Digiflower LAN speeds

[rizzo 0]

New to the Digiflower stuff....got a 2400 board recently (16/120 card) and I've noticed that when connecting remotely there's relatively slow response.

 

The server box has a 768kb/s upload speed cap using a cable modem. I would expect the response to be a little slow using this connection.

 

However, using either the web client OR the client software itself on another computer connected via the LAN, I get the same slow framerate on playing back archived video. Looking within the task manager in XP both on the server and the client side, less that .25% of the 100Mbs bandwidth is in use when playing, searching, or viewing live video. This dosen't seem right.

 

I've tried tweaking all the settings I know of under the 'control user access' tab to change the speed of the transmission rate. Nothing seems to help.

 

For reference, the video I'm searching is 30fps 320X240 MPEG4+ set at a quality of about 7.

 

The framerate I'm seeing remotely is < 3fps. Any suggestions on how to make this faster?

[loop 0]

In general digiflower has good transmition speed.

Did you try changing settings of quality and transmission speed or disabling audio transmission?

I would recommend you begin with testing the actual upload speed of your server, when connecting from a remote machine. You can use some software to measure the upload throughput of your server while someone is remotely connected to it, and at the same time the download throughput at the remote machine.

[rizzo 0]

Did you try changing settings of quality and transmission speed or disabling audio transmission?

 

Yes. I tried changing it every way I know how. The only speed difference I noticed was that I got the best speed with live video using the "same as recording codec" option. But this did nothing for searching archived video.

 

I would recommend you begin with testing the actual upload speed of your server, when connecting from a remote machine. You can use some software to measure the upload throughput of your server while someone is remotely connected to it, and at the same time the download throughput at the remote machine.

 

I did this already. This was where I got the 0.25% of my bandwidth being in use when testing on my local LAN. By the way, my LAN only consists of 3 computers and a router. I can transfer files back and forth using windows explorer at a rate which takes up 85-90% of the bandwidth, so I know that is not an issue...

 

Any other suggestions?

[Thomas 0]

Check the duplex settings on your network cards. If your router allows it, check the network usage from it.

[loop 0]

Please run an upload test and post your results here:

 

http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/bandwidthup.asp

 

 

It's strange that you get the best results when using "same as recording codec" setting, since this transfers much higher quality frames than "High Speed" or "Best speed".

[loop 0]

What OS and service packs are you using are you using and what is its' history? Did you install the card after a clean OS installation? Did you make any tweaks to the OS?

[paprotec 0]

What version of software are you running? Do you have the IP? Send me a PM and i'll check your speed against what our test servers are running. We usually get good transfer rates with DigiFlower.

[dusan 0]

i do not think you have 768k upload speed from your isp on cable modem

and 3 fps is all you get , from present seting of size and compresion level

test the size in kb of your 1 frame and see how much data it is and you can

calculate the internet speed you need for faster frame rate at same compres

if you can get a adsl by speakeasy.net 6000/768k ~$108 and 4-8 static ip's than you can have faster frame rate 768k after overhead is ~620k speed

for now this is best deal for internet in usa for upload speed and static ip's

 

capture one frame and see the size and do the calc

 

3fps at ~768k / 620k : 8 : 3 = 26k is one image frame

3fps at ~384k / 300k : 8 :3 = 12.5k is one image frame

 

so what is your frame size and what is your real isp internet speed

 

noting to do on your side of network or your computer to speed it up

 

dusan

[rizzo 0]

First, I want to thank you all for the suggestions...good info here.

 

I was able to increase speed (some) after realizing that the DVR was plugged into an older 10base-T hub (duh!) After taking care of that problem, it got a little better.

 

My u/l speedtest results from PCPitstop was 722kb/s, but again, I'm disgruntled over the LAN speeds, not necessarily the internet speeds. (BTW, yes I do have a 768kb/s U/L cap...check it http://www.cox.com/HighSpeedInternet/Compare.asp

It's the 'premier' tier that I'm on.)

 

Both network cards were set to autonegotiate and were doing 100MB/s, however I changed their settings to force 100MB/s full duplex just in case. Didn't seem to make any improvements. I went ahead and disabled QOS as well, again didn't do much good. Transferring a file using windows explorer from the client to the server yields about 85% network load (normal)

 

This is running on XP Pro SP-2, firewalls disabled. Installed from a clean OS install using a bootable XP pro install disc w/ SP-2 slipstreamed in there. No other s/w programs are on the system other than drivers, etc. CPU load never goes over 25% normally.

