How do I improve my remote viewing performance (SwannView Link)?
If you're experiencing any intermittent connectivity issues when streaming or playing back videos from your recorder, on either the computer software or phone app, then the problem may be related to a limitation with your internet connection speed.
It is important to consider the amount of bandwidth needed when viewing your cameras remotely.
- Estimate how much bandwidth your recorder uses or requires when streamed
- The bandwidth and speed of your internet service provider for the cameras
- The bandwidth and speed of your mobile device or computer's connection
The diagram below summarizes the data transfer process of when a video is being uploaded to the server and then downloaded onto the user's phone.
- The recorded video is encrypted and uploaded onto the server (internet)
- The file is then downloaded onto the computer or phone.
This is why the download and upload rates are important when streaming videos from a remote location. The higher the quality of the recordings, the more data is needed to be upload onto the server.
There are a couple of things you can change on the recorder to help improve the streaming service.
- Reduce the streaming quality, on the phone.
- Reduce the sub-stream resolution and bitrate, on the recorder.
See instructions below.
Stream on Substream or MobileStream
This step is necessary for us to use lower bandwidth when streaming the cameras.
You may want to keep in mind that the quality will be lower than expected to lessen intermittent connections and get a smoother experience when viewing the cameras.
These are the things you can do using the software or app.
- If you are accessing the recorder using SwannView Link software, click the Play button at the right and choose All channels fluent.
- If you are using SwannView Link app, tap Stream and choose Fluent.
- If you are accessing the recorder using SwannView Plus software, right-click on the recorder at the left side and choose Set Sub-Stream To All.
- If you are accessing the recorder using HomeSafe View software, right click on your recorder at the left, and choose Set Sub Stream to All.
- If you are accessing the recorder using HomeSafe View app, tap on the Stream icon and choose Substream.
Changing substream resolution and bitrate
If the previous steps didn’t help, here is another thing we can do and that is changing the resolution and lowering the substream bitrate. Once again, you will see difference in quality after doing this step.For SwannView Link users
- Go to your NVR and access the Menu.
- Proceed to RECORDING > Encode.
- Change the Encoding Parameters to Substream for us to deal with just Substream settings.
- Change the resolution to CIF.
- Set the bitrate to the 128kbps.
- Click Copy To and select all channels to copy the settings.
- Click on Apply to save the settings.
For SwannView Plus users
- Go to your NVR and access the Menu.
- Proceed to RECORD > Parameters > Substream for us to deal with just Substream settings.
- Change the resolution to CIF.
- Set the Video Quality to the 128kbps.
- Click on Apply to save the settings.
- Click Copy To and select all channels to copy the settings.
- Click on Apply to save the settings.
For HomeSafe View users
- Go to your NVR and access the Menu.
- Proceed to RECORD > Substream for us to deal with just Substream settings. Be sure the Channel selected is CH1.
- Change the resolution to 352x240 or 352x288.
- Set the Video Quality to the 128kbps.
- On the Copy section below, first selection should be CH1 and second selection should be All. Click Copy to copy the settings to all channels.
- Click on Save to save the settings.
Repeat the steps 1 to 6 but on step 2, proceed to RECORD > MobileStream.
The idea of this procedure is to set each camera to use 128kbps when streaming on substream or fluent.
This also means that if you have:
- 2x cameras - recommended upload speed of your internet connection is 256kbps
- 4x cameras - recommended upload speed of your internet connection is 512kbps
- 8x cameras - recommended upload speed of your internet connection is 1Mbps