Blue Iris 5 stopped recording for unknown reason

[Sybertiger]

Unknown to me anyway....two out of six IP cams I have setup stopped recording this morning at 6:46am. Can someone please clue me in on where I need to look to figure this out? Below are a few pics of the settings from one of the cams. I thought the little red dot in the upper right corners means it is still recording...but there's nothing in the clip window showing it's currently recording. The first pic shows no more recorded clips after the 6am slot (I have it set to cut every one hour or 4GB). Note that at both the 3am and the 6am clips are "New" and not "Stored" like the other clips. And, yes...there was some sort of hiccup that happened at 3am as there's another clip at 3:08am. I assume the red outline on 3am and 6am are telling me something. And, note that the recording size jumps up from around 2GB or less up to 6GB+ when the problem starts.

 

[looney2ns]

What does the BI log show? What does the hard drive allocation graph show?

 

[SouthernYankee]

Are the cameras on a wall wart or POE for power.
Is the camera power on a UPS ?
The cameras are hardwired correct ?
Are you recording direct to a local internal disk ?

The red graph arrow in the upper left indicates a problem, Provide log information.

 

[Sybertiger]

 

[Sybertiger]

Are the cameras on a wall wart or POE for power.
POE, cat6 solid copper.

Is the camera power on a UPS ?
No.

The cameras are hardwired correct ?
Yes, have been working for a couple of months since install.

Are you recording direct to a local internal disk ?
Yes, internal 6GB WD purple.

The red graph arrow in the upper left indicates a problem, Provide log information.
Thanks for that!

The other four IP cams did not hiccup like the two with problems.

 

[SouthernYankee]

Before I have everything on UPS (I use multiple UPSs). Some cameras would restart after a power hit and some would not. I am not an electrical engineer so I can not explain why.

 

[smiticans]

It looks like you're getting a move file error. Post a picture of your configuration of "Clips and Archiving" in settings. BI should be set up to record directly to the WD purple drive.

I don't think this is a power related issue but it is a good idea to invest in a UPS

 

[Sybertiger]

It looks like you're getting a move file error. Post a picture of your configuration of "Clips and Archiving" in settings. BI should be set up to record directly to the WD purple drive.

I don't think this is a power related issue but it is a good idea to invest in a UPS

You may be onto something. Under Clips and Archiving I noticed that I have my Compact/Repair DB set to 3am every morning (see pic below). I just so happen to have my clips cut and saved every hour on the hour which opens things up to the compacting happening at the same time. I've not had a problem with this in the past but it could be that because I've recently added more cameras that it's taking longer to compact and it's now conflicting with cut and saving the clips because of the added time with more cams. I'm going to change my Compact/Repair DB to 3:30am so it doesn't interfere with hourly clip saving.

However, it doesn't explain in full the other weirdness I'm seeing with the two cams I said quit recording to disk even though BI is showing the red "recording" dot in the upper right corner. Because at 6:27pm this evening both cams started to record to disk again at the same time. I don't know if the problem that started 6:46am then ended at 6:27pm has to do with some sort of weird scheduling but so far I haven't found anything in the schedules to coincide. Oh, and the two cams now recording are creating very large files again...over 6GB/hour.

 

[Sybertiger]

Oh, and THIS is interesting....

The two cameras having the problem with crapping out and having large recording files have the Re-encode with settings selected. The reason why this is weird is because a few days ago I was trying to figure out why the CPU seemed to be working about 10 percent harder than it normally does and I noticed these two cameras has Re-encode with settings selected. I had thought maybe it was just an oversight on my part so I put them back to Direct-to-disc and verified the file clips shrunk back down and that the CPU percentage went down. I know for a fact I fixed that issue a few days ago and haven't been back to mess with those settings. I wonder what can make those selections change with me doing so...a ghost?

 

[smiticans]

Turn off Compact/repair DB.. you don't need it.

If I understand correctly it looks like you have BI recording directly to the C drive. Then after 1 day it will transfer the files to the stored folder.

