Remote Viewing (Germany), 2 DVR's, Connection issues 1 DVR

[joshuaad 0]

Hi,

 

I am looking for suggestions on a specific issue which I have not been able to resolve so far.

 

I have German clients in Scottsdale Arizona that own a ranch where we have 2 analog security DVR's from IC Realtime: 1 has 16CH , 2 has 8 CH (I added the second one). When in the US, there are no issues connecting via the iPad app (ICRSS Pro) to both DVR's. But from Germany, the client has been reporting repeated fails from DVR 1 (16 CH) and I am not sure why. I have contacted tech support for IC Realtime and they also had no problems connection from Florida. They told me it had something to do with packet loss and the various hops the signal had to make from her location to AZ.

 

It still seems to me that it should be able to work especially given the fact that the newer 8CH DVR seems to be working fine all the time from what I'm told.

 

Ports have been properly forwarded and we have a static IP here in AZ.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Alan

[Don Stephens 0]

"-repeated fails-"

 

As in, sometimes they're able to connect and sometimes they aren't?

 

Is it a login failure or is it timing out?

 

It will say one or the other and that will help to narrow it down a little more. If it's failing to login, I would tell you that something is going on with the credentials. If it's timing out, then what IC Realtime told you is probably 100% accurate.

 

I've had a long standing relationship with several people at IC Realtime solely because they have always been brutally honest with me no matter what. I don't think they'd be feeding you garbage just to get you off the phone.

[joshuaad 0]

Thanks for your help, Don.

 

I believe the error message is either "failure" or "System failed". It either comes up right away or after a few minutes. It definitely is not a login failure. So I'll say it's a time out issue, but why is it only happening on the 16CH DVR. Would a newer DVR (like the 8CH one, installed in the last year) be likely to work better?

 

I certainly don't want to go through the process and expense only to get the same result.

 

I do trust IC Realtime's tech support but sometimes field experience can come up with solutions that tech support doesn't think of. I'm just trying to do my due diligence for the client.

 

So this is a little bit of a mystery so far.

 

Alan

[Don Stephens 0]

It's possible that it may be the version of firmware on the DVR. It can be related to glitchy firmware, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. It's still worth asking them for the latest version. Do you know which model it is from them?

 

As long as they're only trying to access the one DVR at a time, I don't know how it could be bandwidth related; only if they were really taxing the network.

[joshuaad 0]

Thanks Don.

 

I'll check on the firmware. The DVR is at least 5 years old, maybe more.

 

I'll post my findings if I can figure out a fix.

 

Alan

[ssnapier 0]

Could the ISP in Germany be restricting traffic on that port or perhaps restricting traffic from the USA? I know several European nations and providers have changed their policies since the Snowden stuff was released. I think I might start there and ask the ISP if they have something in place causing the issue.

 

Can the IP address or domain name be pinged? I would try both the IP and the domain. If the IP address works, but the domain doesn't that suggests a DNS issue with the ISP. If they both fail, it could be more aggressive measures taken by the ISP. I would also try a trace route with both IP and domain to see if it shows where the failure is happening.

[joshuaad 0]

Thanks ssnapier.

 

What confuses me, and of course I am not with the client in Germany to double check what she's reporting, is that only one of the DVR's (16 CH, older unit) is displaying the issue.

 

If the ISP was at fault, would it not affect both DVR's?

 

Running a trace route (from my local USA office) to the static IP shows a number of packet losses (using iOS Nice Trace app). I have never done that before two I'm not sure what to do with the results.

 

Alan