Recordings freeze

Hi there!

I’ve noticed that all my recordings are freezing after a couple of seconds from start. You can see it in attached video example - look at the seconds counter in right bottom corner.
Example video

Some specs regarding my installation:
win10 1803
NCS 1.7.0.0
Recording settings:

  • Video Quality: CRF 20
  • 30 FPS
  • Preset: Fast

Videos are made only when motion detected.
Average CPU usage during recording: 68% (NCS 49%).
No other CPU consuming apps launched.

Could you please help me to identify and fix the problem?

Hi,
Most likely the cpu load is high. This depends on many things.
-the 30 fps. If that is what you read in the bottom right corner in the video it is what the camera deliver to NCS. If you also use 30 FPS for recording the video I can imagine this. Settings - Recordings - Frames per second. What is that setting?

The resolution of the camera and how many cameras?
What CPU do you have?

Most like you solve this by decreasing the FPS from the camera, decreasing the Recording FPS. Using 30/30 FPS is very seldon needed if don´t have a cat that runs at the speed of light :slight_smile:
We can start here :slight_smile:

-Henrik

Hi Henrik!
First of all - thank you for your reply!

Here are the answers to your questions:

  1. 30 FPS - it’s the value that I see when I watch stream (or regular recorded video) from the camera. By the way watching the stream in realtime is always flawless.
  2. Settings - Recordings - Frames per second: also set to 30 FPS
  3. Only one camera, Full HD 1920x1080
  4. CPU: Intel i5-7600

Of course I can try to decrease the FPS, but it worked like a charm before. I don’t know what had happened (maybe after the NCS update, not sure) but one day all the recordings became like the example.

-Kirill

Hi again,
The classical “worked as a charm before” makes me suspicious :). Only one camera with that cpu should not be a problem. Question is if it is the playback that is the problem? If you use VLC now try to use another player. Do you have any old recordings that you know worked before so test with them.

Decrease the setting for Recording of FPS and test.

-Henrik

Hi!
Spent around an hour trying and experimenting. Several settings, players, other stuff - no luck.
Ended up with complete reinstall of NCS, including manual deleting NCS-related folders from c:/ProgramData, %localappdata% and %appdata%. After installing fresh version of NCS again it works wonderful again, without any freezes.
My main idea was that there could be some conflits with config files from older NCS installations, because it was not the first NCS build on my PC, I use it for more than a year (and love it :slight_smile: ) and always try to have the latest version available.
I will check the situation for couple more days and text you in case of issues.
Anyway, thanks for your support!
It’s nice to have this place where users can report about thier concerns and get such a rapid reply :slight_smile:

1 Like

Hello guys,

I have the same problem.

Intel Xeon E5-2620 2.00 GHz (2x)
RAM 64 GB
Windows 10 1903

Netcam Studio 1.7.2.0
Server: 6.5%
Client: 8.0%

Label “Recording”
Video Quality: CRF 20
FPS: 25 FPS
Preset: Fast

Two cameras
UniFi UVC-G3 1980 x 1080

The exact same problem occurs:

  1. Start of video starts perfect
  2. After a few seconds it starts to freeze
  3. Problem occurs with any player: VLC (3.0.7.1 Vetinari), Movies and TV (Windows), MPC etc.
  4. I installed iSpy on the same computer and recording videos is perfect.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this?

Hi,
Have this been working before something changed or is it a new installation?
I see that you are running Windows 10 1903 which is new and we have a problem here?
Also I recommend to do as the user above did with a very fresh installation removing all files in local folders, but first start the installation program and select Remove.
-Henrik

Hi, Henrik,

It’s a new installation.
I had used Netcam before with the same cameras and they worked perfectly.
I also installed the same two cameras on Windows 2016 Server and the problem persisted.
On the same machine with Windows 10 and Windows 2016 server the recording freezes after a few seconds.
Using the iSPY, recordings work seamlessly on both devices.

What was the settup when NCS and cameras worked?
Win Server 2016 works for me and other users. However, for server 2016 the feature Media Foundation should be enabled.
Win Server 2016 is not officially tested.
Just now it seems to be a hardware problem.
In Settings - tab Decoding change to Software_VLC and test.

Hi, Henrik,
The cameras work with the following configuration:
Custom URL Stream Type: RTSP_USP or RTSP_TCP
Address: rtsp://ip address:port/flow_code
When I use the “Decoding Library” with “Software_VLC” the colors of the video change completely. I also tested on a Core I5 ​​and the problem persists.

But, I asked what the installation looked like when it worked?
For the cameras I have
rtsp://user:pwd@IP:554/s0
Apart from the color change, did it freeze?
Make sure that the cameras are set to compression h.264.
If it doesn’t work on a core i5 then it maybe is a confg of the cameras.

Is it any difference if the recording comes from motion detection or continuous recording?
If you play the recording through the web client what happens?

But I asked how the installation was when it worked?
Answer: Always worked with default setup.

For the cameras I have
rtsp: // user: pwd @ IP: 554 / s0
A: I’m using the NVR stream

Besides the color change, it froze?
A: The cameras also freeze with the change to “Software_VLC”

Make sure the cameras are configured for h.264 compression.
If it does not work on a Core i5, maybe it’s a config from the cameras.
A: The same setting as UVC-G3 works fine in iSpy. The same stream.
I tested a Vivotek FD8134 but it is also streaming. It also freezes.

Is it any difference if the recording comes from motion detection or continuous recording?
A: No difference, freeze on both motion detection and continuous recording.

If you play the recording through the web client, what happens?
A: Using the following configuration:
Video Quality: CRF 20
FPS: 25
Preset: UltraFast
Decoding Library: Software_Internal
With Chrome:
It worked very well!
With Client Netcam (VLC): Freeze

Using the following configuration:
Video Quality: CRF 20
FPS: 25
Preset: VerySlow
Decoding Library: Software_Internal
With Chrome: Freeze
With Client Netcam (VLC): Freeze

With the browser player improved a lot, but only when I change Preset to UltraFast, including the Netcam client improves

Sorry, but I sm getting more confused here. You say that
– Answer: Always worked with default setup.–
so why change?
For me this behavior points to an overload somewhere, but with this hardware I really don’t see where.
If iSpy works fine use that.

Okay, Henrik. I really appreciate your help.