Blue iris and CPU consumption as it relates to memory usage

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
For most basic setups blue iris does not require more than 4gb of memory. Additional memory may be useful when using many high resolution HD cameras. I recently had an issue with extremely high cpu consumption on the system outlined below.
i7-4770, 4gb, memory SSD, HDD. BI4
8x3mp cameras recording at 15fps. 30pre trigger frames.
Blue iris was indicating 2.4gb memory use.
The system would fluctuate between 80-100%percent cpu. That is abnormal for that load and processor. I tried the usual remedies but did not see any improvement.
I purchased an extra 4gb memory stick and viola, the system is at about 30%...
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
Thanks fenderman,

I'm just setting up my system, and its nice to have a base line, I have i7-4770, 16gb, ssd, 4tb HD, using a eval copy of BI4.

I have 3x4mp, and 1x3mp Hikvision cameras at this time, using direct to disk and I'm hitting about 35% CPU, I have 2 more 4mp and on 3mp camera to add, and eventually another 4 mp camera, it will be interesting to see what my % cpu ends up as.

So far I've been unable to get the LAN or internet access working, so I'm not sure how much CPU that will take up.

I'm still working out a lot of bugs at this point, to determine if BI is the way to go.

Don
 

wcrowder

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Oct 8, 2015
Messages
294
Reaction score
53
Location
French Lick, Indiana 47432
Thanks fenderman,

I'm just setting up my system, and its nice to have a base line, I have i7-4770, 16gb, ssd, 4tb HD, using a eval copy of BI4.

I have 3x4mp, and 1x3mp Hikvision cameras at this time, using direct to disk and I'm hitting about 35% CPU, I have 2 more 4mp and on 3mp camera to add, and eventually another 4 mp camera, it will be interesting to see what my % cpu ends up as.

So far I've been unable to get the LAN or internet access working, so I'm not sure how much CPU that will take up.

I'm still working out a lot of bugs at this point, to determine if BI is the way to go.

Don
I ran the eval copy for a couple hours before I bought a license. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the drop in CPU usage with the registered vs eval versions.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
Wow, good information wcrowder, it is surprising the eval version would be slower, seems like it would discourage purchasing. I was estimating that I was going to max out the CPU with 8 camera's, and that was writing to disk.

Don
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Wow, good information wcrowder, it is surprising the eval version would be slower, seems like it would discourage purchasing. I was estimating that I was going to max out the CPU with 8 camera's, and that was writing to disk.

Don
I believe direct to disc is somewhat disabled in the demo..in v3, it was totally disabled..in 4 is seems to work (no overlay in video) but there is a performance issue...I wrote to the developer but he couldn't explain the discrepancy...
 

wcrowder

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Oct 8, 2015
Messages
294
Reaction score
53
Location
French Lick, Indiana 47432
I believe it has to trans-code the video to add the watermark, multiple cameras = massive CPU use. After you register it goes away and your CPU gets happy. Just guessing. :)
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
I believe it has to trans-code the video to add the watermark, multiple cameras = massive CPU use. After you register it goes away and your CPU gets happy. Just guessing. :)
If you record direct to disc, even on the demo, the watermark is not present...
 

Hound Dog 911

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jan 30, 2017
Messages
835
Reaction score
320
I am running (4) 2mp Dahua Starlights on an i7600 3.4 with 8 gigs of ram and full copy of BI. Writing to disk with all cams at 15 fps. When I switched to recording 24/7 my cpu and memory usage both dropped. It's now 5% and 1.09 gb. Was going to get more ram but I will/should never have enough cams to run into trouble.
 

Trigeekm

n3wb
Joined
Mar 25, 2017
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hey guys, I'm new to this forum. I was reading through your posts about CPU usage. I'm experiencing extremely high CPU usage, pretty much 98%-100% all the time. I am running BI 4.5.2.4 x64 full version on Windows Server 2012 R2. A Dell XPS 8900 Core i7, 16GB RAM, separate 2TB SATA HDD, just upgraded my video card to nvidia geforce gtx 1050 ti. It may sound a bit extreme but I'm running 12 foscam/amcrest ip cameras, 6 or 7 of which are HD. I record 24/7. Everything was running pretty good before I added 2 more HD camera (actually 3 but I swapped out a 720p for a 1080 and added 2 more 1080p). Dumb question I supposed but any thoughts on how to bring my CPU usage down to a more normal level without reducing the number of cameras and/or not recording 24/7? It's pretty much all I run on that computer. I did try reducing the frame rate to 15fps on all cameras but that had no effect on CPU reduction. Any thoughts? Thanks
 

