Recent problems with Reolink cameras
Having upgraded my cameras over the last few months I am very happy with them, they are Reolink 410 and 423 models. For some reason I have however started to encounter problems with them which despite my best efforts I have been unable to fix - basically there are huge numbers of disconnects, which didn't happen before.
I have found that the 423 requires more power (803.2at rather than 803.2af) as it is PTZ but weirdly that one seem a lot more reliable than the others, all are running through POE injectors (803.2af compatible).
So, in my efforts to solve this, is there any reason why none of the cameras work with the Reolink setting in SS? I have them setup with ONVIF and that seems fine to a point but don't know if there is some slight incompatibility - if I use that setting I just get 'unexpected data' - that is causing my issues. Many of the errors are as follows:
08/03/2018 21:02:48: Error communicating with the network device "hutCam". 4.2.3,8440,8871 Failed to obtain video frame from network device.
08/03/2018 21:06:42: Error communicating with the network device "hutCam". 4.2.3,70900,800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. The operation timed out.
08/03/2018 21:08:25: Error communicating with the network device "hutCam". 4.2.3,80210,999 Failed to obtain video frame from network device.
08/03/2018 21:09:57: Error communicating with the network device "hutCam". 4.2.3,8440,8800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. Connection closed by the other side.
I know this is all a little vague, but any ideas where I can start? I have ordered a new POE injector that is 803.2at compatible for the 423 PTZ camera just to be on the safe side.
I have found that the 423 requires more power (803.2at rather than 803.2af) as it is PTZ but weirdly that one seem a lot more reliable than the others, all are running through POE injectors (803.2af compatible).
So, in my efforts to solve this, is there any reason why none of the cameras work with the Reolink setting in SS? I have them setup with ONVIF and that seems fine to a point but don't know if there is some slight incompatibility - if I use that setting I just get 'unexpected data' - that is causing my issues. Many of the errors are as follows:
08/03/2018 21:02:48: Error communicating with the network device "hutCam". 4.2.3,8440,8871 Failed to obtain video frame from network device.
08/03/2018 21:06:42: Error communicating with the network device "hutCam". 4.2.3,70900,800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. The operation timed out.
08/03/2018 21:08:25: Error communicating with the network device "hutCam". 4.2.3,80210,999 Failed to obtain video frame from network device.
08/03/2018 21:09:57: Error communicating with the network device "hutCam". 4.2.3,8440,8800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. Connection closed by the other side.
I know this is all a little vague, but any ideas where I can start? I have ordered a new POE injector that is 803.2at compatible for the 423 PTZ camera just to be on the safe side.
Comments
If you are now sure that the power supply to the cameras is working correctly, then the only thing left to cause the instability is the network. How are the cameras connected to the Mac? Are any on WiFi, or are they all connected by wired Ethernet? Are you using a high-quality switch to connect everything together.
There is one more thing that could be going on here: with some Reolink cameras, after a disconnection, we have seen the reconnection fail due to the camera sending bad data. This is consistent with some of the errors you are seeing. We have contacted Reolink about this and are awaiting a reply - I will let you know what I hear back from them.
I found that when I removed it completely the other cameras settled down. The 423 is now plugged in in another location in the house via its proper power supply and it too is working great, I started recording on schedule at 1700hrs, it is now 2000hrs and there have been no disconnects of any camera.
So, potentially the problem may have been solved - I have ordered a 803.2at injector which should hopefully arrive on Monday so will try the 423 with that, if it works - great, if it causes problems still I will have to buy a power lead extension and just run two cables to that particular camera.
I am pretty unknowledgeable with all the CCTV stuff so it is a bit of a learning curve for me, just finding out about different poe standards was a revelation.
Hopefully Reolink will get back to you, I have found their customer service pretty good myself. Out of interest, what is the difference between the Reolink and ONVIF settings and any idea what the Reolink one doesn't seem to work?
Reolink told me a few days ago they have reached out to SS, which reading above should make SS and Reolink discussing the issues ;-) Reolink does not much support Mac - so maybe a deal can be had to make SS the 'mac software' for Reolink in exchange for any R&D into their own app - and spend that time making the Reolink/SS connection solid.
Is there no way for SS to incorporate the UID of a Reolink into the setup? Or am I missing how the connection works.
I would love to get some other ideas of best possible settings for Reolink or any POE cameras that work well with SS that have as good of image quality as the Reolink.
While I do try to monitor my house, I am also an outdoor photographer and found it quite interesting the things you can find on a security camera a few feet into the woods from the house, but I want more than simply identifying something. So sadly - monitoring video feeds is becoming an obsession.
I have a short time further to figure out SS/Reolink or back to the Reolink app monitoring 640x480 10 minute clips - continuously recording at only about 80-90% of the hour.
I don't know the technical side of such things but perhaps try removing all cameras from your network and power and then adding them one at a time, trying poe or power for each if possible. This is how I was able to track down that the 423 running over poe was apparently causing all my problems, I don't know quite how or why it was able to affect everything else but since sorting it out I have had 12 hours of continuous footage captured with no issues.
