Every few days "cannot connect to camera," needs restart

[msielski]

After a number of days (6 just recently) Sighthound can no longer connect to my camera and I see a message that Sighthound could not connect. When this happens I can connect to the camera no problem via the camera's web link. To fix, I must reset Sighthound - though the reset process is difficult. If I go to File > Exit the window closes but I understand Sighthound is still running. If I then go to Start Menu > Sighthound Video nothing happens. I need to go to Task Manager and kill the 6 Sighthound Agent processes and 2 Sighthound Web processes. Then I can launch Sighthound Video from the Start Menu, I briefly see a Connecting message and the camera feed appears and works as normal.

My network and camera configuration have not changed recently, though I have applied Sighthound updates as they've become available. I am running Basic Edition 2.4.1 build 14991 with a single Dahua IPC-HDB3200CN IP camera on Windows 7 Pro. I've used this configuration for a 11 months without issue. This computer is not used for much else. Just over a month and a half ago after a Sighthound update this problem began. Each time I would reboot the computer to be safe, but every few days the connection would fail and require a full kill/restart of Sighthound or a reboot.

I stopped using the software for the last 3 weeks but have just recently uninstalled and reinstalled it hoping to get this working. My support contract expired around the same time as the update which caused this issue came out.

Any suggestions for better stability? Are old versions available for download?

Thanks,
Matt

[Semper Vaporo]

I don't work for Sighthound but maybe I can offer some minor help as I am a long time user of the program and have experienced some things similar to what you describe.

I am presently running just 1 IP cam (the other 5 are USB) and I am accessing it with both SightHound and a browser (IE10 via the camera's web page). Technically, they are separate streams of video from the camera. With both systems I get a "disconnect" every 5 minutes and 55 seconds, (355 seconds), but it comes back after only 1 second. This "disconnect" occurs simultaneously on both displays of the video so it seems to be a Network problem, not IE or SH. I recognize the "disconnect" because there is a hanging birdfeeder in the scene that gently swings in the wind and it will 'freeze' in mid swing for a second and then jump to a new position in the swing and birds will 'jump ahead' in mid flight. I also can detect the "disconnect" by watching the "Network" tab of "Task Manager". With both cameras running I see about 8% of network usage, but every 355 seconds there is a spike down to zero and right back up to 8% (the actual percentage varies as to the contrast of the scene, large areas of different contrast take more bandwidth than a whole scene of uniform brightness). This is how I have determined the period of this type of disconnect.

Additionally, I get a random disconnect (anywhere from a few minutes to several hours apart) that can take from 8 to 30 seconds to come back. Both views of the camera experience this disconnect, but they exhibit it slightly differently and not necessarily at the same time. The browser window will just freeze for a few seconds (birds freeze in mid flight, the birdfeeder stops swinging, etc.), then it briefly shows a white screen, then continues showing the scene (and in that pause, lots of things can change in the scene!). The SightHound window will first show the blue screen of "Could not connect" for several seconds, then show the blue screen of "Connecting" for a second or two, then revert to showing the scene (sometimes showing a black screen for one second before the scene returns). I have seen each view (IE and SH) of the scene do this "disconnect" at separate times and once I saw it occur at nearly the same time. When they do it at separate times, the Task Manager display will drop to about 4% usage for the duration of the "disconnect". When it occurred to both at the same time, it dropped to 4% for 1 second, then dropped to 0% and then both cameras re-connected at the same time as the usage returned to 8%. (Actually, the IE view seems to take slightly higher bandwidth because when it disconnects, the drop in percentage is slightly more than when SH experiences the disconnect, but it is very difficult to get exact numbers because the grid behind the graph is not very well defined and the graph data line is quite squiggly).

In the past, I'd get 'antsy' and start clicking away at things to try to get the camera to "reconnect" and only recently discovered that it seems to correct itself if I can sit on my hands and wait.


To simplify your "cure", have you tried to turn off the camera (via SightHound, not actual power to the camera) before you terminate SH? (Click the green dot lower left corner of the display.) This might cure the tedium of having to close the individual instances of the SightHound Agents. If any cameras are left "On", then the agent for that camera and the other Agents for the other processes are kept running, but if no cameras are "On" then they all get stopped when you terminate the user interface program. By turning the camera "Off" you might not need to do all that Task Manager work. (Not that you should have to be doing so in the first place.)

Some other things that I have found that had some effect on how often the random disconnects occur... I have found that if I physically turn off both the camera and the router it can reduce the frequency of the random disconnects (does not affect the 355 second type). I have also found that completely erasing the SH "Archive" folder has helped in the past, but didn't do a thing for me the last time I tried it as they started occurring right away that time.

I will put the SH tech's here on the spot and say that I am sure they can provide access to older copies of the program.

[enajj]

I had the same problem with the latest build , Every few days camera would stop working
and had to run edit camera to get it working again.
My fix was to go back to version 2.3.2
You can find the link to old versions when you login to your acc , Click on My Downloads/Previous versions

Hoping a new build is realeased soon to fix this

[Devin]

Hi Matt,

We've responded to the bug report you submitted in regards to this issue.

Regards,

-Devin

[enajj]

Devin

Please tells us what is the fix , I have emailed you etc
But no responce , I am a fan from the Vitmind D days , Even paid when I did not need too
Sigh

[Devin]

Hi enajj,

There aren't any known bugs with the latest build of Sighthound Video in which cameras lose their connection. In many cases this requires troubleshooting which can be very different from user to user depending on their setups.

My apologies for the confusion in regards to your email. I looked up your email history and found that we had sent you a build to try out and you responded saying that it solved the remote viewing issue and you were going to monitor the cameras connection over the next couple of days. We were waiting for an update to see if the build had solved your problem. I've now responded to your email in regards to this issue.

Best,

-Devin

[darold]

I am having the same issue with the OSX version of Sighthound. I assumed it was the cheap camera I purchased from eBay that was causing the issue.

I will open a support ticket for the issue, but just as a note, I noticed the problem occurs when I use the ?svforcetcp fix to correct the distorted video issue.

[Rodbolt]

Is there any more news on this problem? I have been having the same issue (SH hangs and needs shutting down and restarting) ever since I bought a paid licence last year. I thought it was my old pc, so went and bought a new win 8.1 machine just for running Sighthound, but the problem is still there. Camera still working via browser or camera's own software, but SH has gone into "can not connect" screen and freezes.
My problem happens every 7 days - so it's not going to be much use when I go away on holiday!

[Devin]

Hi Rodbolt,

I've responded to the email you sent to [email protected] in regards to this issue.

-Devin

[bluegas]

I have joined this forum for this very reason - I am a paid up user and currently run a Foscam F19826W - This has been unable to connect after a day or two for quite a while and is only resolved by a computer reboot or closing all instances of sighthound in Task manager(running windows 8.1)
but obviously after paying my money want the latest version now and in the future.

Edit ....after going back to 2.3.2 build 14715 still coming up with Could not connect but working fine on the Foscam desktop software which is running at the same time to test.