Blue Iris 4 to 5 Migration Guide

[skiocink]

mmmm...I'll wait more for a PERFECT and smooth installation

 

[activemind]

How can I tell if I'm eligible for an upgrade? I know I need to check in About page, should there be a message etc.?

 

[bp2008]

Yes, there should be a message in the about page (if you are on an old BI4 version you won't see it).



To upgrade your BI4 license to work with BI5, you need to add a support key through the Upgrade/renew button in the About page. This will update the expiration data but in my experience it is bugged and incorrect until you push Check for update again. Then it should show something like this:

 

[activemind]

Thanks @bp2008 ! Greatly appreciate the detail.

 

[dannieboiz]

Since my upgrade button is greyed out, I can't automatically do the update. If I purchased the extended support, does that mean I'm also upgrading to V5? The anual fee is only if you want the support right but not needed?

 

[IAmATeaf]

Since my upgrade button is greyed out, I can't automatically do the update. If I purchased the extended support, does that mean I'm also upgrading to V5? The anual fee is only if you want the support right but not needed?

Your post is confusing. Both options are to extend support, the more expensive is to get priority support. Both will give you support for 1 year and will also allow you to upgrade to v5 if you want.

 

[dannieboiz]

Your post is confusing. Both options are to extend support, the more expensive is to get priority support. Both will give you support for 1 year and will also allow you to upgrade to v5 if you want.

Ok... so in a nutshell, if you buy either support, you'll get the v5 upgrade.

When placing the order, if I don't want the service support to automatically renew, then pay with paypal.

I don't know why they just don't have an option to select auto renew or not or what have you.

 

[fenderman]

Ok... so in a nutshell, if you buy either support, you'll get the v5 upgrade.

When placing the order, if I don't want the service support to automatically renew, then pay with paypal.

I don't know why they just don't have an option to select auto renew or not or what have you.

There is an option for 35 that does not auto-renew. Home - Blue Iris Software

 

[dannieboiz]

There is an option for 35 that does not auto-renew. Home - Blue Iris Software

Thanks... The link from BI didn't take me to that link you provided.

Didn't BI just made a backdoor to have the renewl for only $30 if you decide not to make that priodic payments?

You can use this product or this service for the duration of your subscription. The duration of the subscription, the billing period, and the price per subscription period for each product will be displayed during the order process. Limited subscriptions will end automatically. Unlimited subscriptions may be terminated by either party at any time.

If you select payment by credit or debit card, or via direct debit, you agree to have the unit price per subscription period automatically charged to your card and/or bank account immediately prior to the start of the next billing period.

If you select another payment type, you agree to make periodic payments.

Yes, please save this account and payment information for future purchases including the processing of any subsequent subscription renewals which may occur following the date of this order.

 

[fenderman]

Didn't BI just made a backdoor to have the renewl for only $30 if you decide not to make that priodic payments?

What do you mean by backdoor? As with many other products/software, there is a discount if you sign up for auto renew.

 

[dannieboiz]

What do you mean by backdoor? As with many other products/software, there is a discount if you sign up for auto renew.

Understood, what I'm saying is if you opt to do autorenew and pay the $30 and you don't pay with a CC.What if you don't end up paying again when your subscription expires. Is BI going to ban your license until you pay the renew fee or you pay the $5 difference

It's kind of funny that we're discussing this, it's only $5 difference and we've both probably wasted more $$discussing this matter in the last few minutes lol I'm just thinking "out loud"

 

[fenderman]

Understood, what I'm saying is if you opt to do autorenew and pay the $30 and you don't pay with a CC.What if you don't end up paying again when your subscription expires. Is BI going to ban your license until you pay the renew fee or you pay the $5 difference

It's kind of funny that we're discussing this, it's only $5 difference and we've both probably wasted more $$discussing this matter in the last few minutes lol I'm just thinking "out loud"

No, as explained on the blue iris website, you will be entitled to v5 indefinitely.
"
*Any of these will upgrade a version 4 key to version 5 (indefinitely)
"

 

[m_listed]

What do you mean by backdoor? As with many other products/software, there is a discount if you sign up for auto renew.

