies viewing and detection. With one connection, the default, the recorder shares the main stream for recording, viewing and detection, which costs more of the recorder's processor. The strategy depends on the verified streams and connection budget shown under Cameras → Streams & connections.
The wall, larger view, and detector share the viewing stream. Each browser does not independently connect to the camera. Local playback and export read the recorder's stored media.
What a probe establishes
ONVIF profiles advertise streams; the probe opens streams one at a time and records the facts it actually observes. A successful probe does not establish the camera's maximum sessions, sustained recording reliability, audio quality, or browser compatibility.
Use a manufacturer specification or previously completed controlled test for the ceiling. Never discover it by saturating an in-service customer camera. After adoption, watch the incumbent recorder during both recording and active viewing, then record that evidence in commissioning.
EverNVR does not change encoding settings or reboot cameras. Clock correction (the time, the recorder's time zone and the recorder as the camera's NTP server; the recorder's own when a camera is out, a site setting that is on by default, or an administrator's by hand; see camera clocks), PTZ movements, preset operations, and switching a camera's deterrence output (a relay, light, or siren) on or off when an operator or a rule asks are the supported camera writes and are audited. Finding a camera's outputs and switching one go over ONVIF or the camera's own HTTP interface, not a video connection, so they count against no RTSP session. See camera setup.