DS-7608NI-I2/8P Performance Issues?

[pazz]

I have a DS-7608NI-I2/8P that I bought from use-ip 3 years ago. The system was installed with 6x DS-2CD2386G2-IU (AcuSense with microphone) and 2x 4TB WD Purple HDDs.

The system has faired pretty well up until when I recently added 2x Reolink WiFi cameras to the NVR over ONVIF.

The first problem is that the doorbell camera seems to be limited within Hikvision to only accept the cameras “fluent” video config of 640x480@10fps, despite the camera having a “clear” stream config of 2560x1920@15fps. The option to select a different resolution is greyed out. This differs to the other camera which is an indoor unit that Hikvision seems happy to take its “clear” stream of 2560x1440@15fps and allow you drop down to 1920x1080@15fps if needed.

However this leads me on to the second problem, which is perhaps the more concerning issue, in that the playback of recording on the indoor camera is incredibly choppy. The playback on the doorbell seems to be okay, but I guess it should be, given the lower stream quality.

Debugging carried out so far:

• The Hikvision cameras seem to playback recorded video fine, just as they did before I added the 2x Reolinks.
• I’ve confirmed via the Reolink app that both of the Reolink cameras are able to stream over their WiFi connection with no apparent degradation in video quality whatsoever.
• As for codecs, the 6x Hikvision cameras are all set to H265 and I believe that the 2x Reolinks are on H264. Or at least as reported on Hikivision web interface.
• I'm on the most recent NVR firmware.

I havent tried lowering the indoor cameras resolution, which I've just considered whilst writing this, so will do this now and see how I get on but really, that's a compromise.

Am I hitting the bandwidth limit of the 7608NI-I2/8P? Is there a way to tell this more objectively as before I go and buy a new NVR I'd like to be able to confirm this, particularly given the current unit isnt very old. I also expected performance of the Hikvision cameras to be impacted by the additional Reolinks, but it seems not.

Lastly, and assuming I am hitting the performance limit of the I series NVR, will the Hikvision DS-7608NI-M2/8P be sufficient or will I need something more powerful still like the DS-7616NI-M2/16P?

 

[johnfitzy]

The first problem is that the doorbell camera seems to be limited within Hikvision to only accept the cameras “fluent” video config of 640x480@10fps, despite the camera having a “clear” stream config of 2560x1920@15fps. The option to select a different resolution is greyed out. This differs to the other camera which is an indoor unit that Hikvision seems happy to take its “clear” stream of 2560x1440@15fps and allow you drop down to 1920x1080@15fps if needed.

I haven't used ONVIF, but I'd guess the compatibility you are seeing now is the best you will get with ONVIF... an alternative would be to switch at least the doorbell from ONVIF to RTSP... I think you would be able to record the clear/main stream that way, but you would not be using the NVR to configure the camera... instead just use whatever Reolink software there is... I have a similar setup to you with some Wi-Fi cameras (doorbells and 2 indoor cameras) added to my Hikvision NVR, but they are EZ-Viz cameras which use the Hikvision protocol, so things are quite compatible.

However this leads me on to the second problem, which is perhaps the more concerning issue, in that the playback of recording on the indoor camera is incredibly choppy.

Again, I would try RTSP rather than ONVIF, at least to test if the recording/playback improves.

Am I hitting the bandwidth limit of the 7608NI-I2/8P?

The incoming bandwidth limit on the DS-7608NI-I2/8P is 80MB. You're probably using most of it especially after adding the 2 new cameras. What bitrate are you running on the cameras? There is a "Network Resource Statistics" screen if you log into the web GUI that will show you how much of the 80MB you have allocated (this screenshot is the 5.0 GUI, but it was also in the 4.0 GUI) ...

Lastly, and assuming I am hitting the performance limit of the I series NVR, will the Hikvision DS-7608NI-M2/8P be sufficient or will I need something more powerful still like the DS-7616NI-M2/16P?

The I series NVR was the way to go when you got it 3 years ago... If you decide it needs to be replaced, go with the DS-7616NI-M2/16P.... it has 256MB incoming bandwidth vs 128MB on the DS-7608NI-M2/8P... and you have 8 cameras now, not hard to imagine you might want to add at least 1 more camera sometime?