Never seen any other software make non-renewing licenses more expensive.

 

[Lee Wilkinson]

Hi All,

So whats the view now please guys, I have read back over this post but could not definitively decide if the major issues with upgrading had now been resolved.

Do we know how many of the major issues have been fixed (not having a update log makes this really hard to understand).

Ive held off from upgrading to ensure I dont hit initial upgrade issues, so what the consensus now please?

 

[Tinman]

Hi All,

So whats the view now please guys, I have read back over this post but could not definitively decide if the major issues with upgrading had now been resolved.

Do we know how many of the major issues have been fixed (not having a update log makes this really hard to understand).

Ive held off from upgrading to ensure I dont hit initial upgrade issues, so what the consensus now please?

I have been running BI5 since June 1 on two machines and it has been rock solid. I feel most of my bugs or issues have been resolved (still working on the remote management ) one and that's about it for now.

The biggest issue is that a lot of people want to remove BI4 right away....my advice is to leave it for now until you are sure on how to backup your registry and restore it. The BI4 uninstall does not work correctly no matter what you select during the uninstall it will corrupt your current BI5 registry....so export a copy first before you get rid of BI4.

Also do the upgrade when you have some time do check it all over.

 

[chavezcctv]

Wow, what a mess. OK, so this is what i had to do to get BI v5 t work. Once all was done and working i did write a email to BI support with my experience.
I tried to just install v5 on my server that i have as a media server and camera server with v4. it's a Win10 Pro 64bit with 32GB's of memory and 10TB's of storage.
when installed, it cam back with a error message about a missing Visual Studio distribution. i found that installed it and no better. i tried uninstalling and reinstalling BI5 thinking maybe that was work better. no better.
then i tried installing BIv5 on a different computer that never had BI at all. got a different error message, with another recommendation. found and installed that, no better. i contacted BI support a few times, but never got anything back.
i then remembered seeing something about installing the 32bit version of BI. so back to my second computer and tried that. as part of the install, it wanted to install MS Visual Studio 2019. once that was done, all was working. i added on of my cameras on my network and all looked good.
then i made sure and exported the configurations of my cameras, and made some screenshots from my server and installed the 32bit version of BI. it did not ask about a VS install, but once installed all my cameras came right in, and i got a dialog saying to uninstall BIv4.
this was a tedious effort with lots of trial and error, but finally went well. i hope this helps anybody going through these issues getting v5 working.
i am not exactly sure what all the grief was about, but good luck to all.

 

[Mark Reith]

With v5 installed on my laptop to remote configure several installations, does anyone know if I will be able to continue using it as a client after the 15 day demo to control and configure the remote installs that are licenced?

 

[STGMavrick]

Never seen any other software make non-renewing licenses more expensive.

So you've never heard of Office 365? Many softwares do this. It's called annual license or perpetual license. It's cheaper annually because if you stop paying it stops working usually. If you buy it once you own it forever but support is on a time limit. Hence why it's more expensive.

 

[fenderman]

Never seen any other software make non-renewing licenses more expensive.

Always someone complaining about 5 dollars. Lots of software packages give you a discount for auto renew. You might not be familiar with software in general.
I understand it bothers you. Perhaps its time to look at other options. 5 dollars is a huge some of money and you shouldn't have to sign up for auto renew then cancel. Too much work. To top it off, 35 dollars is an insane amount of money to spend every 4 years to upgrade blue iris. You have had enough. The developer is a greedy pig and needs to be stopped. The great news is that there are many VMS options to choose from. Let us know what software package you choose and how its costs compare to blue iris.

 

[bp2008]

I've upgraded 3 4 machines so far and every time I lose the registry settings and registration when I uninstall BI 4 even though I am definitely telling it to keep them. The solution is restoring from registry backups while BI is not running. Thank goodness BI makes its own registry backups automatically.

Other than that, it seems to be fine.