Too Long; Didn't Read
Onvif (stands for:: Open Network Video Interface Forum) is a non-profit with the goal of facilitating the development and use of a global open standard for the interface of physical IP-based security products. The goal behind these specifications is to standardise how to connect to these products, for instance if you develop an app for streaming video from an ONVIF camera, it should work with every ONVif camera. The problem is, VLC (Real Time Streaming Protocol) is aiming to make streaming simpler.