Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam pag

[bp2008]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

That's pretty much what I am doing. I am going to do all the ones that are actually on the house. I have a detached building about 100' away with two cameras that run wirelessly and I'm hoping that getting the other ones off the wireless will improve how they work. If they don't work well enough to suit me, I'll run cable out there too. I'm just tired of having my cameras stop working for a few moments when I'm interested in what should be getting recorded.

For your detached building, obviously you have power there so you might consider an Ubiquiti radio to link back to the house. There are two ways you might do this:

1. Buy a single Nanostation Loco M2. This is a directional WiFi radio (M2 indicates it operates on 2.4ghz) that you can connect wirelessly to your home router and it should provide a far superior connection compared to connecting the cameras individually with their tiny omnidirectional antennas.

alternative:

2. Buy two Nanostation Loco M5. The M5 indicates it operates on 5ghz. Put one on the outside of the house, and the other on the detached building. Set both of them to minimum output power. Configure one of them as an access point with WDS enabled, and the other as a station with WDS enabled, and have the station connect to the access point. This should provide speed and reliability second only to having a real network cable strung out between the buildings, as long as you have clear and uninterrupted line of sight between the two radios. And as a side bonus it will not interfere with your 2.4ghz wifi inside the house.

 

[MartyO]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

That's pretty much what I am doing. I am going to do all the ones that are actually on the house. I have a detached building about 100' away with two cameras that run wirelessly and I'm hoping that getting the other ones off the wireless will improve how they work. If they don't work well enough to suit me, I'll run cable out there too. I'm just tired of having my cameras stop working for a few moments when I'm interested in what should be getting recorded.

All my wifi cameras (9 of them) are working very stable (last 6 days) since I took a home automation unit off the same wifi network. It has a ten inch antenna and must have been drowning out my wifi cameras which have small internal antenna. Though I did learn that BI is slow to reconnect once it looses a connection.

At my second install I have 6 Wifi cameras running with no drop offs for last 5 days, this is in a crowded wifi environment as I can see about six other SSIDs with my nexux droid app. I switched to a beam forming router that also lets you adjust things , turned down beacon interval and a couple other things.

 

[haykong]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

Marty, what wireless router/access point do you have now? have you considered getting a Ruckus access point? They are great in congested wifi environments and can handled high density areas like schools.

 

[MartyO]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

Marty, what wireless router/access point do you have now? have you considered getting a Ruckus access point? They are great in congested wifi environments and can handled high density areas like schools.

Thanks, I'll look into it, in the future I if I do more systems I try to get as much (Cameras that are close or more than a few that are HD) on CAT 6 as possible, but want to have in my back pocket WIFI as an option. The bad things posted about WIFI I find is from folks who had bad experiences 5-10 years ago or who didn't know or understand how to do it.

Who makes Ruckus, why do you like them?

 

[David Messenger]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

Thanks for the suggestions bp. I hadn't heard about the Nanostation devices before. I very well may do that after I get finished with the wiring I have left to do. I got the first one wired last night and it's working very well. It also seems to have improved things for the other cameras but I still get some wireless signal interruptions.

With my worst camera running wired now, I also changed my beacon back to 100ms again because it was running down everyone's cell phone batteries to fast. I figured since I got rid of my biggest problem child, maybe I could get back to a more battery friendly setting and it seems to be working fine.

Glad to hear you got your wireless stuff working well now Marty. I feel like I've learned a lot by participating in this discussion and I appreciate all of the suggestions and comments by everyone.

 

[MartyO]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

Thanks for the suggestions bp. I hadn't heard about the Nanostation devices before. I very well may do that after I get finished with the wiring I have left to do. I got the first one wired last night and it's working very well. It also seems to have improved things for the other cameras but I still get some wireless signal interruptions.

With my worst camera running wired now, I also changed my beacon back to 100ms again because it was running down everyone's cell phone batteries to fast. I figured since I got rid of my biggest problem child, maybe I could get back to a more battery friendly setting and it seems to be working fine.

