IP Cameras - one picture freezes when we broadcast

[campbells]

In November we began to set up our webcasting service from scratch with all new equipment. We followed the ip camera setup howto, and began doing broadcasts. We have however a strange issue with our ip cameras. When we start Ustream Producer Studio, one camera of our 3 Bosch NB 265p HD IP cameras will have a frozen picture, which may clear if we cycle through the camera shots. Once we begin the broadcast however, one camera in particular will always become frozen on a still shot. This is frustrating, as when the camera stream is viewed with VLC, the camera is working and streaming (RTSP) clearly. Stopping the broadcast and restarting sometimes brings it back temporarily.
We have swapped cables, swapped to a higher speed (6.5Mbps upload) service, limited our broadcast to 576 lines. It seems the breakdown is within Ustream Producer, we need help to solve this, and think it is a bug or deficiency in UPS.
Sample recording on http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21205521

Our system, i5CPU Windows 7 64 bit Pro, Flash 11 64 bit,
8Gb RAM, 500G HDrive.

[usrbingeek]

Only the AXIS 211 W, Sony SNC-RZ50, Cisco WVC80N, AXIS P1344 and AXIS M1104 IP cameras are officially supported by Ustream Producer Studio. I'm sorry I don't have any experience with your Bosch cams.

But, based on what you're saying it sounds like a connectivity problem, possibly due to interference. Are these cameras connected wirelessly or wired to the network? Either way it might be due the router. I'd replace the router with one that comes with a QoS feature that can prioritize the video packets. Look for "QoS" or Quality of Service prioritization in the feature list. If wireless, I'd also try to locate the wireless router more central and equidistant between the cameras. In any case, it shouldn't be located near a microwave or other 2.4ghz devices such as cordless phones as these and other devices which operate using 2.4ghz spectrum can interfere with wireless routers.

I would also email [email protected] about this problem as they might have some additional information about your cams and your specific setup. They're the developer of Ustream Producer.

[campbells]

We chose the bosch because of their quality build and reputation.
Thanks but none of the cameras are wireless, all are connected via 1000/100 based DLINK poe switch. The computer has a gigabit NIC, the whole network is fairly uncomplicated. We will try a different router over the next day and test.
We have just altered the ip addresses on all 3 of the cameras and now a different camera is freezing. And not the same IP address that was freezing before either!

[usrbingeek]

Changing the IP addresses probably wouldn't change any thing but like I said, this could be related to packet loss at the router or not prioritizing the packets correctly. I would definitely email telestream at the email I posted as well as they might have additional information for you about those cams.

Good luck!

[campbells]

Thanks, we did and they pointed us at http://ustream.tv/producer.
Is there in fact any support for this program?

Is there some way of actually talking to the paid support people?

Cheers
Barry

[usrbingeek]

That's odd that they did that.

Please open a support ticket. DOn't forget to include all the information in your first post, including your PC and network setup and the cams.