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How to test a port-forwarded stream

How to test a port-forwarded stream

Choppy playback, gaps in recording or issues with port-forwarding?
Pavel Kuba avatar
Written by Pavel Kuba. Updated over a week ago

To investigate where is the issue, it may be fruitful to play the video first out of Angelcam

👉 Unfortunately, this "trick" is not possible for Angelcam-powered cameras or cameras connected via AngelBox, as for security reasons the video is being encrypted and the stream is not accessible from the internet in any other way than from Angelcam cloud.


Open the stream from two different locations in a browser or a standalone video player

How it works

  1. Test from a local network first. The video should definitely be loaded fast and played without any glitches. Otherwise, there is a problem with a camera itself (most often) or in a local network (not typically). Once you will be sure this is working without issues continue with the next step:

  2. Test while being connected from the internet, e.g. using LTE connection or just being in another building or similar. Once you will be able to get a smooth video while being not connected on the same local network as a camera, it's almost certain it will work okay with Angelcam as well.

1️⃣ Find a camera stream address

  1. Open My Cameras

  2. Select a camera you want to test

  3. Click to Settings in the left menu

  4. Click to Show camera address

  5. Copy'n'paste the camera address

2️⃣ Play the video stream

  1. Install VLC player if you haven't in the past

  2. Open VLC player

  3. Click to File and then to Open Network

  4. Paste the camera stream address (from the previous step)

  5. Click to Open

  6. The video should be shown in several seconds. Check the quality, speed, stability.

3️⃣ Solve the issues

A) Is video is okay from the local network, but not working at all from the internet at all?

Hmm, your port-forwarding is not set up well probably.

Don't worry, it's not easy stuff. Not just that, it's also insecure and not reliable. So while we support the option to connect a camera via port-forwarding, we strongly encourage to do so only to professionals who know how to set this up and realizing all the consequences. Note we don't even provide support to networking issues related to a port-forwarding as we can't do much on our side.

The best alternatives to port-forwarding

B) Is video is okay from the local network, but choppy from the internet?

1. Make sure the upload speed of the network camera is using is enough

Download speed doesn't matter. Upload speed is what matters and it's significantly slower than download speed usually. The bigger number the more compelling marketing, so most internet service providers are promoting just the download speed :)

Test the upload speed❗️ while being connected to the internet from the same network as your camera is:

Test my upload speed

2. Make sure the latency and reliability of the network camera is using is okay

The upload speed is not a limitation most of the time. The issue is in latency or reliability (packet loss) typically. Let's find out:

Test my internet connection latency and packet loss

💡 If you feel lost in this, the best thing you can do is reach your local IT or ISP. Alternatively, you can ask for help in our Community forum.

3. Consider adjusting the stream quality or upgrading your internet upload speed

 

💡 Still need further assistance? Why not check out our Angelcam Community, where you can connect with other users who are sharing their own experiences and insight into various Angelcam topics and problems.

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