Jerky recorded footage

[garmcqui]

Hi all, and happy new year. I have a 5mp Hikvision turret 2CD2355FWD set up with blue iris 5.

However, my recordings seem to be jerky whenever there is movement, even during the day (also happens at night).

Please see the raw footage at the following Google Drive link:

(I wasn’t sure how to share/export a Blueiris file, so I exported as mp4 (h.264)).

here are my cam settings:



Any assistance appreciated.

G

 

[SouthernYankee]

Set the video up in YouTube, then but a post here.
For security reasons i never click on an unknown link or download a file.

I would
set the bit rate type to variable.
set the bit rate to 16384
Set smoothing to 1

The frame rate and Iframe values look good.

 

[garmcqui]

Thanks - have made those changes.
I might also experiment with using mp4 file type, rather than BVR, as I’ve read a few people experience choppier video on bvr.

 

[SouthernYankee]

need an example of the jerky video.

Also in BI are you using Intel quicksync acceleration, turn it off and see if that improves the video. I have been running BVR on BI 5 and have no jerky video. MP4 is a storage pig, and uses a lot of cpu.

What is your BI CPU type?
How much system memory ?
How many cameras?
What is the current system MP/Sec?
Is BI running on a standalone PC.
Is the virus scanner turned off on the BI video drive (folder)
Does the camera traffic pass through your router on the way to the BI machine ?
Is the camera hardwired to the network (no wifi)
In BI are you recording continuously direct to disk ?

 

[K175un3]

To expand upon what SouthernYankee has asked, what are the specs and components of the PC you're using garmcqui?

And you could possibly try doubling the I Frame to 30 and possibly try increasing the shutter speed as an experiment, make sure to take note of the original settings and also any settings that improves things though.

 

[garmcqui]

Hi both,

Apologies for taking my time to reply - yesterday was a little hectic with family visiting.

Here is the clip (although, it does appear slightly smoother after exporting from BI and uploading to YouTube):


The clip was encoded without using quicksync hardware decoding, just CPU. As a result of this clip, I have now got quicksync up and running, so maybe will improve?

I have tried to answer your queries as best as possible below. Thanks for taking the time to ask...

1. What is your BI CPU type? i3-2120 (sandylake) @ 3.3Ghz
2. How much system memory ? 8GB DDr3
3. How many cameras? 2 (one is a 5mp Hivision, the other a 2mp Wansview), both H.264
4. What is the current system MP/Sec? 125.3MP/sec
5. Is BI running on a standalone PC. Yes
6. Is the virus scanner turned off on the BI video drive (folder)? Yes
7. Does the camera traffic pass through your router on the way to the BI machine? No, passes through several switches though.
8. Is the camera hardwired to the network (no wifi) Yes, both hardwired
9. In BI are you recording continuously direct to disk ? Yes

Current shutter speed is 1/50, is that ok? Will try doubling frame rate...

Thanks again

 

[SouthernYankee]

The video looks ok to me on playplay back.

Is the video jerky when viewing the live view directly from the camera using internet explorer.
Is the video jerky when viewing live view full screen in BI.
Is the video jerky when viewing play back full screen in BI.
Is the video jerky when viewing play back full screen in UI3 ?

What is the resolution of your PC monitor ?

 

[alastairstevenson]

Here is the clip (although, it does appear slightly smoother after exporting from BI and uploading to YouTube):

That looks normal for a 15fps frame rate. The human brain can process the individual frames at that rate.
That's the commonly recommended rate for surveillance footage.
You wouldn't use it for film footage - but that's not the requirement.

 

[K175un3]

garmcqui, you meant I Frame not frame rate. As I Frame or Frames are usually set at around 1× or 2× the frame rate.

But no worries, it's an easy mistake to make.

And shutter speed varies, as at night you'll need a lower shutter speed to cope with low light and during the day you can use a much higher shutter speed due to the light.

But 1/50 is in a good range for night viewing though, but it certainly can take hours of tweaking settings before you get in the goldilocks range that you like.

 

[garmcqui]

Hi all,

So I have been trying to analyse footage and see if I can pinpoint the issue.

To answer the question you posed:

Is the video jerky when viewing the live view directly from the camera using internet explorer. No
Is the video jerky when viewing live view full screen in BI. Slightly, but I believe this is because live preview limited to 5fps.
Is the video jerky when viewing play back full screen in BI. Yes
Is the video jerky when viewing play back full screen in UI3 ? Yes
What is the resolution of your PC monitor? 1920 x 1080

I also tried moving the recorded file from the BI computer and playing it on another, more powerful (i5-6500) computer - it played much smoother here. See the following two videos. I recorded the screen using my iPhone so you could see exactly what I am seeing, rather than a re-encoded version.

Clip Played on BI computer:

Same clip played on other computer:

So could I be right in thinking that the BI computer is powerful enough to do the recordings (especially as it is direct-to-disc) but lack of power causes issues with decoding when playing clips back? CPU usage is at approx. 25% when recording with console closed, 30% with console open, and 78-85% when playing back a recorded clip.

 

[Trax95008]

It seems to be rig it’s self, not the settings. I’ve noticed a trend of people having more issues when trying to use a PC. An NVR is a purpose built machine, dedicated to doing what you want to do. Also, no one has mentioned your hard drive yet. Again, there are purpose built hard drives designed for what you are doing. They favor throughput. They focus on getting the data in and out, and eliminate all the overhead of checking each data bit for accuracy. A 4 channel NVR can be had for pretty cheap

 

[SouthernYankee]

Very good examples on the difference in playback.
looking at passmark video ratings.
the i3-2120 has a rating of 3931 this is a dual core processor
The I5-6500 has a rating of 7251 this is a quad core processor

So it may be that the higher resolution of the camera is causing processing problems with the 5MP (2560 x 1920 ) and the processing needed to reduce it to fit the 1920 x 1080 monitor.

