Blue Iris UI3

[bp2008]

@bp2008 Request: Since UI3 can access system log (see screenshot), is it possible to define if-then-else logic such that when UI3 sees a specific event/regex string in system log, like an external trigger event, then switch current displayed group to a specific group. And optionally, after X minutes, switch back to previous or predefined group. There could be several if-then-else regex.

I know this might not be technically possible, but I decided to ask in the slim chance you had some magic trick.

Thanks,
Andy

View attachment 37054

The only way to achieve this would be to write custom script that retrieves the log repeatedly on a short interval and parses it. It would get complex fast, as you would need to deal with things like network errors, authentication errors (viewing the log requires an admin session) and seeing the same log entries multiple times.

@Baubas That feature has been asked before. Not possible with UI3 for now.

Correct. I have long-since let Ken know I'm interested in being able to play back video by passing in a start date, but have had zero traction on it.

 

[Baubas]

Correct. I have long-since let Ken know I'm interested in being able to play back video by passing in a start date, but have had zero traction on it.

So then this is something that you can do but you need Ken to approve it? If so, is there a way to vote on new features so Ken can see how many people are interested in it?

 

[bp2008]

It isn't a matter of approval. More like Ken needing to add features to Blue Iris so that UI3 could use them. The only line of communication to Ken is the BI support email. If you have an active support plan you can email support and mention you'd like to have timeline-based playback in UI3 and mobile apps. I'd be happy to implement it in UI3 but I simply can't until BI provides the necessary capabilities.

 

[TL1096r]

IF I missed it I do apologize. I am using UI3 with 2 cameras. In UI3 it only has them stacked on top. Is there a way to get them to move side by side? And does it record on your computer through UI3 automatically? If so can it be shut off?

Thanks

 

[bp2008]

UI3 does not cause any recordings automatically.

To adjust the camera layout, you can edit the frame size of any group which will force Blue Iris to change the layout. For a good side-by-side layout, try something like 1920 x 540.

 

[TL1096r]

bp2008 - thank you for this tip. Invaluable information.

 

[TL1096r]

This might be off-topic but I have a 1TB HD. It is not partitioned it is just 1 drive. BI sees it as only 371 GB. Why is that?

 

[bp2008]

No idea.

 

[TL1096r]

No idea.

It is odd that the harddrive says 371 but has 900GB when checking on it? Is this something with BI or the HD? It only has 1 partition.

 

[razorseal]

Hello, I'm loving UI3 so far... I need to figure out ideal settings for me and that will take some time to understand. I will start with this one question though so I can be guided in the right direction....

When I check my HDD usage, I get a notification that says - Reported disk info is invalid. Possibly Blue Iris's clip database is corrupt and needs repaired.

where do I repair this "clip datase"?

also when I click the download button for a clip, it downloads a BVR format for me. 1. it won't download (says download failed - server problem) 2. I can't have anyone view that video as far as I know unless they have BI as well? (like if I were to give clip to police for evidence). I just export as avi which works great, but something I'm curious and thought I mention

 

[bp2008]

When I check my HDD usage, I get a notification that says - Reported disk info is invalid. Possibly Blue Iris's clip database is corrupt and needs repaired.

where do I repair this "clip datase"?

UI3 pops up that message when the disk usage numbers provided by BI don't add up as expected. Happens to mine too and in most cases it isn't a big deal.

Here's an example of the data for my drive E which is overallocated by about 5.5 GB where BI also happens to be reporting numbers that don't quite make sense.

Note how the used space plus free space is larger than the total drive size.

In theory repairing the clip db could fix this. Hard to say. Anyway to perform repairs you right click on any clip in BI's local console and open the "Database" submenu. There are 3 options in there for repairing and heck if I know what each one does. Its probably discussed in detail in BI's help file.

also when I click the download button for a clip, it downloads a BVR format for me. 1. it won't download (says download failed - server problem)

Yeah, that button downloads the clip exactly as it is on the disk. There's probably something strange in your BI web server configuration or file system permissions causing BI to be unable to host those files as it normally does. You aren't the only one who has seen this error.

2. I can't have anyone view that video as far as I know unless they have BI as well? (like if I were to give clip to police for evidence). I just export as avi which works great, but something I'm curious and thought I mention

Yeah only Blue Iris can play .bvr files properly. Exporting to a more compatible format is advisable. The best bet for compatibility is to export mp4 from Blue Iris's local console, since mp4 works in more modern players than avi. UI3 can't export mp4 format yet.

 

[erkme73]

This may be Brave browser related, but lately I've been seeing an error when I return to the UI3 tab after a few minutes... It's an orange box that states something like "your session may have expired, page will reload momentarily". Is there a server/UI3/browser setting that could be causing this? I'll try to grab a screen shot of it the next time it happens if my description isn't enough...

