Slow and unusable live stream and trying to view recordings

[Mark Simpson]

Hi

I had the same performance issues in the past which I fixed by changing all cameras to static IPs

That worked for a few weeks and all of the feeds have ground to a halt again. The initial image from all cameras takes at least a minute to load. And then the image is frozen. After 5 minutes some images start moving.
This is the same for 3 PCs that connect, so it's not any one client PC.
It's the same via a web browser and the Windows client.

Just powered down the NVR and core switch for a couple of minutes and it's fine again now. I'd like to get to the bottom of this though. I don't really want to be rebooting the NVR every week.

Can anyone suggest any settings that could alleviate our issues?

Many thanks
Mark

 

[Phil]

Hi Mark,

I'd guess at some sort of network configuration setting error e.g. domain / gateway.

If I recall correctly, you've got a 64-camera NVR (9664) and are using dual LAN.

How many cameras are you up to now?
Just to rule out overload, do you have a monitor connected?
Can you check the bandwidth used / available please?

 

[Mark Simpson]

You are correct Phil. 56 cameras with 2 more to go on.

 

[Mark Simpson]

Watching it today...

LAN1 (connection to main network)
Sending: 1500kbps
Receiving: 40kbps

LAN2 (camera dedicated network)
S: 3500kbps
R: 110kbps


STATS Page:
IP Cameras: 210Mbps
Remote Playback (me monitoring 8 cameras): 9216kbps
Net Receive Idle: 110Mbps
Net Send Idle: 247Mbps

 

[Phil]

Have you configured RAID on your NVR?

 

[Mark Simpson]

No I haven't. Not a fan and don't think it's needed. I've had an instance before where one disk went down and lost the entirity of data. This isn't backed up anywhere so I'd like to be able to retrieve at least something in a disaster.

As the problem is resolved with a periodic reboot, I don't think that disk performance is an issue. RAID seems to slow performance according to your table. Was there another reason to enable it?

 

[Phil]

Are you using the most efficient CODEC for your cameras?

Have you set reasonable fps frame rates for recording your cameras?

Do you still have a PC/laptop connected to a camera port?

{sorry, our responses crossed / were posted at the same time}

I was asking about RAID because configuring RAID diminishes the bandwidth the NVR can cope with.

 

[Mark Simpson]

Right.. was going to add that I took your comment about RAID the wrong way around!

Cameras are set to H.265+

Frame rates are all set as low as we can to be usable for us. For most that 15fps with some set to 20fps.
I've just checked that though and all cameras are now set to maximum! Don't know how that's happened. As I said though, it's working fine like that at the moment???

(Is there a way to bulk configure frame rate?)

No computers directly connected, no.

 

[Phil]

(Is there a way to bulk configure frame rate?)

I'm not sure, maybe in the Batch Config. Tool?
DOWNLOAD PORTAL
(not sure whether that works with direct-connected cameras?)

 

[Mark Simpson]

Thanks for that. May well work on a connected laptop. If it does, I shall be happy!

 

[Mark Simpson]

Reboot needed this morning. Unusably slow again.

 

[Phil]

Hi Mark,
What firmware version is your NVR running please?

 

[Mark Simpson]

Model DS-9664NI-I8

Firmware V4.1.10 build 171107

 

[Digilec]

Are you experiencing the same latency when viewing from a local monitor connected to the NVR via HDMI?

 

[Mark Simpson]

I think our problem is getting worse. Worst of all is that you can't schedule reboots, as daily might work for us.
I tried limiting frame rate of all cameras to a maximum of 20fps as advised somewhere. The resolution never high.
I've updated to the latest firmware and viewer.
It's no faster if I make sure everyone is logged out.

I was convinced that the issue must be network related.
Interestingly I noticed today that the mobile app was a lot faster to use. Even recordings were viewable with an acceptable delay.

So that would suggest that it's the local viewer PC causing the slowdown using either the app or a web browser. My PC is quite decent I think... SSD, i73xxx, 16Gb ram, 64bit Win7 Pro. Our whole estate is Win7Pro.

 

[Digilec]

Are you using VLAN’s to segregate the cameras from other network traffic such as VoIP?

How many hops through switches/routers do you have?

Do the trunk ports and switch ports connected to the NVR support gigabit Ethernet?

Although H265 is more efficient than H264, it requires more computer processing power on the client side. I would try H264.

A higher frame rate will have reduced latency providing the network can handle the additional bandwidth. If you don’t have the bandwidth try reducing the resolution.

 

[Mark Simpson]

Thanks for your reply

No VLANS. Just a separate IP range connected to one of the NVR ports. The other port interfaces with the local network.

All Cisco switches connected by fibre. One central switch and two others.

Currently all cameras are set to H265+. That's an interesting thought. We don't need the retention that we're currently getting, so this is doable.

I've turned down frame rate and resolution already. It's only on the windows PCs I'm witnessing any slowdown. The mobile client, running on a modest OnePlus 3, has no slowdown.

 

[Mark Simpson]

what would you suggest my best settings would be?

 

[Digilec]

I would just change video quality to medium for now to see if it has much effect. And increase the frame rate to 25 or the highest option available.
I’d stick with 1920x1080 and reduce any higher resolution cameras to this too and see if you notice any improvements.

 

[Mark Simpson]

Thanks again Digilec.

This config is copied to all cameras. Performance seems a lot better already, although the establishment is closed and there is no possibility that someone isn't sitting with the web client constantly running.
Before, maximising any camera view would cause a 2 minute break in viewing the stream. Now it's pretty instant, just by changing the encoding to H264.

I'll try those other settings though, as that sounds like it'll suit our purposes best.