Need help with laggy / choppy footage, ghost images

[CLK55]

Hi,

Pardon my crude explanation of the issue, I'm not a pro and this issue has me stumped. The cameras are Hikvision AcuSense DS-2CD2383G2-IU 8MP, 2.8mm Lens - Camera Firmware is V5.7.12, Build 221201. The NVR they're plugged into is a DS-7616NI-12/16P, Firmware Version 4.61.025, Build 220905.

A monitor is plugged into the NVR.

The issue I'm having involves the following matters:

1. When I watch footage on playback directly from the NVR, for instance in the event of a motion event, the footage tends to play smooth, freezes, and when it starts playing again the timer has gone up by seconds, sometimes it's just one second, other times it's 3-5. I thought it was just a problem related to motion, or smart events, but when playing back footage from plain old continuous recording with no events triggered, this problem still occurs. Both of the cameras have multiple zones for motion, line crossing and intrusion smart events.

2. When watching recorded footage pulled from the NVR on the computer using VLC, these freezes/skips mentioned in point 1 manifest differently. In other words, I see square splotches of color on the screen randomly, or, if there is something moving in the footage the moving object will freeze in place, while a copy of the moving object / person will continue moving in its original direction. Sometimes pixelated, colored squares will trail the moving object. "Ghost images."

3. It "seems" that this problem is only present during the day, but I'm not sure if I'm imagining this or if it's because there is more activity during the day and that is some how related to the issue. I can't recall the cameras having any problems with moving images at night, or early morning/dawn.

I don't even know what this issue is classified as, so I don't even know what to search for. Could this be an issue with cross talk? The two cameras are outside and the cabling is outdoor rated, it comes into the house and once inside the house, both cables are zip tied together and are run to the NVR, the cables are 100 footers. There are only three cameras running to this NVR, two of them are Hikvision AcuSense DS-2CD2383G2-IU 8MP 2.8mm Lens cameras and the third one is a 12 MP Hikvision Fisheye, the fisheye doesn't seem to have any problems.

Stream Type - Audio & Video
Resolution - 3840x2160 8MP
Bitrate Type - Variable
Video Quality - Highest
Frame Rate - 20 FPS (have option for Full Frame, but no idea what that means)
Max Bitrate Mode - General
Max Bitrate Recommended - 16941~16941
Video Encoding - H265
H.265+ Enabled

Viewing Strategy - Balanced

Images attached, cropped for privacy and face blurred. I can post more examples if needed.

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

 

[JB1970]

Stream Type - Audio & Video
Resolution - 3840x2160 8MP
Bitrate Type - Variable
Video Quality - Highest
Frame Rate - 20 FPS (have option for Full Frame, but no idea what that means)
Max Bitrate Mode - General
Max Bitrate Recommended - 16941~16941
Video Encoding - H265
H.265+ Enabled

This is likely down to your settings and there's a few things to check.

First. In the NVR check that your Main Stream - Normal and Main Stream - Event settings match exactly.

Second. In the NVR Storage > Recording Schedule. For each camera click the 'Advanced' button. Change pre record from 5 seconds to 0 seconds. The 5 seconds buffer is not needed if you're recording on a 24/7 schedule (but is set at 5 by default) and has been known to cause skipping in recorded video.

Third. Your Settings.

Video Quality 'Highest' - leave it on Medium or set to Higher. Setting it to Highest causes large bursts in bit rate and can cause issues. You will not see the difference dropping it to Higher but the performance will be better.

Frame Rate - 20FPS. Should be OK but if you don't need 20 FPS lower it to see if that helps. 'Full Frame' just selects the highest that the camera supports (which is 20 anyway for your model)

H265+. Ugh - Disable plus. Combined with the other settings this can cause the ghost images/artefacts you're seeing. Then if you've left the FPS at 20, set the max bit rate to 8192 but make sure you drop the quality to Higher. If you were to use 12 FPS with Higher, try 6144.

 

[David]

H265+. Ugh - Disable plus.

Any particular reason for disabling plus?

 

[JB1970]

Any particular reason for disabling plus?

Yes I've known it cause the ghosting and artefacts that are mentioned. It can save bandwidth and storage, but the claims of how much are exaggerated unless the camera is viewing a relatively static scene. In a dynamic outdoor scene, I'd consider H265 more appropriate. The op has 3 cameras on a 16 channel NVR with 160 Mbps incoming bandwidth so there's no worries with resources.

