Blue Iris

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-22T12:39:30+00:00

Gotcha.

Occasionally alternate MRL info from the same manufacturer can yield more specific performance results than the generic ONVIF designations for unlisted cameras. Was just curious if that may be the case.

Thanks.

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Fri Sep 22, 2023 12:39 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-22T03:41:33+00:00

no its on a fOSCAM fi9928P thought it may help in someway as its been rock solid for a couple of years now..

Statistics: Posted by pootug — Fri Sep 22, 2023 3:41 am

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-21T01:02:46+00:00

Does this help cam is wired:

Is that BI config info being applied to a G4?

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Thu Sep 21, 2023 1:02 am

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-21T00:56:01+00:00

I'm a little nervous about this first day...

Belated best wishes for your new endeavor. Hopefully it went well!

And If the G4 doesn't work out there are plenty of other solid options in the same general price range. Amcrest is an obvious candidate to explore but most of their cameras in a similar price and functionality range also now use a proprietary platform for configuration and management similar to FOSCAM called Smart Home. No webUI for individual camera configuration and management with Smart Home..., at least not in stock form. If the camera Model begins with ASH it is part of the Smart Home family.

I noticed a Wyze Cam in your stats list. Depending on your purpose/application for the G4, and/or if you want to have some fun and get a great picture and killer night performance at the same time, there's always a WyzeCam v3 with an external antenna mod! LOL Either their RTSP beta firmware or the wz_mini_hack custom firmware are both easy to use and both work surprisingly well..., and are free! (Sorry -- just thinking out loud and that's a whole other thread anyway.)

Your plan is a good one and should determine a few things one way or another for the G4. That said, it would certainly seem to be a wi-fi connectivity or configuration issue given the more favorable results when hardwired.

Good luck with everything. Looking forward to your next report.

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Thu Sep 21, 2023 12:56 am

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-20T05:27:59+00:00

Does this help cam is wired:

Statistics: Posted by pootug — Wed Sep 20, 2023 5:27 am

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T22:27:01+00:00

Best of luck with the new job.
You will do great and they are fortunate to get your experience and skills.

Statistics: Posted by louyo — Tue Sep 19, 2023 10:27 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T21:02:54+00:00

Good luck with everything

Let us know what happens when you have time.

Statistics: Posted by TimG — Tue Sep 19, 2023 9:02 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T20:15:58+00:00

Ok point taken about not mentioning this camera has the dongle like a lot of these do for the power supply and ethernet connection. So I'm sure the problem is NOT BI it's either this Foscam G4 camera or just my lack of knowledge on video and all the things that go with it like bit rate and frame rate etc. To date all the other cameras you saw listed in the previous post showing the stats are not as new as this one and all of those had a web interface you could just use your browser to either view the stream and/or get to the setup to change quality and frame rate and all those good things. This is the newest camera I purchased and was not expecting that Foscam now makes you use their proprietary app to not only view the video stream but also get in there and make changes. Had I know that I probably would have picked a different camera than the foscam. I've had great luck with the Amcrest camera which is one that is right beside this new Foscam and the Amcrest works flawless on the same wifi network.

So I went out in the woods and brought this inside and hooked it up to the ethernet and it seemed to stream just fine however the fPS was set at 20 but in the BI status monitor it never got above 15fps

While I had it here I tried 3 different wifi AP points I have here. The one I am connecting to when the camera is down in the woods, another AP I have on my patio and direct to the wifi in the motorola cable modem. I strategically located the camera so that it was damn near equal distance from each AP. IT did appear to maybe stream a little smoother maybe but I still saw it glitch. The only time I did not see it glitch (pause/freeze for a second or two then catchup) was connected to the ethernet.

I'm going to reset the camera to factory, turn the ONVIF on and then just start from scratch and check to see if any other camera configuration works better etc. After that I think if I don't get better results this is going back to Amazon and I'm going to get something else perhaps another Amcrest. I appreciate everyone that has jumped in here and tried to help me figure this out. Once I do the reset and basically start over I'll post an update of my findings. This may be a few days before you hear from me. I start a new job tomorrow after having worked at the same company for 25 years then being "downsized" because of the overseas factor (bastards) I'm a little nervous about this first day and there is all kinds of orientation and HR classes I have do to before the end of the week. Thankfully this new job is remote too.

David

Statistics: Posted by davidcbittner — Tue Sep 19, 2023 8:15 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T15:54:32+00:00

Hadn’t appreciated the cam was Wi-Fi connected.

I’d personally skip everything else and try wired to eliminate the cam itself.

When you live stream the cam in VLC is the stream actually live or is it delayed slightly? If you have the time shown in the stream then check if there is a slight delay. I’m wondering if the reason why the VLC stream is smooth as it’s simply doing a better job of buffering?

Statistics: Posted by IAmATeaf — Tue Sep 19, 2023 3:54 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T15:34:26+00:00

One other major consideration if ethernet is available is to reset the camera to its default configuration and do another Find/inspect to compare those results with the ones being experienced with the modified settings currently being used. Blue Iris can be picky about how it wants to see 'custom' configurations from some cameras -- Reolink being a notorious one among others I've seen mentioned (including Foscam).

And there is always a possibility there is something wrong with the camera even though it works with VLC, but we're not there yet.

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Tue Sep 19, 2023 3:34 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T15:00:49+00:00

If an ethernet option is available as a comparison, by all means use it for any further testing!

And with all due respect at this stage of the OP's troubleshooting, I'm not sure introducing the UI into the mix as yet another set of unrelated variables (and questions) vs. sticking with the desktop (assuming that's what is being used) will yield anything useful relative to obtaining a solid performing config for the camera itself -- unless doing so will somehow reveal the problem with the already erratic performance of the camera's current shortcomings.

