Vitamin D Video Reference Guide

The video is jerky ("a low frame rate was detected on this camera")

You may have noticed that the video motion is not smooth, and seems to get stuck on frames in a jerky motion. Or you may have seen an alert icon in the Monitor view, that when clicked displayed a warning saying "a low frame rate was detected on this camera."

fps alert

"Frame rate" is a video term that refers to how many frames are displayed every second. Vitamin D Video processes at 10 frames per second in order to minimize processing and bandwidth requirements. A frame rate lower than 10 frames per second will send less information, and less accurate motion, to Vitamin D Video. At low frame rates some objects may not even be detected at all. It is therefore important to try to address this problem if you notice it. A low frame can be caused by:

Slow network connectivity. If your wireless network signal is weak, then it may not be able to send enough data to support 10 FPS. This could be temporary (there may be a lot of data being sent on your network), or it could be because your camera is in a spot that does not receive a strong Wi-Fi signal. If possible, try to move your routers and/or cameras for better reception, or even consider adding another device like a repeater to boost your network signal. Also sometimes having an older Wi-Fi computer can slow down your network (in technical terms, an 802.11b machine on the network will bring all the 802.11g devices down to the 802.11b speed).
Cameras sometimes adjust to very dark scenes by lowering the frame rate in order to maximize light entering the camera. Additional light at night can help this.
If your resolution is set higher than VGA (640 x 480), then your computer may be having difficulty processing all the information. Dropping to a lower resolution may help.
A problem with the camera itself could generate a low frame rate. Please refer to your camera's documentation if you suspect this is the problem.
"Too many clients of the same camera" refers to a situation where you have multiple computers accessing the same camera, which is not a typical configuration. If so, the network may not be able to handle the data's distribution to multiple computers.
Your computer's processor is overtaxed. If you are running too many cameras, too many rules on the same PC, or too many other applications while you are trying to record, the frame rate may drop to compensate. For tips in this area, see "My computer has slowed down and become sluggish."
ADVANCED TIP. If you want to check the frame rate, you export the clip and open the file in QuickTime. To export a clip, select it in the Search view results list and choose "Export clip..." from the Tools menu. Open the video clip in QuickTime and select Show Movie Inspector from the Window menu. You will see a setting called "Movie FPS," which stands for "frames per second.")