H.264+ turns itself off?

[BoyRacer]

Hi there,
Recently purchased a 4mp dome for my Hikvision NVR:
Camera model is DS-2CD2742FWD-IZS
Camera firmware is V5.3.8 build 151224
NVR model is DS-7608NI-E2 / 8P
NVR firmware is V3.4.62 build 160503
Really want to take advantage of the H.264+ encoding and compression to save some bandwidth on the NVR and the associated storage savings, been quite impressed with the impact that H.264+ has.
Settings all work fine in the NVR and when I connect to the caneras internal webpage H.264+ its shows turned ON.
It seems that every 24hours or so the H.264+ seems to turn itself off in the main stream and the substream reverts to a lower resolution. Turn it back on and a day later its turned off again!
Anyone seen this happen or have any idea how to keep the H.264+ turned on?
The other cameras on the NVR are only H.264 compatible and dont seem impacted in any way the issue its only impacting on the '+' camera.
Any help greatly appreciated!
Regards,
Byron

 

[Kieran]

Hi Byron,

I've not seen your issue manifest itself with H.264+ in particular, but I've seen it a number of times with other settings (like your substream resolution) reverting after a period of time.

This is typically caused by an NVR or another device on the network to which the camera is connected, like a Synology / QNAP NAS etc., enforcing its own settings on the camera. In essence, any settings you change on the NVR will supersede the settings you set on the camera, and in due course will be pushed to the camera by the NVR.

I know you mentioned that all the settings work fine on the NVR, but can I just get you to confirm that in the NVRs settings you've configured the camera to stream H.264+, with the appropriate substream resolution you want. These settings can be found in Configuration > Video / Audio > Video when using a web browser.

If the NVR doesn't automatically prompt a reboot of the camera, please manually do so

 

[BoyRacer]

Hi Kieran,
Thanks for the quick reply, I will double check the settings in the NVR via the webpage. I note that when I re-enable H.264+ on the NVR I have been using the NVR interface itself not via a web page access to the configuration, the NVR does prompt on screen that the camera will reboot before the settings take effect. By the time I browse back to the live view page the camera is running again and that seems very fast for a camera reboot, that may be normal? Last night I did log into the camera internal webpage and force a reboot from there (Could also pull the POE cable out of the NVR for that camera I guess!) and again the camera was back on line pretty fast.
There are a number of NAS drives on the same same network as the NVR and a few other devices like a power monitor and temperature monitor and of course items like media players (apple TV) PCs so could be ones of those devices.
Have been using some third party apps like webcam view and easy cctv on an apple TV so maybe possible that they are also adjusting the stream. Seems to take about 24 hours for it to occur, so its hard to track it down what is triggering the H.264+ to off. I also changed the bandwidth mode on that camera from fixed to variable to see if that was maybe causing an issue.
The netdetect is telling me I have 18mps on the receive idle so I dont think I am running out of bandwidth, the h.264+ should free up bandwidth not consume extra.
The camera is not running the latest firmware revision R6 ver 5.4.0 so that also may be worth a try? the NVR is running what I believe to be the latest in ver 3.4.62.
Regards,
Byron.

 

[Kieran]

So usually with NAS drives, they'll adjust the settings on the camera if the camera is connected to a surveillance program on that NAS. Synology have a VMS program called Surveillance Station which runs on their NAS in which you can adjust camera resolution, frame rate etc. These settings made here will be pushed to the camera and can cause conflicts with, say, a Hikvision NVR also connected to the camera.

If your NAS drives are just sitting on the same network and not really interacting with the camera, you can rule them out.

I'd hazard a guess that the reset is being caused by some of the third party apps you've connected the camera to. For a test, try removing the camera from these apps for a couple of days and see whether the settings revert.

The release notes for v5.4.0 don't make any mention of the issue you're experiencing, but it is always an option to try. You're on the latest version for your NVR already. Keep in mind - it is Hikvision's recommendation that you factory default your device after updating the firmware, and in light of your issue already that might be a very good idea should you update it.

 

[BoyRacer]

Thanks Kieran,
Think I may have found it, I was running 640x360 resolution on the substream and had the bitrate below the reccomended range of (1570-2617)kbps I have increased the bit rate as i have some spare bandwidth and the substream is now staying on 640x360 and the main stream has stayed with H.264+ enabled for over a day now. I am wondering if the stream was struggling with the bandwidth limitation and it somehow reverts to 352x288(CIF) and part of that process disables the H.264+ in the main stream?
I had increased the resolution on the substream as the live view on the NVR with a connected HDMI was horrible at 353x288, must have forgot to increase the bitrate fir the higher resolution.
Bit of a stretch that this was the cause, its the only thing i have changed so far as I wanted to make one change at a time wait a day and see what impact it had on the issue.
The NAS drives are on the same network as the NVR, however they are not being used for strorage or function of the NVR.
Of another note and way from topic, easy cctv on the apple TV can only view the H.264+ main stream from the camera when the main stream bitrate is set below 8192kbps, i would like to give this 4mp camera a little more bandwidth as i have some to spare however if I increase the main stream bandwidth easy cctv cannot display the stream, possible another thread this discussion. Would not of thought the higher bitrate would improved the streaming, seems the 3rd party easy cctv app struggles with it.
Be great if Hikvision would create an Apple TV app optimised for h.264/+ and even h.265 streams, live view and remote playback. The have most platforms covered.
Regards,
Byron.

 

[Kieran]

What an unusual fix, definitely would not have expected that to be the case but I'm glad you cracked it. Is it still stable?

8192kbps should be more than enough for a 4MP camera running H.264+, so you shouldn't have to worry too much about increasing over this.