costco swann 8ch 1080p nvr live view problem

[thekuai 0]

When I try to live view more than 4 channels they are not displayed in 1080p (more like 480p) and they are at reduced framerate. If I do the 1 + 5 configuration only the big channel will be in HD and full frame rate and the smaller channel views will be 480p at reduced framerates

 

On playback all channels are at full resolution and framerate

I have the cameras in 3mp made and 15fps

Please help!

[khx73 0]

Each camera is always producing two streams of video: main and sub. Main is your high resolution stream (1080p in your case), and the sub is the low res one (320x240 to 704x480 depending what you set it up as). The sub stream is used normally where you don't need the full high res stream, or where it wouldn't be appropriate..like trying to jam the 1080p main stream down a slow pipe like to a cell phone. Or displaying multiple small windows on a single screen.

There isn't much point in cramming more than 4 1080p streams on a single 1080p display, most of the data is getting thrown away anyway just trying to fit them all on there.. so why not downgrade the live streams to the sub-stream and save the bandwidth and horsepower on the display hardware.

 

So at least go into your camera settings and set each camera's SUB stream up to say 704x480, with a higher FPS and bit rate. At least your sub stream views will then be better than a crappy 320x240 , low bitrate.

 

***That is ALL just for live-viewing though... The recorded streams are ALWAYS the main stream (1080p). So when you go to playback, you always see the full high res stream, since that's all that is recorded.

[buellwinkle 0]

If you upgrade to more current firmware, you'll be able to make the change to the camera settings from the NVR and save you the trouble of doing them separately. I set mine up to have the max sub stream which is 704x480. It actually looks pretty good when view 4 or 8 cameras at a time. To me it's more important to have 1080P or 3MP recordings so I can get the level of detail needed for evidence. I believe that NVR can do two 1080P streams at the same time for simultaneous playback. To me it's impressive that they can pull that off with an ARM processor, same like what's in a cell phone. Raspberry Pi or in a camera itself.

[thekuai 0]

Each camera is always producing two streams of video: main and sub. Main is your high resolution stream (1080p in your case), and the sub is the low res one (320x240 to 704x480 depending what you set it up as). The sub stream is used normally where you don't need the full high res stream, or where it wouldn't be appropriate..like trying to jam the 1080p main stream down a slow pipe like to a cell phone. Or displaying multiple small windows on a single screen.

There isn't much point in cramming more than 4 1080p streams on a single 1080p display, most of the data is getting thrown away anyway just trying to fit them all on there.. so why not downgrade the live streams to the sub-stream and save the bandwidth and horsepower on the display hardware.

 

So at least go into your camera settings and set each camera's SUB stream up to say 704x480, with a higher FPS and bit rate. At least your sub stream views will then be better than a crappy 320x240 , low bitrate.

 

***That is ALL just for live-viewing though... The recorded streams are ALWAYS the main stream (1080p). So when you go to playback, you always see the full high res stream, since that's all that is recorded.

 

 

I guess I have been spoiled then lol. My old setup consisted of axis 3MP vandal domes on a geovision nvr which allowed me to both view and record at 1080p full framerate

[thekuai 0]

If you upgrade to more current firmware, you'll be able to make the change to the camera settings from the NVR and save you the trouble of doing them separately. I set mine up to have the max sub stream which is 704x480. It actually looks pretty good when view 4 or 8 cameras at a time. To me it's more important to have 1080P or 3MP recordings so I can get the level of detail needed for evidence. I believe that NVR can do two 1080P streams at the same time for simultaneous playback. To me it's impressive that they can pull that off with an ARM processor, same like what's in a cell phone. Raspberry Pi or in a camera itself.

 

I'm looking to return this system to Costco and invest in some axis 5MP p1427-le ir bullets. Can you point me in the right direction of a standalone nvr which can handle the bandwidth of 8 these? Or if I build up a pc what kind of parts and specs would I need?

