DS-2CD2632F-IS jittery video

[Tolting Colt Acres]

DS-2CD2632F-IS V5.3.0 build 150513


illustrates typical video (note the timestamp)

having a lot of issues with this camera saving decent quality video on motion detection. Purchased camera to monitor licenses of vehicles travelling down road after a series of break-ins in the neighborhood (including my next-door neighbor).


Problem is the video is "jittery", almost as if the network connection is dropping in and out (it isn't -- I have other cameras on this same POE switch and they operate fine with no video distortion.) Symptom is the camera will "lose time"... e.g. it will simply jump over seconds at a time. In some cases, it will "miss" entire vehicles, or freeze the moment they come into range and the video will not 'pick up' again until they have driven past.


As a precaution I replaced the cat-6 line to the camera but it made no difference, so it appears to be a camera issue.

I am recording at 2048x1536, variable bitrate, highest quality, 15fps, which is typical of my other cameras (I have 13 other 2042's in turnouts and paddocks which record 2688x1520 variable highest 15fps without these symptoms -- this is the only 2632 I have -- but the 2042s probably aren't dealing with items moving as fast as vehicles, either.)


Any thoughts on how to correct? I've already dropped the frame rate down to 15 from 20, with no improvement. I would like to avoid losing picture quality since usually at 15fps I can only get 1 or 2 frames where the license plate is clearly visible.


Should I just swap to a different camera for this? I need a bullet camera with "zoom" feature since this camera is a bit off the road where it is set up.

 

[Kroegtijgertje]

Try constant bitrate

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

this is with 2048x1536 res, constant bitrate, highest quality, 15fps, 12288 max bitrate, iframe interval 15.

not much improvement.

 

[Kroegtijgertje]

Try lowering the 12288 max bitrate.

I don't know how many cams you have connected at once. Could it be a bandwidth problem, too many cams on a too high bitrate at once?

 

[Del Boy]

Log into Camera and do this, not from NVR, not from iVMS

Change to Variable Bit Rate
Change to 20fps
Change i-frame to 20
Change Max Bitrate to 6144
Change to Medium Quality

Then test and post again please.

How is camera connected? What is this recording to? NVR/iVMS?

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

Camera is connected via dedicated cat-6 run in conduit, a home-run directly to my gigE POE switch. I'm well within the 100 meter maximum distance restriction. This particular camera may be 50 meters, maximum.

I am recording using the camera's NetHDD feature to a 18TB CentOS 7 server (4x6TB ST6000NM0024's RAID-5 via mdadm) running on a Dell Precision T7610 w/ dual 8-core E5-2687W's, 64GB of RAM and dual Ethernet ports (half of my cameras are streaming to one IP address, the other half to the other, for rudimentary load-balancing).

Each camera has a 1TB xfs file system carved out for it to record to.

I have a dozen 2042's also recording which do not exhibit this problem.

I have replaced the cable, swapped ports on the switch, etc. I'm fairly confident I do not have a underlying network issue (given all my other, higher capacity cameras work fine), but, of course, short of getting a line tester or using a managed switch to monitor port metrics, I can't rule it out 100%.

Your suggestions made a modest improvement, but didn't eliminate the problem entirely:


If you don't mind me asking, what am I sacrificing by dropping the "maximum bitrate" and "quality"?

 

[Del Boy]

It's most probably a bandwidth issue although I can't see that video (it's private) but I'll assume it's better but not great. There is a new firmware which fixes FTP issue. It's probably possible to fix it without replacing cable etc for your needs.

You're pretty much sacrificing nothing by dropping the quality. Highest quality doesn't mean that it means it will use the max bitrate more, which you can easily do by setting a constant bit-rate.

Drop resolution to 1920x1080 (you don't need 3MP for this application) and bitrate to 4096kbps. It's more important to have 20fps for license plate recognition than a taller field of view.

Do you have the same issues with the substream? Can you post those settings too?

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

Should be visible now, hadn't finished uploading when I replied to your message.

I haven't done anything (monitoring, recording, etc.) with the sub-stream, the resolution options seemed to be too slow to be of any use. It is configured at 352x288 variable medium 15 256 MJPEG 15

This particular camera is a brown-box, grey-market acquisition -- the 2042's I have installed elsewhere didn't give me the zoom capability I needed based on this camera's install location, so I thought I would try a varifocal. I opted grey market to reduce the cost since this was more or less a "test" purchase. Overall I'm not displeased with the camera itself, but artifacting and jitter on this camera has been disappointing. So, firmware upgrades are more or less out of the question.

 

[Del Boy]

OK, that is much better. Can you try latest settings?

1920x1080
4096kbps
Also change iframe to 20

As long as substream is low bitrate that's fine, we don't want it eating the bandwidth. Don't touch the firmware.

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

Your last suggestion has improved things significantly (thusfar ) I will monitor more tomorrow and see how much artifacting and jitter I get. I did see a little today, but was somewhat busy with other projects so didn't have time to capture the video time to upload.

I would say that it is somewhat disappointing not to be able to get the additional resolution out of the camera -- I could have saved a bit and only gone w/ a 2MP rather than a 3 had I known there would be an issue.

I am curious though why I would have a bandwidth issue, the camera is on its own dedicated gigE line, streaming at full resolution shouldn't come anywhere near the maximum bandwidth (even on a 100Mb circuit).... unless I'm hitting an internal limit on the switch itself and its ability to move traffic.

