When I connect via the remote access address, the quality of the Live video is very poor. I test it on my computer where the desktop version is running and use the URL https://127.0.0.1:8848, so no sort of slow 4G path is in the way.
The video had a very low resolution.
Poor video quality via remote access
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10 posts
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kgonzalez - Posts: 56
- Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2017 2:34 pm
Re: Poor video quality via remote access
Hey there,
I would recommend checking the remote access settings in Sighthound Video. There should be an "Advanced" button which should allow you to choose the live video resolution. If that doesn't work and the live video is still blurry try clicking on the live feed to see if that resolves the issue.
I would recommend checking the remote access settings in Sighthound Video. There should be an "Advanced" button which should allow you to choose the live video resolution. If that doesn't work and the live video is still blurry try clicking on the live feed to see if that resolves the issue.
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JanMostert - Posts: 10
- Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2018 1:46 pm
Re: Poor video quality via remote access
I tried all settings behind the Advanced button, but it makes no difference. I will try to upload a video that shows the difference in quality between the Sighthound desktop app and the remote access live stream.
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JanMostert - Posts: 10
- Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2018 1:46 pm
Re: Poor video quality via remote access
The file is too big. You can find the video here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9kp1jzqk7he5g ... a.mov?dl=0
To see the difference, look at the white door at the left and the red tree in the middle. Via the browser on my computer it is not that bad, but via my iPhone it is very poor if not impossible to see. The internet connection I have is 500 Mb up and down, so that can not be the issue.
To see the difference, look at the white door at the left and the red tree in the middle. Via the browser on my computer it is not that bad, but via my iPhone it is very poor if not impossible to see. The internet connection I have is 500 Mb up and down, so that can not be the issue.
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tcesario - Posts: 67
- Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:03 pm
Re: Poor video quality via remote access
https://127.0.0.1:8848 is an internal IP, so this issue is over wifi? What happens when you configure the IP for external access (with port forwarding on) and access with your phone over cellular (or wifi external to your house)? Any change in video quality?
-Tony
-Tony
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tcesario - Posts: 67
- Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:03 pm
Re: Poor video quality via remote access
Sorry, I misunderstood your original post.
What happens when you configure the phone app with the local IP address?
What happens when you configure the phone app with the local IP address?
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JanMostert - Posts: 10
- Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2018 1:46 pm
Re: Poor video quality via remote access
Forget the phone. I see difference in quality on my desktop. The quality of the desktop app is better than the quality of the video via the remote access ip address. The latter is running in a browser also on my desktop.
There is also a time delay between them of more than 10 seconds.
I get a feeling that the video via the remote access connection is first encoded by the host software and then streamed to the client. This encoding is done with lower quality than the original.
There is also a time delay between them of more than 10 seconds.
I get a feeling that the video via the remote access connection is first encoded by the host software and then streamed to the client. This encoding is done with lower quality than the original.
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visionik - Posts: 48
- Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:33 am
Re: Poor video quality via remote access
Hi - Let me explain the difference in how the desktop app shows live video vs remote access:
Sighthound Video is roughly broken into two parts, the front-end user interface application and the back-end "worker" applications.
FYI, if you ever check the list of running tasks you'll see one instance of the back-end app for every camera you have on Sighthound Video, plus potentially 1 or 2 more that handle other tasks like notifications and disk cleaning.
The front-end app shows live video by using a technique called memory sharing. The back-end app for the camera being viewed receives the h.264 or mjpeg encoded video from the camera, decodes it, and puts frames from the decoded video it into the shared memory for the front-end.
For remote access - either via the web or via our mobile apps - shared memory can't be used (as it doesn't work remotely), so HTTP is used instead. Specifically, a technique called HLS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Live_Streaming
Our HLS system can either re-encode the video or show the video exactly as it is originally streamed from your camera. The original stream type is available so long as you have set tools -> options -> remote access -> advanced -> Maximum live video resolution to "Original".
We use HLS largely for two reasons: First, it works in just about any web browser. Second, it provides an ability to dynamically adjust bandwidth by offering multiple streams for the web or mobile client to chose from. HLS clients tend to start with the lowest resolution stream, and every few seconds they try to "move up" to the next highest bandwidth stream to see if more bandwidth is available. This lets video clients adapt to thebandwidth rates available on LAN, Wifi, and cellular connections. HLS enables us to adjust the resolution/compression/stream being used every few seconds during a remote live viewing session. YouTube and other video streaming platforms also use the exact same HLS methods.
That setting above is called "Maximum live video resolution" because it is the highest resolution stream we'll offer amongst the HLS options.
Anything lower than that stream will be re-encoded by Sighthound Video to work with less bandwidth. But as I said, so long as the above option is enabled, we'll always offer the native camera resolution/compression as the highest bandwidth stream.
Looking at your dropbox video, it looks like the HLS client in your web browser is trying to "step up" to a higher resolution every two seconds, but is finding that the bandwidth isn't available. This could be because of a bug in the software or an issue on your network. I honestly don't know - and any guess I make as to why could be wrong, so we need more information:
1. What is the original (on camera) resolution of the camera you are trying to view?
2. What kind of camera is it?
3. Are you using h.264 or mjpeg to get video from the camera to Sighthound?
4. Are you using Wifi or a LAN connection?
5. If Wifi, do you know what your WiFi connection speed is ?
Best,
-Jonathan
Sighthound Video is roughly broken into two parts, the front-end user interface application and the back-end "worker" applications.
