High CPU Useage on 22 Camera build system

[bmilescrx]

I am a new user to BI and have a few questions, as what is the recommended practice for setting a up a system... I have done plenty of IP camera jobs but most of them were not a server based but stand alone NVR system. I built a Intel I7 running at 4ghz with 8GB DDR3 and120GB SSD for Operating System, and 9TB of HD for Video Storage... System is running 22 3mp cameras and the problem im running into is the CPU usage is so high it seems to be crashing the BI software... after about 18 cameras running on the system its running at like 97% CPU usage, and after a few min the system will crash the BI software. Im not sure if I need to lower the frame rate but the customer wants a fluid picture and wants a HD Picture... hopefully someone here can give me some advice for the build as im on a time crunch...thx for your help..... also is there a way to do standard manual recording where every channel is continuously recording...
Thx
Bryan

 

[fenderman]

Welcome to the forum. First which i7 are you running..the 4790k? What cameras are you using?
Blue iris uses lots of cpu because it does its own motion detection vs using the in camera motion that NVR's and OEM NVR software use. You are trying to record a total of 66MP. That is a HUGE load on the cpu. Here are several ways to reduce reduce cpu.
Use direct to disc recording camera properties>record tab, file format and compression. Note, you will loose blue iris time overlay (on recorded video...you can use the cameras own time overlay)...You also need to increase your pretrigger frames to about 2-3 times your FPS, or else you may loose some initial motion.
If you do use direct to disk make sure you change the iframe interval in your cameras to the lowest possible (usually the lowest possible settings is the same as fps)
There is another global setting specific to live view only (will not affect recording) So you can record at 30fps but live view at say 10. Blue iris options > cameras> limit live preview rate. Note that direct to disk will have a much greater impact than the this limiting option. If you do use direct to disk make sure you change the iframe interval in your cameras to the lowest possible (usually the lowest possible settings is the same as fps)

Try reducing you recording frame rate to 15fps..
To record continuously, disable motion detection in the motion tab, in the record tab select video: continuous.
Depending on the brand of cameras you can use the manufactures NVR software..they usually talk very little resources.

 

[bmilescrx]

Im using Dahua Cameras ipc- hfw4300 and hdb4300 and processor is a intel 17 4790k running at 4ghz I may end up doing a mild overclock to squeeze a lil more performance

 

[nayr]

Record 24/7 with no Motion direct to Disk.. then BI should basically just be saving the streams to your storage and not trying to process any of them

 

[fenderman]

Im using Dahua Cameras ipc- hfw4300 and hdb4300 and processor is a intel 17 4790k running at 4ghz I may end up doing a mild overclock to squeeze a lil more performance

You might just want to use dahua's pss software that uses the in camera motion...I myself prefer blue iris, but for your application with that many cams you are pushing the limits..

 

[bmilescrx]

also am I setting up the iframe interval on the camera settings I take it?

 

[bp2008]

I'm pretty sure Blue Iris will still decode all the video streams even if it is set to use direct to disk and constant recording w/o motion detection.

The main ways to reduce CPU usage are:

1. Using direct to disk recording. This is set on each camera and while it does have consequences it will be vital if you want to make Blue Iris run acceptably with that many cameras. This does have many side-effects, so be sure to heed fenderman's advice and also read about Direct to Disk (disc?) in the Blue Iris help file.
2. Reduce the frame rates. Reduce it in the camera's web interface (this is important), not only in Blue Iris's camera configuration.

If you follow both these recommendations then you should be able to get the CPU usage to manageable levels. I personally run a mix of cameras totaling around 60 megapixels on an i7-3770k (3.5 ghz) at ~45% cpu usage, though the average frame rate is only 6 fps and almost all the cams are set to use direct to disk.

Lastly, Dahua PSS (free) NVR software will likely run a whole lot more efficiently than Blue Iris, so if you aren't able to get acceptable performance out of Blue iris, try Dahua PSS instead.

