Blue Iris UI3

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In UI3 version 27 released Saturday (June 2nd) I added an "HTML5" player which works in all the modern browsers. This is the first version where Firefox has an H.264 Player dropdown list in UI Settings, allowing you to choose between "HTML5" and "JavaScript".

A few days earlier (Thursday), in UI3 version 25, I added a "Native" player which I renamed to "NaCl" in version 27. This player is only available in Chrome and ChromeOS and is due to stop working some time this year due to Google removing support for the framework this player was built on. You won't ever see this one in the dropdown list in Firefox.

That said, Firefox has an issue with the new HTML5 player. You'll probably notice it stutter/pause a lot, especially if you are streaming at 1080p or 4K. There is a complex reason for this but suffice it to say Firefox doesn't handle low-delay streaming well. Mozilla has known about the problem for years but chose not to fix it. There is a workaround you can try. The stutter gets worse when it has been a long time since the last keyframe, so you can reduce the stutter by reducing the keyframe interval in Blue Iris's web server streaming profiles. The lower the better. However high values result in much better image quality and bandwidth usage (that is why the default is 300!), so this is really not a great workaround. Best to just not use Firefox for UI3 as long as this is an issue, or use the JavaScript player which is fine as long as your CPU is fast enough.
HI there, I've been using UI3 for a few weeks now, and love it. Great work on it.

However, I seem to be one of the few that use Firefox, and up until I did the most recent update, I haven't had any issues. The streaming quality has been fantastic, just top notch stuff.

However, with the new HTML5 player and the Firefox Stutter Fix, things have taken a turn for the worse. If I have the stutter fix on, the stream quality 'pulses' (hard to describe). If I disable it, it jacks up the GPU/CPU usage in Firefox. If I use JavaScript, I can't have the stream above 720P, as it does the same (jacks up the CPU/GPU usage).

Is there a way to revert just the UI3 to a previous version, where I didn't have these issues? Or perhaps tweak some settings to make things a little better? Thank you for all the hard work you've put into this.
 

Jury

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Hi.

After last BI update, in Chrome, having HTML5 as H.264 player, getting error "Media load rejected by URL safety check.". Changing to NaCI (Auto hw acc) resolving problem. Updated also UI to latest from this topic. Same problem. Before last update - everything was fine.
Hiw can I force set H.264 player for all users?
 

bp2008

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HI there, I've been using UI3 for a few weeks now, and love it. Great work on it.

However, I seem to be one of the few that use Firefox, and up until I did the most recent update, I haven't had any issues. The streaming quality has been fantastic, just top notch stuff.

However, with the new HTML5 player and the Firefox Stutter Fix, things have taken a turn for the worse. If I have the stutter fix on, the stream quality 'pulses' (hard to describe). If I disable it, it jacks up the GPU/CPU usage in Firefox. If I use JavaScript, I can't have the stream above 720P, as it does the same (jacks up the CPU/GPU usage).

Is there a way to revert just the UI3 to a previous version, where I didn't have these issues? Or perhaps tweak some settings to make things a little better? Thank you for all the hard work you've put into this.
I'm glad you like UI3. Unfortunately there there is no perfect solution to your problem. Mozilla has known about this streaming problem for years but refused to fix it because it only affects an uncommon use-case like UI3's.

The "Firefox Stutter Fix" causes BI to produce a keyframe about every 1 second, and this causes the pulsing effect you've noticed. Keyframes cause this pulsing mostly because of the Max bit rate limit which is enabled by default. It forces keyframes to be relatively small and low quality. You could try turning off the bit rate limit and use a Quality setting in the ballpark of 20-30 to keep the bit rate reasonable. That should drastically improve the pulsing situation, but require more bandwidth for the same video quality as before.

Reverting to a previous UI3 version can be done, but it would only last until your next BI update, and it would not help anyway. The HTML5 player and the ability to choose resolutions higher than 720p are both new features available only for the last week or the last 1 day respectively. All versions before that just used the JavaScript player with one of Blue Iris's 3 streaming profiles. Those streams were more than likely all 720p because that is Blue Iris's default which almost nobody ever changed. In fact, for most of Blue Iris's history, the option to change the streaming resolution didn't do anything. I suggest simply tuning your UI3 streaming profiles until you are happy with performance and quality, or re-add the Streaming 0,1,2 profiles as described a few posts above in this thread.

Hi.

After last BI update, in Chrome, having HTML5 as H.264 player, getting error "Media load rejected by URL safety check.". Changing to NaCI (Auto hw acc) resolving problem. Updated also UI to latest from this topic. Same problem. Before last update - everything was fine.
Hiw can I force set H.264 player for all users?
Curious. What else can you tell me about the system? Any proxy servers involved? What Chrome version? On what OS?

Read the Quick Start section here to learn how to set your current settings as the default for everyone: UI3 Help
 

xGROMx

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I just want to say the new update is amazing! The new streaming quality settings are great.
 

Jury

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Curious. What else can you tell me about the system? Any proxy servers involved? What Chrome version? On what OS?

Read the Quick Start section here to learn how to set your current settings as the default for everyone: UI3 Help
Actually, nothing special. NGINX as web server. Proxying to BI UI. Don't think it's connected to distinct Chrome version. Same problem also on mobile. BI installed on Win10. Can create account for you, if you would like to have a look.
 

bp2008

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Yeah go ahead and send me login info in a private message (conversation). My nginx testing virtual machine won't boot. I hate VMs.

