Artifacts and delays/freezes in video stream from IP camera

I have recently purchased an ANRAN IP 1080P IR array camera. The video feed looks great in the basic software that came with the camera and has excellent color and clarity, plus the response to activity within range of the camera comes through quickly and without delays.

I have tried using the ffmpeg and VLC plugin options for the camera within iSpy with varied results on several different computers. The first PC was a 1st gen Core i3 730M laptop. I know the HD video onboard with this is nothing special so I tried a Sandy Bridge Core i7 quad core laptop. Things were better with this laptop and CPU usage was much less but the video feed would still delay or freeze from time to time. I also tried an AMD E-300 APU based laptop which is a pretty miserable excuse for a computer and it wasn't really any worse although the CPU usage was pretty much pegged with only 1 camera.

The artifacts do look slightly different with each computer so I think there is something to do with iSpy or VLC not working nicely with the video feed and the graphics chipset of the computer. Sometimes the artifacts are a blank space or colorful vertical lines towards the bottom of the display. Other times it is a random mix of colors like a psychedelic impressionist painting. These odd colors often only appear where there is motion such as grass and brush blowing in the wind. There is also a several second delay in the motion with each computer although it is reduced with the Core i7.

I only plan to have maybe 2x 1080P cameras and don't want to dedicate a nice Core i7 to this purpose. I was hoping this cast off Core i3 would do the trick. Anyone know why the feed looks fine in the camera monitoring/configuration software but not ispy? I tried using hardware acceleration in the GPU and this didn't change much although the CPU use went down. I understand a slight delay is unavoidable due to processing overhead of the stream but this is different.

I have seen other posts about this but no definite answers. I figure this might also have to do with my configuring something incorrectly as I am new to this.

Your symptoms sound like you're losing network packets, so the software's unable to completely re-assemble the frame for display.

Whether that's the hardware or software is hard to say. You might try these things to see if they help:

- Reduce the frame rate

- Reduce the bit rate

- Reduce the resolution

- Change from CBR to VBR, or vice-versa

You could also try downloading the demo version of Blue Iris for a 3rd opinion. It's pretty CPU hungry, but I run a 1st gen i3-540 desktop using BI with 6 cams, 8MP, at 10 fps with no problems, so your i3 laptop should be able to handle one camera.

Thanks. I did download Blue Iris demo software and the issue seems solved for now. I am back on the Core i3 laptop which is the one I would like to stick with if possible. I need to re-adjust the sensitivity and such as it is a new program to me but hope to get it recording automatically to my liking. I will gladly pay the $50 if it continues to work. I plan to run maybe 2x 1080P cameras and a couple basic cameras operating through an analog to digital conversion and this laptop should do it fine from what you indicate.

I played around with several computers in iSpy and had the same problems with all of them. Blue Iris seems to natively interact with the camera a lot better as it uses the media port which iSpy does not. The camera monitoring software also uses this port and works well so I think this is the solution.

Conor