Configuration Question Camera & BI

[Overcon]

Hi all,

I was hoping I could get some help on reconfiguring my system to help me expand my camera count & reduce my NVR resource utilization. I got a tip that you can setup cameras that can record motion themselves to send a trigger to BI to start recording when the camera detect motion. This, I'm told, will help me reduce the 80% CPU utilization I currently am suffering from. My problem is, I can't figure out how to do that. I am not familiar enough with the terminology on the HIKVISION and DAHUA cameras to know where the trigger is to send to BlueIris and where in BlueIris to tell it to record when the trigger is set. If the camera is doing all the motion detection, it should free up CPU resources, possibly saving me a few hundred bucks trying to upgrade the system to be faster.

Anyone got some tips on this?

Dahua IPC-HDB3200C This camera has an event area with recording, dither and delay options. Not sure what the dither is and the delay, can those be negative so you don't miss the first few seconds of the event? Where is the trigger sent to BI?

The HIKVISIONS have a lot more options to choose from of which I don't have much of a clue which ones control sending to BI.

If anyone has a setup like this that can tell me what to set in BlueIris and on these cameras so that they do the motion detection and BI does the recording, including how to setup the pre-trigger. I would appreciate any help on getting this setup and seeinf how much of a reduction of CPU cycles I get.

Thanks!

 

[fenderman]

I am unaware of blue iris having this ability except for the pir sensor in the hikvision 2432...if anyone has this working i would love to hear about it..
The help file has a full list of things that will reduce cpu utilization..direct to disc, limit live preview frame etc..

• Can you lower the capture frame rate on one or more of your cameras? For an IP camera, this also must be done from within the camera's own browser interface--ideally the frame rate that the IP camera is sending should match the value you specify in Blue Iris.
• Can you lower the resolution on one or more of your cameras?
• Can you remove one or more video overlay graphics or text (and take a note that Transparent items use the most CPU)?
• Can you switch to the BVR recording format? This is more efficient than either MP4 or WMV.
• If you are running multiple cameras, can one of them be eliminated?
• Can you minimize the Blue Iris "Console?" When the BI Console is minimized, no CPU time is used to draw to the screen
• Speaking of redrawing the console screen, when BI Console is processing live cameras for the console view it consumes a lot of CPU overhead and this overhead can be significantly reduced by setting "BI Console > BI Options > Cameras > Limit live preview rate (does not affect recording)" from the default setting of 30 FPS down to 5 FPS. In my case, this resulted in the BI Console reporting that the CPU usage had dropped from approximately 72% (@ the 30fps default) down to 32% (at the 5fps new setting).
• If you are running as a service, do not leave the BI Console instance running when you no longer need it.
• Turn off Windows Aero (switch to Windows Vista or 7 "basic" display mode). Aero is pretty, but it uses more CPU cycles to draw to the screen.
• Are you using the "Pre-Trigger Frames" option on the Record tab? This option will use more CPU cycles so the lower the better...unless you need it.
• Switching from H.264 to XVID codec recording will save CPU time on slower processors. Install that from XVID.org. When installed, it will become an option on the Record/Format page in camera properties.
• For an IP camera, you can eliminate re-encoding video altogether during recording by using the Direct-To-Disc option on the Recording format page.

 

[Overcon]

I am unaware of blue iris having this ability except for the pir sensor in the hikvision 2432...if anyone has this working i would love to hear about it..
The help file has a full list of things that will reduce cpu utilization..direct to disc, limit live preview frame etc..

• Can you lower the capture frame rate on one or more of your cameras? For an IP camera, this also must be done from within the camera's own browser interface--ideally the frame rate that the IP camera is sending should match the value you specify in Blue Iris.
• Can you lower the resolution on one or more of your cameras?
• Can you remove one or more video overlay graphics or text (and take a note that Transparent items use the most CPU)?
• Can you switch to the BVR recording format? This is more efficient than either MP4 or WMV.
• If you are running multiple cameras, can one of them be eliminated?
• Can you minimize the Blue Iris "Console?" When the BI Console is minimized, no CPU time is used to draw to the screen
• Speaking of redrawing the console screen, when BI Console is processing live cameras for the console view it consumes a lot of CPU overhead and this overhead can be significantly reduced by setting "BI Console > BI Options > Cameras > Limit live preview rate (does not affect recording)" from the default setting of 30 FPS down to 5 FPS. In my case, this resulted in the BI Console reporting that the CPU usage had dropped from approximately 72% (@ the 30fps default) down to 32% (at the 5fps new setting).
• If you are running as a service, do not leave the BI Console instance running when you no longer need it.
• Turn off Windows Aero (switch to Windows Vista or 7 "basic" display mode). Aero is pretty, but it uses more CPU cycles to draw to the screen.
• Are you using the "Pre-Trigger Frames" option on the Record tab? This option will use more CPU cycles so the lower the better...unless you need it.
• Switching from H.264 to XVID codec recording will save CPU time on slower processors. Install that from XVID.org. When installed, it will become an option on the Record/Format page in camera properties.
• For an IP camera, you can eliminate re-encoding video altogether during recording by using the Direct-To-Disc option on the Recording format page.

