All of my cameras are freezing randomly and recordings are artifacting.

[JshKlsn]

Still happening with the new gigabit router with all 7 cameras.

 

[vertigo]

Is your PC connected to the router at gb speeds?

 

[JshKlsn]

Sure is

 

[vertigo]

And all your camera's are connected directly to that router, or are there other hubs/routers inbetween? The bottleneck has to be somewhere, and probably where a lot of camera's have to share 100mbit. Anyway, IM not a network expert...

 

[JshKlsn]

All cameras go into this switch and then from that switch into my router, and from my router into my PC.

The switch is 100mbps which I didn't know until now. That could possibly be the issue.

I wish I could know for sure before spending another $300 on a new switch.

 

[vertigo]

The switch is 100mbps which I didn't know until now. That could possibly be the issue.

More than possibly. Almost certainly. Its ok to have 100Mbps per camera if it has a 1Gb uplink, but it doesnt, so everything bottlenecks between that switch and your router.
That said, you dont need to ditch it. Just add another POE switch and put half your cams on the new one, and connect it to your router with a second cable. Id go for a gigabit switch, but you can probably get away with another 100mb switch seeing that removing 2 camera's seems to solve your problem.

 

[JshKlsn]

I'll probably go with a gigabit switch because we would like to upgrade past 8 cameras in the future, and if I order another one of the same switches, i'll be limited to around 5 cameras on each switch. Where as if I get a gigabit switch, I can have the full 8 on that switch, and 5 on the current switch.

I will see about getting another switch and report back. Thanks again.

 

[JshKlsn]

So I decided to go with a second 100mbps switch, as the gigabit switches are more than twice as much, and it's cheaper to buy a third 100mbps switch in the future than a gigabit switch.

Anyway, after moving half of the cameras to the new switch, it seems like the artifacting is gone. Thanks!

 

[nejakejnick]

The solution should be simple and cheap though; get a gigabit router. (make sure its a router, not a switch or hub, as the camera's probably dont do gigabit ethernet).

Excuse me, but why not a gigabit switch?

 

[vertigo]

Well, it depends on the switch, but all hubs and some switches will use the lowest negotiated speed on all ports. So you if you connect a 100Mbs ethernet of the camera, the port towards the router or PC will also work at 100 Mbs, even though the PC and the hub/switch can do Gbit. Some will claim to do mixed speeds, but still end up working at 100Mb most of the time, some will do mixed speeds properly, but if you get a Gb router, you can be pretty sure they will do mixed speeds.

 

[nejakejnick]

Well, it depends on the switch, but all hubs and some switches will use the lowest negotiated speed on all ports. So you if you connect a 100Mbs ethernet of the camera, the port towards the router or PC will also work at 100 Mbs, even though the PC and the hub/switch can do Gbit. Some will claim to do mixed speeds, but still end up working at 100Mb most of the time, some will do mixed speeds properly, but if you get a Gb router, you can be pretty sure they will do mixed speeds.

Oh, ok, I guess that applies to cut-through switches which have no store-and-forward, or low quality switches.