Using the Camera Substream on VMS

Using the Camera Substream on VMS

Reasons to use:

  1. Slow internet speed on site - By using a lower resolution image, this decreases the amount of load on the site’s internet
  2. Decreased cost - If the camera is on a Pay As You Go plan, the lower image quality will use less data
  3. Less interference from NVR - By using the sub stream, it still allows you to record the full quality main stream to on on-site NVR without worrying if the NVR setting will affect the VMS settings

When NOT to use:

  1. If the camera is covering an area that the camera is normally struggling to see, such as being very dark or far away.  The decrease in image quality in this situation could affect the performance of the AI analytics.

How To Set Up Sub Stream:

Step 1:

On the VMS admin portal, navigate to the camera that you wish to switch and click on “Quality”


Step 2:

Use the dropdown menu next to where it says “Stream Channel” and select “media_profile2”


Step 3:

Unselect and then re-select the box beside “Set Automatically”  This will ensure that the bitrate for the camera is set properly.  Once you have done this, click “Save”


You have now set up this camera to use the substream. If this is a new camera, you can now continue on to configuring analytics. If this was a previously set up camera that you have now changed the stream of, confirm that the analytics are still configured properly.


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