Troubleshooting and Fixing Unifi Camera Video Freezing
A freezing or stuttering video feed from a Unifi Protect security camera is a significant problem. It undermines the reliability of your security system, creating gaps in recordings and preventing you from viewing live events as they happen. This issue can stem from a variety of causes, ranging from network problems to device settings.
This guide will provide a systematic approach to diagnosing why your Unifi video stream is freezing and give you the practical steps to resolve it for a smooth, continuous picture.
Identifying the Root Causes of Video Freezing
When your video stream freezes, the camera is still online, but the data flow is being interrupted. Here are the most likely culprits.
- Network Bottlenecks: This is the most common cause. A weak WiFi signal, a damaged Ethernet cable, or a struggling network switch can all lead to packet loss, which manifests as a frozen or choppy video stream.
- High Bitrate Settings: Setting a camera's video quality (bitrate) too high for your network's capacity can overwhelm the connection, causing data to be dropped and the video to freeze.
- Insufficient NVR Resources: If your Network Video Recorder (NVR), such as a UDM Pro or UNVR, is overloaded with too many cameras or is struggling with high CPU usage, it may fail to process the incoming video streams correctly.
- Camera Hardware or Firmware Issues: Though less frequent, a fault with the camera itself or a bug in its current firmware version can lead to video encoding problems.
- Incompatible Viewer Device: The device you are using to watch the stream (a computer or mobile phone) might not have the processing power to decode a high-resolution video feed in real-time.
Step-by-Step Guide to a Smooth Video Stream
Follow these instructions to pinpoint and fix the freezing issue.
- Analyse the Network Connection: A stable connection is non-negotiable for smooth video.
- For WiFi Cameras: In the UniFi Network Application, check the camera's signal strength. It should be better than -70 dBm. If the signal is weak, move the camera closer to the Access Point or install another AP nearby. Check for high WiFi interference.
- For Wired Cameras: If your camera is connected via Ethernet, try a different, known-good network cable. Check the port status on your switch for any reported errors. Ensure the cable is properly seated in both the camera and the switch port.
- Optimise Camera Settings in Unifi Protect:
- Navigate to the Unifi Protect dashboard and select the problematic camera.
- Go to the 'Recording' or 'Video' settings menu.
- Lower the Bitrate: Reduce the video bitrate by 20-30% and see if the stream becomes more stable. You can fine-tune this later.
- Adjust the Frames Per Second (FPS): While a higher FPS is smoother, it requires more data. Try lowering it from 30 to 24 or even 20 to reduce the network load.
- Check Your NVR's Performance:
- Access your Unifi OS dashboard.
- Look at the CPU and memory usage statistics for your NVR. If the CPU load is consistently high (e.g., above 80%), this could be the source of the problem.
- You may need to reduce the number of cameras connected, lower the recording quality across all cameras, or upgrade to a more powerful NVR.
- Update and Reboot:
- Ensure your Unifi OS console, the Protect application, and the camera's firmware are all on the latest versions. Ubiquiti frequently releases updates that fix performance bugs.
- Perform a simple reboot of the camera from the Protect dashboard. This can often clear temporary software glitches.
- Isolate the Viewer Device: Try viewing the live stream from a different device. If it works smoothly on a powerful desktop computer but freezes on your mobile phone, the issue may lie with the phone's ability to decode the stream.
By methodically examining your network, optimising camera settings, and ensuring your hardware is up to the task, you can eliminate video freezing and restore the reliability of your Unifi Protect system.