hardware Acceloration

tmoran000
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 7:50 am

hardware Acceloration

Post by tmoran000 »

Hi, I have a BI Server I built which has a I7 4790 , 32gb RAM and a 8tb Purple. I currently have 6 Amcrest IP cameras. I wanted to add 4-6 more. I have hardware "Intel" acceleration on and currently it is using about 30% of the GPU I have have all 6 recording all the time. only 1 with trigger but I wanted all cameras to record and have 2 on trigger. To make it easier on the machine I was wondering if I can add a graphics card to offload the GPU work. if so what do you recommend for 10-12 IP cameras.

Thanks alot for any answers.
HeneryH
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Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:50 pm

Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by HeneryH »

Using an external graphics card should only be a last resort when all other techniques don't get you enough.

Have you first set Direct-to-Disk for all cameras? That alone is by FAR the best way and you give up very little to get it. In the newest BI5 I don't think you actually give up anything. That should be the default for everyone now and I am not sure why it wouldn't be the system level default.

There are some other techniques if D2D doesn't get you what you need.
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reddawg
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Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by reddawg »

tmoran000 wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 2:15 am To make it easier on the machine I was wondering if I can add a graphics card to offload the GPU work. if so what do you recommend for 10-12 IP cameras.
Only Intel processor's that support Quick Sync and NVIDIA NVDEC GPU's will reduce CPU utilization by offloading cpu utilization to the graphics card. Nvidia NVDEC hardware acceleration is not as efficient and does not scale as well as Intel's Quick Sync. Other Graphics cards will offer no benefit to reducing cpu utilization.

Nvidia GPU capable of NVDEC (see Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix).
https://developer.nvidia.com/video-enco ... ix#Decoder

In addition to using Direct-to-Disk, I would reduce the frame rate (fps) of your Amcrest cameras to 10-15 fps, instead of 25-30. This will reduce cpu utilization. Many people installing security cameras think they need to run their cameras at high frame rates like 30fps because they think it's going to improve the quality of the video or they might miss something. While 30 fps will provide a smoother playback, the human eye does not pick up much difference between 15 and 30 frames per second and it is not until your frame rate drops below 7.5 fps that it becomes noticeable. See the below YouTube video for a comparison.

Security Camera Video Recording Frame Rate Comparison
https://youtu.be/W7LYhTPc-Nw
Blue Iris v5.3.9.10 | Win10 x64 version 22H2 | Dahua IPC-HFW2100, Amcrest IP2M-841W, Hikvision MINI PT DS-2CD2F52F-IS, Edimax IC-3030iWn | Intel i5-2500 CPU, 8GB Ram, Samsung 860 EVO 512GB SSD, WD Black 1TB HD.
tmoran000
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Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 7:50 am

Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by tmoran000 »

I do have direct to disk enabled for each camera, My intel I7 - 4770 does have quick sync... i dont seen anything specific under hardware acceloration that says quick sync. only intel which I have selected. Is this correct?

Image
WmG
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Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by WmG »

While the previous posters are correct in that simply adding a graphics card may have little effect on BI CPU usage that only applies if you are running as a service and not viewing the user interface on screen. It takes CPU to paint the screen and if there is no GPU to help it, the CPU will take all of the load. I've mentioned before that I set up BI on a 19" monitor and all was fine until I moved to higher resolution 28" monitor and watched my CPU usage go ballistic and could adjust it by changing how much of the screen the BI UI filled up. That might be common knowledge for everybody else in the world but I hadn't considered it until then. I plugged in a video card and watched that problem go away. My CPU usage still increases when I open the UI but nothing like it did prior to the GPU.
tmoran000
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Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 7:50 am

Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by tmoran000 »

I only use remote viewing either on my laptop or phones/tablets. the only time I use direct viewing on the BI Server is when I remote into it with RDP to make changes. other then that the server just sits in my rack. since I am using remote for playback and live view, graphics card still will not make a difference?

Thanks again
Matts1984
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Location: Maryland, USA

Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by Matts1984 »

tmoran000 wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 3:18 pm I only use remote viewing either on my laptop or phones/tablets. the only time I use direct viewing on the BI Server is when I remote into it with RDP to make changes. other then that the server just sits in my rack. since I am using remote for playback and live view, graphics card still will not make a difference?

Thanks again
Well now you've piqued my interest in this post. I'm always interested in squeezing as much out of my server as possible, and it is a rackmount ProLiant Xeon powered server so it doesn't have the fancy graphics capabilities on the CPU and it's a headless server that I RDP to if I need to tweak changes. Overall I'm satisfied with the performance I'm seeing and I think I have the overhead to accommodate another 2 or so cameras (distant plans) without the fans spinning up. If adding a dedicated GPU would make any difference I'd consider it... but I probably have too much going against me for it to work out (VMware, it's an old server - may not even accommodate a current Nvidia card, I'd probably need some funky power adapters from the current PSU, etc)
Blue Iris 5.8.8.x | Server 2022 VM | Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz - 12 Cores | 12GB RAM | 7TB RAID | Sophos UTM WAF | 4x SV3C 5MP Bullet A | 1x SV3C 5MP PTZ HX | 1x SV3C 5MP Bullet HX | 1x SV3C 5MP Dome HX | 2x Amcrest 5MP Bullet
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reddawg
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Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by reddawg »

tmoran000 wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:07 am I do have direct to disk enabled for each camera, My intel I7 - 4770 does have quick sync... i dont seen anything specific under hardware acceloration that says quick sync. only intel which I have selected. Is this correct?

Image
Yes, "Intel" hardware acceleration (Quick Sync) is the correct choice for your Intel i7-4770 PC. If you are looking to lower cpu utilization further, try reducing each camera's frame rate from 30fps to 15fps. This is accomplished from the camera user interface, not from Blue Iris. As I stated above, you will not notice much difference between 15 and 30 fps.
tmoran000 wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:07 am I only use remote viewing either on my laptop or phones/tablets. the only time I use direct viewing on the BI Server is when I remote into it with RDP to make changes. other then that the server just sits in my rack. since I am using remote for playback and live view, graphics card still will not make a difference?
FYI, for better performance while connected by remote access (RDP), change "Video during remote access" to "Unrestricted" in Blue Iris Settings -> Cameras tab.
Blue Iris v5.3.9.10 | Win10 x64 version 22H2 | Dahua IPC-HFW2100, Amcrest IP2M-841W, Hikvision MINI PT DS-2CD2F52F-IS, Edimax IC-3030iWn | Intel i5-2500 CPU, 8GB Ram, Samsung 860 EVO 512GB SSD, WD Black 1TB HD.
tmoran000
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Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 7:50 am

Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by tmoran000 »

Thank you, I will try this setting.
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broachoski
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Location: Texas

Re: hardware Acceloration

Post by broachoski »

I have the same i7 4790 but only 16g ram I have not tried hardware acceleration yet. With 20 cameras recording 10 to 15 fps, direct to disk. All cameras are set to use the newer SUB STREAM feature which Ken has managed to get most of the bugs out during the last 2 releases within the last week. My CPU usage floats around 15% and Memory usage is around 25%.
+1 on the comment on "video during remote desktop" setting to "Unrestricted". I have had the system change this to 5 seconds during a couple of upgrades and that lag looks awful to me.
Here is a link to basic sub stream setup.
https://ipcamtalk.com/wiki/sub-stream-guide/
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