Yes, I've actually done that several time during the past few weeks when I was spending more time trying to figure out the solution.
Review-SD4A425DB-HNY 1/2.8" CMOS 4MP 25x Starlight Auto-tracking MiniPTZ
- Thread starter looney2ns
- Start date
Tracking is done on cam by the chips in the cam. Using the PTZ controls in BI or in the GUI sends commands to the cam over your network. I would think that the issue is the network, not the cam or it's firmware.
Normally I'd agree with a chokepoint or issue with LAN speed as a possibility, but I'm using a pretty high powered router (AX6000) and this particular camera is connected directly to the router. I reboot my router automatically weekly and when I test my google fiber speeds from various ports on my managed switch, I'm consistently getting 800 down stream and usually over 900 upstream. When I test speeds from my pc (connected to my switch) I'm consistently getting excellent up/down speeds. I don't see how it could be a LAN issue, but I'm open to further speculation if I'm off on my understanding.
Your internet speed has nothing to do with the LAN side.
Having a camera connected to a router is likely the problem. Best practice is to not run a camera thru a router.
Is there anyway you can remove the router from the equation, even temporarily to see the results of the computer connected to the switch the PTZ is on? And the computer makes a difference as well.
Cameras connected to Wifi routers (whether wifi cam or hard-wired) are problematic for your system because they are always streaming and passing data. And the data demands go up with motion and then you lose signal or a packet is lost. 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 entire 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, especially once you start adding distance. 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 camera connected to a router and it is fairly instantaneous (within the latency of the stream itself)...
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 the more cameras you add, the bigger the potential for issues.
Having a camera connected to a router is likely the problem. Best practice is to not run a camera thru a router.
Is there anyway you can remove the router from the equation, even temporarily to see the results of the computer connected to the switch the PTZ is on? And the computer makes a difference as well.
Cameras connected to Wifi routers (whether wifi cam or hard-wired) are problematic for your system because they are always streaming and passing data. And the data demands go up with motion and then you lose signal or a packet is lost. 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 entire 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, especially once you start adding distance. 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 camera connected to a router and it is fairly instantaneous (within the latency of the stream itself)...
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 the more cameras you add, the bigger the potential for issues.
OK, so moving the camera from my managed switch was a fairly recent troubleshooting approach I did about 4 days ago. Prior to that I had the camera connected to my managed switch with priority set on that port. I thought moving it to my router would be more 'direct' but I understand your explanation (thanks). And yes, I do understand buffering. I will move the camera back to the managed port on my switch but the problem existed there.
I am trying to avoid factory resetting this camera because it took me forever to get the Ai triggering set up where it's very reliable. It's my understanding that if I reset the camera I shouldn't restore a backup with all of my settings/tweaks because maybe that reintroduces the issue.
I have 14 other cameras, most of them PTZ (Dahua, Amcrest (Dahua based), etc.) None of the other PTZ cameras connected to the same switch have this issue. Very responsive on PTZ presets or manual PTZ moves.
If direct to PTZ and still the lag, then there is always a chance the firmware got wonky.
The first approach would be reboot camera and then reflash firmware. See if it fixes it.
Next step would be factory reset, import settings, and see if it fixes it.
Final step would be 3 factory resets, flash firmware, 3 factory resets, and setup from scratch.
The first approach would be reboot camera and then reflash firmware. See if it fixes it.
Next step would be factory reset, import settings, and see if it fixes it.
Final step would be 3 factory resets, flash firmware, 3 factory resets, and setup from scratch.
I was afraid I'd have to FR and set up from scratch but maybe I can do a FR and try restoring first. Just hate setting everything back up, it took me a long time to get it right where AI stuff worked well. bleh 
Can you 'hot wire' the cam with a factory terminated cable from the POE switch directly to the cam? Do you have intermediate hops from the BI PC to the cam? Like going through outlets, patch panels, etc?
Almost always when someone comes here with these kinds of problems, it is connectivity related. If the same issue happens from BI and the cam's GUI, then I would expect it to be connectivity.
Almost always when someone comes here with these kinds of problems, it is connectivity related. If the same issue happens from BI and the cam's GUI, then I would expect it to be connectivity.
I don't understand what you mean in the first part "factory terminated cable". Regarding hops, from the Windows pc, the ethernet goes directly to the managed poe switch, then from the same switch a cat 6e cable to the camera.