Video looks grainy in Blue Iris and the Blue Iris app

[Eagleeye]

Hi everyone, I have a problem with some of my Hikvision DS-2CD2132F cameras which are located outdoors when viewing with Blue Iris from the desktop computer or the BI app. The picture look grainy which comes and goes on it's own. When the picture looks grainy and I reboot the camera via the BI app the picture looks good in the BI desktop and in the BI app again.The picture could be good for hours or just a few minutes before it goes bad. When I view the cameras with CMS the pictures are good all the time even when BI show them bad. I'm running the latest version of BI as of yesterday (05-01-17) which I paid for. This problem has been with me since I deployed the cameras about a year ago. Since then I upgraded my windows 7 to Windows 10 via a fresh install and of coarse reloaded BI.
There are pictures attached, one showing the grainy the other is after I reboot the camera.

 

[looney2ns]

What are the computer specs? What video driver is in use?
What is the cpu and ram usage?

 

[ItechashardasIcanbro]

How long are your runs of cable?
Are you by chance using some sort coax converter?
What is powering this? (check pwr outputs)
Have you checked the physical connections recently for signs of buildup/corrosion?
Do you notice any physical wear around the cam, or condensation on the inside of the lens?


~"Keep er Safe bud"~

 

[Eagleeye]

Thanks for replying looney2ns and itechashardaslcanbro I will have answers for your questions in a couple of days, I'm asking for my son in law who has 'this problem. I know the Blue Iris computer has to go thru 2 switches in the house (short runs) then it leaves the house underground in conduit to the barn/pole barn which is about 110 feet. Then a punch down is installed on that end of cable, then another cable plugs into the punch down and goes about 50 feet before it hooks up to a 24 port POE switch. Then from the POE switch the cables go directly to the cameras which are located inside and outside the barn but only the outside cameras look grainy sometimes.

 

[Eagleeye]

Sorry I just noticed that the above picture 3445.jpg is the wrong one, the correct ones are below.

 

[fenderman]

Sorry I just noticed that the above picture 3445.jpg is the wrong one, the correct ones are below.

post your camera video settings as well as the blue iris video settings..

 

[Eagleeye]

Looney2ns the computer specs are:
Windows 10 Pro
I7-6700K@ 4.00GHz
Ram 32Gb
Video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX960
Video driver was version 21.21.13.7653 date 12/29/2016. I upgraded it to version 21.21.13.7878 date 2/23/2017.
Blue Iris shows 11 cameras, CPU Running at 21% mem at 2.83

I just found out the outside cameras that may look grainy are NOT Hikvision cameras as stated earlier, they are USG DK7080SGPa dome.

 

[Eagleeye]

Fenderman here are some pictures of some camera settings that I have right now. Img3485 and img3486 settings seem to work for the USG cameras that are located inside. Img3488 was taken from a outside USG camera and as you can see the low shutter field is medium instead of low and the IR_Cut field is Automatically Switch instead of IR Synchronous Switch. I did change those two settings to match the inside cameras. I don't have any BI pictures right now maybe in a couple days when I get back out there.

 

[Eagleeye]

itechashardaslcanbro: the pole barn is 80'by80' so the cable length is well within the cat 5e and cat 6 spec. I'm not using a coax converter. The barn is a newly built so the electric better be good, however the main 24 POE port switch is a no name switch which has me worried. I won't climb up a ladder 16' high to check the connections, I'll let my son in law go up and check connections and the condition of the cameras.

 

[Mr-Gizmo]

Fenderman here are some pictures of some camera settings that I have right now. Img3485 and img3486 settings seem to work for the USG cameras that are located inside. Img3488 was taken from a outside USG camera and as you can see the low shutter field is medium instead of low and the IR_Cut field is Automatically Switch instead of IR Synchronous Switch. I did change those two settings to match the inside cameras. I don't have any BI pictures right now maybe in a couple days when I get back out there.

I noticed a few things. For starters your camera's bitrate is set to an odd value of 2707. This is a bit low for a 2MP camera. For 1080p, I would recommend 4Mbps to 6Mbps. I would start with changing your bitrate to 4096 and re-evaluate. You can also try changing the Bit rate type from VBR to CBR.

You should really match your camera's I-Frame value to frame rate. Since your camera is configured for 15 fps, I would change the I-Frame from 2 to 15.

Setting your I-frame value to a low value increases the size of the video transmission over your network between each group of frames (GOP), which in your case is every 15 frames. Each I-frame represents a complete picture. Normally, after each I-Frame there are partial picture frames that only contain what changed from the previous picture frame. A new complete picture frame is generated at each I-Frame interval. So, having a low I-Frame value increases the number of complete picture frames for frame rate of your camera, which is in your case 15 fps. You are wasting bandwidth and increasing your storage space required for video.

 

[Eagleeye]

Mr-Gizmo thanks for the suggestions the next time I'm at my son in-law I will try what you suggested.
Fenderman, I still owe you some more information.

 

[Eagleeye]

Ok I made it out to my son in law and I made some adjustments as you can see in the pics.I adjusted the I Frames to the max of 12, and the only way to Adjust the Bit Rates was go into the Quality field and select good,better and best which increased the bit rates. The attached picture is what I see now (really grainy) plus I noticed the date stamp changed back to the year 2001 and I know I put the correct date in. This date thing happened to 7 out of 9 USG cameras which are all hooked up to the same switch. The Hikvision cameras are all ok, and they are hooked up to the same switch.
I personally think the USG cameras are junk, with that said I just received 4 Dahua DH-IPC-HDW5231R-Z from Andy yesterday which I will replace the outside USG cameras with these. I will try to use the USG cameras inside where they seem to do better except for that Time/Date stamp thing.
The picture of the boat on the front end you will notice black squares after movement, that's another problem with those cameras outside but not inside.

 

[RogMan]

Watching for the fix. It is like you saved a screenshot of my camera and posted the exact same under your name.

 

[Eagleeye]

Well everyone I replaced 2 of the bad USG outside cameras with Dahua DH-IPC-HDW5231R-Z camera and so far for the last 2 days I have not had any problems. Blue Iris is working as it should with the Dahua and Hikvision cameras that are located outside. I will take the USG cameras home and play with them and let you know what I find out if anything.

 

[Eagleeye]

RogMan what kind of cameras you have that are giving you trouble?

 

[RogMan]

All of them do it but not always at the same time.
Here is list:
1 Nellys
1 Huisun mini ptz v,1
2 Empire
5 Enster 5812
Right now, 3 of them doing it until I click something to wake it up.
Thanks,
Roger

 

[fenderman]

All of them do it but not always at the same time.
Here is list:
1 Nellys
1 Huisun mini ptz v,1
2 Empire
5 Enster 5812
Right now, 3 of them doing it until I click something to wake it up.
Thanks,
Roger

Test problem cams using rtsp in vlc...ping cameras to check for packet loss..you will be messing with this forever if you don't focus on isolating the cause