Glad to hear you got your wireless stuff working well now Marty. I feel like I've learned a lot by participating in this discussion and I appreciate all of the suggestions and comments by everyone.

Well we all learned.

 

[haykong]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

Thanks, I'll look into it, in the future I if I do more systems I try to get as much (Cameras that are close or more than a few that are HD) on CAT 6 as possible, but want to have in my back pocket WIFI as an option. The bad things posted about WIFI I find is from folks who had bad experiences 5-10 years ago or who didn't know or understand how to do it.

Who makes Ruckus, why do you like them?

Oh I do work in the IT business so, I've deployed various different wifi access points. As for Ruckus, it's a brand name in the Enterprise market, like Cisco and Aruba. Let's do a quick break down on consumer wifi, most common consumer wireless routers can only about about 10-15 devices logged on at the same time. The more advanced and more recent consumer wireless routers can maybe handle about 20-35 maybe per radio. The enterprise rated ones like Ruckus can handle about 50-100 per radio depending on if wifi is open or encrypted and some can handle more depending on what model etc. As for ruckus, I like them since they're one of the best ones in the enterprise market that can handle high density wifi clients such as a school. I've also deployed Ruckus access points in areas where the clients had congested airwaves like say an apartment. Ruckus handles congested wifi much better than consumer routers. For most of the Ruckus routers you can deployed them standalone without a controller. If you live in an area that is heavily congested then yeah I would recommend a Ruckus access point and use it in standalone mode.

Now if you thinking of Unifi access points, what makes them good is that it gives you the same control as you would in other enterprises wifi access points without the cost. However, their routers can not handle high density and heavily congested areas.

So it really depends on what your needs are and deploying the correct equipment.

If you have any questions just ask.... Only recently did I start deploying IP cameras for a few clients which is why i'm here now.

Anyway regarding about Wifi routers in general, the more wifi clients that are logged on at the same time even though they maybe be idle, the router still has to spend time commuting and tracking the clients, so the more clients that are logged on it would eventually slow down the the wifi network once it hits the threshold of the router even though most of the clients are idling.

 

[David Messenger]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

Ok, time for an update on my situation which is now completely resolved. I took bp's advice and made two major changes: 1st, I wired the cameras that are mounted on the house, and second, I installed a pair of Ubiquiti Nanostation loco M5s to wirelessly bridge my network to my shop. Everything is working perfectly now and aside from some possible tweaks as I learn more about the Nanostations I don't think I'll need to do much of anything else.

I have the output of the M5 on the shop plugged into my old Asus RT-N56U router which is now configured as an access point. I took it out of service when I replaced it with a new AC capable one. Now the cameras are connected by wires to the access point and I now have either 2.4 Ghz or 5Ghz wireless to connect to the internet when working out there.

An added benefit, as pointed out by bp is that none of my cameras will be messed up when I turn on the microwave oven. By the way, I checked the radiation leakage on my oven and there is a small amount, but nothing to worry about. I will check it periodically now to make sure it doesn't become unsafe.

Thanks to all for your contributions.

 

[MartyO]

Re: Camera dropping out when used with Blue Iris but works when viewed through Foscam

thanks for the update.

 

[Culmac]

I have the latest version of Blue iris and I have 9 Foscam wifi cameras on my system but one of the cameras does not work hardly ever when viewed with Blue Iris. It literally only appears once in a blue moon and I've always blamed it on the fact that it is one of the ones with the weakest wifi signal because it's the furthest from the router. However, there is another camera right next to it and that one always works fine.

Last night, the camera in question appeared once again and I decided to turn off Blue iris and log into the cameras's foscam webpage and it worked just fine, refreshed very quickly and never went out after that.

Then I reopened blue iris and the foscam web interface no longer worked anymore and as soon as I closed blue iris again the the camera appeared fine on the foscam page once again. How can this be? Makes no sense to me.

Is it possible that blue iris gets overloaded with nine cameras and affects the signal somehow since I couldn't log into the foscam interface with BI running??

