Yellow border around some cameras.

jasauders

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Hi friends. I'm continuing to tinker with my new Blue Iris setup and have spotted something interesting. A few of my cameras on my 5 outdoor/3 indoor camera setup seem to consistently have yellow borders coming up on the feeds. I dug around this forum, Reddit, and the help file, and came up with a few possible things to look for:

1) The camera border will be yellow when the motion detection is paused, such as after a PTZ command or PTZ preset position change.

2) The yellow caution icon may be displayed on your camera window when there is a mismatch between the camera's frame rate and the maximum frame rate setting on this page. By default, the software will automatically increase the maximum frame rate (FPS) setting in order to properly handle all frames delivered by your cameras. If you need to throttle the number of FPS from a camera, the best way to do that is by using the camera's own web interface to adjust the number of frames that it generates.

I didn't see any other possible items listed beyond these, so I dug in a bit.

In regard to #1, I took a look at my camera settings. Camera Properties >> Record >> Video is set to Continuous. Camera Properties >> Triggers is set to Active. Motion detect is enabled and is identical on all cameras (despite only 2 constantly and a 3rd sometimes showing the yellow border). PTZ settings are disabled on all cameras as I only have fixed cams. I've deleted the cameras and re-added them from scratch without change. I've restarted the server, the BI service, and the cameras without change.

In regard to #2, all cameras record at 10 FPS and I had 10 FPS set for all cameras within Blue Iris. I went through the settings and adjusted them all to 12.50, and 15.00, 20.00, but nothing yielded any change in behavior.

I found the setting to disable the yellow border in the Blue Iris settings page, and while it does remove the yellow border, I got to wondering if this is just hiding a problem. I ended up dancing in front of one of the two cameras that were pretty consistently displaying the yellow border. At one point when it was yellow and I was moving, it did not switch to red to indicate it noticed motion. If I was moving when the yellow border was not there it would go red to indicate it noticed me and logged it as an alert. This made me suspicious that perhaps disabling it *was* just hiding an issue. Perhaps there were other variables involved I have yet to learn about, I'm not sure.

That left me a little unsure of what to do next. I read the help file, I looked online, I found posts here, but aside from a few folks that said "I just rebooted my camera and the issue went away" (which unfortunately didn't solve it for me) or "oh whoops I did have PTZ functions enabled on a non-PTZ camera" (which I already checked) I wasn't sure where to turn next. I emailed support so I assume I'll hear back within the next few days, but got curious enough if anybody here had seen this before to possibly weigh in with more detail as to what might be the cause.

As always, thanks for any insight!
 

fenderman

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Make sure you are not using any smart codec ...no h264+ etc
 

jasauders

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Thanks for your suggestions Fenderman. I could have sworn I checked these settings, but after your response I was so curious I VPN'd home and brought up each camera UI on my phone. A few of them were H264H when I thought for sure they were H264 across the board. Smart codec is only available on one camera, though smart codec was not enabled.

From my phone/VPN I RDP'd to Blue Iris and watched the UI. No sooner did I log in, all but 2 seconds later the two problematic cameras dropped to black and white mode as it was approaching night time. I did not see the yellow border during my remote session, though I ended up going back and setting the cameras back to H264H to compare (I figured if I could instigate the problem again, I'd know right then it has to be the exact issue), but I couldn't instigate the yellow borders. Now I'm wondering if H264H to H264 was even the fix, or if the change in light mode may have mitigated the issue for now. It might not be until day time until I can really compare behaviors and look deeper. Is there enough of a difference between H264 and H264H/B to potentially cause something like this?

The general tab on the cameras are reporting FPS, on average, at 9.95 to 9.98, with rare increases to 10.07 or dips to 9.91 (from what I saw within the 60 seconds I stared at the numbers).

Currently all cameras are set to H264, no smart codec, all 10 FPS on camera UI's as well as 12.50 FPS set on Camera Properties of each BI camera. We'll see how things shake out tomorrow. Thanks again for your insight.
 

fenderman

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Thanks for your suggestions Fenderman. I could have sworn I checked these settings, but after your response I was so curious I VPN'd home and brought up each camera UI on my phone. A few of them were H264H when I thought for sure they were H264 across the board. Smart codec is only available on one camera, though smart codec was not enabled.

From my phone/VPN I RDP'd to Blue Iris and watched the UI. No sooner did I log in, all but 2 seconds later the two problematic cameras dropped to black and white mode as it was approaching night time. I did not see the yellow border during my remote session, though I ended up going back and setting the cameras back to H264H to compare (I figured if I could instigate the problem again, I'd know right then it has to be the exact issue), but I couldn't instigate the yellow borders. Now I'm wondering if H264H to H264 was even the fix, or if the change in light mode may have mitigated the issue for now. It might not be until day time until I can really compare behaviors and look deeper. Is there enough of a difference between H264 and H264H/B to potentially cause something like this?

The general tab on the cameras are reporting FPS, on average, at 9.95 to 9.98, with rare increases to 10.07 or dips to 9.91 (from what I saw within the 60 seconds I stared at the numbers).