Thanks in advance! Much appreciated!

[buellwinkle 0]

Sounds like you went from one extreme to the other and you won't get much better support than from companies like Axis, one reason it costs more.

 

I have not found a generic NVR I like and Axis does not sell an NVR I know of. They do offer NVR software for sale and for free they have Axis Camera Companion where the cameras write to a NAS or SD card, and you use a viewer program on a PC to view recordings and live view multiple cameras. Overall, not that great but works.

 

You may want to look at commercial grade NVR software on a PC like Milestone XProtect, Exacq, Avigilon, all work well, all priced similarly by camera starting at about $50/camera. I believe all have about 30 day trials so you can see which you like. I personally use Milestone XProtect at home and on commercial installs and very happy with it.

[thekuai 0]

Sounds like you went from one extreme to the other and you won't get much better support than from companies like Axis, one reason it costs more.

 

I have not found a generic NVR I like and Axis does not sell an NVR I know of. They do offer NVR software for sale and for free they have Axis Camera Companion where the cameras write to a NAS or SD card, and you use a viewer program on a PC to view recordings and live view multiple cameras. Overall, not that great but works.

 

You may want to look at commercial grade NVR software on a PC like Milestone XProtect, Exacq, Avigilon, all work well, all priced similarly by camera starting at about $50/camera. I believe all have about 30 day trials so you can see which you like. I personally use Milestone XProtect at home and on commercial installs and very happy with it.

 

May I ask you the specs on your pc nvr? And would it handle my needs?

[JoeyJoey 0]

For viewing the NVR's live feed from the cell phone app, it is important to know that you can accidentally alter the resolution/frame rate of the main feed, which will affect the recording configuration.

 

So stop this from happening I created a user id that has no permissions to change the main recording feed configurations.

[khx73 0]

For viewing the NVR's live feed from the cell phone app, it is important to know that you can accidentally alter the resolution/frame rate of the main feed, which will affect the recording configuration.

 

So stop this from happening I created a user id that has no permissions to change the main recording feed configurations.

 

I've been able to change the res/fps of the sub stream, but never the main. AFAIK the app only accesses the sub streams... you are talking about SwannView Plus I assume?

[thekuai 0]

I'm sorry if I confused anyone but I am not talking about the app or mobile viewing. I am talking about the hdmi feed straight out of the nvr.

[buellwinkle 0]

I have 10 cameras, 8 are 3MP, 2 are 1.3MP. Since I do reviews, there's usually one or two additional cameras. I'm using an Intel NUC i5, a small computer that uses very low power, about 4.5" square and 15W power consumption with a 2TB HDD. It has HDMI out, so you can view directly on a monitor or use that as a server only and run what they call Smart Client on other PC's that access the video feed and recordings from the server which is the way I typically use it. I like it because there's no CPU fan to fail, it's easily hide-able, even comes with a VESA mount so you mount it to the back of many monitors/PCs.

 

For more heavy duty commercial installs, I've been using a Dell T20 server, holds 6 HDD (4 3.5", 2 2.5") and is built tougher with larger fans to handle that many drives. I use the Xeon version which is comparable to an i5. They are relatively cheap, like $400-500 depending on sales.

 

The trick with that many cameras is to have a gigabit switch or a switch with a gigabit uplink to gigabit switch the PC is on. I use Netgear's 24 port desktop gigabit smart switch, 12 ports are PoE and runs about $250ish.

[thekuai 0]

I have 10 cameras, 8 are 3MP, 2 are 1.3MP. Since I do reviews, there's usually one or two additional cameras. I'm using an Intel NUC i5, a small computer that uses very low power, about 4.5" square and 15W power consumption with a 2TB HDD. It has HDMI out, so you can view directly on a monitor or use that as a server only and run what they call Smart Client on other PC's that access the video feed and recordings from the server which is the way I typically use it. I like it because there's no CPU fan to fail, it's easily hide-able, even comes with a VESA mount so you mount it to the back of many monitors/PCs.

