Reolink RTSP WebRTC streams fail after 2026.5.1 with go2rtc DESCRIBE 404

[blakek]

The problem

After upgrading to Home Assistant Core 2026.5.1, Reolink camera streams no longer play when the Reolink integration is set to RTSP.

The still images seem to update correctly, but the live stream does not play.

This affects multiple places in the UI:

1. A picture entity card on my dashboard no longer shows a live feed.
2. Opening the camera more info dialog shows a video player, but it is disabled and never plays.
3. Going directly to the camera device page shows both available streams, Clear and Fluent, but choosing either opens the media player dialog with an updated still image and a disabled video player.

The error shown by the picture entity card is:

Failed to start WebRTC stream: webrtc: streams: wrong response on DESCRIBE, exec/rtsp
[rtsp @ 0x7f81e5790000] method DESCRIBE failed: 404 Not Found
[in#0 @ 0x7f81e5a12b00] Error opening input: Server returned 404 Not Found
Error opening input file rtsp://127.0.0.1:18554/reolink_<redacted_unique_id>_0_main?audio&source=ffmpeg:reolink_<redacted_unique_id>_0_main%23audio%3Dopus%23query%3Dlog_level%3Ddebug&log_level=debug.
Error opening input files: Server returned 404 Not Found

The important part seems to be that Home Assistant or go2rtc is trying to play a generated local stream:

rtsp://127.0.0.1:18554/reolink_<redacted_unique_id>_0_main

but go2rtc responds with:

DESCRIBE failed: 404 Not Found

That makes this look like the generated go2rtc stream name is not being registered or resolved correctly.

What I tested

I changed the Reolink integration protocol from RTSP to FLV.

With FLV:

1. The Fluent stream loads successfully.
2. The Clear stream still does not load (seems expected given the resolution).

The important regression is that with RTSP selected, even the Fluent stream does not play.

Seems Related

This might be related to the 2026.5 go2rtc change that switched managed go2rtc stream identifiers to prefer camera unique IDs instead of entity IDs:

https://github.com/home-assistant/core/pull/168603

It also looks potentially related to these recent 2026.5 go2rtc or WebRTC reports:

https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues/170015
https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues/170205

The symptoms are not identical, but the failing path looks similar because it involves go2rtc, WebRTC, RTSP, and an ffmpeg fallback source using a generated stream identifier.

What version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?

core-2026.5.1

What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?

core-2026.4.x

What type of installation are you running?

Home Assistant OS

Integration causing the issue

Reolink, go2rtc

Link to integration documentation on our website

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/reolink/

Diagnostics information

No response

Example YAML snippet

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

Failed to start WebRTC stream: webrtc: streams: wrong response on DESCRIBE, exec/rtsp
[rtsp @ 0x7f81e5790000] method DESCRIBE failed: 404 Not Found
[in#0 @ 0x7f81e5a12b00] Error opening input: Server returned 404 Not Found
Error opening input file rtsp://127.0.0.1:18554/reolink_95270006VM605P7D_0_main?audio&source=ffmpeg:reolink_95270006VM605P7D_0_main%23audio%3Dopus%23query%3Dlog_level%3Ddebug&log_level=debug.
Error opening input files: Server returned 404 Not Found

Additional information

No response

[home-assistant]

Hey there @starkillerOG, mind taking a look at this issue as it has been labeled with an integration (reolink) you are listed as a code owner for? Thanks!

Code owner commands

Code owners of reolink can trigger bot actions by commenting:

• @home-assistant close Closes the issue.
• @home-assistant rename Awesome new title Renames the issue.
• @home-assistant reopen Reopen the issue.
• @home-assistant unassign reolink Removes the current integration label and assignees on the issue, add the integration domain after the command.
• @home-assistant add-label needs-more-information Add a label (needs-more-information, problem in dependency, problem in custom component, problem in config, problem in device, feature-request) to the issue.
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@blakek Thanks for reporting this issue!

Before we dive in, please make sure this isn't a duplicate by searching through existing issues. Also check recently closed issues, as your problem might already be fixed but not yet released.

https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues?q=%20label%3A%22integration%3A%20reolink%22%20
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reolink documentation
reolink source
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[blakek]

I'm closing this. My best guess is the NVR's RTSP server on my side had a temporary issue that happened the same day I updated to 2026.5.1 🤷🏻

I was debugging to add more details. Some combination of actions made it start working again, but I don't know what exactly 😂

[Jobsa]

@blakek thanks for logging this and following up. Was initially disappointed to see you close this without a solution since I was having the same problem, but your comment about the NVR server was the fix for me. Simple reboot of the NVR (triggered by your followup) and it is working again. Capturing this for anyone else who may have the issue...