Fixing Grey Screens, Smearing & Macroblocking in RTSP Streams
Solve UDP packet drops, missing keyframes (I-frames), and decode corruption in live surveillance feeds.
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#1The Root Cause: Lost P-Frames without Keyframe Refresh
H.264 video relies on periodic Keyframes (I-Frames) to refresh the entire image. If UDP transport drops packets during high-motion scenes, the decoder cannot render intermediate P-Frames, causing the image to turn grey until the next I-Frame arrives.
#2The Permanent Solution
1. Force TCP transport in your client (-rtsp_transport tcp).
2. In camera video settings, set Keyframe Interval (GOP) equal to or double the frame rate (e.g. 30 FPS = GOP 30 or 60).
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