Justin Voelker
n3wb
I have 4 total Dahua cameras—one 5231 and three 2231. Currently I am within the trial period of BlueIris and would like some input on whether or not my hardware is under powered or if this is just the nature of running BlueIris as your own DIY NVR. My PC has the following.
Motherboard Asus P8H77-I (integrated graphics)
Intel Core i3-3220T 2.8GHz with 8GB of RAM
After adding two cameras to BlueIris, I noticed incredibly high CPU usage. To try reducing it, I read through the “Optimizing BlueIris's CPU Usage” page, made some changes, and did a few tests while noting CPU and GPU usage.
First, hardware acceleration off. CPU/GPU usage was at 75%/15% with the main window open and 50%/0% with the window minimized. After turning hardware acceleration on, usage dropped to 65%/20% (window open) and 40%/5% (window minimized). I expected a larger drop in CPU usage but perhaps this is all you get. I'm not even entirely sure hardware acceleration is truly being used but I guess the fact that the usage changed at all means it is.
Second, I ran BlueIris as a service. CPU/GPU usage dropped to 40%/5%, the same as when not running as a service but with the window minimized. Accessing BlueIris via the web browser saw usage increase to 55%/5%, better values than when viewing BlueIris locally.
Third, I added a third camera. When running as a service, CPU/GPU usage was at 55%/7% with the BlueIris application closed and 90%/20% with it open. Limiting the live preview frame rate to 1fps dropped the window-open usage to 60%/8%.
Finally, I dropped the cameras from 30fps down to 10fps. Three cameras had CPU/GPU usage at 40%/16% with the window open and 20%/3% with the window closed. Adding a fourth camera saw the usage increase to 50%/21% with the window open and 25%/3% with the window closed.
None of this is while video is recording (waiting on a second drive) so I'm not sure what the usages will increase to when that starts. Since this sometimes used for other tasks, I was trying everything I could to keep the CPU usage away from the high end. In the end, I feel like I'm crippling these cameras by dropping them to such a low frame rate.
So, is my PC just that under powered or is this just the nature of running multiple cameras? I have already gone through the rest of the Optimizing BlueIris's CPU Usage. I realize I don't need 60fps security cameras but I would at least like to take partial advantage of what these cameras have to offer. I feel like I'm greatly reducing the output of the cameras just to get them working.
Motherboard Asus P8H77-I (integrated graphics)
Intel Core i3-3220T 2.8GHz with 8GB of RAM
After adding two cameras to BlueIris, I noticed incredibly high CPU usage. To try reducing it, I read through the “Optimizing BlueIris's CPU Usage” page, made some changes, and did a few tests while noting CPU and GPU usage.
First, hardware acceleration off. CPU/GPU usage was at 75%/15% with the main window open and 50%/0% with the window minimized. After turning hardware acceleration on, usage dropped to 65%/20% (window open) and 40%/5% (window minimized). I expected a larger drop in CPU usage but perhaps this is all you get. I'm not even entirely sure hardware acceleration is truly being used but I guess the fact that the usage changed at all means it is.
Second, I ran BlueIris as a service. CPU/GPU usage dropped to 40%/5%, the same as when not running as a service but with the window minimized. Accessing BlueIris via the web browser saw usage increase to 55%/5%, better values than when viewing BlueIris locally.
Third, I added a third camera. When running as a service, CPU/GPU usage was at 55%/7% with the BlueIris application closed and 90%/20% with it open. Limiting the live preview frame rate to 1fps dropped the window-open usage to 60%/8%.
Finally, I dropped the cameras from 30fps down to 10fps. Three cameras had CPU/GPU usage at 40%/16% with the window open and 20%/3% with the window closed. Adding a fourth camera saw the usage increase to 50%/21% with the window open and 25%/3% with the window closed.
None of this is while video is recording (waiting on a second drive) so I'm not sure what the usages will increase to when that starts. Since this sometimes used for other tasks, I was trying everything I could to keep the CPU usage away from the high end. In the end, I feel like I'm crippling these cameras by dropping them to such a low frame rate.
So, is my PC just that under powered or is this just the nature of running multiple cameras? I have already gone through the rest of the Optimizing BlueIris's CPU Usage. I realize I don't need 60fps security cameras but I would at least like to take partial advantage of what these cameras have to offer. I feel like I'm greatly reducing the output of the cameras just to get them working.