I have done most of those things.

• I lowered the capture rate to what I want, which is 30FPS @ 1080P for all the cameras that can do that resolution. I matched it with what BI is set at.
• All the cameras except for one are 3MP cameras, but I run them all at 1080P to get the 30 FPS. I don't like 15FPS recordings.
• I had removed all the overlays on the cameras, but I did add a weather overlay from BITools to all the external cameras, I can remove them and see if it helps at all.
• I set the overlay on the cameras themselves on all the others so the cams would control that and not rely on BI to process them.
• I am using BVR within BI as far as I can tell. All my recordings are in the format on the HD.
• I have all the necessary cameras to get full coverage within the house and perimeters.
• BI runs as a service, the console is not running other than when I work within it.
• I had dropped the live preview down to 15 FPS, I will set it at 5 FPS. After changing the limit preview, I noticed no change in the CPU usage within BI or at least BI didn’t change its numbers.
• Console is not running, when closed Taskmgr says 61-64% usage on the BlueIris task running.
• No Aero, running Server 2012.
• I have reduced Pre-Triggers to lowest on the cameras that require it.
• Have not tried XVID, I can try it if it possibly offers a significant reduction since most of these other things have not made an impact, though I will do a restart to confirm since they might not show a change until rebooted / restarted.
• And I have set them all to D2D.

That's what I have done according to the suggestions you gave me fenderman (much thanks). Still seeing high CPU readouts. System is a new install, so a clean OS, no old services taking cycles. Though it's not a super modern CPU, I am reluctant to upgrade at this time.

 

[fenderman]

@Overcon
I would put a killawatt meter on your system...good chance you are paying your electric company more than it would cost to upgrade..

 

[Overcon]

Gah, fine, I'll upgrade! range:

 

[fenderman]

Gah, fine, I'll upgrade! range:

Lol, i didnt say you have to...but test it, then you have a incentive to upgrade...

 

[fenderman]

@Overcon if you have hikvision cameras you can try what is suggested in the last post here http://www.cam-it.org/index.php?topic=7828.0
Has anyone tested this?

 

[Overcon]

@Overcon if you have hikvision cameras you can try what is suggested in the last post here http://www.cam-it.org/index.php?topic=7828.0
Has anyone tested this?

Well at first it seemed to work. I got the proper returns and it recorded. But after I tried to set one of the cams that wasn't, at the time of testing, already triggered and recording, it wouldn't record. So then I rebooted the camera and tried and kept getting the inactive return. So it seems that if a record is in progress, it will capture motion events, but if not, setting it will not trigger a record.

I wonder if that means if I set BI to continuous record, then set the camera to capture motion events, it would only keep the motion events? I'll have to try and figure out how to set BI for constant record. Heck I have to make sure I got enough space.

 

[fenderman]

Interesting...I emailed Ken to see if there are any plans on supporting in camera motion, at least for the top few brands like hikvision and dahua...

 

[Overcon]

Yeah, at first I was jumping around happy as could be that it was working and then I configured the other camera, that hadn't had a trigger event and nothing. Then I rebooted the other after saving the config to make sure it wasn't already recording and nothing. I can't get it to trigger and it returns an inactive result with the command.

 

[Zxel]

I'm probably at fault for this - I do this on my Logitech cameras (or at least I did because I am selling them), they can record on motion detection only (it's also the default setting for the camera). The camera does all the motion detection - records it to the SD card, I use BI to do 24/7 recording. The software that comes with the Logitech's (Alert Commander) downloads the clips from the SD card and uses them for the timeline view - it wont do 24/7 recording - motion only. I suppose since they are ftp'd any program could do it - maybe something similar could be done on another camera.

The idea is to have the camera doing the motion dection and BI only recording when it is triggered, there are probably several ways it could be done but having Ken add it for ONVIF cameras (I believe motion trigger is in the spec) and several popular models that support it would be the best. It should be no different then a camera IR trigger.

