If you own a CCTV system then you know that you feel better when you can watch it from your smart phone or device. What does not feel good is when that image is blurry, choppy or fails to even stream. What causes this you might ask? It can’t be your data plan because you got the post-paid plan with ample data to connect or you have an unlimited pre-paid plan that does the same… so what gives?
In some cases it is the network (WiFi or cellular) slowing down due to increased traffic, but other times, the culprit is the inadequacy of the network to which the CCTV system is attached. While Internet Service Providers (ISPs) boast of robust download speeds what really matters, when operating CCTV systems or servers for that matter, is the upload speed. This is the speed at which data is transmitted out to the internet via your router.
Here is an example for you…consider that your ISP internet service plan is 25Mbs download and 5Mbs upload, and you have 8 cameras with 2MP resolution (1080p) on your system/network, and you want to view them all at the same time. While the download speed where you are located is excellent, the upload speed where your CCTV cameras are may not be, bear in mind that each of those cameras are using approximately 2Mbs… then you have 16Mbs trying to pass through a 5Mbs pipe. What if the cameras were at 4MP or 8MP (4K)?
See the issue here.
How some manufacturers mitigate this is by having the software/client designed to use the lowest bandwidth setting on your system to transmit initially so you can see all the cameras in motion but the resolution will be lower hence the blurry image. If you try to increase the resolution of all the cameras then some will show clearly, some will have frozen frames and some will not even stream an image. This encourages you to view the cameras one at a time for the best resolution possible.
For most this is inconvenient and time consuming due to the tediousness of moving from camera to camera to get an idea of what’s happening at the location but for others this is a minor inconvenience.
For some, it has been easier (if afforded) to increase upload speeds by upgrading their data/internet plans to accommodate the changes in usage…consider it part of the cost of CCTV ownership.
Would you opt for more upload speed or would you consider it a minor inconvenience to scroll through all channels?
Share your thoughts on this one.