 

For more heavy duty commercial installs, I've been using a Dell T20 server, holds 6 HDD (4 3.5", 2 2.5") and is built tougher with larger fans to handle that many drives. I use the Xeon version which is comparable to an i5. They are relatively cheap, like $400-500 depending on sales.

 

The trick with that many cameras is to have a gigabit switch or a switch with a gigabit uplink to gigabit switch the PC is on. I use Netgear's 24 port desktop gigabit smart switch, 12 ports are PoE and runs about $250ish.

 

 

Hey,

 

I really appreciate the reply, this info was really helpful. Will this setup allow 1080p full frame rate for live view and recording on all channels?

[buellwinkle 0]

I use sub streams for live view at 704x480, main stream at 3MP for recordings. To display say 8 cameras, all at 1080P or 3MP at full frame rate at 5-6M bitrate at the same time would require a larger server running a current model i7. What I do is use views that contain a smaller set of cameras, for example, if it's my home, I would have a view of the 4 cameras in the front half of my home, 4 in the back and sides, 4 insides and there's overlap. Besides, trying to view 10 small thumbnails at full 1080P is not buying you much anyway.

[khx73 0]

Besides, trying to view 10 small thumbnails at full 1080P is not buying you much anyway.

 

I tried to explain that in post #2..maybe I wasn't clear. Using sub streams for thumbnail views just makes sense, beyond four views anyway... at least with typical 1920x1080 displays.

[thekuai 0]

I know when displaying more than 1 HD feed that you are not displaying all the pixels (unless you are displaying it on a 4k set?) I just like the ability to display full hd when switching to 1 channel full screen. I think by cranking up the bitrate and framrerate on my substreams improved my +4 ch configuration screens... I think I'm just to used to awesome picture on my old axis ip cameras that even small views of the swann (hikvision) look horrible?

[JoeyJoey 0]

For viewing the NVR's live feed from the cell phone app, it is important to know that you can accidentally alter the resolution/frame rate of the main feed, which will affect the recording configuration.

 

So stop this from happening I created a user id that has no permissions to change the main recording feed configurations.

 

I've been able to change the res/fps of the sub stream, but never the main. AFAIK the app only accesses the sub streams... you are talking about SwannView Plus I assume?

 

I was talking about the mobile phone apps, such as on Android.

 

By selecting custom, that affects the main feed.

[khx73 0]

I know when displaying more than 1 HD feed that you are not displaying all the pixels (unless you are displaying it on a 4k set?) I just like the ability to display full hd when switching to 1 channel full screen. I think by cranking up the bitrate and framrerate on my substreams improved my +4 ch configuration screens... I think I'm just to used to awesome picture on my old axis ip cameras that even small views of the swann (hikvision) look horrible?

 

Which NVR model are you using, the 7250? On mine, viewing one channel full screen is definitely in full HD.

[thekuai 0]

I know when displaying more than 1 HD feed that you are not displaying all the pixels (unless you are displaying it on a 4k set?) I just like the ability to display full hd when switching to 1 channel full screen. I think by cranking up the bitrate and framrerate on my substreams improved my +4 ch configuration screens... I think I'm just to used to awesome picture on my old axis ip cameras that even small views of the swann (hikvision) look horrible?

 

Which NVR model are you using, the 7250? On mine, viewing one channel full screen is definitely in full HD.

 

I have the 7250 as well (which I noticed is randomly rebooting itself) and it does display 1080p in 1 Ch or 1+5 mode as well. When everyone told me all the channels are 480p substreams I wasn't sure if it automatically switched to the main feed when selected.

[khx73 0]

Yeah it does.. 480 would look horrid on a 1080 display full screen..

 

Rebooting itself? That's not good.. the only time mine did that was when changing the RTSP port.. apparently it needs to reboot for that, but not changing the other ports.