H.265

[t0ny]

Do we not have H.265 support yet? I have attempted to connect to my Dahua camera and see the following in the logs:

2017-06-06 07:48:55,950 - INFO - StreamReader.pyo - open - live555: Opening rtsp://u:p@xxx.xxx.x.xx:xxx/cam/realmon ... &subtype=0 using TCP for transport (streamId=11)
2017-06-06 07:48:56,075 - ERROR - StreamReader.pyo - open - live555: Unsupported video codec: H265
2017-06-06 07:48:56,075 - ERROR - StreamReader.pyo - open - live555: Unsupported audio codec: PCMA

[ryan]

Hi Tony,

You are correct that Sighthound Video does not support H.265 at this time. Supported formats are currently MJPEG, MPEG4, and H.264.

Best,
- ryan

[RottenMutt]

Ryan, you said "Sighthound Video does support H.265", is this correct?

If Sighthound doesn't, can i configure the camera like the lorex LNB8111BW 4K to use H.264 instead of H.265?

[tcesario]

I'm using a Lorex LNB8111BW 4K as part of my Sighthound system. It records fine, but remote clip viewing with the iOS app doesn't work very well (though that could just be a general Sighthound issue), and also still images are not included in email notifications either. However, the most important thing is that the 4K clips do record according to the rules. I didn't change any of the video properties in the camera configuration.

-Tony

[ryan]

That was a pretty unfortunate typo, I've updated the earlier post to be clear. Sighthound Video does not support H265 at this time.

The LNB8111BW can encode in both H264 and H265. There is only a product spec and quick start guide on their website so I can't point you to where to change the encoding but it is likely under the general video settings of the camera's configuration page. It is also possible that the camera transmits streams in both at all times and has no settings. The camera is ONVIF compliant so if that is the case and you've added it in SV through ONVIF one of the streaming URLs return by the camera in the drop down list should work for you. If you're having more specific trouble please post and perhaps we can figure it out or tcesario might be able to help.

@tcesario - if you're experiencing trouble with email attachments please submit a bug report if you haven't yet. I'd expect that to be working just fine. If there is a 4k specific bug for frame attachments we'll take a look.

[mosheldon]

Any roadmap plans for H.265?

[ryan]

Not currently but it's something we'll consider if/when it gains traction and makes sense for us to do so.

[mosheldon]

Thanks for the update Ryan.

[goldserve]

How hard is it really to add a new codec to decode the video before processing? If it is due to royalties, I'd be happy to pay a bit for a codec addon.

[ryan]

While there are patent agreements and other legalities that must be worked through and in place there are also many other moving parts including the state, compatibility, and speed of available decoders and encoders, native OS support, development time, and similar. We'll be watching H265 adoption and will consider adding it when it becomes possible.