I'd personally never use H265+. I'd rather specify an NVR (and storage) with sufficient resources for the cameras to be installed, including some headroom for expansion but each to their own.

 

[David]

Yes I've known it cause the ghosting and artefacts that are mentioned. It can save bandwidth and storage, but the claims of how much are exaggerated unless the camera is viewing a relatively static scene. In a dynamic outdoor scene, I'd consider H265 more appropriate. The op has 3 cameras on a 16 channel NVR with 160 Mbps incoming bandwidth so there's no worries with resources.

I'd personally never use H265+. I'd rather specify an NVR (and storage) with sufficient resources for the cameras to be installed, including some headroom for expansion but each to their own.

I have often thought about disabling H265+ on my cameras, I'll give it a go on the front garden camera.

I'd rather specify an NVR (and storage) with sufficient resources for the cameras to be installed, including some headroom for expansion

completely agree.....

 

[JB1970]

I have often thought about disabling H265+ on my cameras, I'll give it a go on the front garden camera.


completely agree.....

What I used to see occasionally manifested itself with moving cars. I'd get a stream of cars go past. At some point I'd be left with a static image of one of the cars that had long since gone. Another example I once witnessed a person walk by and become separated at the waist! - the legs remained static while the torso kept moving! A bit strange as with H265 standard the I frame would've dealt with that causing a full frame refresh after 1 or 2 seconds depending on the interval set.

I believe the H265+ compression uses some predictive algorithm to reduce bandwidth (I read a Hikvision white paper that went into detail some years ago). The other artefacts - coloured blocks etc could possible be the NVR failing to maintain the decoding of the stream. Bandwidth tends to be inversely proportional to processing - H264 high bandwidth, lower resource load. H265+ low bandwidth, higher resource load.

 

[CLK55]

Good afternoon,

Thanks so much for the help. I made a checklist of everything you replied with and applied it. I will monitor the performance for a bit and see how it goes. I hope this resolves the matter, but will update either way. I also see that you've had similar issues with H265+ so I have high hopes that we've managed to check off any culprits.

What you described with the cars and the disembodied pixels of a person walking by is basically spot on with some variations!

 

[JB1970]

Good afternoon,

Thanks so much for the help. I made a checklist of everything you replied with and applied it. I will monitor the performance for a bit and see how it goes. I hope this resolves the matter, but will update either way. I also see that you've had similar issues with H265+ so I have high hopes that we've managed to check off any culprits.

What you described with the cars and the disembodied pixels of a person walking by is basically spot on with some variations!

I did at one point have some issues with particular 8MP cameras freezing and skipping over video but that was on older cameras with older firmware and seemed to clear up (it would only manifest itself during daytime when the camera was in colour and never on an night). Sometimes you can get a multicoloured, semi scrambled screen on a device running Hik-Connect while the HDMI connected monitor is fine but that would probably be more down to the Hik-Connect app, Hik-Connect connection, mobile device.

 

[CLK55]

My friend, you are a genius. I wanted to give it some time, but have pulled some test footage, both normal footage capturing moving vehicles / people and footage including motion / smart events and it all plays smooth without any strange splotches or other anomalies.

P.S. You don't happen to know about Honeywell issues by any chance, do you?

 

[JB1970]

My friend, you are a genius. I wanted to give it some time, but have pulled some test footage, both normal footage capturing moving vehicles / people and footage including motion / smart events and it all plays smooth without any strange splotches or other anomalies.

P.S. You don't happen to know about Honeywell issues by any chance, do you?

Great - glad I could help.

It's a long time since I did any Honeywell CCTV. Honeywell intruder I've been installing for a long time but only the UK stuff (Galaxy/Dimension)

 

[CLK55]

You helped me out big time, I was seriously worried there was something up with the wiring, or worse, the Hikvision hardware.

That said, if it's alright with you, I can message you regarding the Honeywell for anything prolonged. It's just a curiosity, as the motion detection settings do not show up (sensitivity / threshold) so it doesn't work at all when there is movement. I still have a few Honeywells running, but everything meaningful has been replaced by Hikvision.