I upgraded from I series to M series last year... the M series is much faster/smoother.... notwithstanding some growing pains with the latest firmware that adds GUI 5.0...

Latest HikVision Firmware for M-Series NVRs (with 5.0 GUI) - V5.01.060_240110

 

[David]

@pazz,
I had a similar ONVIF problem and ended up adding the cameras to the NVR using the custom protocol option and the RTSP protocol. I think two different ONVIF standards agreed a lower common ONVIF standard to offer "fluent" video resolution only. The camera offered three RTSP URL streams with Low / Medium / High video resolution along with audio.

David

 

[pazz]

Thanks both.

So I've removed and re-added both of the Reolink cameras but this time set them up to use RTSP protocol (via custom protocol). That is, after having had some fun working out the correct path config.

Unfortunately the performance when viewing the stream of the indoor camera within the Hik web interface is just as bad. Yet when I view it within VLC, it's fine.

See below Network Resource Stats after having re-added the cameras over RTSP. This seems to suggest there is headroom as I'm only at 35.2/80Mbps.

All of the Hik cameras are set to the below config:

 

[johnfitzy]

Unfortunately the performance when viewing the stream of the indoor camera within the Hik web interface is just as bad. Yet when I view it within VLC, it's fine.

What is the model number of the camera? Can you adjust the bitrate of the camera using the Reolink software? Maybe the bitrate is too low?

This seems to suggest there is headroom as I'm only at 35.2/80Mbps.

Plenty of room there so I it doesn't seem like the Reolink issue could be caused by limited NVR incoming bandwidth.

I might try increasing the bitrates for the 6 Hikvision cameras from 5120 Kbps to maybe 8192 Kbps... the max bitrate on those seems kind of low considering the resolution and frame rate. Your overall incoming would change from 35/80 to about 53/80 Mbps.

 

[pazz]

Thanks johnfitzy.

The indoor is an E1 Pro. Link here. The bitrate is set to 5120. See below configs for both Reolinks. 5120 is the highest bitrate I can select.

E1 Pro

Doorbell

Frame rate mode is constant (not variable).

I've upped all the Hiks to 8192kpbs.

 

[johnfitzy]

Yet when I view it within VLC, it's fine.

Since you can view the stream correctly in VLC, all must be good with the camera/router Wi-Fi connection ...

I noticed in the camera specs...

Any chance you are trying to get the mainstream to more than 2 devices at the same time?

Here's my "system maintenance/running info/record" page:

Cameras 10 and 11 are connected with RTSP... camera 10 has a max bitrate of 4096 but the NVR shows 2048... at night the camera does run at a higher bitrate, and I see something like 4444/2048... I wonder what bitrates you see on your NVR's record page?

 

[pazz]

Had a think as to whether I was viewing the mainstream to more than 2 devices, but realised that for the impacted camera; the indoor E1 Pro, I was only viewing one stream at any time. So another dead end.

Unfortunately I don't have a monitor hooked up to my NVR as its in a server cab so can't easily check the "system maintenance/running info/record" page.

But having worked out that it was now just the E1 Pro I was having issues with, I decided to check if there was a firmware update for the E1 Pro on the Reolink website. I totally thought this was a longshot, as it must've only been a couple of months ago that I last checked, but low and behold, there was an update released only on 10th Jan 2024. I updated the device to this firmware last night and with great success I can report the stream is now smooth within Hik-Connect, Hik Portal/GUI and when playing back recorded footage. It's been painful getting this far and has cast doubt on adding further Reolink cameras. I think Reolink's only defence is that the E1 Pro is I think a relatively new model.

Thank you johnfitzy for all your help. If I can buy you a beer/coffee please let me know.

 

[David]

@pazz,
Did you revert back to ONVIF?

David

 

[johnfitzy]

Did you revert back to ONVIF?

Oh, that's a really good point... I assumed he was still using RTSP, but the firmware update may have fixed/improved the ONVIF connection also.

 

[pazz]

I'll switch them back to ONVIF and report back.

 

[pazz]

Tested stream and playback on the E1 Pro since reverting to ONVIF and seems to be fine.

Frustrating but at the same time relief in that I've managed to resolve the issue. The E1 Pro is destined as a baby monitor so you can probably imagine there was pressure being applied to get it working properly!

Thanks again everyone who replied.