 

[TonyR]

This may be Brave browser related, but lately I've been seeing an error when I return to the UI3 tab after a few minutes... It's an orange box that states something like "your session may have expired, page will reload momentarily". Is there a server/UI3/browser setting that could be causing this? I'll try to grab a screen shot of it the next time it happens if my description isn't enough...

Answered by @bp2008 last month in post #1810here.

 

[erkme73]

Thanks @TonyR, but unfortunately, that's not the timeout I'm experiencing. That one, which by default is set to 10 minutes, causes the browser to log out and requires re-credentialing. When it happens, the video streams stop, and the page goes to a simple text explanation that says the session is over - and you have to manually log back in again. That's not the case with what's happening now.

It displays a small orange pop-up box in the bottom right corner that lasts about 5 seconds (all the while the video streams and clip index are still current and updating). Then the page reloads automatically. It doesn't happen if the tab stays in the foreground. It's only if I come off of the UI3 tab (where the stream stops in the background) for more than a few minutes. When I then bring the UI3 tab back to the front, the stream resumes as normal, the box pops up, and the page reloads.

 

[TonyR]

Thanks @TonyR, but unfortunately, that's not the timeout I'm experiencing. That one, which by default is set to 10 minutes, causes the browser to log out and requires re-credentialing. When it happens, the video streams stop, and the page goes to a simple text explanation that says the session is over - and you have to manually log back in again.

FWIW, this is how my IE11, Firefox and Chrome all handle the timeout which is what's expected.

 

[bp2008]

@erkme73
UI3 retrieves the server status every 5 seconds. If one of those requests gets back a response saying the request failed, UI3 believes that your session has expired, and reloads the page after 5 seconds. In my experience this is the most reliable way for UI3 to detect a lost session.

But as you've noticed, some other parts of the UI continue working after this, before the page reloads. This most likely means your web server allows anonymous access, and as a result some web requests will automatically be granted a new session via the session cookie. Trouble is, UI3 doesn't know anything about the new session, such as the permission level, and depending on your web server settings it may not even be possible to read the session cookie so as to use that session for API requests. In order to make a full recovery and get back to a good state, the page still needs to reload.

 

[bp2008]

Anyway, it only takes one minute of inactivity for a Blue Iris session to expire. When a UI3 browser tab is backgrounded (either not the active tab in the browser window, or the window is minimized), video streaming stops and the background clip list/status updates get throttled to once every 45 or something seconds just to keep the session active without wasting resources. It is possible that your browser has imposed other limits which affect UI3's ability to continue updating while the tab is in the background, causing the session to be lost.

 

[jasauders]

I tried digging but either I'm failing considerably or I have my answer without realizing it...

With UI3 on iOS, is audio not supported? I have 3 cameras with audio enabled. On Chrome/Android, it works on phone and tablet. On Chrome or Safari with iOS, no dice. I compared my settings line by line and noticed under UI Settings the iPhone is missing some items. For example, my Android phone has H.264 Player -- HTML5 listed under "Video Player". Same place on the iPhone, that option is simply gone.

I assume the iPhone is leveraging some sort of other codec? Is there any way to employ audio with the stream on iOS using UI3 or is the native app needed for that?

 

[bp2008]

I recommend the official Blue Iris app from the app store on iOS. Many of UI3's features including H.264 and audio playback do not work on iOS because they have a terrible web browser and won't let third-party web browsers use their own rendering engines.

If you open main menu > About This UI, it should list all the unsupported features, which are quite extensive. However I just noticed the feature detection was broken on iOS and have just pushed a fix to github; it will likely be at least a few days before a Blue Iris update includes this.

 

[jasauders]

I recommend the official Blue Iris app from the app store on iOS. Many of UI3's features including H.264 and audio playback do not work on iOS because they have a terrible web browser and won't let third-party web browsers use their own rendering engines.

If you open main menu > About This UI, it should list all the unsupported features, which are quite extensive. However I just noticed the feature detection was broken on iOS and have just pushed a fix to github; it will likely be at least a few days before a Blue Iris update includes this.

Something told me it was an iOS limitation, to which my surprise level is exactly zero. The iPhone is my work phone where I don't really want to go down the road of installing apps for personal use on it, though I do keep the UI3 entry bookmarked in my browser. Personal and work phone are different providers, so having a means of tapping into live video quickly in an emergency is helpful in the event I'm in an area where my personal phone has no signal but the other does. I can live with no audio on that one. It just stood to burn my curiosity without knowing exactly why it wasn't working. Your insight helped though -- appreciate it.