FPS in application lower than value set on camera

[pburgh]

I have a six-camera system with five cameras set to 1080p @ 15 fps and one camera set to 1440p @ 25 fps. The cameras are all Dahua IPC-HFW4431R-Z. Encoding mode on the cameras is H.264H. If I view the camera FPS stats in Blue Iris Admin > Status > Cameras, I see the five 15 fps cameras running at about 5 fps and the one 25 fps camera at about 10 fps. Viewing the camera list in the iPhone app also shows the same, reduced fps. It might be important to note that there are times when the fps values show the full fps set on the cameras. But then a few seconds later they all drop back down to reduced fps.

I'm confused as to why I'm not getting the full fps. In Blue Iris, I have each camera set to 1 fps higher than the camera fps setting.

This is a sufficiently-strong system with i5-8500 with 8 gb of memory. CPU utilization hovers between 5% and 10%.

The router is an Orbi RBR50. One LAN port of the Orbi connects to a 16-port Netgear GS116. One of the FS116NA ports connects to a Netgear GS108PEv3, which provides power to four cameras. One of the non-PoE ports of the GS108PEv3 connects to another GS108PEv3 (about 100' away) which powers the other two cameras.

I'd blame the long connection between switches IF the two cameras on the far switch were behaving differently, but that's not the case. Also, all the fps rates on all six cameras drop and recover together... so I'm having a hard time blaming the cameras (vs. the network or software).

Any ideas on what I can check?

EDIT: Is there a way to check the camera fps without using Blue Iris? If the camera itself were running at the full fps setting, then I'd know it had something to do with the Blue Iris config.

 

[SouthernYankee]

Can the cameras get to the BI machine without going to the router?

THE FS 116NA has a speed of 100mps. Which may be limiting everything on your network.

Connect the BI machine to the GS108REV3 , see if that changes the FPS.

USE static IP address for the BI machine and all the cameras.

You can not set the FPS in BI. Setting the FPS in BI does nothing.

What is the bit rate type in each camera ?
What is the max bit rate in each camera ?
What is the IFRAME value in each camera ?
What is the Quality value ?

 

[pburgh]

Sorry... I made a mistake. The 16 port switch is a GS116 (gigabit).

There is only one LAN connection to the Orbi, and that is the GS116.

I will try connecting the BI machine to the GS108. Cameras and server all have static IPs.

 

[SouthernYankee]

It is not need to connect the BI machine to the GS108 as the GS116 is a gigabyte.

 

[pburgh]

It is not need to connect the BI machine to the GS108 as the GS116 is a gigabyte.

Yeah... I'm stumped. I've also confirmed the link registers as gigabit between the GS116 and the GS108 (and also between both GS108 switches).

 

[pburgh]

What is the bit rate type in each camera ?
What is the max bit rate in each camera ?
What is the IFRAME value in each camera ?
What is the Quality value ?

Bitrate for each camera is 4096, type CBR.
IFRAME for each camera is 30.
I'm not sure where the Quality value is set. Do you mean resolution?

 

[SouthernYankee]

I am blue iris you are recording direct to disk ?
I use bit rate type VBR
bit rate per camera is 6144
Quality is 5
IFRAmE is the same as Framerate

 

[pburgh]

Yes, I always use direct-to-disc.

I'm going to reboot the PoE switches at the end of the day and see if that helps things.

 

[CYANiDE]

Bitrate for each camera is 4096, type CBR.
IFRAME for each camera is 30.
I'm not sure where the Quality value is set. Do you mean resolution?

This is possibly your issue. Take a single 1080p camera and set it to VBR with a cap at something around 8Mbps and see if that helps. It's possible that you are hitting your bandwidth cap so the camera drops frames to stay beneath the 4Mbps mark.

 

[looney2ns]

Hard to follow along.
Make certain that none of your camera traffic has to flow through the router to get to the BI machine.
Some routers can't handle it.

 

[pburgh]

This is possibly your issue. Take a single 1080p camera and set it to VBR with a cap at something around 8Mbps and see if that helps. It's possible that you are hitting your bandwidth cap so the camera drops frames to stay beneath the 4Mbps mark.

I know where to toggle CBR to VBR, but where do you set the "cap" at 8Mbps?

Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[pburgh]

Hard to follow along.
Make certain that none of your camera traffic has to flow through the router to get to the BI machine.
Some routers can't handle it.

All network traffic is at the switch level. The only connection back to the Orbi is the single run that connects it to the 16 port switch.

 

[looney2ns]

I know where to toggle CBR to VBR, but where do you set the "cap" at 8Mbps?

Thank you for the suggestion.

Same area as the CBR settings. Bitrate.

 

[bp2008]

I suggest you try running this app on the Blue Iris machine: bp2008/pingtracer

You can enter multiple addresses, comma separated, and ping all of them 10 times a second and graph the results to get an easy, synchronized view of packet loss.

In ideal conditions the ping times would be 0 across the board with no packet loss (red lines indicate a ping that didn't get a response, a.k.a. packet loss). But you have to remember the cameras themselves are fairly weak and may

The graphs above are from my machine pinging half a dozen of my cameras. I have about a 150 Mbps network load passing through multiple gigabit switches to get back to my BI machine and it runs very nicely.

 

[pburgh]

I suggest you try running this app on the Blue Iris machine: bp2008/pingtracer

That's a cool utility, thank you. I ran it for a few minutes with the same settings and it had very little jitter.



I'll keep testing and see if I can line up ping slowness with the FPS drop.

UPDATE: I noticed the fps drop and the pings were not affected as compared to the graph I posted above.

 

[bp2008]

Well that rules out most network issues. Based on those graphs your network runs better than mine

Some cameras (in some configurations) reduce their frame rate at night due to increasing the exposure time. Any chance that is what is happening?

 

[bp2008]

Try opening the stream in any other video player (VLC media player or Onvif Device Manager come to mind) and see if the frame rate drops along with Blue Iris. Even if you can't find an actual FPS readout, you should be able to tell 5 and 15 FPS apart just by looking closely at noise patterns / compression artifacts that change at every frame.

 

[CCTV SURVEILLANCE]

Why not just run Smart PSS and see if you have the same issue as BI.

I would close out of BI, log directly into each camera and make sure the FPS for Regular, Motion and Alarm all have the same exact settings. (Older models IPC or NVR Encode Settings)
That might be issue it self but if not, check those are all identical, load PSS and see if issue proceeds.
I’ve never seen Dahua IP Cams with these fluctuations unless it’s in the encode settings or software managing the IPC to do so.


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[pburgh]

Why not just run Smart PSS and see if you have the same issue as BI.

I would close out of BI, log directly into each camera and make sure the FPS for Regular, Motion and Alarm all have the same exact settings. (Older models IPC or NVR Encode Settings)
That might be issue it self but if not, check those are all identical, load PSS and see if issue proceeds.
I’ve never seen Dahua IP Cams with these fluctuations unless it’s in the encode settings or software managing the IPC to do so.


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I'll do that today, thanks!

Still no resolution on this issue. I've swapped out the 16 port switch with no change in behavior.

I did notice that the network adapter on the Blue Iris box shows as "unidentified network." I'll try to resolve that today as well.

 

[CCTV SURVEILLANCE]

I'll do that today, thanks!

Here is the link for Smart PSS Windows Version
- Dahua Technology


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