Edit: Oh hey, it booted this time.
 

Jaceon

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Long time UI2 user with no complaints on that. Running on about 4 PC's 24/7.. decided to try UI3 on my PC and things I've right off noticed... on Edge .. which yes I know it's Edge I've had many other issues with that project =).. but after using it for a couple minutes, switching through cameras it eventually just freezes up, has the spinning circle, and just goes dead. So I switched to using it via Opera and all seems well. It's still definitely not nearly as responsive as UI2 when switching through cameras, but that could be settings I suppose. I noticed UI3 uses way less bandwidth as well which is big when I'm using it on 4 or so 24/7 PC's.. Anyways, I could probably get used to that trade-off for the bandwidth. Just reporting what I've noticed. Thanks again!
 

bp2008

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Long time UI2 user with no complaints on that. Running on about 4 PC's 24/7.. decided to try UI3 on my PC and things I've right off noticed... on Edge .. which yes I know it's Edge I've had many other issues with that project =).. but after using it for a couple minutes, switching through cameras it eventually just freezes up, has the spinning circle, and just goes dead. So I switched to using it via Opera and all seems well. It's still definitely not nearly as responsive as UI2 when switching through cameras, but that could be settings I suppose. I noticed UI3 uses way less bandwidth as well which is big when I'm using it on 4 or so 24/7 PC's.. Anyways, I could probably get used to that trade-off for the bandwidth. Just reporting what I've noticed. Thanks again!
:)

Yes, Edge is a terrible browser for UI3, especially since the HTML5 video update last week which Edge imposes over 3 seconds of delay for. Firefox is also kind of bad but not as bad as Edge. Chrome and Opera are the best.

If you choose a Jpeg quality option then UI3 will perform like UI2, both in terms of bandwidth and responsiveness. The other quality/profile options use H.264 and it takes a little longer for Blue Iris to get started streaming it.
 

Jaceon

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If you choose a Jpeg quality option then UI3 will perform like UI2, both in terms of bandwidth and responsiveness.
As you know you are, you are correct. :)... Well.. I still think UI2 is about .2 seconds faster when switching around just because it doesn't have that spinning circle animation, but maybe that's just me lol. Anyways, I think I do prefer the UI3 stream as long as I use a browser that plays nice so think I'm finally ready to retire the good ol UI2 :(. Thanks yet again!
 

bp2008

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Heh. A lot of work actually went into making UI3 feel more responsive. Like when you are streaming jpegs and switch from a group to a single cam, it upscales the last frame from that cam in the group until the full res frame loads. And it instantly dims the view until the new cam loads. That kind of thing.
 

Albert Einstien

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One handy feature in UI2 was that I could go to full screen even in a scaled down window. That is to say, only the cameras visible without the left hand pane and top menu, in a scaled down window. This does not seem possible In UI3. From what I can tell, video only for full screen will always default to a maximized screen. On the other hand, a scaled window will always have the left hand pane and top menu visible. The reason this was handy in UI2, is that I could go to 'All Camera's Cycle', and put a scaled down window in the top corner of my screen. Using 'full screen', and hiding the browser menus, and also having the left hand UI2 pane, and top menu hidden in a scaled window, I end up with a small window in the corner of my monitor displaying a cycle of the cameras, video only, while doing other computer work at the same time. Is this not possible in UI3?
 

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All,


I am new to the forum but not BI.....I have been a big fan of this program and have enjoyed each new patch with the fixes and features. Like most I have been using the new UI3 for web-access and up until recently everything has been fine. I would say a week ago I have had nothing but issues with UI3 and wish to provide some examples in the hope someone can help. Please keep in mind that my examples are NOT how the issues happens all the time, sometimes there are other error messages and/or behavior that is very hard to document and explain in a concise manner. Very rarely i can log right in to the system with no issues at first but quickly start to have problems. The problem basically goes like this (kind of)...


1) Navigate to url for web login

2) Attempt to login

3) Most times get this message....

upload_2018-6-14_13-41-21.png


4) Other times it will login but then I see this….

upload_2018-6-14_13-41-42.png


5) Sometimes…this….

upload_2018-6-14_13-42-7.png

(with address info redacted)

As mentioned before there are a very few times where I can login with no issues, and see my cameras…that said rather quickly I receive messages stating something to the effect that my session has timed out and the page will refresh and then I basically get thrown back to the login screen.

Help!
 
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I looked at the Connections tab (I can also remote into that machine) and watched what is happening when I attempt to connect via the UI3...

Basically I see the IP of the remote desktop connection (give kbs, fps, etc) and then when UI3 freaks out I see another IP address come in with no (kbs, fps). I looked up this new IP address and it would appear that it has something to do with my ISP (the Comcastic Ones).
 

bp2008

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Well one way or another it looks like Blue Iris is having a lot of trouble keeping your sessions alive. My only guess about the cause was that something was flooding your server with new sessions but that doesn't appear to be the case.
 

bp2008

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Another possibility is that you are concurrently accessing another web service using the same host name but a different port number, and the other web service is stomping Blue Iris's "session" cookie.
 
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