Owlcam issue using Dahua 2MP 25x Starlight IR PTZ Network Camera (SD49225T-HN)

[Terri Underhill]

I need help please. For some reason I can't get my camera to show up on my web page Okie BirdCam - Great Horned Owl or in IPcamlive 5e2a39227b723 - IPCamLive.com . I have tried unplugging the cable from the switch, manually rebooting within the smart pss program and manually rebooting within the config tool program. I am at a loss on what else I can do. It has been messing up regularly but rebooting has always fixed it. I haven't been able to get it online for over four hours and have rebooted at least six times. My great horned owl babies are finally poking their heads up for the first time and now my camera isn't working. Can someone please suggest something else to try please. I can't remember what all you need to know. I am not using a dvr and my camera is on my roof, cat 7 cable runs through the attic and into the 5 port switch which is hooked up to my tower. I'll attach a few pics that might help. I'm not savvy with all this so keep it simple. Thanks in advance! Terri

 

[Terri Underhill]

Well two hours later and neither my okiebirdcam or ipcam live will find my camera. I unplugged the cat7 cable for one minute and I can get into smart psp and the config tool and that is it. There has to be something I can do. I've only had this camera one year. This is a real bummer

 

[samplenhold]

I noticed that the cable to your POE switch is a flat pre-made cable. I have heard that those flat cables are thinner gauge wire and not recommended for IP cams. It is possible that you are not getting enough power to your cams.

Try swapping out with a normal CAT5e cable.

 

[master_tinkerer]

Can you power it down (ac source, what ever that is) and watch if it goes through the rotation of startup?

 

[jon2]

Hi Terri good to hear from you again i hope the owlets are doing well. Terri if you can still view the owls using the cameras web browser address in IE or google chrome .. then the camera is ok it's a fault with your ipcam live provider. not the camera. just a thought maybe check your internet provider as not changed your ip address. hope you get it sorted out quickly..

 

[Terri Underhill]

Thank you for getting back with me y'all. I think I have more than one issue. My main issue I believe is my router from Cox. It's a Pamoramic TG1682 Router modem combo. All yesterday I kept unplugging the cat cable to my owlcam and it only got me back into the smart PSS program for a short period. My girlfriend said that none of my camera's were online. Meaning my deer cam, birdcam or owl cam. So she said I needed to reboot my router which fixed the other camera issues. And just in the amount of time it has taken me to type this the IPCAMLIVE is buffering, buffering. Anyway, The IPCAMLIVE says my problem is I need to lower the key frame interval below 2. Can someone tell me the best setting please? I will attach a screen capture of my settings in PSS and what IPCAMLIVE shows as being to high. Thank you so very much for your time! I see light at the end of the tunnel <3 Terri

 

[Terri Underhill]

Here's the settings my girlfriend suggested I try...

Yes! In the area under Main Stream change:

Resolution: 1920*1080(1080P) to 1280*720 (720P)

Bitrate: 1792 to 1024
Change frame rate per second from 13 to 10

Frame Interval from 26 to 20

If you can, ignore how the picture looks -- just let it run and see if it doesn't buffer as much.

 

[Terri Underhill]

I have not changed anything yet and none of my camera's are working AGAIN. I think I definitely have a router problem. I will reboot my router again and change the settings within the smart PSS and see if it helps. But since all my cameras are affected I think my router is causing the issue...we'll see... Thanks for everything. I will let you know. But if you have better suggestions for the settings please chime in. Terri

 

[samplenhold]

Did this use to work? Did you change something?

Most everyone here will tell you to set the I Frame interval (Dahua camera settings) to equal the Frame Rate. So you are set at 13 FPS, make your I Frame rate = 13FPS.

Something else to try is to set your Bit Rate Type to VBR.

 

[Terri Underhill]

I was just getting ready to change my settings...so you want me to only change frame interval and bit rate and nothing else?

 

[samplenhold]

I was just getting ready to change my settings...so you want me to only change frame interval and bit rate and nothing else?

I am not an expert and no nothing about IPCAMLIVE. But I do know that if you change a bunch of settings at the same time, it will be hard to understand how each setting impacted your issue.

If it is a data rate issue with your router/ISP or IPCAMLIVE, then changing the I Frame may help. Setting the Bit Rate Type to VBR may also help.

