Need help tuning BI to stop Frozen frames, ghosting,

[bigbadw]

I have tried everything I can think of to remove potential data processing bottlenecks, and yet still have issues with videos that have "frozen images" and ghosting...
System: Dedicate PC running only the latest Blue Iris and Windows 10 Pro (64bit).
i7-3770k, 8G ram, 4 hard drives (1-OS, 2-main Blue Iris hard drive, 3-Hard drive dedicated to License Plate Capture camera 1, 4-Hard drive dedicated to License Plate Capture camera 2) Each hard drive is connected via eSata cables. 12 total cameras.

The Cameras themselves are set so that the i-Frame and fps are the same. Blue Iris is set to 20MB receive buffer.

I am getting to the point where I'm starting to think it may (possibly?) be inside the Blue Iris code itself?

Any other config settings I can try to eliminate the Frozen frames and ghosting on captured video?

 

[fenderman]

It's not the code or we would all have the same problem... what version of BI, what cameras?

 

[bigbadw]

Thank goodness! I have always keep BI at the latest version released (4.4.8.4 x64). All cameras are Hikvision. Different models for different locations.

I found an interesting issue last night. The CPU was pegging at 98%.... I shut down (disabled in BI) my most active camera (License plate capture) and the CPU calmed down to 52%. Then, I reenabled that camera. It went up to 60% CPU, and as of this morning it is running all 12 cameras at 48%.

No clue what the cause of that would be, but the video's captured since I disabled/enabled the camera through BI are smooth and clear.

 

[fenderman]

Thank goodness! I have always keep BI at the latest version released (4.4.8.4 x64). All cameras are Hikvision. Different models for different locations.

I found an interesting issue last night. The CPU was pegging at 98%.... I shut down (disabled in BI) my most active camera (License plate capture) and the CPU calmed down to 52%. Then, I reenabled that camera. It went up to 60% CPU, and as of this morning it is running all 12 cameras at 48%.

No clue what the cause of that would be, but the video's captured since I disabled/enabled the camera through BI are smooth and clear.

post a screenshot of your video configuration settings in BI

 

[bigbadw]

Seriously, thank you for this help fenderman.
Here are two config captures of the License plate camera video settings and one of the camera video settings itself.

 

[fenderman]

First try using the 2cdXXXX from the drop down...then if that doesnt work try using find inspect

 

[bigbadw]

First try using the 2cdXXXX from the drop down...then if that doesnt work try using find inspect

Done! I will let you know what the results are. Thank you for seeing that!

 

[bigbadw]

fenderman, now that I think I have BlueIris configured properly thanks to you (I'm still monitoring the CPU as the culprit causing my ghosting and frozen frames), I see that I need to properly configure my new hard drives.

 

[bigbadw]

Doggone it.. I am STILL getting ghosting and frozen frames in my video capture files, at seemingly random times.

I have three cameras that trigger as a group.
1. The main camera looks straight out from the garage, and see traffic going by the house.
2. Camera 2 - License Plate Capture (LPC) sits off to the right of the road facing left.
3. Camera 3 - LPC sits off the left and faces the right side of the road.

The CPU did not go above 60% (I used the CPU monitoring tool to keep track).

Are there any tools that we can use to diagnose what is happening within BlueIris? I sure think I have tried to remove every other type of bottleneck I know of.

 

[fenderman]

Have you tried reinstalling? try emailing support. also try unchecking use rtsp timecode see if that helps..

 

[bigbadw]

Ok, will do. First, I will uncheck the rtsp timecode as you suggest, if that doesn't help, I'll bother BI support.

It should be interesting to find the actual source of this! I've sure been on the hunt for it, for quite some time. (I left it alone for a while, but am now focused on getting it resolved.

Update: After unchecking "rtsp timecode" from all three cameras, the issue is still there. I sent an email to blueiris support. I'll update this thread as we troubleshoot this.

 

[bigbadw]

Just thought I would provide an update as I try to isolate the "Freeze frames/ghosting" issue.

I contacted BlueIris Help. Unfortunately their way of helping me is to directly log into one of the three cameras I have "grouped" together, and all exhibit the freeze frame/ghosting in the captured videos.
The problem is that I have wired the cameras through a secondary NIC card, separating the cameras from the "outside" and all are powered through a large dedicated POE switch.

I will have to rewire and reassign cameras, to then put them on the main network, to make them available to Blue Iris help to log into from the outside.
Another concern I have is that this will take the cameras "out of" the environment they are actually running in, and could provide false information. But that can be dealt with at another time, I guess....

So, until I can disassemble my current wiring (which by the way is really not easy access for this restructuring) and then reassign the three cameras to provide log in from the outside, I will have to wait to see if BI can help.

It did allow me to continue some experiments though, and I wonder if I am on track to figure the root cause of it all...
(note: my sample times may have been too small to really validate the attached three experiment results. Also, I did try multiple different drivers with the Trendnet camera)
Results:
1. If I "ungroup" the three cameras, the two Hikvision cameras (different models) no longer had freeze frames/ghosting, but the Trendnet camera did....
2. If I "group" the two hikvision cameras, and disabled the Trendnet camera, it looks like the freeze frames/ghosting stopped....
3. If I enable the Trendnet camera, while the two hikvision cameras are grouped, the freeze frames/ghosting starts up for all three cameras again....

I am going to replace the Trendnet camera with a new hikvision ($100, 4mp model) and just see if that does anything....

Wish me luck!

 

[bigbadw]

This is so freaking frustrating...

The freeze frames/ghosting would appear to be "data overload" and therefore need the bottleneck removed.
Stats:
CPU- 60%
Memory - 4.4gb of 8gb
Data disks: Separate disks for the cameras in question. (Each connected via eSata)
Network: 44mb of 1gb data stream
POE switch: (note: I even bypassed the POE switch, and still experience the frozen frames/ghosting...)

I sent the config file to BlueIris help (Ken), but have not heard anything back yet.

There must be SOMETHING else to try, but I am at a dead-end....

 

[bigbadw]

Update: Ken (BlueIris) has contacted me and offered to do some analysis on the cameras. I moved the system over to the regular network (rewired and reconfigured the system...) and now will be able to have BlueIris support run diags.

This does take two components out of play and makes the configuration different than it regularly runs though....
1. It is no longer on an isolated separate network. It is sharing the same network as all other devices.
2. It no longer is using the second Network card in the security PC.

All other components should be the same, so it will be interesting to hear the results!

 

[bigbadw]

.... Its like communicating with the Mars Rover... Half duplex...
Send an e-mail.. wait days..
Get a response asking a question, respond... wait days...
Get a question, respond... wait days...

At least I know it will eventually get some response... but the travel time between earth and mars is just so vast.....

 

[fenderman]

.... Its like communicating with the Mars Rover... Half duplex...
Send an e-mail.. wait days..
Get a response asking a question, respond... wait days...
Get a question, respond... wait days...

At least I know it will eventually get some response... but the travel time between earth and mars is just so vast.....

Maybe you need to buy priority support..

 

[bigbadw]

Maybe you need to buy priority support..

I am so ignorant. I honestly didn't even know that was an option... oh crap!
I own three copies of BlueIris and have upgraded through the years.... Never even knew about the support model..... It makes perfect sense now!

 

[fenderman]

I am so ignorant. I honestly didn't even know that was an option... oh crap!

Blue Iris Support

 

[bigbadw]

Blue Iris Support

Thank you sir. My apologies for not realizing this before.

I just signed up and moved my support question over to a Priority Support call.

 

[fenderman]

I dont know...make sure you are using a standard email address like gmail so it doesnt go to spam.