 

[NetWorker]

@Overcon

What OS are you running?

 

[Overcon]

@NetWorker

I am running Server 2012 R2 on the BI Server.

 

[NetWorker]

OK good to know. The reason I'm asking is because depending on what OS you have there are tweaks you can apply to save on system resources. I realize BI obviously the hog but if you can free up in other places it might help the overall experience. I'm talking about registry tweaks mostly that speed things up overall. Simple things like removing shadows from folder names can even make a difference depending on the specs and how bloated it is. What are the specs of your setup?

Once again doing things like this won't make it demand less from your CPU but hopefully you will have more to offer from it. I can pull together a list of recommendations if you like. These are for Windows 7 but I'm sure you can apply them to Server 2012 R2. I'm thinking about using this OS for my Blue Iris server. Do you recommend using it? Any pros and cons you have encountered yet? I need a domain controller so it would be used for that as well.

 

[Overcon]

I h ave tried a few things, I am leaning to just too many cameras for the CPU I am running and probably have to upgrade, but if you want to post a list I can try any I haven't done already. I like Server 2012 R2, nice and stable.

 

[NetWorker]

Unfortunately there probably isn't much you can do if you are maxing out the capability of the hardware but if you still want to try a few registry tweaks (or all 100 of them ) see here :

http://www.wincert.net/forum/topic/12760-2015-windows-mega-tweaks/

What kind of CPU do you have right now?

Also, what things did you have to do get Blue Iris to install and run properly on Server 2012 R2?

So far this is what I know :

1. Add Roles and Features -> Windows Server Essentials Experience
2. Go through configuration after installing the new Role and reboot as needed.
3. Install the "Windows Server Essentials Media Pack" wsemp.exe : http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40837
4. Proceed with BI installation.

 

[Overcon]

Lol, i didnt say you have to...but test it, then you have a incentive to upgrade...

OK, I am now stumped and a little peeved. I just got done upgrading. I took out the old i7-920 2.66GHz (OC'd to 3GHz) which was giving me 73% utilization with the settings I had setup and put in the i7-4790 at 4GHz (not OC'd yet) and my utilization went up to 82%! It didn't even f'ing drop.

What the hell.

 

[fenderman]

That is not possible.. Something is obviously wrong... What is your setup?

 

[Zxel]

I took out the old i7-920 2.66GHz (OC'd to 3GHz) which was giving me 73% utilization with the settings I had setup and put in the i7-4790 at 4GHz (not OC'd yet) and my utilization went up to 82%! It didn't even f'ing drop.

LOL, (sorry couldn't help it), your problem is a simple one. Since you're running the 4790 at stock speeds (I'm assuming) and you were running the 920 OC'd the problem is one of system balance, and a good lesson on what affects the speed of a computer. When you OC'd your CPU you probably changed the timings and perhaps voltages of the CPU and memory (wait states) to make it run stable - this is normal. What you have discovered is that a MB is a matter of balance, memory speed matters, low level bus speeds matter, and done properly (I'm assuming your 920 was done correctly when you OC'd it) the balance gives better performance than just a straight CPU upgrade, which you have now just discovered.

This is actually a very detailed subject - I'm only brushing on things here for brevity, it is a complicated subject to explain in exacting detail - but rest assured I know what I'm talking about, I've been OC'ing for decades.

Don't fret, after you OC your 4790 you will find it outperforms your 920 - so get to OC'ing.

 

[fenderman]

LOL, (sorry couldn't help it), your problem is a simple one. Since you're running the 4790 at stock speeds (I'm assuming) and you were running the 920 OC'd the problem is one of system balance, and a good lesson on what affects the speed of a computer. When you OC'd your CPU you probably changed the timings and perhaps voltages of the CPU and memory (wait states) to make it run stable - this is normal. What you have discovered is that a MB is a matter of balance, memory speed matters, low level bus speeds matter, and done properly (I'm assuming your 920 was done correctly when you OC'd it) the balance gives better performance than just a straight CPU upgrade, which you have now just discovered.

This is actually a very detailed subject - I'm only brushing on things here for brevity, it is a complicated subject to explain in exacting detail - but rest assured I know what I'm talking about, I've been OC'ing for decades.

Don't fret, after you OC your 4790 you will find it outperforms your 920 - so get to OC'ing.

Sorry, but there is no way an a 920 overclocked to 3ghz will outperform a stock 4790...not possible..something else is wrong. I would not recommend overclocking a NVR pc...its will destroy the power consumption...