Network camera support on Windows 10

Windows 10 gets native support for network cameras

The next version of Windows 10 will make it easier for developers as well as users to set up network cameras.

The use of cameras that can transmit data over the local network has been growing at a rapid pace in the recent years for security and surveillance purposes. However, it hasn’t been a straightforward process to deploy network cameras using Windows 10, but this will change with the 20H1 update.

Microsoft has announced that the next version of Windows 10, coming in spring 2020, will include native support for network cameras to make it easier for developers to “build security, safety and machine learning-based video analytics solutions.”

The new platform is available since build 18995, and it includes support for discovery, pairing, configure, and stream TCP/IP-enabled for major ONVIF Profile S compliant camera brands.

As you connect new network cameras to Windows 10, the stream can be easily routed through the existing camera APIs built-in the operating system.

In addition, Windows 10 provides support for pairing cameras using the WinRT APIs and Add a device wizard. Also, developers building solutions for the 20H1 update can “stream from a given RTSP Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) through the same Windows camera APIs. This is useful for solutions that use non-ONVIF compliant cameras, or to build applications that allow users to simply enter the RTSP URI as the video source rather than pairing the camera to their device.”

Furthermore, thanks to the new support, developers can take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) services and features to create high performance end-to-end security solutions. Including for common surveillance scenarios, such as people detection or face sentiment analysis.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].