Lost almost all my protected clips?

[jaydeel]

Well I apparently did NOT lose my protected files. While viewing a list of confirmed alerts I noticed it was shorter than it should be and led me to the fact that I had at some point selected a particular day on the calendar. When I canceled this and thought to check for my protected files lo and behold there they were. Massive user error.
I'm sure this is not the situation as the OP but thought I would share.

Been there, lol

 

[jaydeel]

Ken recently shared that Blue Iris would identify 'protected' Alerts during a Database/Regenerate action by checking if existing JPG and/or DAT files had the 'read-only' file attribute set.

I recently found issues with this strategy when I noticed that the JPG and DAT files were not always having their 'read-only' attribute set when Alerts were protected via the following methods:

1. via UI3
2. via the Android Blue Iris app
3. via the iOS Blue Iris app

I reported these to Ken a few days ago. As of version 5.7.9.11, this issue appears to be fixed.

This should provide more confidence that protected Alerts will survive a Database/Regenerate action.

Of course, this applies only if you are saving hi-res JPGs, or DAT files with the Alerts you are trying to protect.

 

[Mike A.]

Good job getting it fixed.

I'm still gonna export mine. ; ) lol

 

[IAmATeaf]

How would this work for people like me who don’t use CP or save JPG on alerts?

 

[jaydeel]

How would this work for people like me who don’t use CP or save JPG on alerts?

Obviously it won't. As already stated, the Alert must have a JPG or DAT file.

But this is very easy to "fix" (if you use AI) by using what I suspect is one of Blue Iris' least-used great features introduced in version 5.6.1

'Search in clips'



Here's the icon that you need to use when playing back an Alert clip (one you've protected that has no JPG or DAT file).


Here's the resulting dialog. The key options are Add directly to alerts list and continue and Analyze video and AI confirmation.


This will add a new (essentially a duplicate) Alert to the database ... with a DAT and JPG file!

Simply protect the new Alert and you are done.

Instructions for using this feature:

1. Double click/play the protected Alert of interest
2. Pause the clip immediately
3. Scrub the clip in the playback window to the starting position you want
4. Set the playback speed to 1X or lower (needed for Step 8 below)
5. Click the 'Find triggers' magnifying icon (see screenshot above)
6. Set the highlighted options, plus the AI options you want in the dialog above.
7. Click 'Start'
8. To stop, click the now green 'Find triggers' magnifying icon ... WARNING***
9. Inspect the alert list for the added Alert.
10. Right-click the new Alert and select 'Protect'

*** In my testing this today, Blue Iris is crashing when I terminate the search early. I've already mailed Ken about this apparent bug.

EDIT: Ken reports he cannot reproduce the crash, so it may be on my system only.
EDIT#2: Confirmed it was my system; I needed a Database/Regenerate action to stop the crashing.