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WAVE: How to troubleshoot video stream issues using ONVIF Device Manager

  • Updated

Applies to: Wisenet WAVE

Summary:

WAVE Servers can operate with the standard ONVIF profile S API that is commonly used in most cameras.  This article provides the fastest way to troubleshoot camera issues when it is not a device from a natively integrated API list.

Step By Step Guide:

Download and install ONVIF Device Manager (ODM) on the same computer as your WAVE Server.

NOTE: If you are using an Ubuntu Linux machine, install the ODM on a Windows PC 
on the same LAN as your ONVIF camera.

Device Discovery Issues

Your camera should automatically be discovered by WAVE if it adheres to the ONVIF standard and it is on the same LAN as your WAVE Server.

If WAVE does not discover your camera automatically:

  1. Run the ONVIF Device Manager.

  2. Enter the camera ONVIF-Admin credentials at the top-left corner of the ODM main dialog.

  3. Manually add the camera to ODM then click Add.
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If the device is still not detected by WAVE and you are 100% sure that the device is online and credentials are correct then one of the following issues most likely exists: 

  • Network Issue - Broadcast messages is disabled for your LAN.

  • Device Issue - Your device's firmware incorrectly processes ONVIF requests.

If WAVE does not find your device even when using manual camera addition (e.g. entering RTSP or IP address of the device), try to find the camera using the ODM.

  1. Click Add at the bottom left corner of the application and enter the IP address or domain name of your device, specifying TCP port as necessary.

  2. Click Apply.

If you are sure that all the information has been entered correctly and you cannot find the device using the ODM then one of the following exists:

  • Network Issue - Your camera device is unreachable on the current network (check it's webpage and fix the connection if necessary).

  • Device Issue - Your device cannot process a standard ONVIF request for manual discovery.

Streaming Issues

The WAVE Desktop Client discovers the device but shows No Signal.

  • Try to log in to the device using the ODM and click Live Video. 
    NOTE: If you cannot reach the device, contact your system administrator. If 
    you cannot find this button, contact camera vendor tech support.
  • If you see No signal in the ODM, reboot the device and the signal will most likely appear.

    If not, causes could be:
    • RTSP port is closed.
      Check the device and port forwarding configuration (LAN issue).

    • Device cannot handle too many RTSP connections
      Turn off any additional streaming clients like VLC webpages, other VMS or Media Servers, and reboot the device

    • There is a flaw in the firmware (device issue).

The camera is streaming MJPEG in WAVE Software but should be able to stream H.264 with some certain resolution.

  1. Go to ODM and log in using device credentials.

  2. Click Video streaming in the interface.

  3. Select Encoder and resolution from the dropdown list. 
    NOTE: If you do not see the H.264 with the necessary (highest) resolution, 
    it is a camera issue.

The camera should be able to provide a secondary low-resolution H.264 stream but you cannot see it in the GUI for live view, the archiver, or a heavy MJPEG stream.

  1. In ODM, click Profiles in the interface.

  2. Try to check the profiles.
    You will see that there are some dropdown buttons with information about different encoder configurations including frame rate, resolution, and codec.
    NOTE: If you see there are only high-res Profile(s), it is most likely 
    because the camera does not allow configuration of streaming profiles 
    (device issue). If low-res stream has MJPEG codec, the reasons are most 
    likely the same (device issue).

PTZ Issues

Your device has PTZ capabilities but there is no PTZ icon in the WAVE interface.

Check if ODM has a point called PTZ controls. If not, it is most likely the device's issue.

The camera moves after dragging arrows or clicking zoom buttons in the WAVE interface.

  1. Check ODM PTZ controls in the continuous move section.

  2. Click the arrow buttons and +/- zoom controls to check if the camera moves.

You see capability to assign presets in the camera context menu but they do not actually work (PTZ presets issue).

  1. In ODM, check PTZ controls > absolute move.

  2. Try to set different values for absolute move coordinates.

Advanced Options Issues

The camera does not change it's state when you try to control it using the advanced settings tab in the WAVE interface.

Try to run the same commands using the corresponding ODM section.

Motion Detection Issues

You cannot see available Motion Recording option in the Recording Schedule for the camera when using WAVE Client.

  1. Check if motion detection is indeed configured on secondary stream by right-clicking an empty space at the scene.

  2. Select Change Resolution and click Low. 

  3. Hover the mouse over the camera and if Hi-Res is not replaced with Low-Res, there are other issues that may need to be looked into. 

There is a secondary stream but you cannot see Motion Mask on the Motion tab of camera settings (secondary stream issues).

NOTE: WAVE Media Server provides motion detection for cameras with secondary 
stream resolution (HxW) less than 720x576. WAVE Media Server tries to configure 
streams according to this requirement or use existing pre-configured profiles.
  1. Using ODM, select the device and click Profiles.
  2. Check every profile on the list.

  3. Check the Video Encoder Configuration dropdown information box for every profile and find their information about profile resolution. 
    NOTE: If there are profiles with matching resolutions but the server does 
    not use them, it most likely happened because of some other issues. If 
    there are no such profiles, it is very likely that the device did not 
    allow the profiles to be created. This is a non-standard behavior.

 

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