So really, what's the sense of using BI

General discussion about Blue Iris
szeiger
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 12:56 pm

So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by szeiger »

I've been using BII for years, both at a remote location and at my home. My questions is, if we have to dumb down the settings for the cameras so they don't kill the cpu, what's the benefit of using it? We have great inexpensive higher resolution cameras available to us now, and more expensive ones, but if they can't be viewed at those higher definitions why have them.

The reason I have stuck with BI is the clips feature, but what am I missing?

And BI doesn't return emails

What am I missing.
MikeBwca
Posts: 1115
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:39 am

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by MikeBwca »

Lots of factors...

- What are you 'dumbing down'?
- What are the specs of the system?
HeneryH
Posts: 678
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:50 pm

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by HeneryH »

To what Mike said... what camera settings do you need to 'dumb down' to prevent killing the cpu? The only camera setting I can think of would be frame rate. Some people want to use 30 or 60 fps and record at those rate which would cause the BI cpu to bog down.

Second, if you have been using BI for years then we shouldn't need to explain it to you.

How about you just throw an SD card in each of your cameras and use their recording capability. Or you can use whatever other VMS system you'd prefer.
szeiger
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 12:56 pm

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by szeiger »

No need to get snarky.
i7 3.4 ghz 16gb ram
I did drop the frame rate on all the cameras. That certainly helped. Perhaps I should have read more posts before posting this question.
I use it because as I said it shows the clips of activity.
Support: does anyone get a response from them when asking a question? Not even a "here, check out the post on the forum" message comes back to me. In the past they would respond.
spammenotinoz
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:44 am

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by spammenotinoz »

HeneryH wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 12:19 pm To what Mike said... what camera settings do you need to 'dumb down' to prevent killing the cpu? The only camera setting I can think of would be frame rate. Some people want to use 30 or 60 fps and record at those rate which would cause the BI cpu to bog down.

Second, if you have been using BI for years then we shouldn't need to explain it to you.

How about you just throw an SD card in each of your cameras and use their recording capability. Or you can use whatever other VMS system you'd prefer.
I think it's about getting the right gear. A $200 refurb (Super Small Factor) system from Ebay makes a great BI system, dozens of 4mp cams with 25fps with no issue. I don't bother with H\W decode, just let the CPU do it's thing.
I run some instances as VM's and also fine (no dumbing down). Sure an i7-4770, for instance, is almost as fast as a latest gen i7-7600, use uses more power at full bore. So pay now or pay later. Just ensure to stay away from any of the mobile \ low power consumption CPU's (like those in laptops or Intel NUC's), very underpowered.
miamichristopher
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2021 3:40 pm

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by miamichristopher »

I don't mean to be a wise buy. Does Blue Iris have a solution for stand alone autonomous camera management? The cameras have a build in DVR and just about everything else. I don't want to have to have a computer setup to manage the cameras. I really just need software that lets me connect to the camera and access the videos that are being stored locally on the SD cards. Any suggestions?

Chris
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TimG
Posts: 2098
Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:45 am
Location: Nottinghamshire, UK.

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by TimG »

Perhaps I should have read more posts before posting this question.
I'm afraid so. Your post came over as an attack on software that we know isn't dumb. The advances in the past year which include sub-streams and Deepstack, have totally un-dumbed BI5 :ugeek:
Support: does anyone get a response from them when asking a question?
Yes, every time.
I don't want to have to have a computer setup to manage the cameras. I really just need software that lets me connect to the camera and access the videos that are being stored locally on the SD cards.
I can tell you that BI5 is not what you are looking for. This is NVR software.
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Matts1984
Posts: 496
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:12 pm
Location: Maryland, USA

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by Matts1984 »

miamichristopher wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 3:46 pm I don't mean to be a wise buy. Does Blue Iris have a solution for stand alone autonomous camera management? The cameras have a build in DVR and just about everything else. I don't want to have to have a computer setup to manage the cameras. I really just need software that lets me connect to the camera and access the videos that are being stored locally on the SD cards. Any suggestions?

Chris
If the cameras are going to do everything themselves and all you want to do is connect to the cameras to view the videos/clips and make settings changes locally.... my best suggestion would be a web browser w/ bookmarks. I can't see why you'd use anything else.
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MikeBwca
Posts: 1115
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:39 am

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by MikeBwca »

It's not a matter of 'dumming down' the camera. But rather, lowering the load on your cpu/gpu. D2D, hardware acceleration, DS, and other settings, will help. Using the camera's motion detection and triggering BI will help a lot.


I struggled for the last 3 years with my old desktop, which was running BI at 35-45% cpu. I had to shutdown cameras to run Virtualbox and play games. My new desktop (6 core intel & 3060 gpu) is running BI at 4.5-5.5%, and I can do everything.
jondwalters
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2019 11:49 am

Re: So really, what's the sense of using BI

Post by jondwalters »

Definitely agree with what everyone else is saying. Either something is wrong in your config (not using or using the wrong hardware acceleration for example) or your PC hardware isn't ideal. Make sure you're using an Intel CPU that supports Quick Sync and have your hardware acceleration setting in BI set to "Intel + VPP". You didn't list a model of your CPU so it's impossible to know if your CPU supports Quick Sync or not.

For example, I just set up a couple systems running on Intel I5-6500 quad-core CPUs. They're both running 10-14 cameras. Most of the cameras are 4MP with a few 2MP and 3MP cameras mixed in. Some of the newer cameras are taking advantage of the substream capabilities of BI. All are running about 20FPS. CPU usage idles around 15-20% and even with DeepStack AI running on some of the cameras it rarely spikes above 50%
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