Currently all cameras are set to H264, no smart codec, all 10 FPS on camera UI's as well as 12.50 FPS set on Camera Properties of each BI camera. We'll see how things shake out tomorrow. Thanks again for your insight.
h.264h should be fine. When you see the yellow border, check the actual fps you are receiving. I bet it will be lower than expected.
 

jasauders

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Ha, no sooner did I hit post reply, my rear camera (an EyeSurv, totally different from the problem children cameras that instigated the thread) threw a yellow border. Only once though for a few seconds, not consistently like before with the other cams. Eh.

I'll keep a close eye on the FPS. Total guess, but perhaps this may be easier to diagnose in the day time. If the FPS is dipping, are you thinking something with my camera settings are wonky? Actually... could it be my bit rate? I just glanced at the camera UI on my other screen and took note of something. The reference bit rate is listed as 768-10240, though I'm set at 8192. Hm.. might have to do some recon on that setting and see what details I can find.


 

fenderman

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It could be camera related but since its happening with various models, its unlikely. It may be network related. Are the cameras and blue iris connected to the same switch.
Also, you mentioned your were using other vms'. If that is the case and you are still running them, or streaming the cameras to multiple devices you could very well be choking the camera.
 

jasauders

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Well, the cameras are "sort of" various models. The outdoor cameras are 4 EyeSurv and 1 Dahua. I'm sure you know this, but EyeSurv is rebranded Dahua (a brand Nelly's carried before going with NSC). One EyeSurv and the Dahua are the two I was focusing on today. The random one that resurfaced minutes ago in reference to my last post was a 2nd EyeSurv, but it was once and done.

The other VMS is shut off. Only one VMS in play now -- Blue Iris.

Network wise, I have a 24 port switch. It's 10/100 with two gigabit ports. Gig port 1 goes to the Blue Iris server directly. Gig port 2 goes to my LAN switch, which is a non-POE switch that everything else in the house connects to.
 

jasauders

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What are you using the substream for? If you are not using them turn them off.
Good point. I'm not using it for anything now. I was previously using it on my other VMS that I decommissioned literally three nights ago (I was using old VMS + Blue Iris demo in tandem until I went full Blue Iris for more testing/possible permanent switch). I'll nix the sub streams quick since they have no bearing anymore with Blue Iris being able to downclock the quality for less-than-stellar mobile connections. Thanks. :)
 

jasauders

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Well... I'm not too sure where this leaves me, but a quick update. Today we're dealing with similar lighting, same time of day, same type of weather, etc. as we were seeing yesterday when I ran into the two cams throwing the yellow border in a consistent on/off fashion. Today I'm not seeing any yellow borders at all.

Being the curious person I am, I reversed the settings I adjusted on the cameras to compare. I was trying to instigate the issue again for sake of being able to strictly identify what the problem was and how it was fixed. The changes I made were going from H264H to H264, raising my bitrate from 8192 to 10240, and disabling sub stream. So... I set everything back.

...even still, no yellow borders. I'm kind of at a loss as to what was triggering it then. Best I can do is keep an eye on it and see if it surfaces any more and attack it from there. As it stands now, all cams are verified on H264 across the board, 10 FPS main stream, sub stream disabled, and bit rate set to 10240 (which was the high end of the suggested bit rate spectrum provided by the tool tip in the camera UI). So far, so good, but will update should anything change for sake of future readers.

Thanks again for your folks' insight. Appreciate it!
 

srglassw

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On my Blue Iris system the yellow borders are shown on cameras where motion detection is turned off and the camera is not set to record continuously. This is set in Options / Cameras / Yellow when motion detection is paused or disabled. I have motion detection disabled on an interior camera when we are at home and it displays with a yellow border. When we go out and enable motion detection the yellow border goes away.
 

jasauders

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Hmm, but when you say you can see the yellow border on that one camera, does it flash on and off at random intervals? I'd see it on for 3 seconds, off for 1 second, on for 8 seconds, off for 2 seconds, on for 19 seconds, off for 12 seconds, etc. No settings were changing and no action was happening that I could see to warrant it.

That's why I was so confused over what I read in the help file. "Motion is paused or disabled." Oh. Okay. That helped exactly zero because I have it enabled in settings and no idea why it's pausing/disabling/re-enabling it 80 times a minute without my intervention and had no idea what to try after. But hey, a couple ideas were brewed up here. So far haven't seen that border back yet... still not happy with being unable to instigate it again with my camera settings I spoke of, but oh well. Gotta pick your battles. :p
 

srglassw

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Hmm, but when you say you can see the yellow border on that one camera, does it flash on and off at random intervals? I'd see it on for 3 seconds, off for 1 second, on for 8 seconds, off for 2 seconds, on for 19 seconds, off for 12 seconds, etc. No settings were changing and no action was happening that I could see to warrant it.

That's why I was so confused over what I read in the help file. "Motion is paused or disabled." Oh. Okay. That helped exactly zero because I have it enabled in settings and no idea why it's pausing/disabling/re-enabling it 80 times a minute without my intervention and had no idea what to try after. But hey, a couple ideas were brewed up here. So far haven't seen that border back yet... still not happy with being unable to instigate it again with my camera settings I spoke of, but oh well. Gotta pick your battles. :p
No, I don't see any flashing on/off of the yellow border. When the camera has motion detection off (unchecked) the yellow border is displayed continuously. When motion detection is on (checked) then no border color is displayed except when there is a motion trigger and a red boarder is displayed until the motion event ends.
 
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