Reolink Cameras - recordings drop 2 seconds occasionally

[scottlightsey]

I have been trying out Reolink's 4MP cameras with Xeoma. These cameras offer great resolution for the price tag. I have the RLC-420 ($75 includes audio) and the RLC-411 ($105 includes 4X optical zoom ). However, I have noticed a recurring problem in the Xeoma archive where 2 second gaps occur on average 2 or 3 times per hour. The RLC-420 seems to be worse than the RLC-411, but both exhibit this issue. I have 3 other cameras of different brands connected to the same Xeoma server that don't show this behavior. It's hard to beat the price of these cameras, but I believe some customers will complain about these gaps. Any suggestion on how to debug this? These cameras are ONVIF compliant.

[Admin_P]

Hello! You can try copy-pasting the archive URL (the second one in the "Universal camera" module) in VLC player and observing the stream there for a while. Are there any freezes or frame drops present in VLC? If so, it indicates that either the camera is having difficulties providing the stream consistently or the network is unable to move the stream without losses.
If VLC shows the stream consistently, would you please provide us direct access to one of these cameras (preferably via a static external IP) over e-mail?

[scottlightsey]

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

I ran two instances of vlc: The one on the left is the Reolink (rlc410). The one on the right is an Axis M3027. There was a few "main video output warning: picture is too late to be displayed (missing 23 ms)" messages close to the time frame of the delays on the rlc410. I did not see the same on the axis vlc output. Could this be the problem, and thus an issue with the camera?

Thanks for the help!
Scott

[Admin_P]

Yeah, this seems to be the cause of this behavior. VLC's error messages indicate that a number of frames get dropped - they account for the missing footage in the archive. You may want to try and contact the manufacturer to see if this is a known issue and whether they have a newer version of firmware for the cameras.

[skylord123]

I run the same cameras. Use the reolink software to change the h.264 profile to baseline. This fixed the issue for me. I accidentally switched it to high and it caused all sorts of issues exactly like yours. All resolved once I remembered I messed with that setting. I also recommend using the reolink software on a PC instead of the Android app. The Android app is lacking some abilities. Also make sure to set the h264 profile for both clear and fluent streams on each camera.

If that doesn't help these are things I have had success with:
1) switching to cat5e cables (the legit ones not the ones for super cheap).
2) use a gigabit switch/modem or even separate your camera traffic to it's own internal network.
3) Try adjusting the bit rate. I have success with 5k~6k

[skylord123]

Oh I also have one camera that I had to run power to it because the 200ft Ethernet run was just too much to reliably power the camera using POE.

(Please excuse my crappy grammar, I'm on vacation using my phone)

[Admin_P]

Thank you for the in-depth look at this issue. I'm sure other users who rely on Reolink cameras will find this information most useful. We'll be sure to forward it, once a similar issue is detected.