FYI, if you ever check the list of running tasks you'll see one instance of the back-end app for every camera you have on Sighthound Video, plus potentially 1 or 2 more that handle other tasks like notifications and disk cleaning.
The front-end app shows live video by using a technique called memory sharing. The back-end app for the camera being viewed receives the h.264 or mjpeg encoded video from the camera, decodes it, and puts frames from the decoded video it into the shared memory for the front-end.
For remote access - either via the web or via our mobile apps - shared memory can't be used (as it doesn't work remotely), so HTTP is used instead. Specifically, a technique called HLS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Live_Streaming
Our HLS system can either re-encode the video or show the video exactly as it is originally streamed from your camera. The original stream type is available so long as you have set tools -> options -> remote access -> advanced -> Maximum live video resolution to "Original".
We use HLS largely for two reasons: First, it works in just about any web browser. Second, it provides an ability to dynamically adjust bandwidth by offering multiple streams for the web or mobile client to chose from. HLS clients tend to start with the lowest resolution stream, and every few seconds they try to "move up" to the next highest bandwidth stream to see if more bandwidth is available. This lets video clients adapt to thebandwidth rates available on LAN, Wifi, and cellular connections. HLS enables us to adjust the resolution/compression/stream being used every few seconds during a remote live viewing session. YouTube and other video streaming platforms also use the exact same HLS methods.
That setting above is called "Maximum live video resolution" because it is the highest resolution stream we'll offer amongst the HLS options.
Anything lower than that stream will be re-encoded by Sighthound Video to work with less bandwidth. But as I said, so long as the above option is enabled, we'll always offer the native camera resolution/compression as the highest bandwidth stream.
Looking at your dropbox video, it looks like the HLS client in your web browser is trying to "step up" to a higher resolution every two seconds, but is finding that the bandwidth isn't available. This could be because of a bug in the software or an issue on your network. I honestly don't know - and any guess I make as to why could be wrong, so we need more information:
1. What is the original (on camera) resolution of the camera you are trying to view?
2. What kind of camera is it?
3. Are you using h.264 or mjpeg to get video from the camera to Sighthound?
4. Are you using Wifi or a LAN connection?
5. If Wifi, do you know what your WiFi connection speed is ?
Best,
-Jonathan
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JanMostert - Posts: 10
- Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2018 1:46 pm
Re: Poor video quality via remote access
Thanks for the explanation. Now I understand how it works. Here are the answers to your questions:
1. What is the original (on camera) resolution of the camera you are trying to view?
The camera offers a maximum resolution of 720p
2. What kind of camera is it?
It is a cheap Chinese camera
of the brand Digoo, type DG-WO2f (https://www.banggood.com/Digoo-DG-WO2F- ... &ID=521800)
3. Are you using h.264 or mjpeg to get video from the camera to Sighthound?
Don't know the answer to this question, I'm afraid. I configured it as an onvif camera, connected via rtsp protocol. The configured stream path is rtsp://192.168.1.250/onvif1
4. Are you using Wifi or a LAN connection?
The camera is connected via Wifi; the desktop computer is wired via 1 Gb.
5. If Wifi, do you know what your WiFi connection speed is ?
Can't really tell. With my iPhone at the same locations the camera, the speed is around 15 Mb/sec.
One remark: as I wrote earlier, I see differences in quality on my desktop computer. The quality via remote access (so via HTTP) is poor in comparison with the quality of the video in de Sighthound desktop app. With your explanation I now understand why this could happen.
Funny thing is that I can also connect with the camera via an iOS app from Digoo. I suspect that I connect via a website in China, with HTTP. The quality of this video is very good, so it is possible to see live video via HTTP.
1. What is the original (on camera) resolution of the camera you are trying to view?
The camera offers a maximum resolution of 720p
2. What kind of camera is it?
It is a cheap Chinese camera
of the brand Digoo, type DG-WO2f (https://www.banggood.com/Digoo-DG-WO2F- ... &ID=521800)3. Are you using h.264 or mjpeg to get video from the camera to Sighthound?
Don't know the answer to this question, I'm afraid. I configured it as an onvif camera, connected via rtsp protocol. The configured stream path is rtsp://192.168.1.250/onvif1
4. Are you using Wifi or a LAN connection?
The camera is connected via Wifi; the desktop computer is wired via 1 Gb.
5. If Wifi, do you know what your WiFi connection speed is ?
Can't really tell. With my iPhone at the same locations the camera, the speed is around 15 Mb/sec.
One remark: as I wrote earlier, I see differences in quality on my desktop computer. The quality via remote access (so via HTTP) is poor in comparison with the quality of the video in de Sighthound desktop app. With your explanation I now understand why this could happen.
Funny thing is that I can also connect with the camera via an iOS app from Digoo. I suspect that I connect via a website in China, with HTTP. The quality of this video is very good, so it is possible to see live video via HTTP.