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New BI User, call me Overwhelmed

nmwhitneyjr

nmwhitneyjr

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So the title is a bit dramatic, I admit. However, I've downloaded and started reading the BI manual and spot read a few threads here on the forum. I'm starting to feel like BI is extreme overkill. But damn if the other options out there don't seem even more complicated to setup and run. Is there a "BI for Dipsh*ts" thread that I've missed in my searches? And yes, I've found (and am working through) the BI Wiki here on the forum.
 
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tigerwillow1

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Ri22o said:
The functions and abilities of Blue Iris can be used as little or as much as you want. You can keep it as simple as you like, or go uber-nerd with it.
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While true in a lot of cases, there are some places where nerdiness is required. One example is with the storage setup. If my memory is correct (ok to question this!) the default install setup is not what one wants for the common configuration of one disk for the BI system, and another for video storage. One has to figure out what drive to use for the Alerts folder, for the New folder, then to deactivate the Stored folder, and calculate the size for each one to use most of the available space without overallocating it. This is easy for those of you who have installed BI a few times, totally unintuitive for a first-timer, both in how it works and the terminology. Just one example, I'm not into spending a lot of time for a full list. BI is great if you're willing to spend the time and effort on it, but it's not even close to an NVR where you just install a disk, plug it in, add the cameras, and you're done. I was stuck a few times without help from the forum, which is super-duper good, and that's available to you too. And before anybody asks, my IQ is still above 80.
 
TonyR

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^^^^ Which is why we have @SouthernYankee on the A Team! :headbang::cool:

stored video folder size over quota?

I've had an ongoing problem for a couple months now and just haven't had much time to address it, BI keeps telling me my stored video drive is over quota. I've deleted all files from the drive multiple times and even deleted the folder and tried using a new folder but with the same results. I...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
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Heavyopp

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It’s not a terrible learning curve. I’m a ditch digger and I managed to at least be functional with BI.
Buy it or use the evaluation period but you need to have a cam or 2 up and running and actually play with BI to learn it. At least I did.
When you have an issue just ask. You will not be scolded. The search feature here is your friend too.
 
looney2ns

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There are NO nvr and cams that are plugnplay, if you expect to get the best performance out of the system.
 
CCTVCam

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Unfortunately the guy who produces BI is a one man band. I agree it can be hard with so many settings especially if you've never set up any cameras before and have little or no networking experience. What it really wants is a manual with every UI page in BI exploded with numbered descriptions of every setting and what it does, how to use it etc. Unfortately, we're not going to see this anytime soon. Best advice is stick with the settings recommended my members in posts on here and ignore any extra menus / settings. Users on here have pretty much found settings that are a sweet spot for most users so setting those will get you up and running with the best settings in most instances. You can tweek from there, but beware unknown menus as some features can make picture / performance suffer. Search this forum and you should come up with recommended settings.
 
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tigerwillow1

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Heavyopp said:
It’s not a terrible learning curve. I’m a ditch digger and I managed to at least be functional with BI.
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I was a career software engineer and it sounds like you spun up on BI easier than I did. But that's not the point of this post. For me the issue isn't not being able to learn BI, but the amount of time it takes. I ran into another example while gathering info for post #5 above, a BI bug I assume. To get all the terminology correct I brought up the BI storage settings tab. While writing the post the local BI display turned off from inactivity and the storage settings tab stayed up. A few hours later, BI went batty with no live video and no recording. The BI local monitor said my "new" drive was over quota. So I spent time trying to figure out what went wrong, what I did, or whatever. After a couple wasted hours the bottom line is if you leave the storage tab displayed showing the "new" drive info, BI will blow right through the size that's set, fill up the disk, and go into overallocation panic. No need to change any settings or hit OK, just leave it displayed. Close the tab, and all will return to normal in less than an hour.

I spent more time on this one "event" that with the total of all NVR bugs I've run into over the 7 years I've been using it. Like many others, I've had cars where I put in a lot of time to keep them going, and was willing to do that. For me the camera system is a tool, I want it to save me time, and not cost me more. For anybody who wants to set up an optimum BI system as a hobby or challenge, that's great, and BI is a great platform to do it with. Some of the things it does are utterly impressive. I've used only one NVR, and based on that, the posts that say that it's just as easy to set up and maintain BI as it is an NVR are pure fantasy.
 
TonyR

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tigerwillow1 said:
.....the posts that say that it's just as easy to set up and maintain BI as it is an NVR are pure fantasy.
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Still, that was YOUR fantasy unfortunately and could also be the fantasy of others. However, I have never had such a negative experience with BI and many others can say the same. I think the positive outweighs the negative but again, I realize that's just MY experience.

