D-Link DCS-2132 HD Camera

Bill

I am trying to get 2 D-Link DCS-2132 HD Cameras working properly. They have never worked properly. Before the recent update to 3.4.8, the Cameras screen image would freeze frame and no action would be shown. Additionally, when not frozen, the image would blink back and forth between a normal image and a green screen image with slight yellow shadows of movement. After the update the cameras don't seem to freeze but the Green Screen blinking is still every few seconds. There doesn't seem to be any correlation to motion detection and my WiFi connections are all seem to be clean & strong. My system is a dedicated MacPro 2.8GHz Quad-Core, 16GB memory, running Yosemite. 7 cameras, 2 are D-Link 932L, 3 are D-Link 942-L and 2 are the 2132 HD.

Ben

Hi Bill,

This sounds like the camera is performing poorly in a low-bandwidth situation. What should happen if the camera can't send data fast enough is that it slows down its frame rate, however some cameras instead dump data randomly from the video stream, which causes the corruption you are seeing.

The best solution, if possible, would be to connect the camera by wired ethernet. Another thing you can do is lower the camera's frame rate.

Also, a firmware update from D-Link may resolve the problem, so please check for this and install it if available.

If the above doesn't help, please can you confirm exactly what settings you've used to set up the camera in the Video Device Settings window in SecuritySpy.

Bill

Thanks Ben for the help. I will try your suggestions. There is a Firmware update. One of the listed fixes is...... "4. Fixed the issue of image with green tone in some case." I downloaded the firmware update but.... trying to install, it says..... "Firmware Corrupted". Will try again and see if I can get it working.

Some further info.... When viewing the Cameras feed in Safari by logging into the Camera directly via its IP address & Quicktime, there is no green screen at full 1280 x 720, just a nice clear steady image.

In the meantime here are the main settings of the cameras, both are the same.
Device Type - D-Link DCS-..... 2132L and others in category from your list.
Address is a Static IP Address, as are all hardware in our business.
Ports - Empty
Format - H.264 RTSP
Input number - Blank
Video Size - Blank
Quality - Default
Fram Rate - Default
No Recompression is ON
Disable PTZ is ON
CAMERA SETTINGS
Motion Capture
Frame Rate - 5 (The other 5 non HD cameras are 15 fps and work fine)
Pre Capture - 5
Post Capture -10
Image Capture is OFF

Bill

I got the firmware updates installed on both HD cameras. I also used the D-Link Browser page to adjust each HD camera down to 4 FPS. There was no significant change in the green screen problem. Maybe the green screen didn't happen as often but was still so common it is hard to judge. As the day progressed there seemed to be more green as the day went on. Eventually the blue screen began to appear from time to time. The store is now closed so there is no motion to trigger the cameras. I will check tomorrow after restarting the computer and Security Spy and see if there are any improvements or patterns that I can discern that might indicate where the problem is.

Ben

Hi Bill,

As a test, please connect one of your cameras to your Mac via a switch (or router with ethernet ports) and wired ethernet cables. I'm just trying to determine if this is being caused by lack of network bandwidth, or if the problem lies elsewhere.

Another thing to try is the "HTTP JPEG" Format setting in the Video Device Settings window. H.264 is generally preferable to use, however if the JPEG setting resolves the green screen problem, it may be a reasonable solution.

Bill

I tried changing one HD camera to HTTP JPEG, and it went blue screen and I couldn't get it to work in that setting so switched it back. I might have tried harder but the success of the next test prevented me. I then connected it on Ethernet and the green screen stopped completely. And on the other WiFi HD camera, it reduced the green screen to, maybe only 10-20% at most. So it appears it is a band width issue on WiFi. My current WiFi Router is an older D-Link DIR-655. (is a draft 802.11n compliant device staying backward compatible with 802.11g and 802.11b devices.) I also have a D-Link DAP-1320 Extender that I connect some cameras too from time to time. Are there any "channel" settings that might help? If I get a new Router, do you have a suggestion for a more powerful WiFi router that might handle 8 or more HD cameras? My building is 5,000 sq ft. So running Cat 5 cable to all the cameras would be pretty difficult and expensive. D-Link has a new router that is being touted as super powerful..... AC5300 Ultra Wi-Fi Router, DIR-895L/R.

