Amcrest 5MP PoE Bullet Cam IP5M-B1276EW-AI with synology Surveillance station

[john747]

I purchased two of these cameras on Amazon for my Synology Surveillance Station (SSS) camera system. They had the features I like and were reasonably price but I failed to check the compatibility with Synology. Turns out they are not listed in the SSS but were added as Amcrest generic. At times I'm having issues with very noticeable slow or intermittent internet traffic on my LAN. Unplugging the cameras or even deleting them from the SSS, will resolve the issue. Does this ring a bell with anyone. I'm thinking of just replacing them

 

[fenderman]

I purchased two of these cameras on Amazon for my Synology Surveillance Station (SSS) camera system. They had the features I like and were reasonably price but I failed to check the compatibility with Synology. Turns out they are not listed in the SSS but were added as Amcrest generic. At times I'm having issues with very noticeable slow or intermittent internet traffic on my LAN. Unplugging the cameras or even deleting them from the SSS, will resolve the issue. Does this ring a bell with anyone. I'm thinking of just replacing them

Your lan issue is unrelated to the "incompatibility" with SS. They work fine with SS and you can use any similar dahua model because they are dahua. Even as generic amcrest they are streaming the same way any camera would that has an exact match.
Your lan issue is likely related to the way your lan is laid out. Provide a diagram on how things are connected.

 

[john747]

Attached is a diagram of my network. This is at my Uncles farm and is 3 hrs away which makes it a little more difficult to diagnose. I can log into the Synology and the windows desktop via Teamviewer. Messing around with the two new Armrest cameras I have noticed that the slow down happens when viewing the cameras in the SSS or the cameras web interface. The symptoms I experience is a lot of lag in the Teamviewer connection and in Synology's DSM web interface on my end (offsite). Also, choppy internet surfing and streaming on LAN devices. Once issues appear the are removed by closing the SSS and or the camera's web interface. If the cameras don't have a compatibility issue with the synology, I wonder if I have an issue with the POE switch. Later tonight I'm going to try to have my Uncle place a POE injector\coupler between the router and one of the cameras and bypass the switch. This should help eliminate the switch as an issue. Any help is appreciated.

Forgot to mention, the internet connection is Spectrum fiber with about 30 down and 5 up. I can under stand that viewing the 5MPcameras off site would use some bandwidth but I was having issues when I was setting them up on site

 

[john747]

This is getting frustrating Don't understand why these Amcrest cameras are causing a slow down on the network. Here is how I'm testing from off site. I log into the on site Synology's web interface from my desktop about 3hr away. I bring up the connection log and refresh the list. Takes about 1 second normally. When things are slow it can take several to 20 seconds from offsite. Using my phone I run the Synology mobile camera app and stream a live view of the Amcrest cameras. This will cause a slow and laggy connection to the Synology on site (tested by the method mentioned above). If I stream the video from the Hikvision camera I don not have the poor connection issues. Any help is appreciated.

 

[fenderman]

This is getting frustrating Don't understand why these Amcrest cameras are causing a slow down on the network. Here is how I'm testing from off site. I log into the on site Synology's web interface from my desktop about 3hr away. I bring up the connection log and refresh the list. Takes about 1 second normally. When things are slow it can take several to 20 seconds from offsite. Using my phone I run the Synology mobile camera app and stream a live view of the Amcrest cameras. This will cause a slow and laggy connection to the Synology on site (tested by the method mentioned above). If I stream the video from the Hikvision camera I don not have the poor connection issues. Any help is appreciated.

Your problem is not the amcrest cameras. Any camera you would use assuming the same bitrate settings would cause the same problem. This is because you improperly setup the network. Currently all traffic from your cams passes through your router, which is choking on it. Your NAS or NVR should be connected to the same switch as the cams. Because you only have a 4 port switch you will either need to switch out to a larger switch or add another switch in between the current switch and router. I would advise on buying an 8 port switch.

 

[john747]

Fenderman, thanks for the reply, you make good sense and I will put your suggests to work. Also, it makes sense that any camera with the same bitrate would produce the same result. However, the Hikvision does not cause an issue while either Amcrest does (all set to the same mobile resolution, perhaps not the same bitrate?). I have the same Asus Ax86U router at my house and my Uncle's. About 12 devices at my Uncle's and 30+ at my house. I have 3 of the same Hikvision cameras at my house and they are on an 8port switch while my synology is on another 8 port switch with no troubles. Don't mean to argue just trying to learn. Thanks again.

 

[fenderman]

Fenderman, thanks for the reply, you make good sense and I will put your suggests to work. Also, it makes sense that any camera with the same bitrate would produce the same result. However, the Hikvision does not cause an issue while either Amcrest does (all set to the same mobile resolution, perhaps not the same bitrate?). I have the same Asus Ax86U router at my house and my Uncle's. About 12 devices at my Uncle's and 30+ at my house. I have 3 of the same Hikvision cameras at my house and they are on an 8port switch while my synology is on another 8 port switch with no troubles. Don't mean to argue just trying to learn. Thanks again.

