fang-hacks Bad video quality

Hi everyone,

I use your hacks on my Xiaomi 1080p cube cam (iSmartAlarm) and it works pretty well, but the video quality is quite bad compared to the original MiHome app. Is there anything I can do about it?

Thank you!

Feb 15 '17 13:02 otbe

You can increase the bitrate of the rtsp stream but the default works fine for me. In what way is the quality bad? Stuttering and/or artifacts can be caused by a bad wifi signal... in that case a lower bitrate will improve quality. Or increased cache size of client, it all depends on your situation.

Feb 15 '17 19:02 samtap

I get a lot artifacts. Its somehow blurred after 0.5-1m distance. I don't see this artifacts/blurred video with the original MiHome app. Same place, same Wifi. I use VLC to view the rtsp stream (MacBook) and Synology's DS cam app (iPhone) with same result on both devices/clients.

I guess you mean increase the value of -b in snx_rtsp_server -W 1920 -H 1080 -Q 10 -b 4096 -a >$LOG 2>&1 &? Will try that in the next days...

Feb 15 '17 20:02 otbe

Yes -b is for the bitrate. The cloud app has three quality settings and a variable bitrate. Even in the highest setting the bitrate doesn't exceed ~2Mbit. I've only viewed it on my small phone screen but the image looks pixelated so they may even be using the low resolution substream (640p?). RTSP stream works much better for me, crystal clear on a 50" tv. But it does take a toll on wifi bandwith...

Feb 15 '17 20:02 samtap

Mh, tried several options. Higher & lower bitrates, higher & lower resolutions. Result is always the same: (crystal) clear within 0.5m, blurred beyond. Im a bit helpless :/

Feb 15 '17 22:02 otbe

Sounds like you have a unit which has a focus problem. I am not aware whether you can manually focus the lens.

Feb 15 '17 22:02 Gilgameshismist

That's what I thought too, but why its perfect with the original cloud app? Makes no sense to me :/

NOTE: I wrote crystal in parentheses because its not as clear as with the original app.

Feb 15 '17 22:02 otbe

Yes, video quality is quite poor. It's good for bandwidth, but it would be nice to set HD quality. I don't know if this is rtsp server settings or camera itself. Even if i set higher bitrate quality is not enough.

Feb 20 '17 10:02 psmanek

First of all thanks samtap for creating this "Hacks". I just purchased this camera from Gearbest @ 23$.. its very cheap for ip camra....but its not a Generic IP Network Camera, Everything is locked by firmware...If you cant fully access this camera from pc (for Big Display) or record stream in NVR this is a problem of restrictions... Samtap gave wings to this camera to work as a Generic Network IP Camera... If anyone is not getting good performance, its a problem of Network or PC, Originally this is a Ihealthcare's Spot Camera with Hardware capability of 1280X720 Video only.

Feb 20 '17 15:02 Acharyapr

Yes, Big thanks to @samtap for his work.

@Acharyapr, only 1280x720? So full HD is only by resizing image? That's no good ;/

Thanks everyone

Feb 20 '17 15:02 psmanek

Playing with different resolution since couple of hours.. Does anyone tested it with more than 24P at any resolution ?

Feb 21 '17 16:02 Acharyapr

For those interested in increasing the video quality I recommend increasing the bitrate in the snx_rtsp_server script. I've tried 8192 and 16384. There is a huge difference in quality. I've found that in the dark 4096 doesn't actually give a bitrate over 1mbps - more like 0.1mbps, whereas using 16384 provides a bitrate of over 5mbps at times, and therefore a much higher quality image.

Mar 02 '17 21:03 ant-thomas

Could you please explain how do you change that scripts ?

Thanks

Mar 08 '17 08:03 Zmove

Just ssh the cam and edit it by vi editor.

Mar 10 '17 19:03 Acharyapr

Can you tell me were the script is located?

Mar 21 '17 19:03 eterpstra

/media/mmcblk0p2/data/etc/scripts/20-rtsp-server

Mar 21 '17 22:03 iothing

Oke thanks I will try this tomorrow.

I have received the camera 2 days ago. Everything is working fine. However, what is the average bitrate for this camera when using the Mihome app? I am only getting 30 - 200 KB/sec with this cam. Is this normal?

Mar 22 '17 09:03 eterpstra

I compare with my xiaomi Yi Cam 720p on RTSP, the quality is very bad (same wifi, same place). I tried increase the -b to 8192 and 16384 but I have a lot of artifacts and the video lag.

Apr 06 '17 12:04 sssangel

I've found a good balance of quality and speed to be "5000". Lag and artifacts are probably caused by poor wifi. Which could be that the camera wifi antenna isn't so great compared to the Yi Cam

Apr 06 '17 12:04 ant-thomas

Thank you, I will try tonight. I tested all both cam near the router (10cm lol)

Apr 06 '17 14:04 sssangel

For me changing to: snx_rtsp_server >$LOG 2>&1 &

worked perfectly. Previously changing res/bitrate was not enough.

BTW. is '-a' parameter for audio? After this snx_rtsp_server it's disabled.