Thanks
Will be very interesting to see what happens when I get the power extension for the 423, hopefully by giving it a decent 12v 2a supply it will not affect the rest of the network adversely.
It still takes a huge amount of time to reconnect after a disconnect on any Reolink -> often 3-5 minutes on any of the reolinks. I am comfortable with the amount of drops, if I could get the reconnect/uptime higher. I run 1 hour segments - and often end up with only 55 minutes of recording. If I could get that to 59+ I would be more accepting.
I started with a 2mb no zoom MicroSeven - that had its own app I had to use, which at the time was not what I wanted and it sat for a couple years. Now with SS it might be close to the best camera. Certainly the best at staying connected.
I am going to redo my whole network in a few weeks, and I will take your advice and go one at a time. Also running on MBpro at moment, and while it seems to be fine, I have more power I will put the SS on.
I have only gone down to 2 cameras and worked up. One thing I am wondering about also are the (2) 411s use 20-25% cpu according to the SS info...while the 423 is only using 12-13. That strikes me as in reverse. These 2 411s are on separate POE switches also. I keep trying to turn down the frame rate or resolution on any of the Reolinks and always end up with double the issues, so going to stay on 30fps and 2560x1440.
good luck with the testing, all i can really add at this point is that mine was a very similar problem and appears to be solved so there is hope...
The three 410s have all been working 100%, no connection issues at all, and certainly no drops, so all is good there. They are all connected via a cheapish poe switch running into a home plug in my conservatory.
Still issues with the 423 (this is plugged into a home plug in my living room) - today I received a good quality poe injector, plugged the 423 in and within a minute one of the 410s threw an error and disconnected. From this I can almost definitively say that the 423 through poe is somehow causing issues with the other cameras in SS. So, I plugged in an extra long power cable that also arrived today - the 410 cameras have been fine with this, no disconnects at all, however the 423, although showing a pretty steady 30fps on its status, seems to be having occasional frame drops in its window, hard to tell how much but certainly every couple of seconds or so.
So, is this a problem caused by power/SS/network/faulty camera, anyone any ideas? I am definitely getting there as all problems seem to be related to the 423 so I can almost write the 410s out of the problem solving loop, I only have problems when the 423 is on the network.
I can't help thinking there is something simple going on here, my home plugs are 500mbps ones, surely they have enough bandwidth for my needs, I have one connected to my router, one in the living room servicing just the 423 and one in the conservatory for the 3 x 410s. my iMac is connected via ethernet to my router, I also have an AirPort Extreme plugged via ethernet into my router for my wireless but that only has a couple of Apple TVs and iPads and iPhones running off it. So any homeplug issue would only affect the cameras.
My logs showed everything was fine until the 423 was plugged in today, then I get this (bigCam and pondCam are the 423 - I changed the name for easier identification, all other cameras are 410s):
14/03/2018 15:27:16: Error communicating with the network device "garageCam". 4.2.3,10,835 Excessive packet loss from network device, the network may be too slow or defective, or this computer may be overloaded. Check the network and/or reduce this camera's frame rate.
14/03/2018 15:28:14: Error communicating with the network device "garageCam". 4.2.3,8440,8800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. Connection closed by the other side.
14/03/2018 15:28:41: Error communicating with the network device "garageCam". 4.2.3,8440,8871 Failed to obtain video frame from network device.
14/03/2018 15:38:51: Error communicating with the network device "bigCam". 4.2.3,70900,800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. The operation timed out.
14/03/2018 15:54:34: Error communicating with the network device "garageCam". 4.2.3,10,835 Excessive packet loss from network device, the network may be too slow or defective, or this computer may be overloaded. Check the network and/or reduce this camera's frame rate.
14/03/2018 15:56:05: Error communicating with the network device "bigCam". 4.2.3,70900,800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. The operation timed out.
14/03/2018 16:31:03: Error communicating with the network device "garageCam". 4.2.3,10,835 Excessive packet loss from network device, the network may be too slow or defective, or this computer may be overloaded. Check the network and/or reduce this camera's frame rate.
14/03/2018 17:21:06: Error communicating with the network device "garageCam". 4.2.3,10,835 Excessive packet loss from network device, the network may be too slow or defective, or this computer may be overloaded. Check the network and/or reduce this camera's frame rate.
14/03/2018 17:29:36: Error communicating with the network device "pondCam". 4.2.3,10,835 Excessive packet loss from network device, the network may be too slow or defective, or this computer may be overloaded. Check the network and/or reduce this camera's frame rate.
14/03/2018 17:30:43: Error communicating with the network device "pondCam". 4.2.3,70900,800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. The operation timed out.
14/03/2018 17:40:38: Error communicating with the network device "pondCam". 4.2.3,10,835 Excessive packet loss from network device, the network may be too slow or defective, or this computer may be overloaded. Check the network and/or reduce this camera's frame rate.
14/03/2018 17:42:28: Error communicating with the network device "garageCam". 4.2.3,8440,8871 Failed to obtain video frame from network device.
14/03/2018 17:42:52: Error communicating with the network device "pondCam". 4.2.3,8440,8871 Failed to obtain video frame from network device.
