Blue Iris slow connection only on WAN

[Wen]

Blue Iris slow connection on WAN
Window 10 on stand alone dedicated server. Server is about six months old.
Currently running Blue Iris 5.3.9.17 x64
I had been on the 5.4.0.2 to see if it fixed the issue, it didn’t and I rolled back to my current version.

Ok, I’ve beat my brains out over the past three days trying to troubleshoot this problem.
I’ve read the help file, the WIKI file and I’ve been all over multiple online forums (including this one) searching for answers.
My setup has been running great for a year or more, fast on local internet, fast on cell phone with BI app. Fast with UI.

Blue Iris runs great as long as I’m on my local internet. Great speeds, quick load, smooth video, no disconnects.
BUT, when I try and connect from the WAN on my Verizon cell phone Blue Iris chokes.
Slow to load the cams, slow page refresh, and when I open a camera the clock overlay count up the time at about 25% of real time.
A person walking in a clip is in slow motion.
It’s the same issues with BI3 and/or the Blue Iris android app.
I’ve tried two different android cell phones with the latest BI app and the issue is the same, slow on WAN.
The issue was also the same with the older version of the BI app.
I’ve changed the port number on the webserver, no change.
When I use my cell phone to stream video from DishAnywhere it streams fine.
Youtube from my cell phone streams fine too.

I pulled up a restore point from three weeks ago and the problem was the same.
So, arrrrrgh. My security system is unusable when I’m away from the house.

Thank you in advance for suggestion on other things to try.

 

[Wen]

In addition.

I've disable the virus checker, no change. I'm not running any other virus checker.

I'm not using Hardware accel. It's set to No, and each cam is set to No.

I'm using Direct to Disc, and no Decode.

I'm using substreams on all of the cams, and the CPU is showing less than 10% usage.

 

[sebastiantombs]

You don't mention how you are connecting the phone to your BI server while out and about, VPN, SSL, port forwarding, or 3G,4G or 5G for the phone?

Streaming a video is not the same as streaming video surveillance. Watching a movie allows buffering to happen while live video from a camera is a constant load. I don't have Verizon, use AT&T 4G, with a VPN and it is slower, but not all that slow. That applies to the BI app and UI3. Personally I prefer UI3 but that's another story.

 

[bp2008]

Please show a screenshot of internet speed test results (including upload speed) from your Blue Iris computer. Low upload speed would cause all the issues you describe.

 

[Wen]

First, thank you to Sebastiontombs and BP2008, you both hit the problem spot on.

The speed test from my Verizon cell phone using Ookla showed 14 MBS down, and 6 MBS up. That was on the Verizon LTE connection.

With my cell phone on our home wifi it showed 24 down and .4 up. That's point 4.

My server that runs BI showed 24 down, and .4 up (that's point 4, yikes)

I had already updated the firmware on my TP-link router.

That slow upload speed wasn't apparent on any of our other devices at our home. Not streaming Netflix or using the Internet on tablets and laptops.

It took three LONG phone calls with the tech support folks at Localtel our internet provider. We swapped out cables, changed ports, ran speed test from multiple devices and the upload speed was consistently in the point 3 to point 5 area.

The call was upgraded to the head tech crew and they were unable to resolve the issue until about 7 PM last night when we lost internet connectivity. When the service came back online the problem was fixed!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!

We are now getting 25 down and 2.5 up.

We live in a rural area and out only provider is Localtel via antenna on our home.

Question: We are paying 45 bucks a month for our internet, 25 down and 3 up. For 55 bucks a month we can upgrade to 30 down and 5 up. Would you suggest upgrading. We use Netflix and Prime for the majority of our streaming (almost every evening). Like I said earlier, we haven't noticed a speed issue in the past.

Blue Iris and camera connectivity is a priority and I will upgrade the service IF we would get better performance from BI

Thanks again for your input!!

 

[bp2008]

It is cool that your ISP fixed the problem. Upload bandwidth is relatively unimportant for most things people do on the internet, for example when you stream video from Netflix, Amazon, Youtube, or anywhere else, you are only using small amounts of upload bandwidth but large amounts of download. So you didn't even notice that your upload was underperforming until you did something that relied on it!

If it was me I would probably upgrade to the highest speed plan they offer, assuming they could deliver it properly. But it is up to you. 2.5 Mbps is a usable amount of upload. I do suggest that whenever you run UI3 on a new web browser that you set "Maximum H.264 Kbps" to 2000 or less.



2000 Kbps is 2.0 Mbps which should leave some bandwidth free for other things besides the video stream. If you might ever have two devices connected to Blue Iris at the same time, then consider setting this to 1000 instead. You can still get a pretty decent video stream at 1000 -- in fact when using either of UI3's VBR methods the actual bandwidth used is often less than 1000.