Where is the stored folder located? On the WD drive? The "New" folder is only allocated 20GB. You're configuration is what's causing this issue..

The "new" folder should be on the WD drive and all cameras should be recording directly to the WD drive and deleting old footage as needed.

Why do you have the cameras recording to the C drive and transferring to the WD drive the next day?

 

[smiticans]

Oh, and THIS is interesting....

The two cameras having the problem with crapping out and having large recording files have the Re-encode with settings selected. The reason why this is weird is because a few days ago I was trying to figure out why the CPU seemed to be working about 10 percent harder than it normally does and I noticed these two cameras has Re-encode with settings selected. I had thought maybe it was just an oversight on my part so I put them back to Direct-to-disc and verified the file clips shrunk back down and that the CPU percentage went down. I know for a fact I fixed that issue a few days ago and haven't been back to mess with those settings. I wonder what can make those selections change with me doing so...a ghost?


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Those settings can be profile specific if you have it set up that way. I saw you have a "Daytime" profile based on your logs. How many profiles do you have and are your settings set to sync between profiles?

 

[Sybertiger]

You are asking good questions but it's late so I'll defer to tomorrow when I have a chance to track down answers. I'm not smart enough to make up all those setting myself so likely they are a combination of default settings plus changes made per the Blue Iris help videos on this website. I'm not sure if I can blame the issues on my settings just yet as everything has been chugging along just fine for about one year then a few new cams were added maybe a month ago but no problems like I described as just happening this morning. Also, the mystery on why two cams are switching to Re-encode with settings when I always use Direct-to-disc. Anyhow, I look into it further tomorrow and report back. Thank you for your suggestions and help.

p.s. I did switch from BI4 to BI5 about a month ago so still trying to get settled in with it.

 

[smiticans]

I'm going to bet the cams are switching to Re-encode because you have multiple profiles and for some reason the profiles aren't synced. So if you changed it to direct to disc on Day profile and checked it while it was on night profile it would still show re-encode because you only changed it for the day profile.

You're configuration is clearly the issue. You have a 20GB limit on the "new" folder and like you said you added more cameras. More cameras= more storage space required. The log clearly shows it had an error while trying to move files from the "new" folder to the "stored" folder. So if BI couldn't move the files to the "storage" folder the "new" folder probable became full or low on space which caused those two cameras to stop recording.

 

[bp2008]

If you have a small storage allocation (20 GB is small) then it is possible Blue Iris is going "nope, I'm not going to record because the storage allocation is already exceeded". I don't know for sure, but just a guess.

 

[Mikk36]

Don't use the "Stored" folder at all.
Only set it up to use the "New" and save that directly on the WD 6 TB drive.

 

[IAmATeaf]

As above don’t move clips around between drives, write them directly to the large drive. Then set that up to tidy up and manage the space so that it deletes older clips.

 

[Sybertiger]

Those settings can be profile specific if you have it set up that way. I saw you have a "Daytime" profile based on your logs. How many profiles do you have and are your settings set to sync between profiles?

I'm going to bet the cams are switching to Re-encode because you have multiple profiles and for some reason the profiles aren't synced. So if you changed it to direct to disc on Day profile and checked it while it was on night profile it would still show re-encode because you only changed it for the day profile.

You're configuration is clearly the issue. You have a 20GB limit on the "new" folder and like you said you added more cameras. More cameras= more storage space required. The log clearly shows it had an error while trying to move files from the "new" folder to the "stored" folder. So if BI couldn't move the files to the "storage" folder the "new" folder probable became full or low on space which caused those two cameras to stop recording.

I have two profiles, Daytime and Nighttime. It's clear now that as far as the recordings stopping on two of the cams at 6am-ish then starting to record agains at 6pm-ish are directly the result of differences in the day and night profiles. The day profile has direct-to-disc recording while the night profile has re-encode. As you pointed out, the profiles are not sync-ed to a particular camera but rather all cams simply use the same day and night profiles and switch at their appropriate trips points morning and evening. Again, this morning I have noted that the two problem cams have their night profiles set for re-encode but as I pointed out last night I had noticed this issue and yet again fixed them to direct-to-disc and then clicked OK-OK to save the settings. I have checked all six cams to ensure they are exactly the same with regards to setting both day and night. I may have been sleepy last night so if those settings don't stick I'll really be scratching my head.

