Lots of ghosting after motion trigger , please help

[Carluzky]

Hello everyone
So every time there is motion recording at some point there will be a lot of ghosting and skipped frames of the subject

I looked all over the internet and I keep reading about "set each camera i-frames to match the camera FPS to get a 1.00 Key setting", but for the life of me I can't find that option on the blue iris software , neither on the the blue iris settings or it's individual camera settings . Am I looking at the wrong place ?
So I have blue iris v5 demo, direct to disc already checked , 2 Reolink cameras 5mp set for 30fps , each camera status shows 0.50 (so I need to elevate it to 1.00 BUT I don't know where!)

Truly appreciate your help since I am going crazy

 

[IAmATeaf]

You need to set this in the cam itself. Not too sure about your cams but on the Dahua cams I have my fps set to 15 and my iframe also set to 15 but that’s because on my cams the iframe rate is set in fps. You might have a setting like key frame every so many seconds so you’d then need to set it to 1.

Also there’s no need for 30fps so try lowering it to 20 or even 15?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Your problem is the Reolink cameras. Blue Iris can only receive, and process, what the camera send. Reolink does not allow you to actually control the frame, bit rate or iframe rate. Their firmware decides what is "best" which is not an optimal solution. If you look at the camera list in Blue Iris, lightning bolt on the graph icon, and click on the Cameras tab, you'll see iframe and frame rates that are extremely low.

 

[Carluzky]

oh wow I did not know that , no wonder I couldn’t find anything related to iframe either on blue iris or on the Reolink app. So I guessed I am gonna have to return them ? Any suggestions ? I did try 15fps but to no avail (same issue)
I had them tested for a day before mounting them and I could have sweared I didn’t see any ghosting . Oh well

Your problem is the Reolink cameras. Blue Iris can only receive, and process, what the camera send. Reolink does not allow you to actually control the frame, bit rate or iframe rate. Their firmware decides what is "best" which is not an optimal solution. If you look at the camera list in Blue Iris, lightning bolt on the graph icon, and click on the Cmaeras tab, you'll see iframe and frame rates that are extremely low.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Under reasonably good lighting conditions they won't blur, much, but as soon as the lighting drops below daylight levels the troubles start. If you can return them, do so ASAP.

The current "king of the hill" is the Dahua 5442 series or the Hikvision equivalent. There are others, both Dahua and Hikvision, with good night performance but these are the latest. 1/1.8" sensor and 4MP with great low light and IR light performance, albiet they do need to be tweaked in IR mode. Bear in mind these are not as cheap as Reolink and are in the $150 each, and up depending on lens, class. On the other hand, you get what you pay for.

If you're new to video surveillance I'd suggest getting one varifocal camera, a 2MP Starlight like the 2231, and set up a test rig as described in the WiKi. Five gallon bucket, 2x4-8, and fill the bucket with stones. Mount the camera on the 2x4 and place it where you think you want a camera. You can use the web interface of the camera to view the video and you can also calculate the focal length needed from each location using the varifocal feature of the camera. A 2231T-ZS will work fine for this and can be used when you complete your system as well.

Amazon.com: Loryta IPC-T2231T-ZS 2MP Starlight WDR IR Eyeball Network Camera Motorized Vari-Focal 2.7mm–13.5mm Lens English Version

Buy Loryta IPC-T2231T-ZS 2MP Starlight WDR IR Eyeball Network Camera Motorized Vari-Focal 2.7mm–13.5mm Lens English Version: Dome Cameras - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

I gave you the Amazon link so you can see what I'm talking about. If you decide to go that route, I'd suggest contacting Andy at Empire Tech which will save you some money if you order directly from him. He has a thread here under the vendors section and his email is listed in the WiKi as well.

I'd also suggest you spend some time reading the information in the WiKi, in the blue bar at the top of the page. Video surveillance is like going down the rabbit hole and cameras seem to multiply like rabbits as well.

One more comment is not to chase megapixels, chase sensor size.

 

[mat200]

Hello everyone
So every time there is motion recording at some point there will be a lot of ghosting and skipped frames of the subject

I looked all over the internet and I keep reading about "set each camera i-frames to match the camera FPS to get a 1.00 Key setting", but for the life of me I can't find that option on the blue iris software , neither on the the blue iris settings or it's individual camera settings . Am I looking at the wrong place ?
So I have blue iris v5 demo, direct to disc already checked , 2 Reolink cameras 5mp set for 30fps , each camera status shows 0.50 (so I need to elevate it to 1.00 BUT I don't know where!)

Truly appreciate your help since I am going crazy

Welcome @Carluzky

Ghosting on "2 Reolink cameras 5mp set for 30fp"

Please feel free to share an example of the problem.

 

[Carluzky]

so this is what I’m referring to , and it’s not only at night but any time of the day once movement is triggered (I set it on continuous recording plus trigger)
Not only is Ghosting An issue since I can’t tell their faces but also missing frames (about 1-2 seconds) causing me to miss when someone walks from the stairs to the door . This can happen together or separately but always for 1 second or more .

Welcome @Carluzky

Ghosting on "2 Reolink cameras 5mp set for 30fp"

Please feel free to share an example of the problem.

