Blue Iris bitrate settings / Switch memory high

[anon71]

Hi all -

Maybe this isn't a problem, but I'm setting up my first camera in Blue Iris (demo version), and I notice that my switch memory usage is at 70% (see screenshot). This seems high since there are only 3 ports being used: one for the camera (Dahua 4231), one for computer, and one for the router. The switch is a Zyxel GS1900-8HP, and it is consumption mode.

If it's an issue, I'm wondering if it has anything to do with my camera/BI settings. BI is on a Win10 Dell Inspiron 3650, i5-6400, 8 GB RAM, 256G SSD with BI and OS, and 3TB WD Purple. BI isn't burdening the computer much: CPU is ~10%, 200MB Ram. I've followed the advice here: H.264 acceleration has been enabled in BI, clip database on SSD, new folder on purple drive.

I've set the max rate of camera to 12.5 fps (see screenshot), and it is actually recording at 12 fps and ~330 kb/S. The Dahua camera is set to H.264H, smart codec off, and I changed the main stream to 12fps/CBR/2500kb/s (see screenshot). Also, changed the substream to 12fps and left bitrate alone (unsure if substream is relevant).

So (1) is there any issue with 70% switch memory usage, and (2) somewhat unrelated, was my choice of 2500 kb/s bitrate proper for 12.5 fps?

Thanks!

 

[bp2008]

Don't worry about memory/CPU usage of your managed switch. It'll be fine doing what it is designed for.

As for your bit rate, there is no hard rule really. What you set in the camera is in Kbps (kilobits per second). What Blue Iris reports is actually KB/s (kilobytes per second) and if you want to convert KB/s to Kbps you just need to multiply by 8. So 330 KB/s * 8 = 2640 Kbps which is pretty close to what you configured. Even closer if you have this camera streaming audio along with the video. 2500 Kbps isn't a bad setting if you're trying to balance between disk usage and quality, like if you're recording 24/7 and want to be able to keep a lot of video. Myself, I tend to max out the bit rate on my cameras in order to have the absolute best quality possible, even if it means I only keep 1 week of video instead of 3 weeks.

Hikvision has published a table of recommended bitrates for their H.264+ mode (I believe Dahua's equivalent is Smart Codec). I don't know how they came up with their numbers but I'd say they are good for roughly medium quality. https://us.hikvision.com/sites/default/files/tb/tb_bit_rate_chart_120115us_0.pdf You might want to add 50% or so to the numbers for a "high" quality estimate.

 

[anon71]

Thanks - that's really helpful. Might bump it up then. Looking for 2 weeks of storage ,and with a 3TB hard drive, I should be able to afford some more bitrate.