Issue with huge chunks of pixelation/blurring?

[Newbie1978]

I recently purchased an installed an Annke 4k NVR (N48PAW) and 4 x Annke C800 (i91BM) 4k cameras.

The system has been installed with cat 6 external grade cable (copper 23AWG) and terminated using pass through RJ45 connectors - as the external cable is also suitable for direct burial it was quite large in diameter so I struggled to find RJ45's that could accommodate the diameter so the connector's I bought were quite expensive in comparison (£15 for 25) so hopefully not cheap junk?!

The hard drive is a Seagate SkyHawk Surveillance HDD 4TB. I have tested the internet speed and it is consistently 88Mbps, the firmware has been upgraded to the latest version (as provided by Annke) for the cameras and the NVR.

The cameras all work perfectly on live view however on playback they are virtually unusable with two issues which are likely connected - the first being the right hand side of the view is intermittently, but very frequently, pixelated/blurred. Sometimes it's 1/4 of the screen and sometimes it's 1/3 of the screen but it flashes on and off:

This pixelation/blurring affects playback via the app in that when the same video clip is viewed in the app it totally skips several seconds at the same point when the pixelation/blurring (P/B) is occurring - so the P/B is not seen in the app view. For now I'm focusing on the issues with NVR playback as I feel that if this works as it should then hopefully playback in the app will also work as it should. When the video is viewed via the NVR as general playback ie randomly selecting the time from the timeline you can see that the screen is affected by the pixelating/blocking and this is the same when viewing the same section of video as an 'event' ie from the motion detection alert from the NVR. The camera angle of this particular camera means that the P/B only ever affects the wall of the house but for the other cameras they cover key areas meaning playback is virtually pointless!

Annke support are involved and have been helpful, albeit each email interaction takes 24 hours due to the time difference, but now what they are suggesting involves dismantling and removing the whole system (from up a ladder!) to cross reference each item ie cable, camera, port so I'd rather see if anybody with experience of such faults could suggest the most likely issue ie if it's an issue with settings then this is much easier to adjust and trial rather than removing cameras.

Having spent hours googling I did see audio mentioned as being a possible reason for playback issues so have turned the audio off on 1 camera (the one pictured) and the issue still persists.

Of note is that one of the cameras very rarely suffers from the pixelating/blurring compared to the others, it has very little motion (back garden and it's quite cold in the UK despite it still being summer so it's not really in use) so I'm not sure if that is a possible reason.

The cameras all have the same settings:

Any suggestions of things I could try before I dismantle and remove the entire system? The only issue that I can think of in terms of installation is that the connectors were the pass through type and the ends might not be cut completely flush, but the plugs still connected fully and as mentioned live view works perfectly. If relevant we chose type A for the RJ45 termination colour coding.

Would be very grateful for any input

 

[Phil]

Sorry, I have not read fully & carefully (busy & skimming).
Type B is the normally-used connector colour code pin-out for RJ45.

My first thought from seeing the image/issues was cables.
I'd test with temporary factory-made patch leads e.g. move the camera close to the NVR just for testing, connect it with some bought patch leads, and see whether you still see the issues.

 

[Newbie1978]

Sorry, I have not read fully & carefully (busy & skimming).
Type B is the normally-used connector colour code pin-out for RJ45.

My first thought from seeing the image/issues was cables.
I'd test with temporary factory-made patch leads e.g. move the camera close to the NVR just for testing, connect it with some bought patch leads, and see whether you still see the issues.

Thanks for the reply, I was worried it was going to be the cables... before installing I'd tested them all indoors (pointing to a corner so barely any movement) with factory made patch cables and there were no issues. I purchased exterior cable for the install and went for the one that was gel filled, overkill as the cables aren't open to the elements and it was a PIG to work with in terms of terminating the RJ45's due to the sticky mess it created. We chose type A as Google said that it was less common, but supposedly 'superior', and as long as both ends are the same then I guess it doesn't make much difference.

Thankfully for me, before I got up on ladders and dismantled all our hard work, I needed to contact Annke as after I'd factory reset the NVR and set my password to the exact same one as before it wasn't recognising the password when trying to log in to the NVR via the browser. I was explaining my frustrations to the guy who answered the phone and he suggested changing the 'Max birate mode' from 'custom' to 'general' and selecting the max bitrate of 1792. The system now works perefctly on live view, playback and viewing notifications via the NVR and via the app.

Frustrating that the Annke customer service agent who was emailing me didn't suggest this before asking me to get up on ladders and pull the whole thing apart but all's well that ends well! Hopefully this thread might help somebody else experiencing similar issues in the future.