Stuttering / pauzes in video stream with all Hikvision cams

[Dutchie30]

Hello community!

I'm new to the whole IP cam hobby but it's starting to get addictive! I'm having an issue with one particular thing, which is puzzling me. I'm hoping you guys have a clue.

I've purchased a total of 4 Hikvision cams: DS-2CD2732F-IS, DS-2CD2532F-IWS, DS-2CD2332-I and DS-2CD2132-I. All 4 ip cams show pauzes right at the I Frame interval mark:

2cd2732f-is-20.avi: 3MP / 20FPS / 20 I Frame interval, pauzing every second
2cd2732f-is-40.avi: 3MP / 20FPS / 40 I Frame interval, pauzing every 2 seconds


The files are available at:

https://mega.co.nz/#F!3hhxUKYI!Bn_LGtJKobxOZi9BpRLWGQ

The shots are made with the 2732, but note that this happens with all 4 cams, and it also happens with just one cam recording and the other 3 turned completely off (powered down).


Here's what I've tested with so far software-wise, and what the results are:


Qnap Surveillance Station 5.0.2: Video shows pauzes / stuttering
Hikvision VMS-4200: Video shows pauzes / stuttering
BlueIris: No problem, video shows without pauzes
Opening RTSP stream in VLC for Windows (rtsp:/<ip>:<port>/Streaming/Channels/101): Video shows without pauzes

Furthermore, here's a quick rundown of the configuration:

Video Type: Video stream
Resolution: 2048*1536
Bitrate Type: Constant (tested with Dynamic, same result)
Frame Rate: 20
Max. Bitrate: 8192 Kbps
I Frame Interval: 20
SVC: Off
Smoothing: 50


Image Adjustment: 55/55/55/50/55
Exposure Iris: Manual, Time: 1/25, Gain: 100
WDR: Off
White Balance: AWB1
DNR: Off


I'm a bit puzzled by this issue as I can't seem to find a reason for it. No CPU overload on both my NAS or my desktop, no network transport issues, nothing.

Any ideas?

 

[networkcameracritic]

It's not a pause, but re-sync of the video which is what an iframe does, most noticeably at where noise seems to pause. Don't see the same issue in other brands, so it's a trait of Hikvision. There's no setting that fixes that. If you can train your eye to blink in time with the iframe, you would be set

 

[Dutchie30]

First off, thank you VERY much for your informative website. It was the main reason for my choice of Hikvision and I've spent hours reading through your site for tips and trics.

Which brings me to the next question, how are you recording your videos? I'm looking at some of the demo videos you've posted and see no pauses / re-syncs there, f.e.:

 

[JDWX]

Not to hijack, but it is the same type of issue.

My Hikvision DS-2CD752MF consitantly has a about a 2 second pause every ten seconds... You have video, it pauses, you see its time stop, then it jump ahead about 2 second or so. Is this maybe something I've done in the settings?

 

[networkcameracritic]

I record with Milestone XProtect and export to an MKV file which uploads to YouTube, so there's some video quality loss, but overall representative of what you get. I do this a lot with customers that want me to search their Milestone for events that happens, so it's been reliable and problem free.

 

[craigspc]

Qnap Surveillance Station 5.0.2: Video shows pauzes / stuttering
Hikvision VMS-4200: Video shows pauzes / stuttering
BlueIris: No problem, video shows without pauzes
Opening RTSP stream in VLC for Windows (rtsp://<ip>:<port>/Streaming/Channels/101): Video shows without pauzes

This might sound odd, but when you tested Hikvision's IVMS-4200 software - was QNAP Surveillance Station still running and connected to the cameras? If so, can you confirm whether the problem continues in IVMS when you disconnect the NAS from the network?


Craig.

 

[catseyenu]

I record with Milestone XProtect and export to an MKV file which uploads to YouTube, so there's some video quality loss, but overall representative of what you get. I do this a lot with customers that want me to search their Milestone for events that happens, so it's been reliable and problem free.

Why is the pause not visible in your video?

 

[Dutchie30]

This might sound odd, but when you tested Hikvision's IVMS-4200 software - was QNAP Surveillance Station still running and connected to the cameras? If so, can you confirm whether the problem continues in IVMS when you disconnect the NAS from the network?

Good one. I'll try and test that later this week. For the time being, I'm trying to figure out if this is not related to something else, because at the moment I'm getting mixed results when it comes to pause/no pause in the recordings.

 

[craigspc]

Good one. I'll try and test that later this week. For the time being, I'm trying to figure out if this is not related to something else, because at the moment I'm getting mixed results when it comes to pause/no pause in the recordings.

Please let me know how you get on. I had exactly the same problems with four Hikvision cameras, whereby even the live stream viewed directly from the camera had a stutter. Despite having a reasonable (not perfect - but reasonable) understanding of iFrame settings, shutter speeds, exposure lengths and framerates etc. - nothing I could do seemed to fix the problem.

In my case the clue came when I rebooted my NAS while watching the live stream directly on one of my cameras. The stutter stopped until the NAS booted up and reconnected to the camera. I could recreate the problem by disconnecting and reconnecting the NAS from my network, so I finally had a place to start looking.

In the end, it turned out to be the fact that I had configured the cameras as generic ONVIF devices in Surveillance station (Synology by the way - not QNAP). As soon as I switched from ONVIF to native camera mode, everything was perfectly smooth at all times and in every application

I hope you get it worked out.

