How Does Live Stream Work for LAN and Remote Viewing?

[Dave and Laura_609438826115167]

I would very much like to know how live streaming actually works.
Specifically, how does the client contact the camera, especially when the client is not on the LAN (e.g., the iOS app when not at home).

Once the initial contact is made, how is the video data actually transferred?
Obviously when remote it has to go over either cellular which will consume data or the Internet.
What about on the LAN, though? Does the data stay within the LAN?

TIA

[joseph_1979]

@dave-and-laura_609438826115167 Very easy. So once the camera is set up and connected to the network either through WIFI or Ethernet, it sends packets to the Reolink P2P servers (after DNS query) which includes its UID and other parameters. The P2P server compares the source IP/port of the received packet with the IP/port stored in the profile associated with the UID and if they don't match it will update old IP/port with the new ones (may changed after DHCP lease time expiry). When you start your client, apart from other tasks it will query the P2P servers for the IP/Port of the camera(s) based on their UID. The client will use the received IPs/Ports to start communication with the camera(s) and the media (UDP transport) will flow from the camera directly to your smartphone or PC wherever you are running the client. So if you are running the client on an Android smartphone...............from Camera to your BB router to your local ISP core to your Mobile operator IP core to the P-GW to the S-GW (GTP-U) to the eNodeB and eventually to your 4G smartphone........you need the signalling too?

[Dave and Laura_609438826115167]

@joseph-chircop_497308027822318
So, that means that when I watch the live view from my desktop (on my LAN), all data after the initial handshake stays on the LAN, right?