Looking for a Nvr

[mlapaglia]

I installed .91 on my NVR a few days ago. The crashing has stopped (so far, 2 days), but I've started having more issues in IVMS with switching between the small and large view (sub-stream to main stream) The picture hangs for 10-15 seconds before moving again. Previously it would only happen occasionally. I suppose it will have to be good enough.

EDIT: Turning on hardware decoding in IVMS has helped the issue about 75% of the time. With it on most of the streams switch within a second. A few of them still hang when switching. Is this an issue with the receiver not having enough power to switch encoding fast enough?

 

[Jason J.]

The cameras are only hooked up to the NVR, the camera streams aren't going anywhere else. I am glad I'm not the only person experiencing this issue, I thought I was going crazy =)

alistairstevenson: I am on the 3.4.3 USA firmware, and I have the DS-7608NI-E2 model. I'll consider maybe putting this European firmware on there.

mlapaglia: so it started for you more or less AFTER you upgraded to this new firmware? That's disappointing...

I'm curious about this new firmware. I have the American model so I'm a little hesitant to just throw it on a client's NVR, but I'm not sure what else to do. The hanging on switching from multi-view to single view is unacceptable for my client, and at this point I think he just wants to get rid of this thing, and get something that works. It's too bad because everything else is great, it's just the live view hanging issue is a deal breaker and I have spent probably over 40 hours trying to figure this out...

 

[mlapaglia]

Quick ? Jason, are any of the cables connecting the camera to the NVR self-made? I'm talking about network crimped ends like: https://guideimg.alibaba.com/images/shop/2016/07/27/43/foxnovo-100pcs-rj45-cat5e-cat5-network-cable-lan-crimp-connectors-ends-plugs-set_22203343.jpeg

I found that the majority of the cables I made to connect from the patch panel to the NVR to not be fully reliable, even after making them several times and triple checking each wire was fully seated in the connector. Maybe try switching them out with manufactured cables to connect from the patch panel to the NVR.

 

[alastairstevenson]

DS-7608NI-E2 model.

Judging from the many posts about problems with this specific 7608NI-I2 model there seems to be some weakness in the design.

Be aware - that's not the same model as most of this thread is about.

 

[Jason J.]

Yes all the CAT5 cables are terminated by me, I have been terminating CAT cables for years, and I also verified them with a cable tester, they should be good. I never get dropped video from the cameras. Buying premade cables is not entirely possible because these are pre-installed cabling in a home.

 

[mlapaglia]

K just a thought . Terminating into a jack is a lot easier than into a connector, then use premade to connect from the jack to the camera.

Even if a basic cable tester says it's good, there could be performance issues. But I am also a noob at terminating them also apparently. You sound more seasoned lol.

 

[Jason J.]

My background is I.T. and networking, I have terminated probably thousands of CAT and Coax cables. I have worked surveillance for years but that was mostly analog coax installs. You are correct however, this was a basic cable tester and not a $1,000 dollar cable certifier which would definitely tell you even the smallest things wrong with the cable, and there could of course be unforseen issues such as kinks in the cable or a little near end cross talk or those kinds of things. I can't terminate to jacks because these are in-wall exterior cameras mostly installed on exterior walls with plywood behind and there simply isn't room for jacks. In some cases there was barely room for the camera cords.

Al-in-all this has been extremely frustrating trying to get this figured out, and the client wants to move on to another NVR and/or brand, but doesn't really want to pay a lot of money for them, so I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

[mlapaglia]

Ya I had that NVR and had the same problems. if you turn the quality down it subsides, but I had to upgrade to get the performance I wanted :-(

 

[Jason J.]

Upgrade to what?

 

[mlapaglia]

I'm currently trying the http://www.nellyssecurity.com/recorders/nvrs/4k-nvr/nsn-7164k-16p-16-channel-poe-plug-n-play-hi-def-nvr-recorder.html

same model as Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd. just a different chassis.

 

[Karey Watson]

Have you noticed if your issue is only w/ outside cameras? Have you tried swapping the cameras to night mode and seeing if the problem continues? It doesn't really help alot in figuring this out but I am having the same issue but it is ONLY my camera outside on the front porch. The camera inside the main entry, no issues. I also found the camera will work fine with the main stream when I flip the camera to night mode during the day, regardless of how high I set the bitrate.

Right now 10 FPS - 10 iFrame - Highest Quality - VBR - 4800kpbs is the best I could do to get it to display every time I pull it up. If I go much over 5000kpbs, problems. I haven't tried dropping quality yet, honestly don't want to. May have to...

Do please post if you find a solution, Jason.My NVR is a OEM version but it's Hikvision. 100%. I plan to call the dealer I bought it from tomorrow and if I find any information, I'll post back.

 

[mlapaglia]

The issue with it being outside might be "more" things are happening on camera.

If bitrate is set to variable, that means if nothing is happening for the camera to see, the bitrate is going to be lower than if lots of people are moving in front of the camera, tree branches are swaying etc, which would bump the bitrate up. Switching to night mode would lower the bitrate because there is less color.

 

[Karey Watson]

Agreed. This camera is on a porch that cannot see the street, though. Little to no movement. Went all night last w/ only 2 motion triggered events which were bugs or something flying in front of the lens.

 

[Jason J.]

All these cameras are outdoor cams. Unfortunately it happens day or night at random times, motion or no motion, no particular camera although one of them is much worse than the others. I have even tried setting all the frame rate, resolution, and bitrates to their lowest settings (which obviously defeats the purpose of 3MP cameras) and that actually seemed to make it worse. It works best when I reset the cameras to default settings. What's weird is that when I do that the substream view seems to be of really low resolution and bitrate, like below what you can manually set it to. It's almost unusable, but when I change any setting (even to the lowest setting), it goes back to at least a usable image.

This is truly the most frustrating system I have ever worked on...

 

[tigerwillow1]

"This is truly the most frustrating system I have ever worked on..."

If it makes you feel any better I'm a computer engineer saying the same thing. The only suggestion I can add to what you've tried is if you're using h264zip+, turn it off. I have all sorts of lost frame problems when using it, usually when there's motion, the exact time I want a good picture. I've wasted so much time trying to get my NVR and the PC client to work correctly that I'm going to try a different one. Will have both Ford and Chevy in the garage, so to speak.

 

[Jason J.]

I wouldn't mind trying to change the codec that the unit is using. I can't find the setting anywhere to change it, or to even find out which codec it's using (but I'm going to assume H.264). Any ideas? Can I change the codec in iVMS, or do I have to do it at the unit?

I am also starting to wonder if it's the cameras, but on the video output of the NVR itself (HDMI), I never have issues. So that's what makes me think it's not the cameras.

I am also kicking around the idea of replacing this unit (DS-7608NI-E2) with the higher end DS-7608NI-I2, or a Speco N8NSP2, or a Northern Video NTH-NVR8POE, or even a small PC with Blue Iris, but I'm having troubles gathering the pros and cons for each for my client.

Thanks again guys.