C520WS direct stream not updating

[GSzabados]

Description

On my Tapo C520WS when direct stream is used the video is not updating. Only displaying the first image, but no update (video) after that.

Reproduction Steps

1. Set up direct stream from the C520WS
2. Set up picture-entity card with the camera's image.
3. Click on the picture-entity card to open the video feed.
4. Video feed opens, but only the first image displayed, and no video.
5. The same feature is working on a C100, where the direct stream video starts without any issue.

Expected behavior

Be able to see the direct stream video.

If applicable, add error logs.

Unfortunately no errors in the logs.

Device Firmware

1.3.4 Build 250811 Rel.34127n

Integration Version

7.0.12

Using stream component

No

Does camera work via official integrations?

Yes

Camera has all attributes filled out in developer tools

Yes

HASS Environment

HAOS

Search for similar issues

Yes

Additional information

Any idea would be useful to make the direct stream working as intended.

[JurajNyiri]

Please send debug logs along with the yaml configuration of the 2 cards.

[JurajNyiri]

Unrelated question to the issue, but why use direct streams on C520WS?

[GSzabados]

SD card recording, and recording to a UI Protect. It seems to burn all the RTSP connections.

[GSzabados]

yaml configuration of the 2 cards.

The card was an example only, it does the same if the entity is opened from the device's page.

[JurajNyiri]

Also please send information about whether you have stream from HA enabled, or disabled in integration options (and stream: in config)

And whether it changes behaviour when you change this.

And whether stream works when you click the entity itself in devices

[GSzabados]

Please send debug logs along

Honestly, how to do that? Since the log files are gone, I have not set up that custom integration to produce the text files, and I have no idea how I can extract the logs normally otherwise from the journal.

Unrelated question, what is the email to Tapo, where technical issues can be reported? (It is related to a RV30)

And whether stream works when you click the entity itself in devices

Nope it is not working from the entity either, neither for SD or HD. Both of them just produces a still image.

[JurajNyiri]

https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/configuration/troubleshooting/#debug-logs-and-diagnostics

[JurajNyiri]

Try checking use stream from HA, restarting and seeing if the situation improves when you click on entity.

[GSzabados]

Oddly, with stream enabled it works, but takes ages to load. And it kills the picture-entity (or the picture on the entity), both the option to be able to take a snapshot.

Perform action 'Camera: Take snapshot'
Executed: 4 December 2025 at 15:47:32
Error: Unable to get snapshot: Timed out after 10 seconds

The SD direct stream is not working either with stream enabled.

It is more of a hit and miss with stream enabled.

[JurajNyiri]

We will need debug logs. One more idea though - does stream work inside the Tapo app?

[GSzabados]

I've just sent you the relevant part of the logs by email. Yes, the stream works inside the Tapo app.

[MarioCardoso27]

My apologies for intruding, but I have the same camera and the same problems!

In fact, my streams (HD, HD Direct, SD, SD Direct) either don't show any image at all, or are extremely slow.
My original Tapo app works fine.

I've attached my log.
Thank you!

home assistant_tapo_control_2025-12-16T12-39-22.028Z.log

[JurajNyiri]

@MarioCardoso27 there are logs from kasa.protocols.smartprotocol for device 192.168.1.126, which is not this integration.

One camera device shall be used only by 1 integration, not more, see readme. Not respecting it leads to instability issues exactly like you are seeing.

[MarioCardoso27]

@JurajNyiri Hello there!

I'm very sorry about that.
I knew that, but I still messed up.

I'm sending a new log, only with the Tapo Control integration. The problems persist!
I would be very grateful if you could take a look again!

Sorry, and thank you!

home-assistant_tapo_control_2025-12-17T11-54-42.211Z.log

[HenriSaumure]

Did anyone find a solution for this? I also have issues where the stream works at random times and the rest of the time it only displays the last image or sometimes hours ago.

