Camera picture Glitches

[jeremyclark]

I have been having the exact same problem as Sammi showed, since I started using Sighthound with my Foscam FI9805E cameras (I have four of them). When viewing the feeds in the browser plugin that Foscam provides, the 720p RTSP streams look perfectly clear. But when Sighthound is viewing the feeds, they display a lot of artifacting where it seems like the pixels get smeared up or down parts of or the entire view. It is sporadic, throughout the day I might get them 5-10 times (but of course, each time it sends me an alert). Sometimes I feel like it's more likely to happen in times where there's a lot of contrast (like when the sunshine is bright in the view), but not sure. I've tried resetting all of the cameras but that doesn't usually make a difference, nor does reseting my router or switches. I've attached a few examples of the screens I get.

I have a feeling that Foscam uses a slightly unique way of encoding/decoding RTSP streams, as I think LiveCams Pro (the iOS app I use to view my streams) was aware of the same issue and was able to address it with help in working with Foscam on it. Ideally it'd be great if we could figure that out, but if not, perhaps some feature in Sighthound where it knows to ignore conditions like this somehow? I have set the length of time an object is detected to 2-3 seconds in an attempt to minimize the alerts but I still get them frequently.

Any thoughts? Anyone else with Foscam cameras that see this same effect?

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[ryan]

Hi Jeremy,

The 9805 and 9831 seem to be doing something very different than other RTSP/h264 Foscam models (and different than other cameras in general), and this is why I have not added them to the pre-configured list in the app. I contacted Foscam earlier and was bounced around a number of people and told the issue was forwarded to engineering. I'll have to try again.

This typically happens when part of a frame is delayed or lost en route to the receiving computer, making it impossible to render. I have on occasion seen cameras that will error themselves and send a damaged frame, but that is rare. In the packet loss case reducing bit rate/frame rate (generally sending less data) can reduce the odds of packet loss/collision, but if the camera is actually now connecting over TCP that shouldn't be a possibility anyway, as it is a "reliable" transport.

[bill]

Ryan,
I am having the same exact problem as described in this post. I have purchased 5 Foscams (4-9821s & a 9805) and they all have the same issue using your Pro version.
What's the prognosis?

Bill

[ryan]

Hi Bill,

Your four 9821 cameras should work just fine after appending the ?svforcetcp flag. Select "Other IP camera" from the drop down and use rtsp as the protocol, the port you currently have set, and a stream path of /videoMain?svforcetcp

[Walt Dockery]

I'm having the same problem w/ my wirepath cameras. No problems viewing the cameras directly or viewing footage on the wirepath DVR, only in sighthound. I haven't tried changing the streams yet.

I was wondering, could a computer that doesn't have the resources to keep up cause this? I'm currently running Sighthound on a 5 yr old iMac, which I plan to upgrade soon. Was just curious if that could be causing this problem for me. Biggest problem is, as others have said, it triggers email alerts.

[ryan]

Hi Walt,

In general no, but I suppose it may be possible that if the stream is over UDP (a loss-acceptable transport, unlike TCP) and the network card has a limited buffer packets could conceivably be lost if the CPU can't empty it quickly enough, just as they could be lost en route on the network, resulting in the same lost data.

[bill]

Ryan,
I've tried the svforcetcp option to no avail. I even went back to the
router and changed the portforwarding option from TCP/UDP to just TCP.
It's happening on all the 9821's. I thought it might be traffic related
so I tried it with just one camera but got the results.

Bill

[ryan]

Hi Bill,

Your settings look like the attached screenshot?

When you mention that you changed portforwarding settings on your router I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what that would do, are you using these cameras from a separate location? If not, that setting won't change anything - you aren't accepting incoming connections from outside your network and restricting those to TCP only, you're accessing the cameras from the same network and any traffic is allowed.

[bryanw20]

Great, my 8905 just died; so I replaced it with a 9805; before I came here, I just assumed it would be an easy swap.

So I got it today, it shipped with firmware 1.14.1.21; according to Foscam I should upgrade to: 2.14.1.5, then 2.x.2.8, and finally to the latest version 2.x.1.10.

Before I do; what firmware are the camera's on that are having problems? Exactly what is the problem? (I had mine connected & monitoring in SH in 5mins from fedex leaving my door). [I still need to figure out how to watch remotely via my phone]

[jeremyclark]

@bryanw20 - I have had my 9805E cameras since November, and have seen this issue since that time. I have updated each time a firmware update was available, hoping it would resolve this issue and it hasn't. Feed looks perfect using the browser plugin from Foscam or in LiveCams Pro on my iPhone. If you have an iPhone or iPad - that's the app to use, it's pretty amazing. I use a DNS forwarding service so I can view my cameras from outside my internal network.