Hound Dog 911

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jan 30, 2017
Messages
835
Reaction score
320
I dumped my gaming machine when I got started in this. Bought a $500 i7 6700, 8gb memory, and 4tb purple drive. No video card. Graphics ran off the cpu. Only 5 cameras right now. All 2mp Dahua. Without ivs enabled I'm only using 8% cpu. 1.2gb memory. Turn on ivs with a few rules. Jumps to 30% cpu.

Well I did not dump my gaming computer. It's a decked out 1080 video card I7 6700. It was in the top 3% in benchmarks. My daughter plays Sims maxed out. She's happy. Lol
 
Last edited:

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Hey guys, I'm new to this forum. I was reading through your posts about CPU usage. I'm experiencing extremely high CPU usage, pretty much 98%-100% all the time. I am running BI 4.5.2.4 x64 full version on Windows Server 2012 R2. A Dell XPS 8900 Core i7, 16GB RAM, separate 2TB SATA HDD, just upgraded my video card to nvidia geforce gtx 1050 ti. It may sound a bit extreme but I'm running 12 foscam/amcrest ip cameras, 6 or 7 of which are HD. I record 24/7. Everything was running pretty good before I added 2 more HD camera (actually 3 but I swapped out a 720p for a 1080 and added 2 more 1080p). Dumb question I supposed but any thoughts on how to bring my CPU usage down to a more normal level without reducing the number of cameras and/or not recording 24/7? It's pretty much all I run on that computer. I did try reducing the frame rate to 15fps on all cameras but that had no effect on CPU reduction. Any thoughts? Thanks
You must record direct to disk.. Remove the video card ..Run Intel HD video and enable hardware acceleration... Your CPU usage should be at about 10 percent..
 

Trigeekm

n3wb
Joined
Mar 25, 2017
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Thanks for the responses. I found the settings for direct-to-disk and made that change on all 12 cameras. Seemed to help quite a bit. I'm now down to about 70% CPU usage. I can now review video much more easily. Thanks for the assistance.
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Thanks for the responses. I found the settings for direct-to-disk and made that change on all 12 cameras. Seemed to help quite a bit. I'm now down to about 70% CPU usage. I can now review video much more easily. Thanks for the assistance.
Still way too high... You should be at 10-15 percent...Are you viewing on a local monitor or using something like TeamViewer
 

Hound Dog 911

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jan 30, 2017
Messages
835
Reaction score
320
It's very easy to get sucked into the video card need. My gaming computer should smash my Blue Iris system. Looking at running my gaming system 24/7 and power consumption on that computer would be costly. BI won't tap into your video card like you'd think. So getting another system dedicated to my cameras was my next step.
 

Hound Dog 911

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jan 30, 2017
Messages
835
Reaction score
320
I squared away my issues. Wasn't BI after all. The IE web plug in was hanging or something and fixed that. 5 cameras at 7% with ivs enabled. My bad for not looking further for the cause.
 

Hound Dog 911

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jan 30, 2017
Messages
835
Reaction score
320
Yeah, it was my mistake. The cpu usage just leaped after setting it up. Finally had time to tinker and dig further. I'll take 7% with 5 cameras.
 

FlipperMan

n3wb
Joined
Mar 30, 2017
Messages
14
Reaction score
2
New to forum....please be gentle ! Used the software for just 2yrs now and installed a new camera the other day (Foscam F19828P). Also took the opportunity to adjust the settings.....now I'm bouncing off 100% CPU and the thing is grinding to a halt. I'm running a new machine (2months) with Core2 duo E8500 3.§6ghz with 4GB. Better spec than the last machine so I wasnt expecting problems. I've obviously made the wrong choice in the config......but I'm struggling to see where.

Taking on board the advice above, I've changed all cameras (5 cams, 4 trigger recording)to write video direct to disk and its using the BlueIris DVR format. I run it as a windows service, so if we have a power cut, it auto starts the service and is still recording/giving me access etc. When I changed the write direct to disk - CPU did blip, I saved, restarted machine....but we're back bouncing off the CPU ceiling again.

Sorry for such a newbie post - but any help appreciated !
 
Top