Amcrest ASH43 configuration issues, substream, etc..

M

Michael James

Getting the hang of it
Dec 20, 2016
274
41
Purchased 3 ASH43 bullet cameras for outside.
Running them wireless (no choice, cant run hardwired)
i7 processor running BI5
Amcrest View Pro for configuration of cameras (these do not have web interface)
I gave a try at substreams today. No specific layout for Amcrest there.
Mainstream 2.1 mb, 17 /.54 fps 166 kbps
Substream .3mp, 12 fps/.41 fps 17 kbps
Max rate set at 15 fps

In the Amcrest View Pro app, I have it set for 1920*1080 15 fps and bit rate of 2048

Im getting a choppy video.
 

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i7 doesn;t mean much - what the CPU gen - is it 3XXX, 4XXX, etc.

What is the CPU% running?

Are your cameras going thru the internet wifi router or are they on their own wifi router not connected to internet or are they isolated from the internet via Dual NIC or VLAN?

But the choppy video is probably because they are wifi cams and you are pushing them thru a consumer grade wifi router and you are overloading it. Given they are outside, the signal strength is lower as well.

Once you get above 3 wifi cameras, especially outside, all bets are off that any wifi router can keep up with it. These cameras do not buffer like streaming services. One lost packet and it starts over.

How are they being powered? Could you powerline adapter them to run the data thru the electric lines?
 
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wittaj said:
i7 doesn;t mean much - what the CPU gen - is it 3XXX, 4XXX, etc.

What is the CPU% running?

Are your cameras going thru the internet wifi router or are they on their own wifi router not connected to internet or are they isolated from the internet via Dual NIC or VLAN?

But the choppy video is probably because they are wifi cams and you are pushing them thru a consumer grade wifi router and you are overloading it. Given they are outside, the signal strength is lower as well.

Once you get above 3 wifi cameras, especially outside, all bets are off that any wifi router can keep up with it. These cameras do not buffer like streaming services. One lost packet and it starts over.

How are they being powered? Could you powerline adapter them to run the data thru the electric lines?
Click to expand...

CPU i7 6700HQ 2.6 ghz, 24 gig RAM, 64 bit
12 cameras
Since using Substreams, CPU dropped from 90-98% to 50-60%
Using Asus Mesh system: 4 AX5400 Mesh units and AC3100 main router
4 wireless cameras, the rest are hardwired into one of the mesh routers
Im getting zero drops on the connection in over 48 hours.

Why am I only getting .5 instead of 1 on mainstream and sub fps?
 
That is still high for a 6th gen. People here run 50 cameras on a 4th gen at half your CPU%. Something else is going on.

12 cameras going thru Asus routers, regardless of whether you have a drop or not is problematic.

Cameras connected to Wifi routers (whether wifi or not) are problematic for surveillance cameras because they are always streaming and passing data. And the data demands go up with motion and then you lose signal. A lost packet and it has to resend. It can bring the whole network down if trying to send cameras through a wifi router. At the very least it can slow down your system.

Unlike Netflix and other streaming services that buffer a movie, these cameras do not buffer up part of the video, so drop outs are frequent. You would be amazed how much streaming services buffer - don't believe me, start watching something and unplug your router and watch how much longer you can watch NetFlix before it freezes - mine goes 45 seconds. Now do the same with a wifi camera and it is fairly instantaneous (within the latency of the stream itself)...

The same issue applies even with the hard-wired cameras trying to send all this non-buffer video stream through a router. Most consumer grade wifi routers are not designed to pass the constant video stream data of cameras, and since they do not buffer, you get these issues. The consumer routers are just not designed for this kind of traffic, even a GB speed router.

Maybe it doesn't happen right away but that doesn't mean it wasn't sitting there waiting to happen. Maybe another device on the wifi starts using more bandwidth, you have Alexa or some other Amazon product and now someone is sipping bandwidth through Amazon Sidewalk, a neighbor is sipping your wifi, or you have an ISP provided wifi and it is acting as a hotspot for other people on their system, or a neighbor added a wifi device and you are not getting interference. Tons of things can cripple the wifi connection, even wifi add ons you don't control like a neighbor.

