Choppy Video Exports

[BINoob]

I export my videos to MP4 format every night. For some reason, 3 of the 5 cameras have choppy video. 1 is a reolink, and 2 are Hikvision. the 2 Amcrest cameras look fine.

Here's a clip: https://youtu.be/HJ-IXtLDcgA

Any clues as to why this is happening? I looked at the metadata and it says it's 20fps.
The .bvr looks fine. Not choppy at all. It only happens upon conversion.

[TimG]

Did you see this:

by ctfjr » Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:15 am

FIXED!

fwiw - if anyone runs into this problem (corrupt MP4 conversions) Ken at BI support nailed it. He suggested unchecking the "2 pass for fast open" option on the convert/export page. That's all it needed. I don't remember enabling it (or not) but that was all I needed to save MP4 files again.

[MikeBwca]

I export my videos to MP4 format every night.
...

May I ask.. why do you convert all the bvr's to mp4 each night?

[WmG]

Definitely odd. The result appears as one frame per second, matching up nicely with the time overlay. The sound and the "metadata" 20fps tells us that the recording is probably 20fps so your focus on the conversion makes sense. I'd post a screen print from my settings for you to compare but I can never figure out how to get an image on this forum without having it hosted somewhere else online. It shouldn't be difficult to find someone smarter than I am to post their Convert/export and Configure...Encoder Options so you can see if there is any hint there. Bueller? Bueller? Anybody?

[WmG]

OK - So now I see my mp4 exports were fine until 3/27 (5.2.2.5) and started doing the same thing as yours on 3/29 (5.2.3.0) and ever since then with all updates to 5.2.4.6. I selected the unselected "Re-encode video to H.264" and now get the smoother videos I would expect with the corresponding larger files (ex 758kb to 3,397kb) and bitrates (1236kbps to 12894kbps). I'm not sure if that's the solution (did it get magically deselected?) or a work-around, as it feels like the conversion takes longer to process, but for now I'll settle for success. And go back and reprocess all of my exports since 3/29...

[BINoob]

Did you see this:

by ctfjr » Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:15 am

FIXED!

fwiw - if anyone runs into this problem (corrupt MP4 conversions) Ken at BI support nailed it. He suggested unchecking the "2 pass for fast open" option on the convert/export page. That's all it needed. I don't remember enabling it (or not) but that was all I needed to save MP4 files again.

Thanks for responding. I'll try that.

[BINoob]

I export my videos to MP4 format every night.
...

May I ask.. why do you convert all the bvr's to mp4 each night?

Sure. I have BI running on a headless computer.

Every now and then, I want to take a look at a clip from the cam, but when I access the network folder where the files are stored, I can't just open the .bvr clips and take a look. I have to log into the computer using TeamViewer, open blue iris, and then take a look. Then if i want to save it, i have to export it. So, b/c I'm lazy, I just have BI convert everything for me every night so I can simply open the network folder from any computer and look at the clips.

If I could open the .bvr files remotely, and convert them remotely, I wouldn't bother.

[BINoob]

OK - So now I see my mp4 exports were fine until 3/27 (5.2.2.5) and started doing the same thing as yours on 3/29 (5.2.3.0) and ever since then with all updates to 5.2.4.6. I selected the unselected "Re-encode video to H.264" and now get the smoother videos I would expect with the corresponding larger files (ex 758kb to 3,397kb) and bitrates (1236kbps to 12894kbps). I'm not sure if that's the solution (did it get magically deselected?) or a work-around, as it feels like the conversion takes longer to process, but for now I'll settle for success. And go back and reprocess all of my exports since 3/29...

Thanks. I'll try that if TimG's suggestion doesn't work.

[MikeBwca]

...
If I could open the .bvr files remotely, and convert them remotely, I wouldn't bother.

Bi now allows it to be used unregistered for view & export only.
Not sure if this would work in your situation. Might be worth looking into.

In the 5.1.0 update released February 16, 2020, one of the updates...
- Once the evaluation period is over, the software will continue to run as a “viewer only.”
This allows BVR files to be opened and exported without a software license.

[WmG]

Just to close the circle, after a few updates (now up to 5.2.5.1) I deselected "Re-encode video to H.264" to see if anything had changed again. Sure enough the video exports smooth as can be, with a bonus of smaller files and ridiculously faster processing, I'm guessing partly as a result of smaller but acceptable bitrates (5000 vs. 17221). Thanks Ken