Video Quality in BI5

[David Morcos]

I have spent a whole day working with BI 5 after several years with Bi4.

I cannot get the video quality to match BI4, not even close. All my cameras are 4K as is the display monitor,

I am sure there is a setting but I can't seem to find it no matter what I try. Camera settings have not changed as far as the video quality/resolution. The only difference is the newer software package.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[David Morcos]

Just to add, I am viewing 4 cams on one screen. The quality is bad, low res. However, when I click on a cam and the screen is full with that camera on the resolution changes and it looks like it should.

 

[wittaj]

OK that makes it clearer.

BI5 added the use of substreams just like NVRs do for multi-camera view. With BI4 it only used mainstream.

It saves on CPU.

Simply go into each camera GUI and up the bit rate of the substream. Some will even bump the resolution of the substream.

 

[David Morcos]

I have tried with one camera to up the substream to the max of 1920x1080 and bitrate from 512 to 4096, saved but I do not see any difference in what BI shows. I even restarted BI with no luck.

Can BI5 be forced to use main vs sub stream?

 

[David Morcos]

First image with substream adjusted in cam GUI the max. second is when I view full screen. First is simply unacceptable compared to BI4.

I have even disabled substream without any luck.

 

[TonyR]

Note your CPU usage.
Just to see how it looks, copy the URL that BI has for the main stream and paste it the box for the sub stream; you won't see sub stream any more.
Note CPU usage after the above.

 

[bigredfish]

Though I’m not a BI user, sounds like it’s working as it should.

How many full res 4K streams were you able to simultaneously stream before?

Every system has a limit

 

[David Morcos]

bigredfish
I had 6 cameras streaming at the same time without issue. My main screen with 4 cameras now look like what I had 12 years ago with 720 cameras.

TonyR, I will try what you are suggesting later today, but I am not quite sure where in BI to do what you are suggesting.
T

 

[TonyR]

bigredfish
TonyR, I will try what you are suggesting later today, but I am not quite sure where in BI to do what you are suggesting.

Post a screenshot of the "camera settings" => "Video" tab => "Configuration" page.

 

[David Morcos]

Solved, and thanks to all who contributed and offered help.

In BI 4 in camera video settings you did not have options for video main and sub. There was no difference in video quality of any camera whether you were viewing in a group of cameras or when you view each camera full screen.

In BI 5 you can choose the stream the video display uses for the main and and for sub (which I assume it uses when you are looking at a group of cameras)

What worked for me was in Camera settings/video/configure/stream profiles I changed the sub from sub stream to default which leaves the URL blank (selecting main stream also seams to work the same). Now all the cameras have the same resolution and frame rate whether viewed in a group or individually full screen with no lag.

 

[TonyR]

Solved, and thanks to all who contributed and offered help.

In BI 4 in camera video settings you did not have options for video main and sub. There was no difference in video quality of any camera whether you were viewing in a group of cameras or when you view each camera full screen.

In BI 5 you can choose the stream the video display uses for the main and and for sub (which I assume it uses when you are looking at a group of cameras)

What worked for me was in Camera settings/video/configure/stream profiles I changed the sub from sub stream to default which leaves the URL blank (selecting main stream also seams to work the same). Now all the cameras have the same resolution and frame rate whether viewed in a group or individually full screen with no lag.

Glad it's working as you want.

FWIW, I have been using what I posted in #6 to achieve the same thing. Your changes were at the same page I mentioned in post #9, at "Camera settings" => "Video" tab => "Configuration" page.

If you had copied the URL that BI has for the main stream and pasted it into the box for the sub stream you'd have nothing but main stream for that camera.

But as they say oftentimes.." There's more than one way to peel an orange."

 

[bp2008]

That is a strange idea @TonyR, putting the main stream URL into both the main and sub stream boxes. I would just leave the sub stream path box empty if I didn't want to use a sub stream. Seems like a safer and more intuitive way to get the desired single-stream behavior.

@David Morcos If you ever significantly increase the number of cameras in your system, then consider configuring sub streams again, as the CPU savings are more important the more cameras you have, and the loss of visual quality is less impactful as each camera gets a smaller allotment of screen space. When you have only a few cams on a high res display though, it can be nice to use only main streams as you have discovered.

 

[TonyR]

That is a strange idea @TonyR, putting the main stream URL into both the main and sub stream boxes. I would just leave the sub stream path box empty if I didn't want to use a sub stream. Seems like a safer and more intuitive way to get the desired single-stream behavior.

I wanted just one cam (FlagCam) to be in full res, main stream all the time, for any reason, whether viewing or recording and I like how it's working.

 

[bp2008]

I wanted just one cam (FlagCam) to be in full res, main stream all the time, for any reason, whether viewing or recording and I like how it's working.

I just tried that (putting main stream path into both main and sub boxes), and Blue Iris reports that it is using both main and sub streams, both with the same resolution and frame rate. I find that concerning. Without investigating further, it seems likely that Blue Iris is applying full dual streaming logic unnecessarily. Which means it could be doubling your file sizes for clips from that camera (as "both" streams are recorded), along with CPU/Memory usage overhead and possible playback smoothness problems that come from Blue Iris trying to use timing data from the sub stream when playing the main stream.

 

[TonyR]

I just tried that (putting main stream path into both main and sub boxes), and Blue Iris reports that it is using both main and sub streams, both with the same resolution and frame rate. I find that concerning. Without investigating further, it seems likely that Blue Iris is applying full dual streaming logic unnecessarily. Which means it could be doubling your file sizes for clips from that camera (as "both" streams are recorded), along with CPU/Memory usage overhead and possible playback smoothness problems that come from Blue Iris trying to use timing data from the sub stream when playing the main stream.

Now I recall why I did that a long time ago (which is why I forgot): when I double clicked for full screen it would stay in sub stream. I could either have the sub URL set for type "1" or have NO URL for sub and it would work OK, albet it in main all the time which was preferred to remain in sub at full screen.

I tried deleting/adding that cam and it would not respond correctly. It's the only cam in BI out of 9 that won't go to main stream when viewing full screen.

I unchecked "record dual streams if available."

 

[looney2ns]

Now I recall why I did that a long time ago (which is why I forgot): when I double clicked for full screen it would stay in sub stream. I could either have the sub URL set for type "1" or have NO URL for sub and it would work OK, albet it in main all the time which was preferred to remain in sub at full screen.

I tried deleting/adding that cam and it would not respond correctly. It's the only cam in BI out of 9 that won't go to main stream when viewing full screen.

I unchecked "record dual streams if available."

But aren't you using a BI version from 2010.

 

[TonyR]

But aren't you using a BI version from 2010.

No actually it's only 3 years old....like 6/11/21 (v5.4.7.11)

 

[David Morcos]

Great information and a hilarious bunch! Hope you all have a great weekend.