Oh the lag!

I really want like my ST stuff, and for the most part I do, but there are a couple things that make it almost useless for what I would like to use it for. The first and foremost is the lag time.
I’ve got a Foscam setup to take pictures on motion in my living room. 2 points of lag here, first is the amount of time it takes for ST to tell the camera to take pictures is longer than the time it takes for someone to casually walk across the living room and out of frame, I don’t know the exact amount of time it takes, but I’ve never once got a useful picture (the best one I’ve got is one time I did actually get the leg of a person walking out of frame, woopie). If I use the “Take” button on the device in the ST app I instantly get a picture, so the problem is not the camera response time, the problem just the amount of time it takes for the motion sensor to notify the camera to do it’s thing. The second point of lag is the amount of time it takes to get the picture to me in the app. It’s anywhere from 5 minutes to 8 hours assuming they come at all (which is only about 50% of the time). Motion at 2 AM, should I go grab my gun or is it just my son sleepwalking… I’ll find out by 10 or so the next morning… That’s helpful… I thought maybe texting would be faster, so I turned that on, but assumed it didn’t work because I didn’t get any texts when I was testing it, but I found that it did work when I got a flood of texts the next afternoon, again, with that kind of lag, what’s the point?
I’m sure the problem is the cloud based nature of ST, but seriously… Are there any suggestions to make this better, or will I just have to wait and hope that the ‘coming soon’ claims for local control are true?
I know this all sound negative, but really I do like my ST stuff and it has serious potential, I just hope some improvements are coming soon so I’m able to justify my purchase to my wife… :smile:

Thanks!
Matt

You could set the motion sensor further up to get the his earlier. But even then out would be a shot in the dark as the lag time can vary. Still new and learning here myself.

Have you tried support?

What app are you using to take the picture in the Foscam? Wouldn’t you just want a text or something from the motion detector, and then look at the camera yourself?

Yeah, I’ve moved the sensor around a couple times to maximize my coverage. The way I have it positioned now it would see someone in the next room. Which is good enough to ‘almost’ catch a picture if they were to walk from that room to the living room, but still is hit and miss (95% miss).

I’m using the Foscam Universal Device code I got here on the forums. It’s great, even lets me control the pan and tilt.
I get the notification of motion and then a second notification that pictures have been taken because of the motion very quickly, but I don’t actually get the pictures for, at the best, several minutes, at worst 8 hours or not at all, and in my testing I’m long past the place in the room that I was when it said it took the pictures, so it’s not actually taking them at the time it’s sending the notification.
You’re right, I could just connect to the camera and look at it when I get a notification, but that would take a minute or so to do so whatever caused the motion would probably be gone by then, plus I don’t have the camera accessible from outside the local network so if I got a notification when I wasn’t home I couldn’t connect in and see it at all.

Please verify that you have ben seeing this other than just today. Seeing as today is “Internet Slowdown Day” and all.

https://www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th/

Could that possibly be a part of it?

I need to get my Foscam up and running to see for myself. Was hoping to wait until I moved.

:slight_smile: yeah more than just today. Actually I haven’t tried anything today. This has been over the past week or so.

Matt,

Which Smart app are you using to trigger a photo to be taken when movement?
I have the Foscam Device type working, but which Smart App?

Thanks

It’s “Motion Photo Activity”. I have it set to take a burst photo set when there is motion in the living room, or when either of the exterior doors in the living room opens (haven’t actually tried that though… Maybe I should and see if the response time is better than it is with the motion detection) and the mode is ‘away’ or ‘night’. In THEORY it’s really cool.

I can’t find that Smart App.

Interesting, I have not personally used ST for this sort of thing, as the camera’s are a bit hard to install for me. I would have to run power, and I know how to do that, just finding the time,

What is your configuration, apps that you are using and devices in play here?

I found it by going to my motion sensor then the room/area smart app then on the same screen as “get notified when there is activity” I had a additional section for “take photos when there is activity”. From that button I was able to configure how I wanted it to behave. Not real easy to find, I happened across it by accident.

I understand the time issue, that’s for sure :smile:
I got a Foscam 8910W from Amazon and a quick search on the forums here showed me how to add a device type for it and from there it just started working (so to speak).

Well if I remember right, doesn;t the FosCam device calling the camera via external IP? If that is the case, that could be your lag point. I know that ST is trying to add more camera devices, maybe they will improve this one with an official supported device. I can expect though if you need to call an external address to make it work, that there will be the lag from ST and the Lag between ST and the Device itself.

I have 5 foscam set up using ST, and they were easy to set up. All of mine are using the external IP, I haven’t seen something that can use the cameras internal ip yet.

I use the Foscam Device Type, and there are 4 or 5 useful apps, that I use.
I can help you if you have any particular questions, are you using Foscams?

Morgan

Nah, I don’t have my camera expose outside my router, I’m just using the internal IP. I too am hoping that once it’s supported ‘out of the box’, so to speak, it will be a quicker response turn around time…

I’m using the Foscam device type from here:

It’s working fine on the internal IP. I don’t want to expose my camera to the outside world so I haven’t setup any port forwarding or anything, the Device Type works well and was super easy to setup.