IP Cameras - How to see their data/video?

I've never worked on the field of IP Cameras, so I am not sure where to start. I am thinking of a project where I can connect a city's cameras that are linked from local businesses like convenience stores, banks, schools, etc.

I have been a software developer for many years and have never tackled this problem space and would like to but don't know where to start. Here are some assumptions I am thinking: the IP cameras are f开发者_Go百科rom different vendors and thus thinking different platforms (unix, windows, embedded?). Is there any way to 'encode?' these camera feeds so I can display through a web browser?

If someone could direct me to some articles, books, URL Links, etc. regarding how to work with IP Cameras, that would be great.

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Most IP cameras support RTSP/RTP protocol or RTMP protocol, and the video codec is H.264 or MPEG-4. Please check the website below (in Chinese), to see if this is what you want.

http://www.pernet.tv