Ben

Hi Bill,

It definitely sounds like a WiFi bandwidth/reception issue then. Some cameras operate OK in low-bandwidth conditions but others unfortunately send bad data that cause decompression problems.

You could consider the Airport Express/Extreme as they have good signal strength. I'm not familiar with D-Link routers, though they might be OK. As for the channel selection, it's generally best to leave them on automatic, because then they are able to choose the channel with the least interference. But your basic problem sounds like the size of your building - no one wireless access point is going to be able to effectlively cover a 5000 sq ft building - perhaps not even two or three.

If installing ethernet cabling is too difficult (and I can see why it might be), then have a look at powerline adapters, for example the Netgear Powerline 500. These allow you to set up an ethernet network over the building's power cabling. So you would have one central transmitter and multiple receivers of the powerline signal - one in each room where you have a camera - and you would connect the camera to the powerline receiver by wired ethernet. Or, if you want to eliminate the wires, Netgear have a WiFi model of the Powerline 500, that will create a new WiFi network wherever you plug it in to the wall outlet. Position these close to the cameras to create a strong reliable signal to them.

Bill

Thanks Ben. I will research your suggestions and come up with a plan. The WiFi network works fine with the non HD cameras and I have installed a D-Link WiFi Extender to help cover the retail sales floor which is about 3,600 sq ft. The only things on the WiFi are the security cameras. All our computers (Mac only) are on Ethernet. I will try setting all camera channels on auto. My plan was to upgrade all the cameras to HD so I do need to figure this out. I will let you know what I come up.

Bill

Aloha Ben. Just an update on the WiFi issue and also 2 to other problems. I bought a new D-Link DIR-890L WiFi Router primarily because of the presumed WiFi problems in my camera setup. It is supposed to be THE... or ONE OF.... the most powerful and fastest available. It is huge and expensive. It seemed to make a small improvement on the problem of green screens constantly displaying in SS on the 2 HD cameras. I have now adjusted their Resolution down to 320 x 176 and that seemed to lessen the Green Screen issue further but not eliminate it. I have run out of ideas on how to get HD WiFi images from these cameras. They show up fine in Safari on D-Links camera set up > Live Video browser page. But not in Security Spy. This was also the case before the new router. So it seems that SS has some kind of bottle neck happening as the WiFi video is getting to the computer just fine. That issue aside, there are 2 other issues I am having with SS. But I will address these in separate threads so as to not confuse this current one as I really need help getting HD cameras to work on my network.

Ben

Hi Bill,

Rather than reduce the resolution (which is undesirable), try reducing the frame rate instead. High-resolution video at a low frame rate is much more useful than low-resolution video at a high frame rate. You should be able to set this when logging on to the camera using a web browser and adjusting the settings of the primary stream.

While you're there, you try switching the main stream format to MPEG-4 mode, as a test to see if you get better results.

I'm surprised that the streams look better in a web browser, but is this with SecuritySpy loaded (and therefore multiple cameras active and streaming over your network), or with SecuritySpy not loaded (and therefore all bandwidth available for a single camera)?

I think a Powerline system may be the way to go here, they are not too expensive and may very well resolve the problems entirely, as their network connection is faster and more reliable than any WiFi connection you could achieve in such a large space.

Bill

Thanks Ben, I will work on your suggestions...... but first I have to get Security Spy working after the upgrade to El Capitan. Don't worry replying to that issue here, I will start a new thread for it. After I get that issue resolved, I will try moving one of the HD cameras to the closest position (30ft) to the wireless router and see if the distance is really an issue.

Bill

I feel pretty stupid.....! I just realized that SS didn't open the Main Window automatically. So all I had was a blank screen. I selected it and now I can see all my cameras again! Will work on the HD Cameras further now.