 

[domelsnake]

Hello there,

I don't think this would be a bandwidth related issue - as you have said cat6 connected to a gigabit switch is more that you need - check bandwidth calculator, but it could be your HDD which is struggling.

I had very similar issue when recording to my Synology. Since I bought dedicated NVR with 2x 6TB WD purple HDDs the issue has dissapeared and I have 5x 4MP HikVision cameras recording simultaneously with the highest resolution.

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

OK, that is much better. Can you try latest settings?

1920x1080
4096kbps
Also change iframe to 20

As long as substream is low bitrate that's fine, we don't want it eating the bandwidth. Don't touch the firmware.

So far, relatively, all good with these settings. I will continue to monitor with these new settings, but so far, it seems as if these are going to work okay.

Hello there,

I don't think this would be a bandwidth related issue - as you have said cat6 connected to a gigabit switch is more that you need - check bandwidth calculator, but it could be your HDD which is struggling.

I had very similar issue when recording to my Synology. Since I bought dedicated NVR with 2x 6TB WD purple HDDs the issue has dissapeared and I have 5x 4MP HikVision cameras recording simultaneously with the highest resolution.

The bandwidth calculator shows, for 2048x1536 live view and main stream @ 20fps, and VGA substream @ 20fps, only 16.5Mbps bandwidth required, which is, heck, even way less than a 100Mb connection. I use Seagate Enterprise "ES3" drives (6GBsec interface/128MB Cache) with software raid on a CentOS Linux box for my NAS... so the bottleneck may be there (I am not familiar with the WD "Purple" series, so unless I downloaded a spec sheet to compare both my drives with yours, I can't really say how my drives compare to that line), but, as I said previously, I do not see these symptoms on my 2042's, which are similarly set up to stream at maximum resolution and a high frame rate. Of course, they are also not recording as much, in terms of movement (I use all motion detection recording), since they are just in turnouts and paddocks.

 

[Del Boy]

Hello there,

I don't think this would be a bandwidth related issue - as you have said cat6 connected to a gigabit switch is more that you need - check bandwidth calculator, but it could be your HDD which is struggling.

I had very similar issue when recording to my Synology. Since I bought dedicated NVR with 2x 6TB WD purple HDDs the issue has dissapeared and I have 5x 4MP HikVision cameras recording simultaneously with the highest resolution.

Yes I guess that is a different bandwidth issue. It's 99% a bandwidth issue though, just because you have Cat6 cable and Gigabit switch doesn't mean you're getting 1000Mbps. I have a dodgy cable here which gives similar results for cameras and that claims it's connecting at 1000Mbps!

 

[Del Boy]

So far, relatively, all good with these settings. I will continue to monitor with these new settings, but so far, it seems as if these are going to work okay.
The bandwidth calculator shows, for 2048x1536 live view and main stream @ 20fps, and VGA substream @ 20fps, only 16.5Mbps bandwidth required, which is, heck, even way less than a 100Mb connection. I use Seagate Enterprise "ES3" drives (6GBsec interface/128MB Cache) with software raid on a CentOS Linux box for my NAS... so the bottleneck may be there (I am not familiar with the WD "Purple" series, so unless I downloaded a spec sheet to compare both my drives with yours, I can't really say how my drives compare to that line), but, as I said previously, I do not see these symptoms on my 2042's, which are similarly set up to stream at maximum resolution and a high frame rate. Of course, they are also not recording as much, in terms of movement (I use all motion detection recording), since they are just in turnouts and paddocks.

What are the settings for your 2042s? I am guessing they will be way too overkill. Dialing them in a little without losing quality might help. Worth a try and at the very least will save you HDD space and mean you have more footage stored.

 

[domelsnake]

Hi DelBoy,

What I'm trying to say here I had exactly the same issue with my cameras.

I have changed cable 3x, replaced my switch, run multiple speed tests (all indicating there is nothing wrong with my cable) and still no luck - it was the HDD in my case but it could be different issue here.

Just wanted to share my experience with you guys.

 

[Del Boy]

Hi DelBoy,

What I'm trying to say here I had exactly the same issue with my cameras.

I have changed cable 3x, replaced my switch, run multiple speed tests (all indicating there is nothing wrong with my cable) and still no luck - it was the HDD in my case but it could be different issue here.

Just wanted to share my experience with you guys.

I think your experience is spot on and great advice! It could well be the HDD!

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

What are the settings for your 2042s? I am guessing they will be way too overkill. Dialing them in a little without losing quality might help. Worth a try and at the very least will save you HDD space and mean you have more footage stored.

2688x1520, variable bitrate, highest quality, 20fps, 16384 max bitrate, iframe 20, main stream
352x288, variable, highest, 20, 256, 20 substream

smoothing is at the default 50. svc "off" and H.264+ off as well.

 

[Del Boy]

Lower bitrate to 12000 and quality to Higher, change iframe to 40. You probably will get a better image with these settings too!

H.264+ turn on if you mainly have static images and have a way to playback easily. If not, then don't!

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

12000

12000 or 12288? There is a 12288 in the drop-down.

 

[Del Boy]

12288 will do. Just trying to lower it 4Mbps.

See how that goes.