Don't use wi-fi! I have 23 Foscam camera's running on Blue Iris all hardwired and NEVER any glitches.

 

[Legsmaniac]

Interesting albeit old(ish) thread. Was this ever resolved?

I'm another one having the same problems. As above - cameras would stop working on BI but I am able to log into them via any browser or any other client such as IPWebCam, IPCamViewer, TinyCamMonitor etc.
So to me, this means there's nothing wrong with my WiFi, surely? Since my cameras are obviously still functioning normally, accessible elsewhere, just not with BlueIris when it decides to drop them out.
Damned annoying. I have tried changing settings in the router, including suggestions in this thread, to no avail. I have also tried changing settings in BI, including suggestions I have read on here in various threads, including different camera drivers/settings and increasing the Receive Buffer, also all to no avail.

There *is* one thing that I was able to change that seemed to do the trick and I just know that you're all gonna say "Well get rid of the silly *toy* cameras I have and get some proper ones then!" LOL
Let me explain.....
By the way, I was sure I was already a member of this forum, having joined years ago when I started with BI3 but for the life of me, I couldn't remember my user or email used to even attempt to reset the passsword, so I am by no means new to this. I have over the years grown my system to (currently) 11 cameras running on a fully updated BI4 on it's own PC running as a DVR Server. The problematic cameras in question are D-Link DCS 935L.
Yes, yes, yes, I know, no one here likes them. But I do. Apart from BI, they work brilliantly, have a great image and do all I need it to do. I also got them cheaper. So I don't need to hear any retorts, thanks.
Now, I have found that if I log into the camera settings and go to Setup > Network Setup > Authentication Settings, there are two settings - one for HTTP and the other for RTSP - both can have either Basic or Digest. In addition, RTSP can be set to Disable. I have discovered that if I set RTSP to Disable, BI works no problem. But this means there's no Authentication set on RTSP and so anyone could log into my camera without any password. Not good.
But why should this be a problem with only BI and nothing else? I can only assume it's something wrong with BI or the drivers/settings for video? Does this help shed any light for any of you to help further with any more suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[fenderman]

But this means there's no Authentication set on RTSP and so anyone could log into my camera without any password. Not good.

Its no problem at all. I never set a password other than default (unless forced to) on cameras....there is no way for anyone to access the camera unless they are you local network..in that case your screwed anyways and you password is useless...not to mention that camera firmware is notoriously insecure...the passwords are all but worthless...
You should email support with this issue..

 

[Legsmaniac]

....there is no way for anyone to access the camera unless they are you local network..

I have port forwarded my camera so it IS accessible outside my network independent of BI.
In any case, a password is mandatory.

 

[fenderman]

I have port forwarded my camera so it IS accessible outside my network independent of BI.
In any case, a password is mandatory.

Why would you port forward the cam and not use the blue iris webserver?
You need to email support...its unlikely you will find the answer here...that camera is not used by many...
If you have the camera forwarded or even BI forwarded, you have much bigger problems...the camera firmware is not up to date and is likely already exploited...

 

[Legsmaniac]

If you have the camera forwarded or even BI forwarded, you have much bigger problems...

Of course I have BI forwarded or else I couldn't access it externally. As I'm sure many other users of BI have done. As per instructions in the BI Manual.
(I mean, why suggest it if it's not recommended?)
I do realise the risks but jeez! You're getting me worried now.

 

[fenderman]

Of course I have BI forwarded or else I couldn't access it externally. As I'm sure many other users of BI have done. As per instructions in the BI Manual.
(I mean, why suggest it if it's not recommended?)
I do realise the risks but jeez! You're getting me worried now.

If you have BI forwarded then why do you also have the camera forwarded?? makes no sense...
Port forwarding is suggested in the because its easy...it also creates vulnerabilities...use VPN...see the vpn primer thread.
At the very least, dont port forward the camera itself.

 

[rnatalli]

If you have no choice but to use powerline, move up to the TP-LINK AV1200. Get it with passthrough and use a plugin POE injector. When all is said and done, it'll cost almost the same as pulling the ethernet line which is a better way to go.

