Help My Camera Stream is Not Working on Alexa!

Monocle

Help My Camera Stream is Not Working on Alexa!

If your _________ IP camera is not streaming on your Alexa devices using Monocle, then please follow the questions and steps below for tips on trying to get it to work.

Does your camera support a RTSP steam?

If “YES” then continue to the next question.
If “NO” then sorry, you are out of luck. The Alexa devices only support RTSP streams.

Does your camera support H.264 encoded video?

If “YES” then continue to the next question.
If “NO” then sorry, you are out of luck. The Alexa devices only supports H.264 encoded video streams. (Alexa does not support MJPEG or H.265 streams at this time.)
If you don’t know then you can use VLC to verify the audio and video codecs. See the Monocle Troubleshooting Guide.

Does your camera support AAC encoded audio?

If “YES” then please note that “AAC” is the preferred audio codec for Alexa if your camera is configured to use a different audio codec, then please consider switching to the AAC codec. Continue to the next question.
If “NO” then sorry, you are out of luck. The Alexa devices only supports AAC and G.711 encoded audio streams.
If you don’t know then you can use VLC to verify the audio and video codecs. See the Monocle Troubleshooting Guide.

Does your camera support G.711 encoded audio?

If “YES”, then continue to the next question. Please note that “AAC” is the preferred audio codec for Alexa and it should be used if available.
If “NO”, then sorry, you are out of luck, the Alexa devices only supports AAC and G.711 encoded audio streams.
If you don’t know then you can use VLC to verify the audio and video codecs. See the Monocle Troubleshooting Guide.

Do you know the RTSP URL for your camera?

If “YES” then continue to the next question.
If “NO” then you will need to obtain the RTSP URL from the camera’s user manual, the camera manufacturer’s technical support or forum. There are also a few tips to finding the RTSP URL in our Monocle Troubleshooting Guide.

Have you tested your RTSP URL using another tool such as VLC or FFPLAY?

If “YES” then continue to the next question.
If “NO” then you should first test the RTSP URL and camera stream access credentials using a separate tool just to make sure you have a known working camera stream before attmepting to view the stream on your Alexa device. We include a listing of steps to test and validate the RTSP URL in our Monocle Troubleshooting Guide.

Are you using Alexa from one of the supported geographical regions and supported languages?
See our supported regions and languages here: https://monoclecam.com/supported/regions

If “YES” then continue to the next question.
If “NO” then please contact us for to see about adding support for your region. Please note that we can only add support for regions where Amazon supports the CameraStreamController interface and APIs.

Are you using a supported Alexa device?
See our supported Alexa devices here: https://monoclecam.com/supported/alexa

If “YES” then continue to the next question.
If “NO” then please contact us for to see about adding support for your device. Please note that we can only add support for devices where Amazon supports the CameraStreamController interface and APIs.

Are you using a FireTV Stick or Echo Spot to try and view your camera stream?

If “NO”, then continue to the next question.
If “YES”, then please be aware that these devices only support video stream up to 1080P resolution (1920x1080 pixels). You may need to check the video stream setting in your IP camera’s configuration pages/utility to make sure its only streaming at 1080P or lower.

Are you using a FireTV 4K , FireTV Cube, Fire Tablet or FireTV Edition to try and view your camera stream?

If “NO” then continue to the next question.
If “YES” then please be aware that these devices will no longer work directly with your local IP cameras. Amazon has rolled out updates on these platforms that now enforce stricter connectivity policies. We provide an application service called “Monocle Gateway” that you can install and run inside your local network to meet the new Amazon enforced requirements. Monocle Gateway acts as a communications bridge between your Alexa devices and IP cameras inside your local network. The Monocle Gateway service is still in BETA testing, but you are welcome to try it out. Additional information about Monocle Gateway can be found here: https://monoclecam.com/monocle-gateway

Are you using a Foscam camera?

If “NO” then continue to the next question.
If “YES” then you must use our Monocle Gateway service to allow compatibility between the Alexa devices and Foscam cameras. Please see Foscam Compatibility for additional information.

Are you using a Reolink camera?

If “NO” then continue to the next question.
If “YES” then you must use our Monocle Gateway service to allow compatibility between the Alexa devices and Reolink cameras. Please see Reolink Compatibility for additional information.

Please check our camera compatibility chart and forums section on cameras for any specific notes related to your specific camera/hardware.

Monocle Camera Compatibility
Hardware Forum Topics (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Is your camera stream using G.711 encoded audio?
(Also sometimes displayed as mLAW or uLAW)

If “NO” then continue to the next question.
If “YES” then please note that the Alexa devices are very picky about G.711 audio streams and in many cases disabling or removing the audio channel from the stream will allow the camera to start streaming video.
- If you camera supports the AAC audio codec, then try switching to that.
- If you camera supports disabling the audio channel, then please try that. (However a large number of cameras will still include an audio channel in the stream descriptor even when the audio channel is disabled or audio is not supported by the hardware. This often causes issues with Alexa failing to stream.)
- You can also eliminate the audio channel from the stream using the Monocle Gateway service and tagging your camera with the @noaudio tag in addition to the @tunnel or @proxy tag. See this topic for more details: Tagging Cameras for Monocle Gateway

At this point further testing and diagnostics require using our Monocle Gateway service.

Install the Monocle Gateway service on a computer inside your local network.
- Windows Installation Instructions
- Linux Installation Instructions
After installing and configuring your Monocle Gateway instance, you will need to TAG your camera in the Monocle Web Portal. See: Tagging Cameras for Monocle Gateway
Start with the @tunnel tag. This provides the most basic tunneling using the gateway service with the least modifications to the camera RTSP negotiation and stream descriptor. If we ask for the console output/log from the gateway service, we will most likely want to use only @tunnel to start with to obtain a clean and unmodified account of the RTSP communications.
If @tunnel alone does not work, then try both @tunnel, @noaudio. This will strip any audio channel out of the camera’s stream descriptor. Even cameras that may have their audio channel disabled and cameras that may not support audio hardware often have an audio channel in the descriptor which can cause issues/conflicts with Alexa’ RTSP player.
If @tunnel, @noaudio does not work, then try @proxy. This tag will instruct the gateway service to use a RTSP proxy implementation and use UDP communication with the camera opposed to the default TCP interleaved communication.
If @proxy does not work, then try both @proxy, @noaudio. This will strip any audio channel out of the camera’s stream descriptor. Even cameras that may have their audio channel disabled and cameras that may not support audio hardware often have an audio channel in the descriptor which can cause issues/conflicts with Alexa’ RTSP player.