Is the server a camera repeater or directly for the h264 stream?

Question

CCTV

Greetings!
There are several IP cameras, you need to watch them from several stations (up to 10 connections per camera at the same time). Cameras give in h264, connection through native surveillance programs.
The question arose, which is better - a separate relay server, or a direct connection to the cameras?
If through a repeater, then do not tell me if there is a ready-made cross-platform software without gui and extra stray (recording, decoding, etc., etc.) just took frames from the camera and gave them to those who connected.

Answer 1

In general, I washed down my relay server: pavelk.ru/server-retranslyator-dlya-ip-h264-kamer , whoever needs it, try it and finish it yourself according to your needs.

Answer 2

10 streams IP-camera most likely will not "take out". I worked with high-quality IP cameras, the manufacturer guaranteed only 4 streams (more worked, of course).
I would recommend a repeater.
For example, I used the ffmpeg + ffserver bundle, but I managed to set it up only for MJPEG, although there is definitely support for h264.
Many advise ffmpeg + nginx + a bunch of different modules - no profit, just get tired of lifting and configuring all this.
UPD: ffmpeg has a setting option in which decoding does not occur and the video is taken from the source. I managed to configure ffmpeg to write the h264 stream to disk as a file, but not to "retransmit" it.

Answer 3

For nginx, there is a module nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_mp4_module.html and nothing seems to be better than nginx. For processing, compositing, repackaging under the viewer, ffmpeg did not come up with anything better. I did it. Everything is working.