 

[Legsmaniac]

If you have BI forwarded then why do you also have the camera forwarded?? makes no sense...

It's a matter of personal preference I guess. It's nice to know I have the ability to access my cameras away from home should the BI Server/PC fail for whatever reason, but using IP WebCam/ Tiny Cam etc.
I'm obviously not alone in this way of thinking/working as a great many others do it this way too. (As evidenced in this very forum too)

Have been further playing/investigating. I decided to try installing BI3 on another PC since a few (above and elsewhere) mentioned trying BI3 but I don't recall seeing any results of this experiment.
Sadly, cameras went "offline" on BI3 as well as BI4, yet they were not offline per se since I could still access them.
So then I decided to try a different DVR altogether and opted to download and install Netcam Studio. Have never actually tried this before but .... Wow!! It's actually quite good. Not quite as feature rich as BI but not bad, and the Smartphone app is free too! I also noticed that Netcam wasn't as CPU hungry as BI. Hmmm...... When I noticed a camera offline in BI, I checked Netcam Studio and lo and behold, they they were, all online and running perfectly.

So there we have it, as others have mentioned in this thread and elsewhere on this forum regarding the same problems, it's GOT to be a problem/fault with BI and/or the drivers/settings, surely?

 

[fenderman]

It's a matter of personal preference I guess. It's nice to know I have the ability to access my cameras away from home should the BI Server/PC fail for whatever reason, but using IP WebCam/ Tiny Cam etc.
I'm obviously not alone in this way of thinking/working as a great many others do it this way too. (As evidenced in this very forum too)

Have been further playing/investigating. I decided to try installing BI3 on another PC since a few (above and elsewhere) mentioned trying BI3 but I don't recall seeing any results of this experiment.
Sadly, cameras went "offline" on BI3 as well as BI4, yet they were not offline per se since I could still access them.
So then I decided to try a different DVR altogether and opted to download and install Netcam Studio. Have never actually tried this before but .... Wow!! It's actually quite good. Not quite as feature rich as BI but not bad, and the Smartphone app is free too! I also noticed that Netcam wasn't as CPU hungry as BI. Hmmm...... When I noticed a camera offline in BI, I checked Netcam Studio and lo and behold, they they were, all online and running perfectly.

So there we have it, as others have mentioned in this thread and elsewhere on this forum regarding the same problems, it's GOT to be a problem/fault with BI and/or the drivers/settings, surely?

Email support...it may be related to how the camera steams rtsp.. confirm using vlc...
Forwarding the camera is terrible practice and your network is compromised... don't do it...

 

[MNatural]

A possible solution (worked for me at least). 2nd day of BI trial. One HIKVision PTZ camera. No issues on setup. Have one camera not on BI list (Westmile - wireless with two-way audio). Using for front door -- can get 12VDC power to it, but no Cat6 cable. BI camera setup detected it as a Foscam camera and assigned settings. Works, image appears, etc. But after every 25 seconds, BI says, Loss of Signal, error code 8000274(d).

After another 30 seconds, the camera starts up, then the cycle begins again. I went to the camera's Watchdog tab and set the interval down to 10 seconds. The 'cycle' shortened. That way I knew that it was detecting a loss of signal. But with the camera on the first floor and my router on the 2nd floor merely 15 feet away, that drop of signal didn't make sense.

I went into the manufacturer's camera software (IP Camera - HiP2P) and made the following changes that appear to solve the problem:

1. reduced the video coding from H.265 to 'high profile'
2. turned OFF the camera's OSD displays of time and date and name

I figured that the camera was sending this information periodically and BI detected it as a signal drop/loss. BI already has a camera label and date/time stamp, so I don't need another from the camera....just image and audio. So, if you have a camera you have to use in a wireless mode, try reducing the data transmissions down to the essentials to avoid signal issues.

I noticed my CPU usage dropped too. Cross my fingers, but my wi-fi cam is stable on BI. But, as others have noted, hard-wired is best.