problems with IPCAMPOWER POE Switch?

dok0619

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Hi guys... hoping for some help.. so I have had my cameras up and running for several months now.(only three, boobie cam-E3541F-AS-M, , dual lens T5449H-ASE-D2 and T5442T-ZE) But this week I seem to be having issues with my cameras live mainstream view being choppy/laggy. Substream appears fine but if I click on a camera and it takes a while for mainstream to activate and when it does the video stops every second or so and doesnt start again for about 6-8 seconds. After looking at other posts on here I've made sure its not antivirus. Right now it seems the only thing that helps is to hard reset my switch. Its the 8 port IPCAMPOWER POE switch from the storefront here on ipcamtalk. Not sure why its just starting to do this now. Any ideas on what the issue could be? It just started a couple of days ago and just did it again this afternoon and after restarting the switch its back to normal once again...Thanks for any help...
 

sebastiantombs

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You need to provide a lot more information. What is the network traffic on that switch and the PC? What is CPU and memory utilization on the PC? What OS are you running, Win11 and Blue Iris may not play well together in all cases? Has the machine and/or cameras had any recent updates? Are you viewing on a BI console or through UI3 perhaps connected via WiFi?

I have two sixteen port IPCamPower switches running and have yet to have any problems at all.
 

dok0619

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You need to provide a lot more information. What is the network traffic on that switch and the PC? What is CPU and memory utilization on the PC? What OS are you running, Win11 and Blue Iris may not play well together in all cases? Has the machine and/or cameras had any recent updates? Are you viewing on a BI console or through UI3 perhaps connected via WiFi?

I have two sixteen port IPCamPower switches running and have yet to have any problems at all.
CPU 6% memory 35% Win10 with I7-6700 16gig ram. No recent updates. viewing cameras through BI console and Dahua interface...lag occurs in both interfaces same way. Computer is connected via wifi but POE switch is connected directly to router and PC. Not sure what has changed to cause issue all of a sudden, but the switch seems to be the only thing I can find that is causing the slow down so far. And restarting it each time has fixed the problem.
 

The Automation Guy

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It sounds more like a wifi issue than anything. That being said, that doesn't explain why it would temporarily fix itself when you reboot the switch. Still, as a test I would try to hardwire your computer to your switch and see if the problem continues. You'll probably have to get a long network cord and just have it laying through the house temporarily, but it will help you determine if the problem is wifi related or not.

You have to keep in mind that CCTV do not buffer their streams at all - unlike online streaming services. With online streaming, they buffer 5-10 seconds (or more) so that temporary network glitches or delays in packet transport don't effect the playback. However CCTVs don't buffer, so even one tiny glitch/delay is going to cause a stutter.
 

sebastiantombs

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How about aa sketch of the network layout/topology? From what you said it sounds like all the cameras go through your router then to BI through the WiFi connection. If that is indeed the case, that is your problem. WiFi can't handle that kind of sustained load.
 

dok0619

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How about aa sketch of the network layout/topology? From what you said it sounds like all the cameras go through your router then to BI through the WiFi connection. If that is indeed the case, that is your problem. WiFi can't handle that kind of sustained load.
that is basically exactly how its set up. Three cams plugged into switch , switch plugged into router and BI pc is on wireless as I dont have anymore open ports on the router.(ATT gateway)
 

wittaj

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that is basically exactly how its set up. Three cams plugged into switch , switch plugged into router and BI pc is on wireless as I dont have anymore open ports on the router.(ATT gateway)
That is your problem!

Cameras connected to Wifi routers (whether wifi or not) are problematic for surveillance cameras because they are always streaming and passing data. And the data demands go up with motion and then you lose signal. A lost packet and it has to resend. It can bring the whole network down if trying to send cameras through a wifi router. At the very least it can slow down your system.

Unlike Netflix and other streaming services that buffer a movie, these cameras do not buffer up part of the video, so drop outs are frequent. You would be amazed how much streaming services buffer - don't believe me, start watching something and unplug your router and watch how much longer you can watch NetFlix before it freezes - mine goes 45 seconds. Now do the same with a wifi camera and it is fairly instantaneous (within the latency of the stream itself)...

The same issue applies even with the hard-wired cameras trying to send all this non-buffer video stream through a router. Most consumer grade wifi routers are not designed to pass the constant video stream data of cameras, and since they do not buffer, you get these issues. The consumer routers are just not designed for this kind of traffic, even a GB speed router.

So even though the problem just now surfaced doesn't mean it wasn't sitting there waiting to happen. Maybe another device on the wifi is using more bandwidth, you have Alexa or some other Amazon product and now someone is sipping bandwidth through Amazon Sidewalk, a neighbor is sipping your wifi, or you have an ISP provided wifi and it is acting as a hotspot for other people on their system, or a neighbor added a wifi device and you are not getting interference. Tons of things can cripple the wifi connection, even wifi add ons you don't control like a neighbor.

My camera bandwidth demands are 350Mbps - that will bring any consumer wifi router to a standstill, even a GB router with a lot of RAM.

You need to either get a VLAN like the Edgerouter or a dual NIC system to keep those cameras from passing thru the router.
 
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dok0619

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Sorry I'm not real network savvy...but the router that the cameras are cabled to is connected via ethernet as well...the only thing not eternity is the computer with BI on it. If I get it hooked up via ethernet instead of wireless should that fix it?
 

wittaj

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That would certainly help.

But if there is anyway to hook all the cameras and BI computer to the same switch and not having the camera data pass thru the router would be preferred. Dual NIC is really easy.

What are the IP address ranges of your devices - are they all on the same IP address range or are the cameras on a separate IP address range?

In other words, if your router is handing out an IP address of 192.168.1.XXX - does every device start with the same 192.168.1 or did you make the cameras something else like 10.0.0.XXX

Did you assign static IPs to the cameras or is the router assigning them?
 

sebastiantombs

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It's not a question of how things are connected. The problem is the limited bandwidth, processing power, of the backplane, internals, of the router. Consumer level router, especially those supplied by ISPs, are not exactly top of the line devices. They're more likely to be bottom of the barrel. I use an Asus router and don't have any camera traffic going through it at all. There is one connection from the router to a "main" switch where everything else is connected on my network. Connect that PC to a PoE switch along with your cameras. The PoE switch can also be connected to your router. That removes the router from being a bottleneck on your network.
 

wittaj

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You should have your cameras and BI computer on its own switch, not router. Do not let the cameras touch the router if at all possible.

Put all cameras and BI computer on one switch and pick an IP address range say 10.0.0.xxx

Then with another NIC or wifi on the BI computer, let that talk to your wifi router.

And if your router is the combo router/modem from the ISP, then yeah those are really problematic and low end. Surprised the issue hasn't popped up before now.
 
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