Sub Streams Question

[Lockwood]

Hello everyone,

I have finally gotten around to using sub streams in Blue Iris. I never had a need for them as my CPU ran at a steady 20% with all 10 of my cameras at their full resolution and 10 FPS. I'm looking into using DeepStack AI and it seems as if everyone uses sub streams to ease the CPU or GPU while processing the images. I have a few questions regarding sub streams.

1. I noticed when I add the sub streams, the size of the camera's window changes and becomes smaller and 4:3 rather than widescreen. I'm sure this is based on the resolution that is set for the sub stream. Can I check the box to Force Anamorphic settings and choose something like 1920x1080 to give it back the widescreen look? If I do this, I'm really only just changing the look in Blue Iris correct? I'm not defeating the purpose of the sub stream am I? I'm not at my camera location at the moment and can't remote in as I'm working and I can't reach my cameras from work so I can't check, but I think I remember the Force Anamorphic setting being grayed out when using a sub stream. Is this correct? If so, how do you guys handle substreams and widescreen settings? Do you just bump the sub stream resolution up to a widescreen resolution in the camera?

2. I was under the impression that when using sub streams, the sub streams video is what is seen on the screen and also what is seen when accessing the BI server remotely. Then if I click on a camera to open it on the screen by itself, the main stream will kick in. Is this correct? I tried this and my main stream is set to a widescreen setting while the sub stream is set to a 4:3 settings. When I click on the camera to view it by itself on the screen, it opens in the 4:3 view as if it is still using the sub stream. Is it supposed to work that way or am I missing a setting?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Lockwood]

I think I figured out the issue. A while ago I had recently bumped all my cameras up to the highest resolution they offer. For the camera I had been testing sub streams with, an older Dahua, its highest resolution is 1280x960 which is actually a 4:3 format. So the camera actually shows as a 4:3 image in BI. I would just click on Animorphic (force size) and set it to 1920x1080 to make it widescreen. It had been that way for so long, I completely forgot 1920x960 was actually a 4:3 format. So, when I added the 640x480 sub stream, BI used the sub stream's resolution in the layout and in the UI3. BI also changed the Animorphic setting forcing it to the sub stream resolution and graying it out, basically putting the camera back to the default main stream's resolution image size, 4:3 and wiping out my Animorphic change to 1920x1080. So now I have a main stream and sub stream that are 4:3. So even if I click on the camera to make it full screen, it remained 4:3 due to the 4:3 nature of the main stream's 1280x960 native resolution.

I Lowered the main stream's resolution to 1280x720, a widescreen format and BI now shows the camera in a widescreen format in the layout and in the UI3, while still showing the sub stream's resolution as 640x480 in the video tab with Animorphic grayed out. So BI is indeed using the sub stream in the layout and in the UI3, but when I put the camera into full screen, the camera remains widescreen, as it is using the main stream's 1280x720 resolution and I can see in stats for nerds it is now using the main stream's resolution.

So it was my fault all along. I don't know about others here, but I hate the 4:3 format for my cameras. I need them in widescreen format. It kind of sucks that I cannot use the camera's full resolution without it showing as 4:3. I still haven't played with editing of the layout yet, but I will try and see if I can keep the highest resolution and change the layout formatting to present the video feed in widescreen. Even if I can, I'm sure it will change back to 4:3 when I put the camera in full screen mode.

Do any of you have any cameras that have a main stream resolution that is actually a 4:3 format? If so, and you forced them to widescreen while using both a main and sub stream, how did you do it?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[TonyR]

Do any of you have any cameras that have a main stream resolution that is actually a 4:3 format? If so, and you forced them to widescreen while using both a main and sub stream, how did you do it?

1. Model of the Dahua cam you're having the issue with?
2. From cam's webGUI, screen shots of its video config page?
3. In BI, screen shot of that cam's "Cam settings" => "Video" tab page?
4. In BI, screen shot of that cam's "Cam settings" => "Video" tab => "Configuration" button page showing the URL's of the streams?

 

[Lockwood]

I believe the model is Dahua HFW 2100N

Attached you will find the request screen shots. Note, although the camera's main stream's resolution is 1920x960, I currently have anamorphic checked to have it show widescreen.

Camera's GUI Settings = Dahua Camera.JPG
BI Camera's Video Tab = BI Video Tab.JPG
BI Camera's Configure Tab = BI Configure Tab

I included a picture of what the video feed looks like, camera on the left, when I add the sub stream - Square.JPG
I included a picture Camera's General Tab showing the two streams - Streams.JPG
I included a picture of what the video feed looks like, camera on the left, when I do not have a sub stream - Widescreen.JPG

 

[VideoDad]

I had a similar issue with my 3MP Swann/Hikvision cameras. It turns out that internally it has a 4:3 sensor and its maximum resolution is 2048×1536 (4:3). On the original Swann NVR, it would squash the image vertically to make it fit into a 16:9 aspect ratio.

When I first brought these cameras into Blue Iris, I thought BI was messing up because it made the substream into 640×480 matching the native 4:3.

I asked for help and the workaround is to go into the BI console and for each camera grouping, change the layout. You can force a 16:9 aspect ratio for viewing in each camera, but it will still record the 4:3 image internally.

In the end, I actually got used to seeing the full vertical image without squashing and decided to undo forced aspect ratio in the layout. But you can do it however you like.

 

[Lockwood]

Thanks. I just went into all my cameras and selected the highest widescreen resolution offered. This way everything shows widescreen, the layout, the remote viewing and the recording. It would be nice to use the full camera's resolution potential, but the widescreen is a better tradeoff for me.