Blue Iris CPU/GPU for mainly remote viewing

[joneda1]

I'm sure many parts of this question have been answered across many posts but I'm trying to get an answer all in one place.



I am planning a new Blue Iris system which will replace a Swann NVR. I can access the 7 surviving Swann cameras on RTSP and I plan 3-4 new IP cameras. I have available a solid Dell PC with a XEON 1280-V3 CPU, so no QuickSync. I can put in a GTX1050 (extra power consumption) or an older Quadro card (FX1700 or similar, less power consumption).

My questions:

- I plan to do almost all viewing from other PC's via the web interface.
- Would Quicksync (if I had it) on the server make a difference to playback performance via the web interface?
- Does the GTX1050 on the server make a similar difference to playback performance?
- This post (under Encoder Preset) Optimizing Blue Iris's CPU Usage suggests that the CPU does decoding for remote viewing. Does QuickSync or a GTX1050 provide a performance advantage here?
- If I changed the CPU to have QuickSync would I need a monitor (or monitor simulator) plugged in for correct operation?
- Does QuickSync or a GTX1050 benefit in Direct-to-Disk recording?

 

[wittaj]

You do not need a graphics card or quicksync anymore as long as you use the substreams (which you will want to do). They have always been power hogs and heat producers and served a purpose once upon a time to bring down CPU%, but that reason disappeared when substreams were introduced.

Recent updates to BI has made hardware acceleration problematic and the CPU% to offload the video to a GPU is more than the CPU% savings.

The only reason to use a GPU is if you wanted to offload DeepStack to it.

I deleted the graphics drivers just for kicks (so my system was showing no internal or external GPU) and my system works just fine LOL.

I will defer to others regarding the suitability of a Xeon.

But I can tell you the number of cameras you are looking for would be fine on a 4th generation Intel.

 

[joneda1]

You do not need a graphics card or quicksync anymore as long as you use the substreams (which you will want to do). They have always been power hogs and heat producers and served a purpose once upon a time to bring down CPU%, but that reason disappeared when substreams were introduced.

Recent updates to BI has made hardware acceleration problematic and the CPU% to offload the video to a GPU is more than the CPU% savings.

The only reason to use a GPU is if you wanted to offload DeepStack to it.

I deleted the graphics drivers just for kicks (so my system was showing no internal or external GPU) and my system works just fine LOL.

I will defer to others regarding the suitability of a Xeon.

But I can tell you the number of cameras you are looking for would be fine on a 4th generation Intel.

Thanks, I was basically aware of the substreams and the CPU benefits. I still want to record mainstreams and I believe this is possible (and viewable in a single window). I sometimes need the resolution to detect number plates manually but substreams will be fine for multi-camera views.
I have read a little on the use of Deepstack and sort of had the GTX1050 in mind for that.
I'm pretty sure the XEON is fine for the job as long as I can do without QuickSync.

 

[wittaj]

Yes mainstreams can still be recorded and a GPU isn't necessary for that.

 

[joneda1]

I guess I can only give it a go. I checked for a similar system on the performance page and it looks like a XEON 1280-V3 can handle several cameras.