It may be more helpful to see what BI has determined is the appropriate MRL for each stream from a generic ONVIF standpoint and then try the various FOSCAM model suggestions to see if anything useful pops up there. Easy enough to try. I'm also curious where the MRL used in the VLC test came from and how it compares with what BI has provided from the ONVIF result in its Find/inspect scan. There may be a clue there.

For starters, what are the current MRLs in the Main and Sub stream boxes?

And maybe explore the Foscam options in the vendor list for something that may be a fit for the G4?

I just wish we knew about an ethernet option for testing three pages ago! LOL

This is a productive thread despite the side discussion over semantics. That said, clarification was certainly needed in an area or two for maintaining useful context to the intended advice. Certainly not trying to antagonize, just keeping things between the lines for the sake of accuracy.

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Tue Sep 19, 2023 3:00 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T13:15:37+00:00

My $0.02:
Rather than argue about acceleration, it is very easy to test on and off.

For test purposes, I would:
Connect via the UI (not the console) and watch frame rate and cpu.
if camera is wireless, test it wired, do wireless later.
FPS 15, same for iframe
agree with Pogo: "CBR to stabilize your bit rate and try a 2MP resolution (1080p) and a 2048bps rate "
Make sure group webcasting frame rate is 15 fps, the default is lower.
If you are remoting into the server, the default fps is going to be 5.
Set everything else to defaults to begin.
If you suspect that the computer is being overloaded (if camera is OK with VLC with BI running, this is unlikely) disable some of your other cameras.

My experience (somewhat limited) with Foscam is not great but you should be able to get good streaming.

Statistics: Posted by louyo — Tue Sep 19, 2023 1:15 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T12:23:07+00:00

Ok so this morning I was able to set the main HA to Intel and then restarted all of the cameras. As I restarted them I monitored the CPU usage both as I see it in task manager and the bottom bar in BI.
A few months ago I set all of my cameras to use sub streams and when I did that, that is when I noticed a significant drop in CPU usage. I think at the time it dropped for like 40% to where it is today hovering around anywhere from like 10% to 13%.
After I turned on HA for each camera to Intel and restarted I kept a close eye on that and did not see any drop in cpu usage or anything and saw no rise in the GPU usage either. Along with keeping a close watch on the G4 camera giving me all the trouble and the G4 did nothing it works but it just does not stream smoothly. I kept seeing the hiccups in the stream when viewing the main in BI. This is in addition to changing the VBR setting for the G4 camera in the Foscam VMS software. The only thing in the software you can do is is change the rate control option from VBR to none so I switched it to none so I assume that uses the CBR but no way to know for sure there is no help Foscam is pretty crappy with that so....... Also I already had direct to disc turned on so I was good there.

After applying these settings and watching and seeing how things go not seeing any real change in anything I decided to change the HA default to the NVIDA NVDEC since that is the video card I use and have my 2 monitors plugged into. There probably is some onboard intel one or something in this desktop and at one time I may have used it but I've not had anything plugged into that on board hdmi port for a long time. I doubt I turned it off in the computer bios and I probably could plug something into it but I never will not with this kick ass nvida card so...

After I change the HA to the NVIDA and as soon as I restarted the first camera boom it popped up in task manager the GPU Engine GPU - 0 Video Decode and the GPU percentage started to jump up. So after all the restarts using HA and everything in this morning test I see the G4 still sucks.

There is something up with this main stream. If you look at my BI status this morning for the G4 (My Camera 4 (Cam4)) you can see the sub frame almost dead on to 15 fps/1.0 which is what I have it set to in the Foscam VMS but my main FPS/Key never gets close to what I have it set at.

To rule out something wrong with my wifi or not a good clear signal like the G4 Indicates in the number of bars it is showing it has I am going to try this G4 this morning connecting to a different AP node I have here at the house and see what results I get in addition to that I will try the G4 with a wired ethernet connection. I hope all of this is just not to much for this thread but someone else with a Foscam G4 might find this helpful. I'll post an update to my results in a bit still have to get some more coffee in my and walk down in the woods and get that camera haha
David

Statistics: Posted by davidcbittner — Tue Sep 19, 2023 12:23 pm

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T08:37:12+00:00

Ahem...
It’s the ratio of fps to iframe that needs to be 1.
No it doesn't.

An I-frame interval of 1 for 25fps simply means a keyframe occurs every second and the manufacturer uses '1' to specify the ratio. A different manufacture may achieve the same ratio using different terminology (and numbering) for essentially the same end result. The time frame can be 30 seconds, 2 minutes, whatever is designated and determined to be the optimum setup for the purpose.

Different I-frame interval capabilities are available in most every decent camera to provide flexibility for optimizing both image quality and storage considerations and are hardly locked in stone as suggested here. Why use the same keyframe interval for a parking lot security camera at whatever frame rate as a fast-paced sporting event at the same frame rate?

You wouldn't. You also wouldn't apply the same storage considerations.

I was talking about the ratio as presented within BI, it’s always been suggested to try and keep this as near to 1 as possible.

It’s up to you if you want to set it up differently.

The OP has an issue so was simply suggesting setting it to see if it helps?

Statistics: Posted by IAmATeaf — Tue Sep 19, 2023 8:37 am

Re: FOSCAM G4

2023-09-19T00:05:46+00:00

So you got me I have no clue in the main settings where to set intel as the main and then on each camera are you talking about the hardware decode box?

It's under 'Cameras' in the main Blue Iris menu:

Each camera should accept the setting as their default after being restarted.

Setting direct-to-disk and file saving type is done here:

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Tue Sep 19, 2023 12:05 am