Agent DVR: Troubleshooting

Agent DVR makes it easy to keep an eye on what's happening under the hood with formatted live logs. You can find these logs right on the local server at /logs.html. For a default setup, that's http://localhost:8090/logs.html. Perfect for real-time insights!

From version 3.5.6.0 onwards, Agent DVR also stores the five most recent raw logs in .json format in your Media folder. On Windows, this is typically located at C:\Program Files\Agent\Media. These detailed logs are great for debugging and understanding the inner workings of Agent.

Need to access logs remotely? No problem! You can download these raw logs right from the server menu in the web portal. And if you have questions or need a helping hand, our Community boards are just a click away. Join the conversation and get the support you need!

Running into issues with the Windows installer for Agent? If it fails to complete, or if Agent DVR doesn't start, or you need additional functionalities not available in the Windows service mode (like certain GPU drivers and desktop monitoring), here's a workaround using the command prompt:

• First, stop the Agent DVR service if it's running. Go to Start, type "services.msc", and hit enter. Find "Agent" in the list, right-click it and select "Stop". To prevent it from auto-starting, right-click on "Agent", go to Properties, set the startup type to "Disabled", and apply the changes.
• Next, open a console window. Click Start, type "cmd", right-click "Command Prompt" and select "Run as administrator".
• Then, navigate to the Agent DVR directory, usually "cd C:\Program Files\Agent".
• Finally, run Agent DVR as a console application by typing "Agent.exe" and hitting enter.

Agent DVR will inform you of any startup issues and the local port it's using. You can exit Agent DVR anytime by pressing enter. Running Agent DVR in the console enables more GPU device usage and desktop recording capabilities.

Facing an error like 'The type initializer for 'Emgu.CV.Cuda.CudaInvoke' threw an exception.' on Windows? You might need to install the Windows Media Feature Pack for your OS.

If an antivirus app or firewall is blocking Agent DVR's access to local ports, consider adding Agent.exe to the safe list or opening the necessary port in your firewall.

Using Windows N? You'll need the media feature pack for Windows N.

On OSX, Linux, or Raspberry Pi, missing libraries can cause start-up failures (like a missing 'libcvextern.so'). Use commands like 'ldd' or 'objdump -r --dylibs-used' to identify and install missing dependencies. If you encounter such issues, contact us so we can update our documentation and assist you better!

Experiencing glitchy video? Let's smooth things out! Agent DVR defaults to using UDP for quick, real-time video, but switching to TCP could solve any corruption issues at the cost of slight buffering. Here are some other tips and tricks you can try:

• Check "Prefer TCP" in the FFmpeg settings for a more stable connection.
• Uncheck "Low Delay" in the FFmpeg settings. This might improve stability at the cost of a slight delay in the video feed.
• Add options to FFmpeg settings. For high resolution streams you may need to adjust some buffering sizes. For example these might help:

  reorder_queue_size=500
buffer_size=4096000

  Tip: Agent DVR logs the ffmpeg settings it's applying when cameras are connected. You can override these in the options panel. An example set of options is:

  probesize=10485760
analyzeduration=5000000
max_delay=10000000
overrun_nonfatal=1
tcp_nodelay=1
reorder_queue_size=16
fifo_size=278876
buffer_size=2100000
rw_timeout=8000000
timeout=8000000
stimeout=8000000
user_agent=Mozilla/5.0

• Try CPU decoding on the Advanced tab if GPU decoding isn't cutting it. Sometimes the CPU will actually give you better performance than the GPU as transferring memory between the system and the GPU can actually take longer than just decoding it in place.
• Consider using VLC as the Decoder on the Advanced tab if it's available. This should be a last option as it's not very efficient and there are some bugs in the VLC library

Reolink Cameras, in particular, might face issues with corrupted RTSP streams. A useful tip is to switch the encoder in the camera's settings to use H264 instead of H265, if available. Also, Reolink cameras may offer alternate video endpoints with the RTMP:// protocol, rather than RTSP://. Use the 'Add Camera' wizard in Agent DVR to explore these RTMP:// alternatives for potentially better results.

Stuttering Video? If you're noticing stuttering in live or recorded playback, especially with some Reolink cameras, here's a fix: edit the camera settings, go to the FFmpeg tab, and add reorder_queue_size=500 to options at the bottom.

Forgot your local Agent DVR login? No worries, resetting it is a breeze and will revert it back to no login required:

• First, let's stop Agent DVR:
  • Windows: Go to Start, type "services.msc", find Agent DVR in the list, right-click, and select 'Stop'.
  • Linux: Open a terminal and type sudo systemctl stop AgentDVR.service.
  • OSX: Open a terminal and run sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.ispy.agent.dvr.plist.
• Next, run the reset script. On Windows, it's agent-reset-local-login.bat. On Linux/OSX, use agent-reset-local-login.sh (don't forget to make it executable with chmod +x agent-reset-local-login.sh).
• Finally, restart Agent DVR:
  • Windows: Open "services.msc", find Agent, right-click, and choose 'Start'.
  • Linux: In the terminal, run sudo systemctl start AgentDVR.service.
  • OSX: Use the terminal to run sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.ispy.agent.dvr.plist.

There you go! Your Agent DVR local login is reset and you can access it without needing to log in. Easy and secure!