 

[wittaj]

Welcome to the world of Reolink! Because you cannot adjust some of the parameters, you will always miss the beginning of an event. One way to overcome that is a longer pre-buffer/alert record time. However, that doesn't fix the other issues associated with the camera as pointed out above.

 

[looney2ns]

Return the Reolink, and start reading the many cam reviews here. Study the Cliff Notes.

 

[Carluzky]

Thank you everyone , I truly appreciate your help , but I need to painfully stay within a budget , (I had to wait weeks for a decent deal on eBay for a recommended machine just for blue iris , I got me a dell optiplex i5 6500 16gb 256ssd & 2tb HD for $200). In retrospect I should have read the opinion in this forums regarding Reolink , I just got Brain washed by YouTube reviews regarding this brand. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20.
Because of my budget (50-60$ per camera),would you recommend the Amcrest 5mp turret over the Reolink OR any other option around that price range ?
Thanks again !

 

[wittaj]

@Carluzky - the Amcrest is a Dahua rebrand. Not sure of the model number you are looking at it, but it might offer some of the control of parameters to overcome some of your issues.

And depending on the model, there is always this...

How To Upgrade Amcrest / Lorex to Dahua Firmware And Get All Dahua Features

Does upgrading a IP8M-2496 to the Dahua firmware give you anything better when using them with Blue Iris. I updated the 4 I have to the latest Amcrest firmware and noticed that I can at least use Firefox now without it asking for a plug-in to get to the Amcrest Interface. I downloaded the...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Carluzky]

I was referring to this particular model :

 

[wittaj]

I would pick that over the Reolink.

 

[mat200]

so this is what I’m referring to , and it’s not only at night but any time of the day once movement is triggered (I set it on continuous recording plus trigger)
Not only is Ghosting An issue since I can’t tell their faces but also missing frames (about 1-2 seconds) causing me to miss when someone walks from the stairs to the door . This can happen together or separately but always for 1 second or more .
View attachment 69717

Thanks,

Curious how far away is the camera from the suspect?

Also is this a screen shot of the image capture? Would be best to actually get the image from storage and not cellphone camera snap shot of a monitor display ( we lose a lot of image quality that way ).

 

[Carluzky]

Camera is about 5 feet away and 7 feet high , so not far . You are correct , that will be a screenshot of the motion blur. There will also be a 2-3 second time skip when the subject is moving .

 

[mat200]

Camera is about 5 feet away and 7 feet high , so not far . You are correct , that will be a screenshot of the motion blur. There will also be a 2-3 second time skip when the subject is moving .

So all NVRs I have seen have some lag.

Is that an Reolink NVR?

This is what happens:

IP camera takes image, compresses into H264 / H265 and streams to network ( switch external or internal to NVR ).
NVR receives H264 / H265 stream records it to HDD and also displays on screen. Displaying on screen requires decoding the H264/H265 stream.

All of this takes compute power. More affordable cameras and NVRs have less compute power / speed.

There are some tuning parameters than can be done on a camera to reduce the compute power used, example turning off motion detection and other calculations.

This is also why you want to inspect the actual video clip ( use export ) to see if the video clip itself has the issues - or if there is an issue with the decoding for display.

This is also a reason why for Blue Iris the recommendation is to store the complete iframe as it helps reduce any tearing / rips as all data is included in each iframe ( takes more storage space - but performs better ).

If you are using Blue Iris you want to check out the tuning notes for Blue Iris.

 

[Carluzky]

Mat2000 , no , I’m not using a Reolink nvr. I just connected the Reolink camera to a dell optiplex with blue iris demo version 5 . Here is a screenshot of the parameters :
Now, I know I am supposed to bring it to 1.0 FPS but I did not find that option on neither the Reolink app or BI. Do you think of if use Amcrest I should have that option in their app?

 

[mat200]

Mat2000 , no , I’m not using a Reolink nvr. I just connected the Reolink camera to a dell optiplex with blue iris demo version 5 . Here is a screenshot of the parameters : View attachment 69722
Now, I know I am supposed to bring it to 1.0 FPS but I did not find that option on neither the Reolink app or BI. Do you think of if use Amcrest I should have that option in their app?

Hi Carluzky

The Dahua OEM amcrest camera referred to will perform better as Dahua does a good job of holding to standards.

The Blue Iris users have reported numerous ripping / tearing issues with Reolink due to the cameras not following the iframe setting properly.
( set iframe = fps - this should stop the tears and ripping, however Reolink is reported here not to do what you may ask of it... )

 

[sebastiantombs]

Once again, Blue Iris, and NVR or an "app" can only receive what the camera sends. Setting bit rates, frame rates and iframe rates in either Blue Iris, an NVR or an "app" will have absolutely no effect on the video. The only place to set those parameters is in the camera, itself. Reolink may allow you to think you are setting those parameters, but their firmware ignores what you set and does what it thinks is "best" which is the worst. They do this because the processor they use is junk, especially compared to Dahua or Hikvision, to name two.

 

[Carluzky]

Well , after spending about 5 days Mixing and matching options on BI (they have a ton!) I think I found the issue , on the recording tab I have selected “continuous & trigger “ last week , so I changed it to just continuous (I honesty don’t know what’s the difference since the alerts stay the same ) and I am glad to say the videos and alerts are smooth and fluent .