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The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => IP Cameras => DCS-934L => Topic started by: Slartibartfast on October 10, 2016, 04:47:16 PM

Title: Inconsistent wifi performance and timeouts
Post by: Slartibartfast on October 10, 2016, 04:47:16 PM
Hi everyone,

I'm using this camera as a baby monitor and I find its performance very inconsistent. I'm watching it from my PC or from one of several Android devices that we have around the house (connecting directly to the video URL) and from time to time the picture disappears or is very choppy (0.7fps). If I run a continuous ping to the camera, I see that at times it can be consistent at 1-10ms and at other times it's around 2000-3500 with some dropped packets. I am running the latest firmware (1.04). The interesting thing is that at a time when I experience bad or choppy performance, logging into the camera management console and running a "site survey", even if I don't choose a different network, fixes the problem (temporarily at least) and I can see the ping going down from 3000 to 2 in a second.

Here's a partial list of things I've tried:
1. Complete factory reset of the camera's settings
2. Monitoring my wifi using wifi analyzer and switching to a different channel
3. Lowering the video profile to medium quality, 7fps

Any help or ideas would be appreciated. I've spent countless hours on troubleshooting this already without any solution that works for more than a few hours.
Title: Re: Inconsistent wifi performance and timeouts
Post by: RYAT3 on October 10, 2016, 05:59:42 PM
How does the camera perform in the same room as the router?

Title: Re: Inconsistent wifi performance and timeouts
Post by: Slartibartfast on October 10, 2016, 08:40:07 PM
Thanks for your reply!

I have yet to try it in the same room as the router because we rely on it for everyday use and I can't take it out of the room for more than a few hours at a time, which may not be a reliable test (it held up nicely for ~18 hours after I reduced the quality last night).

I figured that the distance from the router shouldn't be a factor because the issue immediately disappears when I click on "Site Survey" on the camera management page. My wireless network shows up as 81% strength on that page, too, which should be enough for solid performance (I can perform a speed test from my phone next to the camera and get 100mbps+)
Title: Re: Inconsistent wifi performance and timeouts
Post by: RYAT3 on October 10, 2016, 09:28:17 PM
This is a Wireless N camera on 2.4 Ghz.    http://us.dlink.com/products/home-solutions/day-night-wi-fi-camera/ (http://us.dlink.com/products/home-solutions/day-night-wi-fi-camera/)

Which router are you using?  You are comparing  the 2.4Ghz connection?

I'm not sure how far away the camera is from the router or how many walls you are going through.

You could wire the camera to the router.  Cat5 would work. (I'd recommend Cat5e).

Title: Re: Inconsistent wifi performance and timeouts
Post by: Slartibartfast on October 10, 2016, 09:38:17 PM
I'm using an Asus RT-AC66U Router, and yes, I'm comparing the 2.4Ghz connection. I actually turned off the 5Ghz connection on my Router.
The camera is about 15-20ft from the router with one wall between them.

I don't think my wifi strength is an issue. 81% signal strength should be plenty for the 300kbps I'm trying to stream, especially when I can get 100mbps with other devices in the same room.

Unfortunately, running a cable to it is not an option.
Title: Re: Inconsistent wifi performance and timeouts
Post by: RYAT3 on October 10, 2016, 09:55:55 PM

Yeah, you probably shouldn't have problems through 1 room.

Which F/W are you using?

http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DCS-934L
 (http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DCS-934L)

There are adapters - where you can connect a wire to the camera - and then broadcast 5Ghz signal to your router.

But this shouldn't be necessary with a 640x480 20fps camera max...
Title: Re: Inconsistent wifi performance and timeouts
Post by: Slartibartfast on October 11, 2016, 04:33:48 AM
I'm using the latest firmware (1.04.15).
Title: Re: Inconsistent wifi performance and timeouts
Post by: FurryNutz on October 11, 2016, 07:42:59 AM
What wireless modes are you using on the main host router?
How many other devices are connected to the 2.4Ghz radio?

There any main host router wifi management filters or QoS enabled on this router?