Frequently asked questions
Net Video is a web server. It waits for requests to arrive and therefore there must be a viable network route between the web browser that will display the video stream and Net Video.
WiFi related questions:
Question 1
Q: My iPad is connected to my home WiFi and "Advertize URL" is ON in Net Video.
I can't see it in my computer also connected to my home network either via Bonjour nor in Windows explorer and I can't access the stream typing the URL on my web browser. What is wrong?
A: The iPad and computer are on different networks because your WiFi box is configured as a router.
Solution 1: configure port forwarding in the WiFi router to let the computer access the video stream.
Solution 2: configure the WiFi box as an access point instead of a router.
Question 2
Q: My iPhone is connected to my home WiFi.
How can a friend in his house access my video stream?
A: Usually a home LAN is connected to the internet using a router. IP addresses in the LAN are reserved ip addresses
(10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x, 192.168.x.x) not routable on the internet and only the router external ip address (assigned to you by your ISP)
can be seen on the internet.
Most routers support a mechanism called port forwarding that allows access from the internet to a device in the home network.
You will have to configure port forwarding in your router to forward requests from the internet to your iPhone.
Question 3
Q: I'm on a shopping mall that has WiFi. If I connect my iPhone to the mall WiFi will my friend at home be able to access my video stream?
A: No, the shopping mall has a router that will not forward connections to your iPhone.
3G related questions:
Question 1
Q: I can't access Net Video via 3G. What is wrong?
A: Here are some potential issues with 3G:
- Some carries may block incoming connections. In that case there is nothing to do. It won't work via 3G.
- Some carriers use reserved ip addresses on 3G. Reserved addresses have ranges:
10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255
169.254.0.0 to 169.254.255.255
If that is the case there is nothing you can do. It won't work via 3G. - Some carriers block well known ports. Port 8080 is known as a default alternate port for HTTP. You may try to set a different port number in Net Video.
Question 2
Q: My 3G connection is rated at 10 Mbps but the stream over 3G is slow. What is wrong?
A:
Unsually 3G has a much smaller upload speed than the download speed. Upload speed is what matters for Net Video.
You may try to set the "Slow 3G" ON and "Image size" to small in Net Video settings. It helps when the network is slow.
My personal experience shows that 3G network conditions varies quite a bit during the day.
It is clear that my carrier prioritize voice over data.
For instance between 5 to 7 PM 3G gets realy bad. That is when people is leaving work and is calling home or friends.
When voice calls is in high demand, 3G gets slow, very very slow.
With my carrier sometimes Net Video works very well over 3G, sometimes it is slow and sometimes it doesn't work.
Question 3
Q: Over 3G it takes several seconds for the first image to arrive, once it gets going it works fine. What is the problem?
A:
That happens when the network latency is high. There is nothing you can do to fix it.
You may have experienced a similar phenomenon when talking on the phone over a satellite link. There is a delay for the voice to arrive at the other end of the link but once it gets there the voice is clear.