1/3rd of my cameras stopped working out of nowhere

[lambodad]

All of my cameras are Amcrest HD I have 21 of them and last week they started dropping like flies with no reason. It's not the network or cams they all work fine and I even tested iSPY and NetCam Studio and they work fine with them (using the SAME server as BI is installed (BI services turned off while testing). I have made no changes to the settings a few come on and then off from time to time. CPU is at 61% ram 10 out of 16GB Windows 10 64 bit and a i7-7700 CPU and everything has been working just fine for the last 8 months. I have deleted and re-setup a few of them with no help, they won't connect. I do a Fine/Inspect with the RTSP and BI finds the cameras and loads the profiles so BI can see and talk to the camera, I normally have the Amcrest settings, but I'm trying everything.. even tested some Foscam profiles. Could have been a windows update so I installed the most recent version of BI 4.7.1.1 and I reinstalled the working Intel Video drivers with the MediaSDK for the memory leak issue and still no dice. Aside from blowing up BI and reinstalling I don't know what else to try. These same none-working cams work FINE with the native application, MPEG stream AND with other cam software, I can ALSO open these non-op cams directly from the BI server using the web browser and URL streams so there isn't any connection issues, I have also rebooted the server multiple times and the cameras (just to be safe). The only thing BI says is "No Signal" Soooo frustrated right meow!
** Update I tried using the MPEG Stream as the source on one of the cams and it works. Obviously not the best solution but this says BI can see the cam, so why isn't it using the decoding stream

 

[lambodad]

bump... anyone have any ideas? I think I may sell my BI License

 

[fenderman]

bump... anyone have any ideas? I think I may sell my BI License

No one will buy it... They would have to trust you that you would never try to activate it again...
Alternatively you can email support and try to see what your problem is... Milestone and Digital Watchdog are alternatives you can try.... Your issue is some sort of user error who knows what... It's likely your video settings... Using the wrong codecs or improperly setting up Hardware acceleration.. but I suggest you move on to other software it is my understanding that other software are 100% problem-free...

 

[jwamsley07]

Had a very similar issue. Running 40 cameras and they suddenly quit working. After troubleshooting I decided to roll windows back from 1709 to 1703 and all the cameras came back up. I emailed support to let them know.

 

[lambodad]

Yeah I tried a roll back and the restore point was corrupt. Not sure what to do. For now I am running NetcamStudio w/o any issues

 

[fenderman]

Yeah I tried a roll back and the restore point was corrupt. Not sure what to do. For now I am running NetcamStudio w/o any issues

Email support?

 

[lambodad]

That is such a slow process (support) Ok so an update on this a silver lining if you will. I was running BI on a i7 7700 with 16GB ran and SSD etc... a nice spec'ed system and running 21 cams my CPU seemed to always be pegged around 90-95% (Which I could live with but adding any more cams was out of the question) in my frantic search for a solution to fix this recent issue, I went back to NetCamStudio software, but after adding about 6 cameras the CPU was spiked and system unusable.. so a friend of mine selling an old Dell Precision T5600 (with two 8 core Xeons) with 16GB ram let me borrow it to install Windows 10 and NetcamStudio well all the cameras worked but as soon as I turned on recording all 32 logical core pegged.... So since it was a fresh install of Windows 10 I downloaded BI imported my export backup and all my cameras are online...in under 2 minutes and check this..... the CPU is around 50% !!! it never been that. All my recording are HD. I spent over $900 building the i7 core original BI server and I get this 16 core 1/2 the price (which by the way are littered all over ebay for around that price) and it runs even better than the old one... I do wish after tasting NetCamStudio again, that BI could step up the development on a better Mobile GUI having much more control on the mobile device and slick interface really is where BI should be heading.

 

[fenderman]

That is such a slow process (support) Ok so an update on this a silver lining if you will. I was running BI on a i7 7700 with 16GB ran and SSD etc... a nice spec'ed system and running 21 cams my CPU seemed to always be pegged around 90-95% (Which I could live with but adding any more cams was out of the question) in my frantic search for a solution to fix this recent issue, I went back to NetCamStudio software, but after adding about 6 cameras the CPU was spiked and system unusable.. so a friend of mine selling an old Dell Precision T5600 (with two 8 core Xeons) with 16GB ram let me borrow it to install Windows 10 and NetcamStudio well all the cameras worked but as soon as I turned on recording all 32 logical core pegged.... So since it was a fresh install of Windows 10 I downloaded BI imported my export backup and all my cameras are online...in under 2 minutes and check this..... the CPU is around 50% !!! it never been that. All my recording are HD. I spent over $900 building the i7 core original BI server and I get this 16 core 1/2 the price (which by the way are littered all over ebay for around that price) and it runs even better than the old one... I do wish after tasting NetCamStudio again, that BI could step up the development on a better Mobile GUI having much more control on the mobile device and slick interface really is where BI should be heading.

That old dell is a powerhog and will drain your wallet in electric bills...your i7-7700 was pegged only because of user error...you need to properly setup hardware acceleration and also fix the memory leak issue - there are soo many threads and the wiki on proper setup - its amazing that you have not read them....your "friend" ripped you off on that junk..old xeon powerhogs are perhaps the worst systems to run blue iris on..

 

[lambodad]

Why do you assume I did not read them? I have been in IT for over 25 years so that's the first thing I did and continue to do. I have followed nearly every suggestion and write up for almost a year and I was still having these issues, which I lived with until this mysterious dropping of my CAMs. The power draw is 295 watts at the wall so for me about $200 a year to run. I'm okay with that seeing this much of a boost in performance.

 

[fenderman]

Why do you assume I did not read them? I have been in IT for over 25 years so that's the first thing I did and continue to do. I have followed nearly every suggestion and write up for almost a year and I was still having these issues, which I lived with until this mysterious dropping of my CAMs. The power draw is 295 watts at the wall so for me about $200 a year to run. I'm okay with that seeing this much of a boost in performance.

holy crap...295w, vs 60-70 for the i7-7700....the i7-7700 is way more powerful than your old system..you have simply improperly set it up....the fact that you are in it for over 25 years make it even more troubling...
good for you that it only costs you 200 extra per year (for that kind of money you can pay for an enterprise vms over a few years) for most users here it would cost 400+ per year to run that space heater of yours...

 

[tangent]

repayment period on a newer machine that's more appropriate to run Blue Iris would be pretty short <18mo compared to that. Xeon space heaters lack the better on board graphics found on newer i3/i5/i7 cpus.