'Source file is corrupt' direct to disk mp4 recordings, files play back as a black screen

zak2020

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I am new to blueiris and used the demo the customise the setup and test recordings, and evrerything seemed to work OK. Got the cameras mounted, they are 4k 8MP Hikvisions, using H265+ (edit to add now have paid full version)

I have motion detection to take jpeg snapshots every 0.5 sec and these are fine, so clearly the image is being captured OK - everything looks normal in the GUI as well, 2x2 layout which shows cameras online and recording. If I try to play a recording from within BI it says 'source file is corrupt'. Host is a virtual Windows 10, 4 vCPU/16GB RAM, using intel HW accelerated decode and running latest version.

Any ideas where to start?
 
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zak2020

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Recording to AVI works, just not mp4. It did work, the only thing that changed was the new version, and there's another new version today.
 

fenderman

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Recording to AVI works, just not mp4. It did work, the only thing that changed was the new version, and there's another new version today.
You will have issues recording with H265+ Use H265. Additionally MP4’s have serious limitations and that you can’t view recorded video while The file is still open. It’s also reportedly uses more processing power then bvr. Use bvr.
 

zak2020

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Just to be clear, wasn't trying to open the file when it was open, I should have said. I'd set recordings to 1hr and they are around 1.6Gb but BI can't open them and can't open them in other apps.

I actually switched from bvr cos I was getting insane cpu usage. I'll keep trying different settings, it was working before. When you said I'll have issues recording h265+ is that a limitation or a known issue?
 
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jmhmcse

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Background:

An IFrame is a complete image frame (known as an Intra Frame) in MPEG encoding that is coded without reference to other pictures. Compression is achieved by comparing frames following an IFrame and only sending the changes until the next IFrame is generated.

H.264/5 has a setting to define when an IFrame is sent within the video stream; typical setting the for an IFrame is the same as the camera's FPS.

In order to create a higher compression (smaller file) H.265+ does not have a fixed IFrame from the camera but only as enough "changes" warrants one. As there is no guaranteed schedule as to when a full-frame occurs, the saved video stream displays nothing (black screen) until an IFrame happens to come along... one sec, two sec, three sec, or longer.

For my (home) use, I implement h.265 continuous recordings along with triggers. I didn't notice the "lag" when viewing clips until I attempted to use H.265+ and Intel Hardware Acceleration (HA). I've since turned off HA. I could have backed up a few seconds within the continuous recording before the trigger and I would see the event, but that quickly became a pain in the a**.

I would classify this as expected normal behavior for *H.265+, not a limitation or a known issue.

*corrected
 
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fenderman

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Just to be clear, wasn't trying to open the file when it was open, I should have said. I'd set recordings to 1hr and they are around 1.6Gb but BI can't open them and can't open them in other apps.

I actually switched from bvr cos I was getting insane cpu usage. I'll keep trying different settings, it was working before. When you said I'll have issues recording h265+ is that a limitation or a known issue?
Switch back to bvr, bvr was certainly not the cause of your high cpu usage.
 

n2qew

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Still testing many things out as I intend to buy and install BI at my mom and my daughter's houses. In the process, I found something that causes the "source file corrupt" issue for a given camera repeatably:
If you are writing h.264 or h.265 direct to disk to bvr files, and you are exporting from the "currently active" bvr file and there's an event that causes the camera who's file you are exporting from to write to it's bvr file, attempting to play the clip from that camera results in the "source file format is corrupt" error along with "Unable to open file: 80040154".

What I did to verify this is to group the triggers on two cameras. I began an export from cam1, and caused motion on front of the cameras. Clips resulted from both cam1 and cam2. Attempting to play the clip from cam1 resulted in the error, while clicking on clip from cam2 resulted in it cam2's clip playing. Re-triggering and and attempting to play cam1 resulted in the same error. Some time later, triggering the camera(s) results in playable clips being written. Same bvr files for the cameras.

Win 10 pro, on an SSD, though it also happened with a previous install (both Win10 and BI) on a 1 TB spinning drive. Current Blue Iris. Not much done after install other than adding cameras with direct to disk. As mentioned previously this happens with both h.264 and h.265 - not +.... Turned that off after learning that it creates delays in recording.



1590548578714.png
 

n2qew

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It's really not complicated. I just got real precise as to how to duplicate it. Just think of it this way... Something happens during the day on a camera. You want to export it to an mp4. You do the export, and if something triggers to make that camera record while you are exporting, it doesn't record that video, or any other triggers for a while afterwards.
 

pozzello

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and that's exactly what the developers need to hear about to fix it, if it's fixable at all. good job isolating the problem!
 

2daysoff

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Still testing many things out as I intend to buy and install BI at my mom and my daughter's houses. In the process, I found something that causes the "source file corrupt" issue for a given camera repeatably:
If you are writing h.264 or h.265 direct to disk to bvr files, and you are exporting from the "currently active" bvr file and there's an event that causes the camera who's file you are exporting from to write to it's bvr file, attempting to play the clip from that camera results in the "source file format is corrupt" error along with "Unable to open file: 80040154".

What I did to verify this is to group the triggers on two cameras. I began an export from cam1, and caused motion on front of the cameras. Clips resulted from both cam1 and cam2. Attempting to play the clip from cam1 resulted in the error, while clicking on clip from cam2 resulted in it cam2's clip playing. Re-triggering and and attempting to play cam1 resulted in the same error. Some time later, triggering the camera(s) results in playable clips being written. Same bvr files for the cameras.

Win 10 pro, on an SSD, though it also happened with a previous install (both Win10 and BI) on a 1 TB spinning drive. Current Blue Iris. Not much done after install other than adding cameras with direct to disk. As mentioned previously this happens with both h.264 and h.265 - not +.... Turned that off after learning that it creates delays in recording.



View attachment 62518
same error - newbe here - isolating 1 min of a 1 hour clip. Does that mean I have lost that entire clip as its just blank now in the timeline and "source file format is corrupt" playing the clip?
 
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