Blueiris Tearing/Banding Issue

[cspicctv]

Hi,

We have an NVR system with approx 40 cameras that is having an issue with intermittent banding and screen tearing in a purple/green color. This will happen occasionally on approx 4-6 cameras. Some Cameras it happens all the time, sometimes it is a rare occurence.

The easy fix from both the server and in the UI3 client is to just right click reset camera.

I initially thought I had solved this issue because of a variable bit rate setting in the camera, but that was not a true solution. I am using direct to disk recording, 15fps 1-2MB bitrate per camera. i7 8700 using quick sync hardware acceleration.

I know it's not the camera because when I log directly into the UI of a specific camera WHILE blueiris is giving me the banding/tearing and see the raw RTSP stream it is unaltered, something in the blueiris translation is causing the issue.

As you can see on camera 4, 6, 7, ETC

Any ideas how to resolve this?

 

[TonyR]

Is it only doing it from UI3 or also from BI Console?

 

[fenderman]

ensure that the cameras are not using and smart codecs or h.264/5+

 

[cspicctv]

Is it only doing it from UI3 or also from BI Console?

It happens in both BI console and UI3

ensure that the cameras are not using and smart codecs or h.264/5+

Cameras are ACTi E77/D65a and they are using h264. Almost all of the cameras are ACTi, and they all have the same settings, 720p 15fps 1.5-2mb stream

 

[TonyR]

@fenderman, do you think this would be a consideration?

Under camera "properties", "video", Network IP "configure" button, below the "Network Options" on the right, the "Use RTSP/Stream Time Code" box.....uncheck the box.

 

[fenderman]

@fenderman, do you think this would be a consideration?

Under camera "properties", "video", Network IP "configure" button, below the "Network Options" on the right, the "Use RTSP/Stream Time Code" box.....uncheck the box.

I dont think so but it cant hurt to try.

 

[TonyR]

I dont think so but it cant hurt to try.

Yeah, I didn't think so either...maybe if it were choppy, freezing for 1-2 seconds, but smearing and tearing?...but as you said.. "it won't hurt".

 

[fenderman]

It happens in both BI console and UI3



Cameras are ACTi E77/D65a and they are using h264. Almost all of the cameras are ACTi, and they all have the same settings, 720p 15fps 1.5-2mb stream

Are there any options for the type of h264?
Try increasing the receive buffer in the video tab to 20.
The fact that it does not appear when you try to view the stream via browser is not indicative of a blue iris problem for two reasons, 1, the browser view is not necessarily streamed via rtsp and more importantly you are starting a new stream when you launch the browser, which solves the issue in blue iris as well. I would stream a couple of the problem cams to VLC using rtsp and see if they have the same issue.

 

[cspicctv]

Are there any options for the type of h264?
Try increasing the receive buffer in the video tab to 20.
The fact that it does not appear when you try to view the stream via browser is not indicative of a blue iris problem for two reasons, 1, the browser view is not necessarily streamed via rtsp and more importantly you are starting a new stream when you launch the browser, which solves the issue in blue iris as well. I would stream a couple of the problem cams to VLC using rtsp and see if they have the same issue.

Thanks for the follow up, I will try this and get back to you. I am pretty sure hitting the camera IP directly it is rendering via RTSP, but you are correct in starting a new stream...

I believe the cameras have the h264 encoding profiles of base/main/high etc I am using high. I have the buffer set to 10mb on all cameras in BI

 

[fenderman]

Thanks for the follow up, I will try this and get back to you. I am pretty sure hitting the camera IP directly it is rendering via RTSP, but you are correct in starting a new stream...

I believe the cameras have the h264 encoding profiles of base/main/high etc I am using high. I have the buffer set to 10mb on all cameras in BI

also set the iframe interval (in acti cameras it is likely called GOP) to match the fps.

 

[SouthernYankee]

1) make model CPU
2) amount memory
3) Windows version
4) are you using hardware acceleration in BI
5) average CPU when bi console and UI3 are closed .. use windows task manager
6) average CPU when console is open .. use windows task manager
7) amount of memory used by BI .. use windows task manager
8) are any of the cameras wifi
9) does the banding and color problem occur when only looking at a single camera in BI console

 

[cspicctv]

also set the iframe interval (in acti cameras it is likely called GOP) to match the fps.

