Direct-to-disc or Re-encode with settings

[sprucecams]

I am setting up my cameras (3x Hikvision DS-2CD2132-I and 3x Foscam FI8904W/FI8918W/FI8910W) to record MP4 files for viewing on various devices. What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of the two available encoding techniques?
(1) Direct-to-disc
(2) Re-encode with settings

And, if I use (2), what would be the recommended video encoder? Thanks.

 

[fenderman]

Direct to disc, saves on cpu resources. The downside is that you cannot rotate the image and you cannot embed a timestamp in the video (use the cameras). You can still export the video with a time stamp if you wish.
Direct to disk begins recordings on iframes so make sure you have enough pretrigger frames not to lose footage.

 

[nayr]

most devices have apps which play without transcoding to another format; transcoding in real time starts requiring heavy resources for multiple HD streams and gets very power hungry very quickly..

alot of the benefit of IP Cameras is that you get the video already in a digitally encoded format; no encoding/decoding hardware is needed.. its basically just saving a file over the network and this makes it much more efficient and scalable..

 

[sprucecams]

According to Win Task Manager, my CPU usage had been pretty constant at 100%. I switched all cameras over to direct-to-disc (with camera-generated identifiers and time/date stamps, and camera-inverted image in one instance), and my CPU is now running at ~46%. Many thanks for the explanations.

 

[fenderman]

Another thing you can do is limit the live display frame rate (this will not affect recordings) Options>cameras> Limit live frame rate to...

 

[sprucecams]

Thanks, Fenderman, I did that too. However, I must have done something else wrong because now my Foscam cameras are either not triggering, recording very short unreadable files or (in the case of the 8910W) recording audio with an all black image. If someone has no suggestion my next step will be to delete the Foscams and then add them back again. Ah, the long tortured life of a newb. :-/

 

[fenderman]

hmm.thats strange... do the delete and readd as you suggested....test it with one and see if it helps
EDIT: From the help file,
Advanced users may wish to experiment with the Direct-To-Disc feature. Instead of recompressing the video for recording, an attempt is made to save the exact stream as received from the camera. This may not be used with the Windows Media container format, and only H.264 streams are appropriate for the MP4 file format at this time.
You indicated you are using mp4 and that is not supported with the 8910w as it does not stream h.264.
format, and only H.264 streams are appropriate for the MP4 file format at this time.

 

[nayr]

yeah the format thats recorded directly alot of media players choke on; try giving VLC a try or playing it back through your NVR Software?