2025-12-29 17:45:54.789 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] All streams finished'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.789 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] Terminating muxer thread'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.789 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[vist#0:0/h264 @ 0x7fb1fe0180] Decoder returned EOF, finishing'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.789 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[vist#0:0/h264 @ 0x7fb1fe0180] Terminating decoder thread'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.832 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] sq: 0 EOF'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.832 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] sq: finish queue'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.832 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] sq: 0 EOF'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] sq: finish queue'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] sq: 0 EOF'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] sq: finish queue'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[AVIOContext @ 0x7fb2020500] Statistics: 120626 bytes written, 0 seeks, 4 writeouts'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] Output file #0 (pipe:1):'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240]   Output stream #0:0 (video): 1 frames encoded; 1 packets muxed (120626 bytes);'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240]   Total: 1 packets (120626 bytes) muxed'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[out#0/image2pipe @ 0x7fb1aa0240] video:118kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.000000%'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.833 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'frame=    1 fps=0.0 q=8.8 Lsize=     118kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate=N/A speed=   0x'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.839 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[in#0/mpegts @ 0x7fb2212b00] Terminating demuxer thread'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.839 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[in#0/mpegts @ 0x7fb2212b00] Input file #0 (pipe:0):'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.839 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[in#0/mpegts @ 0x7fb2212b00]   Input stream #0:0 (video): 7 packets read (148520 bytes); 5 frames decoded; 0 decode errors;'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.839 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[in#0/mpegts @ 0x7fb2212b00]   Total: 7 packets (148520 bytes) demuxed'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.841 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '[AVIOContext @ 0x7fb2020000] Statistics: 167132 bytes read, 0 seeks'}
2025-12-29 17:45:54.855 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_camera_image - Stopping streamer
2025-12-29 17:45:54.856 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_camera_image - Returning jpeg
2025-12-29 17:46:00.523 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] mediaSync
2025-12-29 17:46:00.523 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] mediaSync - 2
2025-12-29 17:46:00.523 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] mediaSync - 3
2025-12-29 17:46:00.523 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Media sync for Tapo_C410_0214 disabled (inside mediaSync): False
2025-12-29 17:46:01.034 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] _ensure_av_pipe() called
2025-12-29 17:46:01.034 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] _ensure_av_pipe: already running (fd=170)
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_update_data - entry
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Both motion sensor and time sync are disabled. This is because RTSP username or password is empty.
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_update_data - before someEntityEnabled check
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] <entity camera.tapo_c410_0214_hd_stream_direct=idle>
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_update_data - enabling someEntityEnabled check
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Tapo_C410_0214 running on battery: True
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Skipping update for Tapo_C410_0214...
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] updateTapo in update entity
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Latest version - no cloud update
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] 1.3.2 Build 250919 Rel.70545n
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Release_summary - none
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Latest version - no cloud update
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] 1.3.2 Build 250919 Rel.70545n
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] scheduleAll for Tapo_C410_0214 called.
2025-12-29 17:46:01.520 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Finished fetching Tapo resource status data in 0.001 seconds (success: True)
2025-12-29 17:46:10.177 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] _ensure_av_pipe() called
2025-12-29 17:46:10.177 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] _ensure_av_pipe: already running (fd=170)
2025-12-29 17:46:10.192 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_camera_image
2025-12-29 17:46:10.192 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_camera_image - Starting streamer
2025-12-29 17:46:10.194 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Direct MJPEG: ffmpeg PID 6072
