# What do the jacks on my IP camera do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 29, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-jacks-on-my-ip-camera-do/837816 "2019-07-29T16:21:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-jacks-on-my-ip-camera-do/837816/1 "2019-07-29T16:21:03Z")
So I have a Jidetech IP camera, that has four ports: Ethernet, a red-coded female power connector, a yellow coded female RCA, and a white coded female RCA. I get the Ethernet and the manual shows that you use the power connector if you don’t have power-over-ethernet. I assume yellow is analog composite video out, considering the manual says you can set it to PAL or NTSC. But what is the white? Audio in? Audio Out? Something else? The camera is advertised as “with audio” but I don’t know if that means it has a built in microphone or if you can plug an external microphone into it to be sent back over the Ethernet along with the camera video. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-jacks-on-my-ip-camera-do/837816/2 "2019-07-29T16:25:54Z")
I found these pages: > **[Connect to Jidetech cameras](https://www.ispyconnect.com/camera/jidetech)** > > Use our free software to connect Jidetech IP CCTV camera URL for RTSP streaming video. Login to Jidetech camera. [https://public-camera.com/en/how-to-connect-JideTech-ipcamera.html](https://public-camera.com/en/how-to-connect-JideTech-ipcamera.html) Not sure which model is yours, but perhaps you can cross reference it from there. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-jacks-on-my-ip-camera-do/837816/3 "2019-07-29T18:16:56Z")
If it has Audio, the white is probably audio out, to go with the yellow composite video out. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-jacks-on-my-ip-camera-do/837816/4 "2019-07-29T19:21:10Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > If it has Audio, the white is probably audio out, to go with the yellow composite video out. Typical audio RCA is red & whie (R & L, I assume). So perhaps mono is white. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-jacks-on-my-ip-camera-do/837816/5 "2019-07-29T20:18:42Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Typical audio RCA is red & whie (R & L, I assume). So perhaps mono is white. White for mono RCA out is standard IME. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-jacks-on-my-ip-camera-do/837816/6 "2019-07-29T20:28:42Z")
It wouldn’t make sense for it to have RCA video output and RCA audio **input**. If it doesn’t have a built-in microphone, it would probably have a 3.5" microphone jack. And why would a security camera use external microphones? External mic is usually only used when you need very high quality audio.