NVR Remote Bandwidth Control

[dyna]

Hello,

I have a DS-7732NI-I4 / 24P

The NVR is on a cellular data plan (for remote viewing). I was hoping I would be able to limit the users' to only view sub channels with lower bitrates. This in turn would make the cellular data plan (10 GB per month, but would be willing to spend up to 20 GB) last much, much longer.

If the user goes into single screen mode then they get the main channel stream (currently set to 1080p). The bandwidth usage is about 4 Mbit/s. That's recording quality which is NOT optimal for remote viewing in my case. An non attentive user leaving that running for an extended time will kill the bandwidth budget.

I guessed the NVR would have some way of limiting the bandwidth for streaming but this is not really the case. Only if the users views 9 or higher cameras does the NVR utilize the sub channels with their low bitrates. I can't force the sub channel stream for 1 and 2x2 views. My idea was then to give them access to the encoded "zero channel" but apparently that is only for admin (Thanks for checking that Dan).

At this point I am out of ideas on how to limit the bandwidth. My only remaining choice is apparently to limit the recording quality to 720p. Cameras are 4k btw. Seems like a waste.

If I am missing something PLEASE let me know.

Thanks

 

[fullboogie]

Have you set each cam's maximum resolution and bitrate for substream viewing in that cam's interface - not the NVR's interface?

 

[dyna]

Have you set each cam's maximum resolution and bitrate for substream viewing in that cam's interface - not the NVR's interface?

I am not at the site so it will take some port routing to get to be able to get to the cameras. It would take some doing but I can do it if necessary. It might not be. I think the NVR has the camera settings and sets them. See below. Notice how the list of supported resolutions is different between the two cameras. The NVR rejects me when I try to "copy to all" because of that one camera is different (PTZ).

Do you think it would be beneficial to dig into each camera directly?

 

[fullboogie]

Yes, it's been a problem. You need to set it on each cam's individual page, not the NVR page. Then it will be "accepted" by the NVR. Can't tell you why, but it's how it works. Let us know.

 

[StewartM]

What software are you using for the remote viewing? I ask because it's harder to implement streaming restrictions (that actually stick) on mobile devices vs. remote viewing with iVMS-4200 on a PC. Let me know as it should be possible either way.

 

[dyna]

Yes, it's been a problem. You need to set it on each cam's individual page, not the NVR page. Then it will be "accepted" by the NVR. Can't tell you why, but it's how it works. Let us know.

fullboogie,

You were right.

I managed to get my streams into to VNC using the rtsp urls. I could see the actual bitrates and frame rates. In the NVR menu, I had set all the cameras to 12 FPS. VNC reports 30 FPS.

I had to get into the cameras' pages remotely since I'm not on site. I managed to SSH into the NVR. Then I setup a SSH tunnel to the NVR that directed traffic to port 80 on the cameras pages.

Finally in the camera pages, I see what you mean. The settings were not the same. I fixed them all one by one. By knowing this and having a route into the cameras' pages I will be able to optimize the video quality. Also, there are more settings. Before this, nothing made sense when I'd tweak the settings.

What software are you using for the remote viewing? I ask because it's harder to implement streaming restrictions (that actually stick) on mobile devices vs. remote viewing with iVMS-4200 on a PC. Let me know as it should be possible either way.

The end users will use their desktops for viewing, 99% of the time. What do you recommend for that? I now have learned how to call the cameras via rtsp url. However, one of the cameras is a PTZ so it would be much better if they could use some software that supports this feature. BTW, I also managed to find the channel zero rtsp url. This is my fall back if I can't get the iVMS-4200 working with reasonably low bandwidth while keeping the recording quality good.

 

[fullboogie]

Glad that worked for you Dyna. There are lots of quirks in the Hik universe that sometimes don't make sense. Trial and error usually prevails, or sometimes the issue has been documented on a website. I ran into this issue after installing my system and figured out how to fix it.

For future reference, the same holds true for setting max bitrate. Set it on the camera page, not the NVR page.

 

[StewartM]

As you mentioned, it would be a waste to hobble the recording quality by restricting your 4K cameras to anything less than full HD. Provided your users don’t use the remote playback feature often you could try the following.

For client-side software, I recommend iVMS-4200 v2.8.22. I find Hikvision’s other offerings like iVMS-4200 Lite too buggy and iVMS-4200 v3.x more complicated to configure. Again, that’s just my personal experience.

Try iVMS-4200 on your PC first and see if you're happy with the results.

Match the settings of the Main Stream on the cameras and NVR. Since you won’t be using the Main Stream for remote viewing you can set this to at least Full HD.

Set the NVR and camera sub-streams to match. Keep the settings to a conservative level similar to:

Assuming you have installed iVMS-4200 and have added the NVR, navigate to the Group tab in Device Management. Highlight a camera (you'll have to do it for each one) and click the Modify option.

Here you can set the Video Stream type to Sub-stream. TCP and Private protocol are fine as is.

One you have set all the cameras to sub-stream you need to edit the config settings:
In Tool>System Configuration>Image un-tick Auto-change Stream Type. Set Play Performance to Balanced.

On the Live View and Playback tab make sure Disconnect Background Videos... is ticked.

Save the changes and navigate to the Main View tab.
Right click each camera and select the Sub-Stream. This ensures only the the sub-stream loads for live streaming.

Provided there isn't too much motion/scene complexity you should be able to get a single camera stream under the 50KB/sec mark.

Give it a try and let me know.

 

[dyna]

Give it a try and let me know.

I followed all of the steps. I must say that everything went perfectly. The software version you recommend is so much more bug free than the latest. It even installed on this one PC that has had issues with some Adobe component.

I feel much more in control too. I don't think the users will be able to accidentally do very much damage to the bandwidth budget while doing routine live viewing. Modifying the cameras was key. I did see a setting in the cameras for the playback stream. Is it really possible to select the playback stream the user can access in this setting?

I have to test out the bandwidth in various views during the daytime. I'll report back again.

I greatly appreciate the total package of your post from the plan to detailing the settings and software version.



Dyna