As your girlfriend suggested, changing the resolution to something lower will also help lower the amount of data being put through your router.

 

[Terri Underhill]

I just did a speed test. Does this tell you anything helpful? I will try changing onky the two things you suggested first and go from there. I will reboot my router after I make your changes. THnank you!!

 

[Terri Underhill]

Here's what I changed. I will save and restart my router for the first time. Thank you!
----
I restarted router, I couldn't get any of my cameras to connect so I will reboot the router for the second time since I changed the settings you suggested. I'm not sure I can count on my setting changes since I'm not able to get any camera to load.

 

[Terri Underhill]

For the moment I have live feed on IPCAMLIVE, and my webpage owlcam. I still have not figured out why my deercam (Panasonic) and bird cam (Foscam) will not load on my web page.
But I am tickled pink to have my owlcam working on IPCAMLIVE so people can watch my baby owls. YAY! Thank you for your help. I hope the owlcam will continue to run. I'll have to read up on it and see what issues people are having. Thanks again! Terri

 

[Terri Underhill]

My owlcam is still running ok. yay!! I would like to mention that for the last few months I have not been able to get to my birdcam or deercam within my network for some reason. So I'm not sure if those cameras are running or not. All I see is a blank page. You might let me know if it is still doing the same thing. www.okiebirdcam.com thank you!

 

[Terri Underhill]

Here's my first view on my new baby owl. I think this is the oldest one. The live feed is here: Okie BirdCam - Great Horned Owl

 

[Terri Underhill]

I am not an expert and no nothing about IPCAMLIVE. But I do know that if you change a bunch of settings at the same time, it will be hard to understand how each setting impacted your issue.

If it is a data rate issue with your router/ISP or IPCAMLIVE, then changing the I Frame may help. Setting the Bit Rate Type to VBR may also help.

As your girlfriend suggested, changing the resolution to something lower will also help lower the amount of data being put through your router.

Thank you for the setting suggestion, I think it helped .My IPCAMLIVE seems to be running without a problem but right now when I try to open the smart PSS or the Config tool, it shows offline. The only way I can get it to show online is to unplug cable from the switch and plug back in. Why is the camera showing as Offline in the two programs? And this all is confusing to me since the time is off by a day. I guess maybe IPCAMLIVE is not in the US so it causes a time difference. I have tried to change the date and time within the camera settings but it won't stick. I'm not a fan of army time either. I am so happy to have the camera running again but sure wish I could figure out why the camera shows as offline in PSS and Config tool. The only way I can really know if my camera is really running is to open the IPCAMLIVE. Is there another app I can use that might not show the camera as off line and I can control the camera?

 

[samplenhold]

Did this ever work correctly for you? If yes, did you change something then the issue started?

The Config tool is not showing the camera as offline. It is not finding any cameras. Make sure that the proper IPV4 address range is entered in the search settings (click the gear at the top). Then hit the double arrow button at the top.

 

[Terri Underhill]

When it can find it, it will pop up. I can't do anything to make it show up unless I unplug and replug into the switch. This has been an issue from day one. I just don't understand why it shows in IPCAMLIVE right now but not in the two apps. So I have no control over the camera when I can't get the camera to show in either app Plus I have to be home to unplug/replug into switch. If I were using this camera as my main surveillance camera it would be trash. And if I have the app open on my PC for a couple hours and come back onto the PC room I can't even do a screen capture cause it says I have to log in again first...but of course I can't log in unless I unplug/replug into the switch first.

 

[samplenhold]

How is this powered? The Dahua SD49225T-HN has a fairly high power consumption of 13-20 watts depending if the IR or heater is on. That is a really nice cam.

Again, try using a real, normal Cat5e cable. Those flat ones have thinner wires and have been problematic with cams. This could be the cause of the intermittent issue.

Another thing I noticed. You have the sub-stream enabled. Are you using it?

Have you tried to log into the camera using a browser?

I have never seen anyone using a subnet = 0 before. Again I am not an expert, but that seems to be a funny number to use for a subnet. From Cisco: "Using subnet zero for addressing was discouraged because of the confusion inherent in having a network and a subnet with indistinguishable addresses. ".