Depending on the BI version, the circumstances, bad ju-ju and perhaps even the moon's effect on the earth's tides, one can experience issues that can definitely flavor one's opinion. I have only 2 clients with NVR's and 4 with Blue Iris so not a big pool to speculate on a trend or quote stats for sure....but the smiles and praises from the BI clients are forthcoming every time I see them, the NVR clients are just "doing OK." Maybe it's partially because I matched the "tinkerers" with BI and the "non-tinkerers" with NVR's.

It's definitely not a case of "one size fits all", IMO. :cool:
 
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tigerwillow1 said:
I was a career software engineer and it sounds like you spun up on BI easier than I did.
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I wouldn’t say ”spun up”. I managed to get it set up, running and functional. Used the search function here a lot.
There are a ton of things I have no idea what they do.

I fit Tony’s description above. I do like to tinker.
 
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tigerwillow1

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TonyR said:
Maybe it's partially because I matched the "tinkerers" with BI and the "non-tinkerers" with NVR's.
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I think you are on to something here. Running with that, I think you BI tinkerers enjoy the tinkering, and it doesn't feel like work at all. In general, I'm a big time tinkerer, it's just that I'm maxed out with other things that need attention and want the camera system to just work without me having to do a lot of setup or troubleshooting.

TonyR said:
I think the positive outweighs the negative
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I totally agree if you're OK with the extra time and effort it takes to get the positives set up and running the way you want. BI has a lot more capabilities than an NVR, but they don't just automatically configure themselves the way you want them.

I had set out to replace the NVR with BI, but now I'm reluctantly accepting I might keep both of them running in parallel. Bad me, more carbon in the atmosphere. The only reason I have to keep BI is its so much more capable and easy to use method of viewing clips. This is huge, although occasionally I have better luck finding a clip with smartPSS via the NVR. The big reason to keep the NVR is that it just quietly runs on its own with 100% reliability, which is not true for my BI+CPAI setup that needs some sort of attention once or twice a week. Another factor, specific to me because of not using human/vehicle detection in the cameras, happens on high wind days. The moving shadows and tree limbs cause flurries of almost continuous false IVS triggers. When this happens, the nice clip viewing setup of BI becomes a burden when trying to skip over a hundred or so clips at a time, plus a clip I really want to find might very well be gone from the clips folder, overwritten by all of the false triggers. With smartPSS on the NVR, nothing gets lost. It can take a lot of time to find what I'm after, but at least it's there.

I acknowledge that a basic BI system that uses on camera AI or isn't plagued by things that cause a lot of false triggers can run without attention and be reasonably easy to set up after you've done it once. I'm just taking issue with the blanket assertions that BI isn't more difficult to set up or keep running than an NVR. Those who have bricked their NVR doing a firmware upgrade would disagree with me I expect. I've been lucky with then NVR, other have been lucky with BI. One size doesn't fit all.
 
TonyR

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tigerwillow1 said:
I think you are on to something here. Running with that, I think you BI tinkerers enjoy the tinkering, and it doesn't feel like work at all. In general, I'm a big time tinkerer, it's just that I'm maxed out with other things that need attention and want the camera system to just work without me having to do a lot of setup or troubleshooting.


I totally agree if you're OK with the extra time and effort it takes to get the positives set up and running the way you want. BI has a lot more capabilities than an NVR, but they don't just automatically configure themselves the way you want them.

I had set out to replace the NVR with BI, but now I'm reluctantly accepting I might keep both of them running in parallel. Bad me, more carbon in the atmosphere. The only reason I have to keep BI is its so much more capable and easy to use method of viewing clips. This is huge, although occasionally I have better luck finding a clip with smartPSS via the NVR. The big reason to keep the NVR is that it just quietly runs on its own with 100% reliability, which is not true for my BI+CPAI setup that needs some sort of attention once or twice a week. Another factor, specific to me because of not using human/vehicle detection in the cameras, happens on high wind days. The moving shadows and tree limbs cause flurries of almost continuous false IVS triggers. When this happens, the nice clip viewing setup of BI becomes a burden when trying to skip over a hundred or so clips at a time, plus a clip I really want to find might very well be gone from the clips folder, overwritten by all of the false triggers. With smartPSS on the NVR, nothing gets lost. It can take a lot of time to find what I'm after, but at least it's there.

I acknowledge that a basic BI system that uses on camera AI or isn't plagued by things that cause a lot of false triggers can run without attention and be reasonably easy to set up after you've done it once. I'm just taking issue with the blanket assertions that BI isn't more difficult to set up or keep running than an NVR. Those who have bricked their NVR doing a firmware upgrade would disagree with me I expect. I've been lucky with then NVR, other have been lucky with BI. One size doesn't fit all.
Click to expand...
Some of us here just have to have something for our busy little hands to play with......nevermind, @Arjun :lmao:
 
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