 

[bmilescrx]

I adjusted the framerate down to 20 at the cameras along with the Iframe at 20 set on the camera... cpu usage is now hovering 70 percent, setting the camera properties to direct disk and disabling motion helped a lil... I think but not enough I lowered the framerate from 30 to 20 and I can now run 19 cameras w/o it crashing...so far so good... cpu useage is still pretty high at about 87%.... my next project is going to be even bigger so if anyone else has any pointers/ suggestions as from initial review its going to be about a 30-35 camera job as im about to head out to do the survey next week... so question would a graphics card help any to decrease the load off of the cpu... I know certain NVidia graphic adapters were excellent at transcoding HD video on the fly.. BI suggests a solid graphics adapter however it didn't seem to recommend a base level....

 

[bp2008]

A graphics card won't make any difference, unfortunately. The integrated graphics with the Intel CPU is fine for this.

I'm a little surprised that you didn't see much benefit from setting up direct to disc. I hope you are aware you have to set this for each camera individually, but it should make a significant difference in CPU usage even when nothing is recording. It did for me.

20 FPS is still higher than is strictly necessary. I run most of mine at 3 to 6 fps and while it definitely isn't "fluid" it is still better than overloading the system because then I'd get nothing.


For your bigger job I don't think Blue Iris will work at all unless you split the load among several machines. Not only are CPUs not fast enough but Blue Iris is still a 32 bit app so it will run out of memory long before you get the cameras all added. For this you'll definitely want to look at the manufacturer's free software.

 

[nayr]

for a 30-35 camera job I would get a pair of 32ch NVR w/Matching brand cameras and split the load down the middle.. it will take a fraction of the power that a PC NVR will use... if you want a live display for that job it'll let you split all those cameras out to two large TV's and that will look alot better than all the cams on a single display... if you have a few really important cameras you could have both NVR's recording them for redundancy.

 

[bmilescrx]

At bp2008... I changed the direct to disc setting on each camera channel on bi... along w disabling motion... I also reduced the frame rate at the interface for each camera... tomorrow I will prob reduce the frame rate down to 10 fps and hope the customer will still be satisfied... It's kinda crazy bi is only a 32 bit program at this day and age... no wonder I was getting out of memory error messages yesterday but on a brighter note the nvr isn't crashing anymore... hopefully it will still be running tomorrow.... thx for the help everyone much appreciated

 

[fenderman]

FYI, one of the updates mentioned work on the 64bit version and I believe Ken has stated in emails that it will be out around the end of the year...

 

[Chust]

After reading the very useful comments on this thread, I decided to become a member of ip cam talk! Thank you guys! I now am able to run my cpu @ 5% per cam! EXCELLENT!!!

 

[fenderman]

After reading the very useful comments on this thread, I decided to become a member of ip cam talk! Thank you guys! I now am able to run my cpu @ 5% per cam! EXCELLENT!!!

Welcome to the forum!

 

[phillip da]

Where do I find this iframe settings your talking about?

 

[fenderman]

Where do I find this iframe settings your talking about?

This is not adjustable on every camera..what cameras do you have?

 

[phillip da]

This is not adjustable on every camera..what cameras do you have?

I found the iframe setting. I own a Swann ADS-446 and a Foscam FI9805W Camera, I've got a Hikvision due to arrive in the post tomorrow, eventually all cameras will be replaced with Hikvisions.

I see on the Swann it's called iframe and it's currently set at 50 Iframe

The Foscam I presume Key Frame Interval is the same thing? if so it's set at 10

Both my cameras are set at 15 frames per second.

 

[phillip da]

I also tried playing about with the Direct to Disc Mode and didn't see any difference with one of my cameras. In fact the Blue Iris text overlay was still showing on the footage after I selected Direct to Disc for that particular camera. Do I have to select it for all cameras for this to work?

 

[fenderman]

I also tried playing about with the Direct to Disc Mode and didn't see any difference with one of my cameras. In fact the Blue Iris text overlay was still showing on the footage after I selected Direct to Disc for that particular camera. Do I have to select it for all cameras for this to work?

Set the iframes to match the frames per second....with direct to disc the overlay will still appear, it just wont be recorded in the video..

 

[phillip da]

Set the iframes to match the frames per second....with direct to disc the overlay will still appear, it just wont be recorded in the video..

Thanks fenderman. Is this setting suggested for the iframe only if your using Direct to Disc?