1) make model CPU
2) amount memory
3) Windows version
4) are you using hardware acceleration in BI
5) average CPU when bi console and UI3 are closed .. use windows task manager
6) average CPU when console is open .. use windows task manager
7) amount of memory used by BI .. use windows task manager
8) are any of the cameras wifi
9) does the banding and color problem occur when only looking at a single camera in BI console

I will be back on site Fri and will have this information for you. Thanks

 

[cspicctv]

1) make model CPU
i7 8700

2) amount memory
8gb ddr4

3) Windows version
windows 10

4) are you using hardware acceleration in BI
yes intel quick sync

5) average CPU when bi console and UI3 are closed .. use windows task manager
35% iGPU- 40%

6) average CPU when console is open .. use windows task manager
45% iGPU- 40%

7) amount of memory used by BI .. use windows task manager
3.5gb

8) are any of the cameras wifi
no all hardwired to netgeat poe+ switches

9) does the banding and color problem occur when only looking at a single camera in BI console
no, happens to multiple cameras from the view all page

@fenderman I am in the process of making sure all the gop/framerate settings match right now

 

[bp2008]

@cspicctv
I'm guessing those affected are Hikvision cameras. The same thing happens to mine once in a while. It has happened for years, across multiple generations of Intel CPU. The crazy thing is it will not happen for months and then it will happen multiple times a day on multiple cameras.

Something about this glitch is that it affects live view and motion detection but your direct to disk recordings will still be fine. It is simply the video decoder glitching out.

I never found a solution other than to turn off hardware acceleration for affected cameras. I've never seen it happen when hardware acceleration was disabled. And I've never seen it happen to non-Hikvision cameras. All my Hikvision cameras by the way are several years old. Newer models may or may not be affected.

Alternatively you could use any Nvidia graphics card which supports NVDEC for H.264 and use that for hardware acceleration, however it is very inefficient and should only be used as a last resort as it will waste power and money if used needlessly.

 

[cspicctv]

@cspicctv
I'm guessing those affected are Hikvision cameras. The same thing happens to mine once in a while. It has happened for years, across multiple generations of Intel CPU. The crazy thing is it will not happen for months and then it will happen multiple times a day on multiple cameras.

Something about this glitch is that it affects live view and motion detection but your direct to disk recordings will still be fine. It is simply the video decoder glitching out.

I never found a solution other than to turn off hardware acceleration for affected cameras. I've never seen it happen when hardware acceleration was disabled. And I've never seen it happen to non-Hikvision cameras. All my Hikvision cameras by the way are several years old. Newer models may or may not be affected.

Alternatively you could use any Nvidia graphics card which supports NVDEC for H.264 and use that for hardware acceleration, however it is very inefficient and should only be used as a last resort as it will waste power and money if used needlessly.

Interesting. The cameras in question are all ACTi cameras though. I confirmed what you said that it only on the stream decoder side, when I view footage from when it was tearing/banding it is indeed unaltered at the direct to disk.

We are in the process in expanding this system as well and since the august update of adding NVENC I've been eyeing a quadro P2000 for this setup to offload more of the CPU. I know we are going to need more ram and it's next on the list to upgrade

 

[bp2008]

Interesting. I wonder if ACTi and Hikvision used the same video encoder chips. I had a pair of old ACTi 10 MP cameras (only running one now) and neither of them ever showed this problem.

Nvidia and Quick Sync decoding both reduce the CPU usage by similar amounts. The main difference is that Quick Sync is efficient and reduces the power consumption a little, while Nvidia decoding is inefficient and raises power consumption a lot. However your system seems to be pretty heavily loaded so going without hardware acceleration is probably out of the question unless you started using "Limit decoding" which sucks for live view.

 

[cspicctv]

@fenderman

Been checking into the system every few days, it was OK the first time I checked it but today I log in and the same suspect cameras have the banding/tearing issue still. GOP matches the framerate and the video buffer size is 20mb on all cameras.

I will try disabling hardware acceleration, I am hesitant because this server already has a tremendous load but I need to resolve this.

I can also confirm the actual direct2disk recordings do NOT have this banding. Unfortunately this client needs to have the live view open at all times.

Thanks

 

[L.L.]

I have the same issue while trying to playback BVR files from different branded cameras such as Lorex/FLIR, Panasonic, and Samsung. It has never occurred during Liveview. The frequency has increased significantly in the last day. Not sure what it could be. I use HW acceleration for all cameras except Samsung. Same results either way.

 

[fenderman]

I have the same issue while trying to playback BVR files from different branded cameras such as Lorex/FLIR, Panasonic, and Samsung. It has never occurred during Liveview. The frequency has increased significantly in the last day. Not sure what it could be. I use HW acceleration for all cameras except Samsung. Same results either way.

Uncheck also bvr

 

[L.L.]

Uncheck also bvr

Thanks, will give that a try on a few cameras with the issue to see if it resolves.

I couldn't find a description in the help file as to what the "also BVR" setting enables. Is it buried somewhere or can you provide a quick description of what it does?