Good luck,
Craig.

PS. My cameras are Hikvision 2032's running in 3MP mode @20fps. I had to edit a config file to achieve 20fps natively on my Synology device - that's the reason why I had initially set them up as generic ONVIF cameras.

 

[networkcameracritic]

My first guess is that it's caused by a network issue and they are sometimes difficult to troubleshoot. I had dropped frames or what you call pauses in the video caused by using a cheap switch limited to 100Mbps. Going to a gigabit switch helped. Also, try updating the Milestone software and device pack as there may be a bug in your version.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I also had some video stuttering when using Live View on a DS-2CD2032-I at 1080p and above and also on Live View and Playback on a DS7816N-E2/8P NVR at 1080p. A little better on Chrome than IE11, but still not perfect. Recorded files played back fine on the same PC - with Windows Media Player, or VLC.
PC and NVR are on gigabit connections.
Updating the Webcomponents browser plugin to 3.05.21 11Jul14 didn't change anything.
But when using a different PC with a faster CPU, everything was just fine. Despite the same good-spec video card (Windows Performance Index for graphics subsystem of 6.8) on both PCs.

 

[bp2008]

The CPU is often the limiting factor for video decoding. Though even a system with a weak CPU can play 1080p video smoothly if it has hardware acceleration and the player supports it.

 

[Chust]

Just curious. What is your exposure time setting. When I run mine at anything but 1/30 I get stuttering as well. Even noticeable in time stamp. If you try this make sure you reboot the camera after setting the exposure time.
(7 Hikvision DS-2CD2032-l)

 

[networkcameracritic]

Mine are set to 3MP, so 20fps except for one with older firmware that's 15fps.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Chust - I tested Live View 1080p access on DS-2CD2032-I with different exposure settings, using my faster PC that has shown no stuttering.
The default exposure time was 1/25 (50Hz).
I tried settings between 1/3 and 1/100,000 and no stuttering occurred on any of them, just a fair bit of noise below 1/10,000 as you'd expect with such a short exposure.
In my case, for stuttering on Live View access to both cameras and NVR, it's clear the cause was the slower CPU on my older PC, despite a good standard graphics card.
I think it's fair to say that the Webcomponents ActiveX plugin that is used as the embedded player in the browser is not yet as CPU-efficient as others such as Windows Media Player, VLC, DivX, even QuickTime (!).

 

[Chust]

Yah, I been watching the live view on mine and I have decided its only the time stamp doing it. At least in my case.

 

[networkcameracritic]

It's not that it's inefficient, it's that decoding an h.264 stream is a cpu intensive operation. People blame the software but have yet to see any software that can display multiple 1080P 30fps streams and not use a lot of CPU. What I do for live viewing is use the sub stream but record the main stream.

 

[Dutchie30]

Please let me know how you get on. I had exactly the same problems with four Hikvision cameras, whereby even the live stream viewed directly from the camera had a stutter. Despite having a reasonable (not perfect - but reasonable) understanding of iFrame settings, shutter speeds, exposure lengths and framerates etc. - nothing I could do seemed to fix the problem.


In my case the clue came when I rebooted my NAS while watching the live stream directly on one of my cameras. The stutter stopped until the NAS booted up and reconnected to the camera. I could recreate the problem by disconnecting and reconnecting the NAS from my network, so I finally had a place to start looking.


In the end, it turned out to be the fact that I had configured the cameras as generic ONVIF devices in Surveillance station (Synology by the way - not QNAP). As soon as I switched from ONVIF to native camera mode, everything was perfectly smooth at all times and in every application

As for configuration of my QNAP, when the stuttering was there (more on that later) I tried ONVIF, Hikvision native and general RTSP config, all 3 gave me stuttering images.


Now for the fun part, over the past few days I've moved and dis/reconnected my camera's and lo and behold, the stuttering is gone. I have yet to figure out what caused the stuttering and will continue to monitor to see if it pops up again.

My first guess is that it's caused by a network issue and they are sometimes difficult to troubleshoot. I had dropped frames or what you call pauses in the video caused by using a cheap switch limited to 100Mbps. Going to a gigabit switch helped. Also, try updating the Milestone software and device pack as there may be a bug in your version.

I'm running an all-gigabit network, no limitations there. I'm also not using the Milestone software for now, but QNAP's Surveillance Station, which is at ~10% CPU when recording all 4 cams.

Just curious. What is your exposure time setting. When I run mine at anything but 1/30 I get stuttering as well. Even noticeable in time stamp. If you try this make sure you reboot the camera after setting the exposure time.
(7 Hikvision DS-2CD2032-l)

I had the stuttering at both 1/12 and 1/25 (50Hz). I've now reconfigured the cameras for 60Hz, giving me 1/30 exposure time. As said above the video feed is fine now, let's see if it stays that way.

 

[Antitrust]

I had the issue chronically when using PCNVR. Changed to client and the issue persisted. Changed the stream to UDP and other minor changes and stream came right. I've since tried PCNVR again with default cams and software and had the issue again. I'm not certain but it seems like the config is not applied correctly and contradicts itself between PC + cam.

 

[cenktezcan]

i have this problem with hikvision nvr 7732.in live view it pauses every 2 second with iframe 50 set.but not in ivms4200.in ivms4200 everything is smooth.record files of NVR are smooth too.only viewing is problemic.cameras are 2132f-is set to 1080p 25 fps 6mb.i solved the problem with setting each camera smoothing to 80.