14/03/2018 17:43:03: Error communicating with the network device "pondCam". 4.2.3,8440,8800 Failed to obtain video frame from network device. Connection closed by the other side.
my iMac is showing minimal CPU/memory usage, my main drive is an SSD but SS writes to an external 5400rpm drive although it isn't currently doing that as the recording schedule doesn't start until 1800hrs so recording isn't the issue.
Apart from removing the 423 from the network I can't see where to go with this really, and to be honest that isn't an option...
Funny I had to reread and verify your previous post was not mine - that looks exactly like my logs - and I actually have a GarageCam also -
I seem to be making good progress by constantly changing different parts of the system and testing. My latest findings are very interesting (well, to me anyway) - as you will see from my post I seem to have no problems anymore with the 410s so I am basically ignoring them except as indicators of problems with the 423 ie.when I connected the 423 via poe earlier I had issues then with one of my 410s.
Fortunately for me I had a 10m ethernet cable lying around so was able to remove the homeplug from the 423 temporarily and run a cable direct from the camera to my router, since I have done that there hasn't been a single drop in frame rate on the 423 and it is connected 100% - in other words all my problems are solved, all cameras are holding their connections and the frame-rates are stable at 30fps.
So, does this mean I am all sorted - well, not yet I think, I won't count my chickens until I have at least 48 hours of a stable connection. If it turns out that the problem really was that the 423 was causing issues on the network when connected via a homeplug then that is very interesting as I have been using various different ones that have been laying around spare and the problems have been the same with all of them which indicates it is the camera rather than the home plugs.
I will report back in the morning (it is currently 23:30 here), hopefully with good news...
I have the reolink app running locally over internet. The 423 and the 411 still keeps losing connection - yet the cameras have not once disappeared from the local reolink app running over internet 1200 miles away.
I would think any network issues would show up much more via internet than when everything is local. and the cameras would loose internet connection before intranet.
I agree that it is weird that the internet connection seems more stable...
Are you able to plug the 423 direct into the router via an ethernet cable as I have just as a test?
the reolink app is not disconnecting any of the cameras at all or freezing - i am recording continuous at 'balanced' but catching the same full resolution stream at 30fps. 10 minute clips are a full 10 minutes with no freezing.
All cameras worked 100% overnight, no issues at all today. Next step is to power the 423 by poe again, but this time run it straight to the router from the poe adapter instead of going through a homeplug. If this works then I will have to run a 15m cable direct from the cameras to the poe switch next to the router, I would rather do this then have the 423 powered by its power supply as it is neater.
Certainly is nice to be nearing the end of this particular 'journey' - Im pretty confident that I will have a 100% working solution in my case. It has been a pain and pretty complicated to work out where the issues are but at the moment it looks like it was homeplug related, but only in the sense of the 423 not working well with it - I have swapped home plugs around as I have a number of them and the single common factor is that there were problems whenever one was plugged into the 423, even when all the cameras were plugged into a single homeplug via a switch, I don't know why this should be.
Not sure what SecuritySpy's involvement in all this is given that I did have a similar situation as easglesrus whereby the Reolink app seemed a lot more stable, perhaps SS is just more susceptible to minor network issues, hopefully Ben's discussions with them will lead to a solution.
Seems like for some reason the 423 did not like being connected to a homeplug and somehow managed to cause issues to other cameras on the network.
Guess my problems are solved, hope all this helps someone!
Today I ran a temporary cable from the poe switch to the router and since then have had zero disconnects so am assuming the home plugs have been the issue again.
For the last few years I have connected my iMac directly to the router via (a very long) cable rather than a homeplug as I have never been really happy with their performance so why I thought they would be any better with my cameras I don't know...
I have ordered a long flat cat6 cable so can run direct from the poe to the router and hopefully that will be the end of this particular journey of discovery. I have also removed the last couple of home plugs as I just can't trust them any more, everything is now either cabled - iMac, 4 x cameras - or wireless - consoles, Apple TV etc.
Hopefully this thread may be of use to someone in the future with similar hard to diagnose problems, whilst it seemed like the problems were with the cameras or with securitySpy I guess my network had just enough tiny issues to not show up on any other devices but still affect my CCTV.
I have redone my entire network to only gigabit switches. minimize cable, upgrade any questionable cabling to CAT6. Things certainly work better but many symptoms are the same. Non-Reolink cameras stay connected with zero issues. Almost all hour recordings are 60 minutes, a wonderful concept.
The reolinks (423, 423S, 411WS, 411S) all drop off. All are wired into the system - nothing wireless. Whatever the connection between Reolink and SS just doesnt seem to sync up as easily as the other brands.
One interesting tidbit I have added over the last week. When I have a reolink camera that doesnt come up on SS for 15-30 minutes with various error msgs - I open the camera in the Reolink app - and the camera almost instantly appears in SS. Or if camera is already up in Reolink app - and I reboot the camera - it comes up on SS immediately. Like the message 'trying to connect' isnt really trying hard enough.
Having 4 brands of cameras connected fine - kind of puts the blame on the internals of the Reolinks - wish this would get fixed. I have yet to find video quality close to Reolink in the price range.