Hi, I’m facing significant amount of latency (1-2sec) with my Sonoptix sonar (v2.0.0) only when using the RTSP stream. I am using the RTSP stream to get the raw data from the sonar (rtsp://192.168.2.42:8554/raw), however it has 1-2 second latency when played with the VLC Player. Meanwhile the “vid…

Hi @gavingavinchan , welcome to the Blue Robotics forum :slight_smile: I’m not sure we’ve specifically tested the RTSP latency, but I can ask internally whether it’s something we’ve run into and have any insight on. That said, your question is likely be better posed to Sonoptix , as it is their devi…

Thank you, I will ask Sonoptix as well.

[image] Eliot: I’m not sure we’ve specifically tested the RTSP latency, but I can ask internally whether it’s something we’ve run into and have any insight on. Following up, the raw data stream was added via a firmware update after we did our primary testing of the Sonoptix Echo, and we haven…

Hi @gavingavinchan , I have similar setup although I’m using ros2 rqt image view to quickly visualize the stream (also converting to pointclouds). Unfortunately I’m seeing 3-4sec delay / lag. Have you heard from Sonoptix, or found a solution? Best, Adam

Hi Folks, I’ve found that RTSP generally adds lag to cameras also, vs using something like gstreamer. I’ve especially noticed it with VLC, if you can try to use FFPLAY, it halved the latency for me before with an offshore ROV camera, but that was going from 1sec to 0.5sec, still too much latency to…

[image] XYZEng: I’ve found that RTSP generally adds lag to cameras also … I’ve especially noticed it with VLC, This reminded me that VLC has a default buffer . It may help to reduce that to reduce the latency.

Thanks for the input XYZEng, Unfortunately, this sonar only has two output options live video(no visible latency) on a web API or RTSP. So I believe I am stuck with RTSP. However, I greatly improved the latency by specifying UDP transport instead of the default TCP, explicitly setting FFmpeg with…

As an aside, I also have a Sonoptix echo, while great for navigation in turbid water, I find the webapp very frustrating. It doesn’t give the option to save the video until after the video has been stopped. I momentarily lost power to my ethernet devices because I was pushing the thrusters too hard…

[image] XYZEng: But it’s a pity there’s no lower latency video stream than RTSP that I could record on my GCS. It’s possible the latency increase is from the H264-encoding process. That said, if you’re ok with the standard video output (rather than the raw output provided by the RTSP stream)…

Thanks Eliot, I will look into the stream behaviour to see if I can get it directly. I should have noted above that this obviously isn’t a blue robotics issue, just something I wanted to point out to other users of the Sonoptix.

Sonoptix Sonar Lag from RTSP stream

Third Party Products Sonar and Acoustics

EliotBR (Eliot) July 17, 2025, 4:31pm 7

This reminded me that VLC has a default buffer. It may help to reduce that to reduce the latency.

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