Troubleshooting a Slow Camera
If you are noticing your camera is coming in slowly to ViewCommander and/or responding slowly to PTZ commands here are some tips to troubleshoot.
First look at your “Statistics” found on the right hand side under the “Video” tab of your video configuration panel.
- Bandwidth: Shows your current bandwidth from the internet connection.
- Frames Per Second: The higher the frame count, the faster the video
- Video Size: Also called, resolution, refers to how many pixels wide and tall the video is. A lower resolution image will be more pixelated than a higher resolution image.
MJPEG Video Protocol
If using MJPEG here are some things to look at:
**We recommend testing each suggestion one at a time
- Resolution: Increasing the resolution will increase the level of detail in the image, while at the same time increasing the image data size. If you are on a connection with limited bandwidth this will mean fewer frames per second can be transmitted from the camera. In this case, to increase frame rate, reducing the resolution will increase frame rate at the expense of image detail while lowering the level of detail within the image.
- Max frame rate (fps): changing the fps to “0” will pull in the max frames the camera can get on the bandwidth/resolution it is set at. The camera can only send as many fps as the internet connection allows. So, increasing the fps will not necessarily mean you will get that frame rate.
H.264 Video Protocol
If using H.264 here are some things to look at:
**We recommend testing each suggestion one at a time
- Bit Rate: Adjust the bit rate to be equal to or under what the camera’s network connection can handle. In some cases, you may need to log directly into the camera’s interface if you do not see the option in ViewCommander. **After adjusting the bit rate please note the camera will adjust the quality of the image to match the bit rate along with the resolution and the frame rate set in steps 2 and 3.
- Resolution: Increasing the resolution will increase the level of detail in the image, while at the same time increasing the image data size. If you are on a connection with limited bandwidth this will mean fewer frames per second can be transmitted from the camera. In this case, to increase frame rate, reducing the resolution will increase frame rate at the expense of image detail while lowering the level of detail within the image.
- Max frame rate (fps): changing the fps to “0” will pull in the max frames the camera can get on the bandwidth/resolution it is set at. The camera can only send as many fps as the internet connection allows. So, increasing the fps will not necessarily mean you will get that frame rate.
Conclusion
If none of these suggestions work, try logging into your camera directly and seeing if the connection is slow there as well.