What can cause packet loss?

xev
xev
in SecuritySpy

I have a number of cameras in the same room, attached the the same POE switch, and some of them have a solid 0% packet loss, and others are regularly between 2-15% packet loss. I've tried swapping out cables, and that doesn't seem to do the trick. I've tried making them all configured as closely as I can, but I can't figure out what it is that triggering the packet loss.

Comments

  • Ben
    Ben

    Possible reasons for packet loss are as follows:

    • A network that is unreliable or too slow. This could be down to poor network hardware (cables, switches), insufficient WiFi signal strength, or completing traffic on the network. If you have everything wired together into a high-quality gigabit-speed switch, with good cables, and little completing traffic from other data transfers, then the network is unlikely to be the problem in your specific case.
    • Poor camera design/firmware. We have seen some cameras that very easily drop packets, even on high-quality networks. For example, Reolink cameras with old firmware versions tended to do this a lot (newer Reolink firmware is much better). The best thing you can do here is to update your cameras to the latest firmware offered by the manufacturer.
    • Some cameras prefer UDP over TCP. By default, SecuritySpy uses TCP to stream video from cameras, as this is a more reliable protocol than UDP. However, we have seen that some cameras give better results and less packet loss when using UDP. UDP is available from the Format menu in SecuritySpy under Preferences > Cameras > Device, when using the ONVIF profile or the Manual profile.
    • Sometimes, packet loss problems can be reduced significantly by reducing the frame rate of the camera's video stream. For general-purpose CCTV, we recommend a frame rate of 10fps. In terms of other encoding settings, we recommend using VBR (rather than CBR) with a medium quality setting.
    • If your camera supports the H.265 codec, use this in preference to H.264. H.265 streams have significantly lower data rates than equivalent-quality H.264 streams, so the load on the network will be lower.
    • Finally, if you have checked the above and you are still seeing significant packet loss, it may be a good idea to swap these cameras for better models. Please see our camera list for information about supported cameras, and manufacturers that we specifically recommend.

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