I'll delve into the storage location and size matters later this evening.

 

[smiticans]

I have two profiles, Daytime and Nighttime. It's clear now that as far as the recordings stopping on two of the cams at 6am-ish then starting to record agains at 6pm-ish are directly the result of differences in the day and night profiles. The day profile has direct-to-disc recording while the night profile has re-encode. As you pointed out, the profiles are not sync-ed to a particular camera but rather all cams simply use the same day and night profiles and switch at their appropriate trips points morning and evening. Again, this morning I have noted that the two problem cams have their night profiles set for re-encode but as I pointed out last night I had noticed this issue and yet again fixed them to direct-to-disc and then clicked OK-OK to save the settings. I have checked all six cams to ensure they are exactly the same with regards to setting both day and night. I may have been sleepy last night so if those settings don't stick I'll really be scratching my head.

I'll delve into the storage location and size matters later this evening.

So it looks like those cameras stop recording when BI switches to day profile. Check the "record" tab under the camera settings and make sure its set to record while in the "day" profile. If that is the issue you still need to deal with your storage situation. The way you have it configured is wrong and inefficient.

 

[Sybertiger]

Yes, all cams have their day and night schedules to record continuously. I'll just have to wait and see if those two cams switch back to re-encode on their own..SO WEIRD! Anyhow, I went ahead and fixed up my storage settings. Yes, it was mucked up but below are pics of the new settings. Drive C: is a SSD and Drive E: is the 6TB purple drive. But, now none of my cams are recording...LOL! Maybe I've been looking at all the settings so long I'm dazed and confused...probably starring me right in the face but can see a tree in the forest.

Yup, from what I can tell that little red circle in the upper right corner of all my cams should be on and they should all be happily recording....but none of them have the red circle and none are recording...duh! Anyhow, for shits and giggles I click on the manual Record Start/Stop button and sure enough the red circle appears...YAY!!!! Oh, but wait.... After 30 seconds the little red circle goes away and the cam doesn't record. There's a red outline around the clip during those 30 seconds. It's telling me something is mucked up but I wish I had more clues. Well, lookin' for some new pointers fellas...

 

[smiticans]

I'll just have to wait and see it those two cams switch back to re-encode on their own..SO WEIRD! Anyhow, I went ahead and fixed up my storage settings. Yes, it was mucked up but below are pics of the new settings. Drive C: is a SSD and Drive E: is the 6TB purple drive. But, now none of my cams are recording...LOL! Maybe I've been looking at all the settings so long I'm dazed and confused...probably starring me right in the face but can see a tree in the forest.

Yup, from what I can tell that little red circle in the upper right corner of all my cams should be on and they should all be happily recording....but none of them have the red circle and none are recording...duh! Anyhow, for shits and giggles I click on the manual Record Start/Stop button and sure enough the red circle appears...YAY!!!! Oh, but wait.... After 30 seconds the little red circle goes away and the cam doesn't record. There's a red outline around the clip during those 30 seconds. It's telling me something is mucked up but I wish I had more clues. Well, lookin' for some new pointers fellas...

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You're new settings are all wrong lol

You're BI database should stay on the fastest drive. In your case that's the SSD drive C.

Make a folder in Drive E and point the path of the "New" folder to that folder in drive E. We only want your new recordings on the E drive. Keep the Database on drive C.

You only have a 500GB limit in the "New" folder on drive E. It's also limited to 1 day. Why? You have a 6TB drive, why not use it?

You still have a check mark in "Move to Stored Folder", why? Change that to Recycle or Delete. Move you're database back to the C drive.

It looks like when you made these changes your database was regenerating. I can see this based on your logs. When your database is regenerating BI will not record. The manual record button is only programmed to record for 30 seconds at a time. This can be changed in your settings.