Hik-Connect NVR and 3rd party RTSP Issue

[nathanb]

Hi All,

I have a difficult problem I am hoping the the experts here can help with.

I have a DS-7608NI-I2 NVR with 2 x 3rd party (yi) wireless indoor cameras along with existing hik cameras (which all work fine). However, with these two cameras, the nvr looses the stream intermittently so liveview (nvr, on pc and hikconnect) will not work and recording of-course also stops. I am trying to find out why this is happening so I can determine if the fault is at the camera end or with nvr/rtsp connection.

Annoyingly the nvr logs have nothing at the point where the recordings stop. I also tried enabling "stream debugging" under diagnosis tab. Not quite sure if this just means additional logging will be enabled and written to same system log, but so far not seen any entries. If I turn off one of the cameras, then I do receive a disconnect entry.

The only clue I get is from HikConnect app. When I try to view the camera in liveview, I will get "Video playing failed. Error code: (246105)", and "246105".
Any ideas how I can get more information, to see where it is going wrong? How could I best debug this?

 

[David]

@nathanb make sure the Wi-fi connection to your wireless cameras is stable.

 

[nathanb]

Although this is always a possibility, I have one camera positioned about 3 meters from the home router, and the the other is on the second floor (so I could believe this one might have connection drops), but I feel not both.

However, I will test moving the cameras right next to the router and leaving for a period, see what happens.

 

[David]

@nathanb the one at 3m should be ok, the other on the 2nd floor has various floors walls for the Rf signal to go through. Good idea to move the 2nd closer to the router while you troubleshoot. Are their any logs on the router / wireless cameras you can review?

 

[nathanb]

I did a test and moved the camera, already on the same floor, right next to the router and still suffered the same problem overnight. However, I was able to review the NVR logs and could see disconnects to the camera itself. So my current hunch is that the cameras themselves are actually dropping off the network, or dropping the stream. It would be good to test the wifi connectivity and ideally the rtsp stream during the night. Can anyone recommend a tool I could use to monitor rtsp, running from my laptop?

I can't be sure until I test with another camera + the NVR to rule out the NVR. Will post back when I have more tests conducted in case it helps anyone else.

 

[David]

I did a test and moved the camera, already on the same floor, right next to the router and still suffered the same problem overnight. However, I was able to review the NVR logs and could see disconnects to the camera itself. So my current hunch is that the cameras themselves are actually dropping off the network, or dropping the stream. It would be good to test the wifi connectivity and ideally the rtsp stream during the night. Can anyone recommend a tool I could use to monitor rtsp, running from my laptop?

I can't be sure until I test with another camera + the NVR to rule out the NVR. Will post back when I have more tests conducted in case it helps anyone else.

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[David]

I did a test and moved the camera, already on the same floor, right next to the router and still suffered the same problem overnight. However, I was able to review the NVR logs and could see disconnects to the camera itself. So my current hunch is that the cameras themselves are actually dropping off the network, or dropping the stream. It would be good to test the wifi connectivity and ideally the rtsp stream during the night. Can anyone recommend a tool I could use to monitor rtsp, running from my laptop?

I can't be sure until I test with another camera + the NVR to rule out the NVR. Will post back when I have more tests conducted in case it helps anyone else.

Check your router wireless interface logs for errors, also see which wireless protocol the cameras are using.

 

[David]

@nathanb have you tried using ONVIF instead of RTSP?

 

[nathanb]

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Yes, I have been using that to check the rtsp stream, but ofcourse this requires a point-in-time fault to be occurring and for me to be monitoring. I was hoping for something that could log 1) camera being up i.e. simple ping 2) rtsp stream being available/recording so I can see drops

Check your router wireless interface logs for errors, also see which wireless protocol the cameras are using.

I think this is where I will focus on next to narrow down if it is the network connection, the rtsp stream or the nvr

@nathanb have you tried using ONVIF instead of RTSP?

Correct me if I am wrong. ONVIF doesn't provide further audio/video communication other than utilising what the camera supports i.e. ONVIF will assist with adding a compliant camera for discovery and registration, but they will still utilise the same rtsp stream for audio/video to the nvr. I will try re-adding them using ONVIF to see if it makes a difference

 

[David]

Yes, I have been using that to check the rtsp stream, but ofcourse this requires a point-in-time fault to be occurring and for me to be monitoring. I was hoping for something that could log 1) camera being up i.e. simple ping 2) rtsp stream being available/recording so I can see drops

I think this is where I will focus on next to narrow down if it is the network connection, the rtsp stream or the nvr


Correct me if I am wrong. ONVIF doesn't provide further audio/video communication other than utilising what the camera supports i.e. ONVIF will assist with adding a compliant camera for discovery and registration, but they will still utilise the same rtsp stream for audio/video to the nvr. I will try re-adding them using ONVIF to see if it makes a difference

for ONVIF I don’t know, it was something to try.

have you checked your camera and router firmware?

what’s the camera make model number?