Use Your Amcrest Camera Without a Subscription

Amcrest cameras run Dahua firmware under the hood, which means they speak standard RTSP and ONVIF locally. Amcrest Cloud and Amcrest Smart Home are optional remote/cloud add-ons — cancel them and your camera keeps recording to its SD card or NVR and streaming on your network for free.

Does Amcrest lock your camera when you cancel?

No. Amcrest Cloud / Smart Home handles remote viewing and off-site storage — not your local stream. Cancel it and the camera keeps working on your own network over RTSP/ONVIF.

Amcrest RTSP and ONVIF stream URLs

Main stream:

rtsp://<user>:<pass>@<camera-ip>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0

Sub-stream (lower bandwidth):

rtsp://<user>:<pass>@<camera-ip>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1

ONVIF: ONVIF on port 80; enable it in the web UI and add an ONVIF user.

Default ports:

Port	Protocol	Notes
554	RTSP
80	HTTP
37777	Dahua/Amcrest SDK

Amcrest gotchas worth knowing

Because Amcrest is Dahua-based, the RTSP path is identical to Dahua (/cam/realmonitor).
Amcrest Cloud stores clips off-site; the camera itself records locally to microSD without it.
Older Amcrest models may default RTSP to a different port — check the web UI or use ONVIF.

How to cancel Amcrest Cloud / Smart Home and keep the camera

Cancel Amcrest Cloud in the app (or let it lapse) — local recording is unaffected.
Open the camera's web UI at http://<camera-ip> and enable ONVIF + confirm RTSP is on.
Point RSC at the RTSP/ONVIF URL above.

Amcrest vs a no-subscription setup

	Stay with Amcrest	No-subscription with RSC
Monthly cost	$3.99–$21.99/mo (optional)	$0 Free · $22/mo Pro
Who holds your footage	Vendor cloud	You — local + your own cloud
If you stop paying	Remote view / clips lost	Full local access continues
Extra hardware	None	None — reuse a phone or an ONVIF camera you own

Works with RSC

RSC connects over the same Dahua-style RTSP/ONVIF — no Amcrest account needed.

Get started

Open the RSC app and add your camera
See RSC pricing — free plan, Pro at $22/mo