Video Frame Drop By VMS?

Hi Yves,

There are a few reasons why a VMS may drop frames I can think of:

• Network spikes due to other processes on VMS server (Windows Updates).
• In low bandwidth or network constraints the VMS will drop frames first (camera in focus/single view will try to maintain requested FPS)
• Sometimes VMS architecture could cause long requests/response times from camera, dropping a few frames
• High/maxed CPU especially with high frame rates (30) for multiple cameras.
• What about Anti-virus programs, they're notorious for blocking some VMS processes.

And finally, probably the most common, you can view a camera set at 30fps via browser, but when that camera is added to a VMS where there is usually a FPS default (range between 10-15FPS) it will only accept the max requested and drop the rest.

Tell me about your experience, is your VMS dropping lots of frames? at certain times? only some cameras?

It would also be wise to check whether the IP camera is the bottleneck. During some experiments over here, we thought our VMS was dropping packets when displaying full HD H.264@25 FPS video streams. However, it turned out to be that the IP cameras couldn't cope with encoding the H.264 video streams at the designed frame rate.

Hi Sarit, we ruled out the switch (a NetGear GS724TP) to be the problem. The problematic cameras are Axis P1347 (firmware 5.40.9.2) and Axis P1346 (firmware 5.40.9.3).

Perhaps it's the camera that can't handle the output? According to Axis, the P1347 can output "5-megapixel resolution at 12 fps and full HDTV 1080p"

This would align up with the test you performed.

I'm almost 100% certain that it's the camera that cannot handle the output.

Regarding your remark, I believe you are mistaken with respect to the max FPS for HDTV 1080 mode. It should handle 30 FPS. Take a look at these specs. 12 FPS is indeed for 5MP mode, but not for HDTV 1080. Where did you get this information from?

Try CBR