Substream used in continuous recordings?

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Monyx
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2022 8:57 pm

Substream used in continuous recordings?

Post by Monyx »

First time user of BI and very happy with this product. I've watched a few videos and set up continuous+triggered recording of my 4k camera (I have another that will be going up shortly). I was able to figure out that by double clicking on a camera feed it would bump up to the main stream quality (in both the user process run application and web gui). I was checking one of my 8 hour continuous recordings and noticed that it definitely appeared to be using the substream. On the info for nerds it shows the stream resolution as the main stream (4k) and the view port being my monitor size (maxed window so this appears correct), the gear at the bottom is appropriately selected to 4k, but the recording quality is very poor so my assumption is that it's using the substream. Is this intended behavior? I read somewhere that this was recently changed to behave this way with a new update. If so, is there a way to change this without removing the substream completely? It's a nice feature but I'd like to have my continuous recordings be my main stream. I have direct to disc selected and saving as Blue Iris DVR. I've also selected Limit decoding unless required. Sorry if this is a silly question, I'm completely new to NVR.
HeneryH
Posts: 678
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:50 pm

Re: Substream used in continuous recordings?

Post by HeneryH »

I might not have picked up all the details but...

I use substream for 24x7 recording and upon alert (even including the pre-buffer) it automatically switches over to the primary stream.

You can set the camera to record the primary stream if you choose. It is right there in the camera settings

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Monyx
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2022 8:57 pm

Re: Substream used in continuous recordings?

Post by Monyx »

HeneryH wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:30 pm You can set the camera to record the primary stream if you choose. It is right there in the camera settings
Sorry my post was a bit of a word soup. I suspect my current recording configuration is the same as yours. I couldn't however find where to select the primary stream for the continuous recording. My stream profiles are essentially the same as yours.
HeneryH
Posts: 678
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:50 pm

Re: Substream used in continuous recordings?

Post by HeneryH »

I think "continuous" mode would be 24x7 primary stream while I use "continuous + alerts" which is the substream then switch to prime for alerts.

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YrbkMgr
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Location: Chicagoland

Re: Substream used in continuous recordings?

Post by YrbkMgr »

Monyx wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:06 pm I was checking one of my 8 hour continuous recordings and noticed that it definitely appeared to be using the substream.
During playback, right click on the video - is Use Sub Stream If Available checked?
BI Use Sub Stream Context Menu.JPG
BI Use Sub Stream Context Menu.JPG (32.5 KiB) Viewed 1331 times
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HeneryH
Posts: 678
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:50 pm

Re: Substream used in continuous recordings?

Post by HeneryH »

This gets to one practical issue...

For 99% of the user needs, substreams are perfectly fine.

It is just that last level of forensic examination (cheats at cards, thieves, getting a facial recognition of a criminal) that the full quality resolution is helpful.

If the problem is indeed playbacks using substreams and you can verify that when exporting a clip or through some other easy method you can get to the high quality then it could be totally fine.

Knowing the high res video is there and being able to get to it when needed is the critical piece of understanding.
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