2025-12-29 17:46:10.247 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'ffmpeg version 6.1.2 Copyright (c) 2000-2024 the FFmpeg developers'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.247 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'built with gcc 14.2.0 (Alpine 14.2.0)'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.247 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'configuration: --prefix=/usr --disable-librtmp --disable-lzma --disable-static --disable-stripping --enable-avfilter --enable-gpl --enable-ladspa --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libdav1d --enable-libdrm --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libharfbuzz --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libplacebo --enable-libpulse --enable-librav1e --enable-librist --enable-libsoxr --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libv4l2 --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxcb --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-libzmq --enable-lto=auto --enable-lv2 --enable-openssl --enable-pic --enable-postproc --enable-pthreads --enable-shared --enable-vaapi --enable-vdpau --enable-version3 --enable-vulkan --optflags=-O3 --enable-libjxl --enable-libsvtav1'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'libavutil      58. 29.100 / 58. 29.100'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'libavcodec     60. 31.102 / 60. 31.102'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'libavformat    60. 16.100 / 60. 16.100'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'libavdevice    60.  3.100 / 60.  3.100'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'libavfilter     9. 12.100 /  9. 12.100'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'libswscale      7.  5.100 /  7.  5.100'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'libswresample   4. 12.100 /  4. 12.100'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'libpostproc    57.  3.100 / 57.  3.100'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Splitting the commandline.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-loglevel' ... matched as option 'loglevel' (set logging level) with argument 'debug'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.248 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-probesize' ... matched as AVOption 'probesize' with argument '32'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.249 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-analyzeduration' ... matched as AVOption 'analyzeduration' with argument '0'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.249 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-f' ... matched as option 'f' (force format) with argument 'mpegts'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-i' ... matched as output url with argument 'pipe:0'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-frames:v' ... matched as option 'frames' (set the number of frames to output) with argument '1'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-map' ... matched as option 'map' (set input stream mapping) with argument '0:v:0'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-vsync' ... matched as option 'vsync' (set video sync method globally; deprecated, use -fps_mode) with argument '0'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-c:v' ... matched as option 'c' (codec name) with argument 'mjpeg'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option '-f' ... matched as option 'f' (force format) with argument 'image2pipe'."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "Reading option 'pipe:1' ... matched as output url."}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Finished splitting the commandline.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Parsing a group of options: global .'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Applying option loglevel (set logging level) with argument debug.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Applying option vsync (set video sync method globally; deprecated, use -fps_mode) with argument 0.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': '-vsync is deprecated. Use -fps_mode'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Passing a number to -vsync is deprecated, use a string argument as described in the manual.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Successfully parsed a group of options.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Parsing a group of options: input url pipe:0.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Applying option f (force format) with argument mpegts.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Successfully parsed a group of options.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': 'Opening an input file: pipe:0.'}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "[mpegts @ 0x7fb1190000] Opening 'pipe:0' for reading"}
2025-12-29 17:46:10.250 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] {'currentAction': 'Streaming', 'ffmpegLog': "[pipe @ 0x7fb10d00e0] Setting default whitelist 'crypto,data'"}
2025-12-29 17:46:11.521 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_update_data - entry
2025-12-29 17:46:11.521 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Both motion sensor and time sync are disabled. This is because RTSP username or password is empty.
2025-12-29 17:46:11.521 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_update_data - before someEntityEnabled check
2025-12-29 17:46:11.521 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] <entity camera.tapo_c410_0214_hd_stream_direct=idle>
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] async_update_data - enabling someEntityEnabled check
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Tapo_C410_0214 running on battery: True
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Skipping update for Tapo_C410_0214...
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] updateTapo in update entity
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Latest version - no cloud update
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] 1.3.2 Build 250919 Rel.70545n
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Release_summary - none
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Latest version - no cloud update
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] 1.3.2 Build 250919 Rel.70545n
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] scheduleAll for Tapo_C410_0214 called.
2025-12-29 17:46:11.522 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] Finished fetching Tapo resource status data in 0.001 seconds (success: True)
2025-12-29 17:46:13.940 ERROR (stream_worker) [homeassistant.components.stream.stream.camera.tapo_c410_0214_hd_stream_direct] Error from stream worker: Error demuxing stream (Immediate exit requested, pipe:170)
2025-12-29 17:46:13.942 WARNING (MainThread) [custom_components.tapo_control] [Errno 104] Connection reset by peer

If this debug log can be of any use.