Converting recordings to lower quality MP4

[rayzor]

I have my BI setup to put New clips on my SSD. I have 6 cameras, and I cut at 4GB so I limit the space to 30GB.

I then have them moved to a more solid 2TB drive in the Stored folder. I get about 6 days of archive this way.

I also have a less reliable hard drive with 1TB. I want to move the videos out of the Stored folder to here, but I want to convert them to .MP4 and reduce their quality.

On the Clips and Archiving I have it set on the Stored to Limit Size 2000GB and then Move to folder Aux 1, and I also have checked 'Queue for Convert/Export'.

In the settings I have Output Format MP4, 2 pass for fast-open, Include audio track, Re-encode to H.264/AAC using profile 'export 0' and below that Replace current file.

Finally in 'export 0' I have Quality 50%, keyframe interval 30, Preset ultrafast.

However in my aux1 folder, all of the files are of format .BVR, and they are the same size as they were in the Stored folder, so it doesn't look like any re-encoding is going on.

My goal is to make a 'long term storage' where the quality is reduced, but if I have to go back 1 month I can still review the footage.

For example, my pool guy is claiming that he came on Jan 9th and Jan 23rd even though I have no text message alerts from those days. Normally when he comes I get anywhere from 20-30 different alerts across 3 cameras. I would like to go back to those days, and I don't really care if I can make out his face or license plate, but I just want to see if someone was there.

 

[bp2008]

It sounds like you've configured everything correctly but for some reason the automatic export/replace is not occurring. Have you checked the log? (Blue Iris Status panel > Messages tab)

If you have an active support plan I would suggest contacting Blue Iris support about it, providing screenshots of all relevant configurations.

Anyway, if you get this working, you will find that re-encoding every clip for automatic export is extremely CPU intensive. You'll also find that Quality 50% with no bit rate limit can easily end up producing a higher bit rate than the original recording. You'll need to either set a bit rate limit or reduce the quality drastically (into the single digits if you want great space savings).

I'm also a little concerned about limiting the SSD to such a small capacity that it can barely fit one clip from every camera before the clips need moved. What is the point of this?

 

[bp2008]

If I might suggest an alternative, try adding each of your 6 cameras to Blue Iris again, but this time add their sub-streams. To keep the user interface clean, you can hide these sub-stream versions or make two camera groups: one for the main streams and another for the sub streams. Configure the sub-stream cams to record direct to disc to the 1 TB drive and then simply delete when full.

This will give you a very reliable, much more efficient means of recording low bit-rate versions of the streams.

 

[rayzor]

Thanks, I think I like this idea, trying it out. My only concern is that this will use double the CPU/GPU?

 

[bp2008]

No, sub streams should be much easier on the resources, though it is up to you to configure them to meet your needs.

If you aren't happy with the quality of sub streams, you can delete those and clone the main 6 cameras instead, keeping them configured to load main streams. Blue Iris will detect that more than one camera is using the same source, and will only pull and decode each stream once, saving a lot of resources in the process. You can configure the second set to record only on motion detection to a different hard drive while you keep your original 6 camera objects recording continuously just as before.

 

[rayzor]

Is there an easy way to clone/duplicate a camera and keep all of the current settings?

I am thinking i'd rather have 2 copies of the same camera, one of them recording continuous and one of them only on motion. Would it make more sense to record continuous at highest quality because of the direct to disc and no re-encoding, or should I have it record continuous at lower quality and the motion triggers at highest quality since they will be for a more limited time duration?

 

[bp2008]

You can export a camera's settings and re-import.

What I do at home is record on motion in full quality, and record continuously from a mix of main and sub streams.