Blue Iris

I would like the system to use motion detection and only save clips using direct-to-disk when there is motion however...
The files are simply not there after a trigger (manual or motion). A thumbnail is created and visible along with an entry in the database (i assume). Clicking on the clip thumbnail results in "Sorry, the file could not be found". The file is indeed not there when looking in the folders.

Setup:
Intel NUC - i5-4250U (Intel HD Graphics 5000), 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD and
Intel i7-4770K (NVIDIA 1080, 16GB RAM, 250GB SSD)
Intel i9 (TITAN X, 64GB RAM, 1GB NVMe)
5x Amcrest 4MP IP cams hardwired

I have tried the following:
1. Reinstall Win10
2. Reinstall EVERYTHING on new machines.
3. Reset/rebuild database
4. Shutdown BI and remove all BlueIris directories
5. Turn on/off QuickSync and/or VPP
6. Turn on/off NVenc.
7. Change resolution,encoding,fps,bitrate of of Cams
8. Turn on/off "decode only when required"
9... many other combos/options

The only combination that results in playable clips is turning OFF direct-to-disk and re-encoding the stream. Unfortunately I'm at CPU limit on the intended NUC and the system becomes unresponsive since decoding and encoding a 4MP cam on my system takes about 25-30% CPU.

Any ideas? Does direct -to-disk recording work at all with non-continuous recording?

Cheers,
Mattias

MattiasF wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:01 am I would like the system to use motion detection and only save clips using direct-to-disk when there is motion however...
The files are simply not there after a trigger (manual or motion). A thumbnail is created and visible along with an entry in the database (i assume). Clicking on the clip thumbnail results in "Sorry, the file could not be found". The file is indeed not there when looking in the folders.

The only combination that results in playable clips is turning OFF direct-to-disk and re-encoding the stream. Unfortunately I'm at CPU limit on the intended NUC and the system becomes unresponsive since decoding and encoding a 4MP cam on my system takes about 25-30% CPU.

Are you running a demo version of Blue Iris? My understanding is that the Direct-to-disk feature in Blue Iris does not work in the Demo version.

What video encoding mode are your IP cameras using? I would ensure that they are NOT using H.264+ or H.265 or "smart codec". It may result in a non-playable video clip when using Direct-to-disk. These formats may not be compatible with the Windows video codecs that are installed. Also, H.264+ and H.265 are not compatible with Intel Quick Sync (hardware accelerated decode).

Try changing your IP cameras video encoding to H.264 and turn off "smart codec" (H.264+). I would also recommend installing the K-Lite Codec Pack.


Intel NUC i5-4250U PC supports hardware accelerated decode using Intel Quick Sync
Intel i7-4770K PC with NVidia 1080 GPU supports hardware accelerated decode using either Intel Quick Sync or NVIDIA NVENC.
Intel i9 (NVIDIA Titan X GPU) supports NVIDIA NVENC, not sure whether it support Intel Quick Sync without knowing which i9-xxxx model.

NVIDIA NVENC Matrix...https://developer.nvidia.com/video-enco ... ort-matrix

On PC's that support Intel Quick Sync, make sure "hardware accelerated decode" is set to "Intel" not "Intel+VPP".

MattiasF wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:01 am Any ideas? Does direct -to-disk recording work at all with non-continuous recording?

And yes, Direct-to-disk works with triggered and continuous recording.

reddawg wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:20 am What video encoding mode are your IP cameras using? I would ensure that they are NOT using H.264+ or H.265 or "smart codec". It may result in a non-playable video clip when using Direct-to-disk. These formats may not be compatible with the Windows video codecs that are installed. Also, H.264+ and H.265 are not compatible with Intel Quick Sync (hardware accelerated decode).

Thanks for that awesome reply!

It turns out I was running on old firmware on my 4K Amcrest IP cameras and Smart Encoding H.264H was on without a way for me to turn it off. https://amcrest.com/firmware-subscribe has a new firmware that enables me to disable Smart Encode.

Again, huge thanks for the advice and guiding me in the right direction.

I think you should be able to get it working with the tips above. To reiterate--you need to first set the camera parameters using the camera's web interface BEFORE you set the parameters in BI. Set the camera to H.264 and the Profile to Main. Then in BI set to Direct To Disc etc as mentioned.
I am using both 'Record When Triggered' and 'Direct To Disk' and it works great. And check your Status display or watch the frame borders to make sure you are actually triggering on motion properly...