In the 5MP camera can you change the resolution to 1920x1080 for a short test and see if the video smooths out.

Is the BI version you are using a full paid version or a Demo version ?
Are you running the BI PC headless ?

Please read the problems people are having with low end NVR when trying to run higher resolution cameras (above 2MP)

 

[garmcqui]

It seems to be rig it’s self, not the settings. I’ve noticed a trend of people having more issues when trying to use a PC. An NVR is a purpose built machine, dedicated to doing what you want to do. Also, no one has mentioned your hard drive yet. Again, there are purpose built hard drives designed for what you are doing. They favor throughput. They focus on getting the data in and out, and eliminate all the overhead of checking each data bit for accuracy. A 4 channel NVR can be had for pretty cheap

you may well be right. However I suppose plenty of people use blue iris on a pc with no problems?
The HDD currently is use is a 2TB WD Blue. I know the purple models are more suited to surveillance but I acquired the blue unit with the PC and so figured I’d use it for now. Are the purple units so much better?

 

[garmcqui]

Very good examples on the difference in playback.
looking at passmark video ratings.
the i3-2120 has a rating of 3931 this is a dual core processor
The I5-6500 has a rating of 7251 this is a quad core processor

So it may be that the higher resolution of the camera is causing processing problems with the 5MP (2560 x 1920 ) and the processing needed to reduce it to fit the 1920 x 1080 monitor.

In the 5MP camera can you change the resolution to 1920x1080 for a short test and see if the video smooths out.

Is the BI version you are using a full paid version or a Demo version ?
Are you running the BI PC headless ?

Interesting figures on the passmark video scores, thanks. I have an i5-2500 cpu sitting here which I have been meaning to put into the BI machine. I think it might be quad core, so may help? Alternatively, it’s new machine time, or maybe even, as suggested above, time to move to an NVR.

the Hikvision camera is actually running at 6.3mp, at a resolution of 3072 x 2048, so the processing may be even worse.

Yes, a fully paid up version (v5). The BI machine is connected by hdmi to a 1080p television, which is off most of the time, but connected.

 

[Trax95008]

you may well be right. However I suppose plenty of people use blue iris on a pc with no problems?
The HDD currently is use is a 2TB WD Blue. I know the purple models are more suited to surveillance but I acquired the blue unit with the PC and so figured I’d use it for now. Are the purple units so much better?

The Blue drive is a “desk top” rated drive. It is not designed to spin 24/7, and be constantly writing. There is a good chance of a failure. It would be a bummer to need footage, only to discover the drive has failed. The Purple drive is designed to spin 24/7, and favors throughput. That Blue drive takes data into the buffer, checks the data for errors, then sends it off to the disk. That is a lot of overhead. The Purple drive doesn’t care about accuracy. It just sucks it in and pushes it on to the disk. Its possible that the choppiness is from the Blue HD trying to concentrate on the data that is constantly flowing in, and having a hard time keeping up with reading the data that your trying to stream back.

 

[Trax95008]

A quality NVR isn’t that expensive. I can get a Hikvision 4 channel, POE, and supports up to 12MP camera for $139 and the HDMI outputs 4K!

 

[garmcqui]

What you say makes sense, however it doesn't explain why the footage plays fine when the same file is transferred to another PC. Also, I transferred the same file from the WD Blue drive to the SSD which windows 10 is installed on (on the BI machine) and it still plays jerky.

I'm stumped.

As for an NVR - I like Bi, I like how I can tailor the motion detection, how I can set up push alerts to my iphone etc. Also - I hate technical issues getting the better of me!

 

[looney2ns]

What you say makes sense, however it doesn't explain why the footage plays fine when the same file is transferred to another PC. Also, I transferred the same file from the WD Blue drive to the SSD which windows 10 is installed on (on the BI machine) and it still plays jerky.

I'm stumped.

As for an NVR - I like Bi, I like how I can tailor the motion detection, how I can set up push alerts to my iphone etc. Also - I hate technical issues getting the better of me!

Your computer is not powerful enough to handle the 6.3mp camera. Or at least it's GPU isn't.
In the Wiki, read choosing hardware for BI.
6mp takes lots of horse power.

And oh gawd, don't switch to an NVR. BI wipes the floor with NVR's. Get a proper machine to handle the load.

 

[garmcqui]

Your computer is not powerful enough to handle the 6.3mp camera. Or at least it's GPU isn't.
In the Wiki, read choosing hardware for BI.
6mp takes lots of horse power.

And oh gawd, don't switch to an NVR. BI wipes the floor with NVR's. Get a proper machine to handle the load.

thanks Looney.
When you say not powerful enough, do you mean to play back the footage, or to record it? As it seems to record it ok, particularly as I’m using direct to disk. However it’s the play back that causes high cpu usage.
Going to replace the i3 cpu with an the i5 I have sitting here, 2 extra cores bound to make a difference. Will report back once I get it done.

 

[looney2ns]

thanks Looney.
When you say not powerful enough, do you mean to play back the footage, or to record it? As it seems to record it ok, particularly as I’m using direct to disk. However it’s the play back that causes high cpu usage.
Going to replace the i3 cpu with an the i5 I have sitting here, 2 extra cores bound to make a difference. Will report back once I get it done.

Playback.