Jump to content
helix-security

Avigilon Technical Problem

Recommended Posts

Hello,

 

We're currently experiencing an issue with an Avigilon installation that neither ourselves or Avigilon Tech support have been able to resolve. It is such a fundamental issue that I thought others might have come up against it or might offer some work-around suggestions.

 

The customer is considering migration to IP from an ageing analogue system.

 

As a test site, we have installed an Avigilon Workstation along with a 4 channel encoder, to which we have connected 4 existing analogue PTZ cameras. There are 12 cameras on this site altogether but for test purposes we only moved across 4 onto Avigilon.

The site currently has quite a limited internet connection - the cctv system has been allocated 1 MB download and 0.5MB upload by IT.

 

The system needs to be remotely monitored out of hours by an ARC - here is the problem.

 

Onsite the system works perfectly and the customer is very happy with it.

 

However when we connect to the site from our office, the system is not fit for purpose - the 4 cameras are out of sync with each other, there is a massive delay when trying to move the PTZ's, the camera streams freeze every 10 seconds or so. If we reduce the quality of the streams, these issues are resolved, however by doing this we are also reducing the quality of the live and recorded footage.

 

What we need to be able to do is record and view best quality on site, but access a substream with low resolution offsite due to the limited internet connection.

 

Strangely - this basic feature does not seem to be available, or we missing something?

 

Any comments or work around suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What are your ping times from your remote location to the sit with the recorder?

 

I would be very interested to see the quality of the 1MB/.5MB link

 

What are the bandwidth settings for each channel of the encoders?

 

FYI you can change the display quality of your remote client only which will not effect the recorded video.

 

@ Remote Client > Client settings > Display> Change Display Quality (High is the default)

 

Another option would be to use the HTML5 web interface. As it trans codes the video for lower bandwidth connections.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The ping time is consistently around the 80 m/s, so not the best.

 

We were being advised to adjust the client incoming bandwidth at: client settings>general, which had no effect.

 

For some reason we overlooked the display setting you mention - so I will give that a go on Tuesday when I get back to the office, and report back.

 

Many thanks for your reply.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is going to be your problem

 

"80 m/s, so not the best."

 

The video should stream fine but PTZ controls will be rough. I would recommend setting up PTZ resets for the remote location to use. You will have a lot better results then trying to PT the camera over a connection like that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just to update this thread - today I adjusted the display settings as suggested, however this was unsuccessful in resolving the issues.

 

Adjusting the display settings did just that - increased and decreased the picture quality of the images on the client PC. Unfortunately even at the lowest setting, the problem of freezing pictures and cameras being out of sync persisted.

 

The only setting that resolves the issue is reducing the camera image quality - the problem is that this also affects the live view and recorded images on the host machine.

 

What is required here is a substream setting on the host machine where we can turn down the quality of the images and reduce bandwidth for remote viewing, but retain a high quality stream for live viewing and recording on the host machine.

 

This does not seem to be available unless I am missing something.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×