 

The software is Version: 5.304 (2004.08.03)

 

I'm still playing wiwth it but still can't get more than 12% network load according to the Task Manager's network monitor. No matter what codec I record in, using 720x480 video I still can't quite get realtime 30fps looking at one camera, OR reviewing video from one camera using search. It's like you're watching it in slo-mo. (using the remote client)

 

Reviewing it locally on the server is realtime, no problem. Can any of you guys fast forward or rewind using the client over a LAN?

 

Thanks again for everyone's input. I hope to get this thing working soon as my customer is coming Monday to pick it up!

 

I've got a K-Card on order and I'm going to test it out next. Some people swear by them, and I'm wondering if it's any better than Digi.

[loop 0]

There shouldn't be any problem with the stream over LAN. You should be able to view it in real time. My guess is that your problem is related to using SP2. There are already many reported applications that stops working after installing SP2, and some problems related to Client/Server connections.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242&product=windowsxpsp2

 

http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1497

 

I will recommend to try this fix first:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=884020

 

Some P2P applications fails to create multiple connections over TCP/IP without this fix.

 

If this won't help, I would try it on a system without SP2 Installed.

 

Good luck

Let us know...

[rizzo 0]

Actually, I get the same results with SP-1. The first suggestion deals with the new SP-2 firewall, but that's been disabled. The second deals with the max number of TCP connections at one time, and when connected remotely I'm only at 1 (or 2 if you consider the web GUI) so I'm nowhere near the limit. The third suggestion deals with the loopback not responding, and that's not a problem, either.

 

After dicking around with it for several hours last night, I found that I can get realtime (or close to realtime) when I stick with 720X480 MPEG4+ using a quality of 7 or 8. I then set it up to use the same codec as recording. Depending on how much motion is in the scene is what slows it down. If there's very little, it will come across in realtime. If there is a car driving by that takes up 50% or more of the frame, then it will slow down quite a bit.

 

The only thing I can think of is that the software itself is not designed to use much bandwidth, as I can only get it as high as 12.5% of the allocated 100MB/s in task manager. I would be curious if anyone else using digi boards could tell me how much bandwidth they're using when trying to do something intensive like FF or REW remotely.

[dusan 0]

ok you internet wan speed is 768k up nice for cable

 

to me it looks like your app is taking a speed limit from your wan speed seting's,how many nic's you have in the box local and wan nic

look at the seting for all your wan speed's ,windows mplayer,real,etc

it is posible that your limit on local lan is limited by your seting for

internet wan speed,set all internet / wan for local net speed's 100mb

or unlimited if you have that option,google video on xp sp2 speed limit

 

so what is your frame size ?

and see if that help

 

at the moment i use only geovision card's and axis 2400 server's

and no problem on local speed limit and 1gb nic's 1gb switch

 

dusan

[rizzo 0]

I'd like to bump this thread because I still have yet to find a solution. After testing for months and months, I have come to the conclusion that you just can't "search" using Digiflower's cyon client or web-based client. Fast Forwarding and Rewinding just isnt' an option, whether you're over a LAN or over the internet.

 

I have asked several people out there that are familiar with Digiflower's stuff if they have any problems. Everyone I've spoken to so far are basically saying that it's just me having the problems. I built a system around a DF-2000 (16/120 card) and am now using a DF-900 (4/30 card) and both of them exibit the same problems.

 

The ONLY way I can seem to fast-forward or rewind video (anthing faster than realtime) is to either:

 

1. Map the D: (video) drive over the network to my remote box, then use the "Cyon_M Searcher" software to FF\REW through the video

 

or

 

2. Do it at the local DVR box itself

 

I know it's not the computer, chip, chipset, router, LAN, internet connection..any of that. It's obvious that if it works when mapping a drive and using the serarcher s/w (as in option #1 above) and it works just fine, then there's something in the software on the server side that's curtailing the throughput for transmission to the other end. Maybe there's a registry key setting to change? I don't know. If I had the username/password of digiflower's tech support page maybe I could read a little more. But I'm stuck.

 

If anyone has a DF server up and running that would be willing for me to demo it I would appreciate an email or a PM. I have yet to see one that's set up right so I have something to compare it to.

 

Changing the settings under "Control User Access" tab and "Transmission Speed and Quality Image" does nothing other than adjust the compression of the LIVE image--it does nothing for re-compressing video that's already stored when I search.