Blue Iris remote view best tool?

[Hotpuppy]

Hi folks,
I've been lurking for a while and have been able to successfully deploy BI on a machine and setup 8 Hik cameras on one system (home) and 2 Hik cameras on a VM at work for Server room and storage room monitoring. Overall a great tool. I've found the answers to many questions on this site and am really grateful for what I've found.

I don't care for the web interface as a tool to have open to just watch my cameras. It's lacking the functionality in the admin interface. What are folks doing to bridge the gap besides running in Remote Desktop?


I'll also share what I'm running and how it's configured in case it benefits others.
My host system at home is a Windows 10 Pro, AMD Bulldozer 8 core, 16 GB of ram and a 500GB primary SSD with a 2TB disk for bulk storage. I have 7 HIK 4MP turrets and 1 Hik 3MP turret and a FosCam that I don't count as I move it around for various things like watching the cat's food bowl, etc.

CPU runs 60% most of the time and ram is at 2.5GB, although it spikes up periodically depending on what's going on. This was a "recycle" system that used to be my desktop, so it's not ideal, but it's a starting point that got me an NVR.

Home network is switched Gigabit Ethernet Cat 6 with a dedicated/isolated Fast Ethernet network running on Cat 6 that is just for the cameras. I also have a similar segment to isolate my Tivo and Tivo Minis. I also reserved some dedicated Cat6 for HDMI sharing with the idea that I might run a broadcast from the Camera server to a few of my TV's, like the one in my office for example.

When I remodeled, all of my network/AV drops were run through 1" PVC conduit with the idea that I would be able to easily come back and pull additional runs of cable or switch the cable out based on my needs.

My main network switch is a POE Netgear switch and then in the garage where 6 of the cameras are consolidated to, I have a BV-Tech wall mount 9 port switch. 8 ports of POE and 1 uplink. Very nice form factor and layout. The dedicated/isolated switches are Netgear 8 port POE switches (4 POE, 4 non). The machine also has 2 nic's so that one can be on the dedicated to the cameras and the other can be for management.

 

[Vettester]

I use the Blue Iris iOS app on both an iPhone and an iPad. I find the app is more efficient than the web interface.

 

[Hotpuppy]

I run it in "service" mode and treat the host machine as a server. I was wondering if BlueIris has a "client" mode that can connect to another install. I just like popping into the stats and clips and the web interface is sorely lacking for anything other than viewing the streams.

On another note:
- Is there a way to "move " the camera layout around? I do not have them locked but have not figured out a way to grab them and drag them anywhere. It seems stuck in some sort of autoarrange. I'd particularly like to make certain cameras larger and others around the edges.
- I have the IOS app, it's great. Is there a way for me to customize it to show certain cameras? It tends to show the cameras a a list which is a bit cumbersome to scroll down through.

 

[fenderman]

I run it in "service" mode and treat the host machine as a server. I was wondering if BlueIris has a "client" mode that can connect to another install. I just like popping into the stats and clips and the web interface is sorely lacking for anything other than viewing the streams.

On another note:
- Is there a way to "move " the camera layout around? I do not have them locked but have not figured out a way to grab them and drag them anywhere. It seems stuck in some sort of autoarrange. I'd particularly like to make certain cameras larger and others around the edges.
- I have the IOS app, it's great. Is there a way for me to customize it to show certain cameras? It tends to show the cameras a a list which is a bit cumbersome to scroll down through.

blue iris does not have a full client.

 

[Vettester]

I run it in "service" mode and treat the host machine as a server. I was wondering if BlueIris has a "client" mode that can connect to another install. I just like popping into the stats and clips and the web interface is sorely lacking for anything other than viewing the streams.

On another note:
- Is there a way to "move " the camera layout around? I do not have them locked but have not figured out a way to grab them and drag them anywhere. It seems stuck in some sort of autoarrange. I'd particularly like to make certain cameras larger and others around the edges.
- I have the IOS app, it's great. Is there a way for me to customize it to show certain cameras? It tends to show the cameras a a list which is a bit cumbersome to scroll down through.

You should be able to just left click, hold and drag a camera window into any position. There are several options for resizing and positioning camera windows. The help file is a good resource for explaining these options. I have found that using groups is a great way to customize camera layouts in the iOS app.

 

[Hotpuppy]

You should be able to just left click, hold and drag a camera window into any position. There are several options for resizing and positioning camera windows. The help file is a good resource for explaining these options. I have found that using groups is a great way to customize camera layouts in the iOS app.

That helps..... it didn't take the first few times but persistence paid off. Thanks.

There is still some sort of "auto-arrange" turned on that is moving the cameras in response to my moves. Any way to disable that?

This is still a big improvement. I like my cameras to "flow" logically. i.e. be arranged in an order that would mimic the way you would see them as a person... so the left side should be on the left and the right on the right so that you naturally look from one to the other and can follow people/vehicles.

 

[Vettester]

To modify the camera layout right click anywhere on your camera display and select layout. You can also use the slider bar in the lower left side of the display.

 

[logbuilder]

@bp2008 made a better remote view page. I don't use it but it gets a lot of attention and the thread discussing it is 53 pages long so you likely can learn anything you might want to know about it.

I made a better remote-live-view page