My camera bandwidth demands are 350Mbps - that will bring any consumer wifi router to a standstill, even a GB router with a lot of RAM.

You need to either get a VLAN like the Edgerouter VLAN switch or a dual NIC system to keep those cameras from passing thru the router OR at the very least connect the cameras and the BI computer to the same switch and then the switch to the router.

Your key of 0.5 is because the iframes are not matching the FPS.
 
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I don't have that particular camera, but if it doesn't have a web interface, then you may just be stuck with not being able to adjust it.

Hopefully someone else that has that camera can chime in.
 
That processor is a mobile processor. It will throttle under load as it gets too hot. Not an appropriate processor for constant streams of video.
 
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You will get 12 million responses to that question LOL. Best by what - price or newest?

If you can find an i7-4th gen cheap, it will run the system fine as long as you do every optimization in the wiki, with substreams being one of the most important.

But look for an intel chip with no letters after it, so i7-4790, etc.

Basics are 4th gen and up (but most will say go with at least a 6th or 7th gen), 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, and xGB of HDD
 
I'm using an i7-6700K which is a desktop/workstation processor. Basically, as long as it's not listed as a mobile processor you'll be fine with a 5th generation or newer. Newer is better but costs can get in the way so choose what fits your budget. With sub streams in Blue Iris you can support really large systems on some pretty old hardware without any problems at all.
 
sebastiantombs said:
I'm using an i7-6700K which is a desktop/workstation processor. Basically, as long as it's not listed as a mobile processor you'll be fine with a 5th generation or newer. Newer is better but costs can get in the way so choose what fits your budget. With sub streams in Blue Iris you can support really large systems on some pretty old hardware without any problems at all.
Click to expand...

Im looking for something with a small footprint to fit in a cabinet. Any suggestions?
 
The best solution would be a refurb mini tower from HP or Dell. That would provide enough drive space for storage, but you need to check out the models to make sure there are enough SATA connections, power connections and drive bays.
 
I'm not an expert on Dell gear, I "roll my own". @Flintstone61

You'd do better looking on eBay, and I hate to say that. Prices there seem lower to me. In terms of specs either would do the job easily.
 
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Writing video to an SSD is not advisable. SSD drives are not normally designed for constant writes which is what happes to a surveillance drive. SSD drive life is based on the number of write operations and video is a constant, never ending, write operation. A surveillance rated platter drive like a Western Digital Purple is the style of drive to use for video storage and I'd say a minimum of 8TB.

Have a look in the Wiki in the blue bar at the top of the page. There's a whole topic on selecting hardware and another to optimize performance.
 
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sebastiantombs said:
Writing video to an SSD is not advisable. SSD drives are not normally designed for constant writes which is what happed to a surveillance drive. SSD drive life is based on the number of write operations and video is a constant, never ending, write operation. A surveillance rated platter drive like a Western Digital Purple is the style of drive to use for video storage and I'd say a minimum of 8TB.

Have a look in the Wiki in the blue bar at the top of the page. There's a whole topic on selecting hardware and another to optimize performance.
Click to expand...

Does any company sell a solution in a box? One of these desktop computers with a WD Purple already installed? Like a DVR computer company?
I don't know enough about this technology to actually know which computer to but that would be compatible with the WD Purple HD and all the other stuff.
 
Michael James said:
Does any company sell a solution in a box? One of these desktop computers with a WD Purple already installed? Like a DVR computer company?
I don't know enough about this technology to actually know which computer to but that would be compatible with the WD Purple HD and all the other stuff.
Click to expand...

That is the beauty of these things - any tower will accept a WD purple drive. It isn't some proprietary magic box.

Simply do a search for the things we said and post here and let people comment.

Or @Flintstone61 has been good lately at helping people find the right computer, so maybe he will chime in with the deals he sees.
 
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