They can be on separate switches as long as they are attached to each other...the issue you have here is that the data passes via the router...No way its related to the cams...zero change..its the network setup.

 

[wittaj]

Unhook all cameras but 1 amcrest and try again.

You will see that Amcrest works just fine.

You are overloading the router by having the cameras go thru it.

Cameras connected to Wifi routers (whether wifi or not) are problematic for surveillance cameras because they are always streaming and passing data. And the data demands go up with motion and then you lose signal. A lost packet and it has to resend. It can bring the whole network down if trying to send cameras through a wifi router. At the very least it can slow down your entire system.

Unlike Netflix and other streaming services that buffer a movie, these cameras do not buffer up part of the video, so drop outs are frequent. You would be amazed how much streaming services buffer - don't believe me, start watching something and unplug your router and watch how much longer you can watch NetFlix before it freezes - mine goes 45 seconds. Now do the same with a camera connected to a router and it is fairly instantaneous (within the latency of the stream itself)...

The same issue applies even with the hard-wired cameras trying to send all this non-buffer video stream through a router. Most consumer grade wifi routers are not designed to pass the constant video stream data of cameras, and since they do not buffer, you get these issues. The consumer routers are just not designed for this kind of traffic, even a GB speed router.

So the more cameras you add, the bigger the potential for issues.

So the reason you connect everything on a switch below the router is to take that demand off the router. Some routers attempt to route regardless. You want these cameras to work even if you take the router out of the picture. You should be able to unplug the router and the cameras still get to your SS. Until you do that, you are hopelessly blaming a camera.

We see stuff like this all the time here, including just this week. As soon as someone takes the traffic load off the router everything improves, just like the guy this week.

 

[john747]

wittaj, thanks for the reply. I think I tried just one camera but I'm not sure. Done a lot of playing around with these cameras in the last few days. fenderman said something about the bitrate and it got me thinking. I have the same resolution but not the quality setting between the Hikvision and the Amcrest cameras. I thought this could be the difference in behavior. The Amcrest cameras were set on 6 (1-6) quality. Setting the streams to 4 has helped a lot. Next time I go down to my Uncles I will put the Synology on the same switch as the cameras just for good measure.

 

[john747]

UPDATE: For those that come across this thread later, my problem was that the cameras were using too much bandwidth. This was killing the internet connection locally. I had success adjusting the bandwidth of the camera streams but to prevent issues later it is possible to limit the bandwidth of SSS in the control panel of DMS. This is what I have done and consider the issue resolved. Thanks to those who commented.

 

[wittaj]

Just keep in mind that is a band-aid solution and as long as you have the cameras on the router, the problem could creep up at any time. Add a new device, streaming stick, phone, etc. and you could be back at the same problem. Add another camera and the system will probably become unstable.

And that doesn't even address the ability for the cameras to be hacked via backdoor exploits...You really should take the time when you get a moment to take the router out of the equation.

Keep in mind that Hikvision cameras have been getting hacked recently with backdoor exploits due to having the camera on the router. Here are two threads just this week:

Advise needed, my Hikvision was hacked/pwned

Long story short, I realized yesterday that one of my Hikvision camera was beeing hacked. Saw that there was a change in camera name (to 'PWNED') and all texts coloured in red. I was not able to connect anymore via Web browser with admin credentials. Totally my fault in that sense, the admin...

ipcamtalk.com

Has my Hikvision ip camera been hacked?

Hello all! Posting a screencap of what appears in my Hikvision camera in BlueIris. Static ip address in my home network is 192.168.0.206 using Port 8095. This Hikvision camera is part of my BlueIris outdoor perimeter DIY 24/7 surveillance system which I am running on a Lenovo TinyPC with...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[john747]

The Synology Ds224 is now on the same switch as the cameras. Not sure what you mean by take the router out of the equation. Not an expert by any means but have been able to do all my own networking. There is an option in the Synology to limit the bandwidth of not just the cameras (SSS) but other functions of the NAS like file station and the DSM interface. While I have limited the Synology I realize I need to leave enough bandwidth for other items like the Ooma VOIP device and the 1 streaming device. Only one person lives at this location and its not often that too may devices will be used at the same time.

As far as the Hikvision cameras go, I have had these for about 8 years and yes they got hacked years back. This is one reason I got the Synology. I connect the cameras to the Synology and rely on the security built in to DSM (Synology OS). I then use the router to deny internet access to the cameras. Only way to access the cameras is through the Synology. Again, not an expert so perhaps they are still vulnerable but what I'm doing seems to be working for me.