IR settings in Blue Iris not auto switching? (IR Auto) - purple hue when IR on

[le0pard]

Before switching to Blue Iris, I have been using a Swann NVR and the settings for all of my cameras leave the IR on auto so that they can turn on or off depending on the amount of light visible in the room. Since I've switched over to blue iris, I have noticed that they do not seem to automatically switch anymore, but many times the room is completely dark (lights off) and Blue Iris still thinks its in day-time mode or something so I see absolutely nothing.

At some point, the IR does kick on (seems like a very long time later), and when it does the entire picture has a very noticeable purple hue to it:



When I shut down Blue Iris service, the camera picture immediately turns back to what I expect to see when the IR is enabled:


Is there a setting I have to configure to ensure the camera's automatic switching of IR works and Blue Iris doesn't take control of this feature? I really liked how it worked on my NVR, but now with Blue Iris this doesn't seem to be working properly. This means the cameras are not visible when the lights turn off (until at some point in the future when Blue Iris eventually flips the IR on, but then you get the purple hue).

I really hope this is operator error and there is some setting that I have to toggle on/off. I know there is an IR button in the PTZ section, is this something I have to configure for every camera? I believe they all have this set to the "Green" IR bulb, should that be changed to "Yellow" or "Gray"? There doesn't seem to be any tool tip when you hover over this, so I'm not sure which setting is "auto"

 

[TonyR]

Before switching to Blue Iris, I have been using a Swann NVR and the settings for all of my cameras leave the IR on auto so that they can turn on or off depending on the amount of light visible in the room. Since I've switched over to blue iris, I have noticed that they do not seem to automatically switch anymore, but many times the room is completely dark (lights off) and Blue Iris still thinks its in day-time mode or something so I see absolutely nothing.

At some point, the IR does kick on (seems like a very long time later), and when it does the entire picture has a very noticeable purple hue to it:
View attachment 158713


When I shut down Blue Iris service, the camera picture immediately turns back to what I expect to see when the IR is enabled:
View attachment 158714

Is there a setting I have to configure to ensure the camera's automatic switching of IR works and Blue Iris doesn't take control of this feature? I really liked how it worked on my NVR, but now with Blue Iris this doesn't seem to be working properly. This means the cameras are not visible when the lights turn off (until at some point in the future when Blue Iris eventually flips the IR on, but then you get the purple hue).

I really hope this is operator error and there is some setting that I have to toggle on/off. I know there is an IR button in the PTZ section, is this something I have to configure for every camera? I believe they all have this set to the "Green" IR bulb, should that be changed to "Yellow" or "Gray"? There doesn't seem to be any tool tip when you hover over this, so I'm not sure which setting is "auto"
View attachment 158715

In Bi's built-in "Help" under "User Interface" => "selected camera controls".


Hold down mouse-click until it turns yellow for "auto" as set up in the camera.
Click once to turn green to force IR on, click until it turns gray to disable IR.

 

[TonyR]

BTW, the first (purple) image looks more like the controls have turned off IR for daylight operation and the cam's IR cut filter is stuck in the open (for night time) position.
Try a sharp rap on the side of the cam when it's purple like that.

Night vision is provided by infrared LED's (IR) that a photo-sensitive sensor turns on at night. A mechanical IR cut filter is lowered during the day over the camera's image sensor to filter out IR; IR entering the camera's image sensor is only desirable at night so that's when the IR cut filter is removed, allowing IR light to enter the camera's image sensor. When the cam is first powered up you can hear the mechanical movement of that filter "click" as part of it's boot-up cycle. You can also hear it when it gets dark enough to turn on the IR LED's and remove the IR cut filter.

 

[le0pard]

Hold down mouse-click until it turns yellow for "auto" as set up in the camera.
Click once to turn green to force IR on, click until it turns gray to disable IR.

How do I ensure this setting is remembered? I just went through and changed it to Yellow on a single camera, and checked every other camera I have and they all initially showed yellow (as if this is a global setting). Once I saw them all yellow, I closed Blue Iris UI and then re-opened it only to find them all back to green. I am currently running Blue Iris as a windows service, if that matters.

 

[wittaj]

None of us are experiencing the issue you are having.

There really is no reason to be pushing that "button". That is for certain unique circumstances. I have never touched it.

I suspect you probably had set up the profiles in the NVR and forgot you did and now with using BI, the cameras are running a different profile scheme.

You set up in the camera GUI how you want the camera to behave in certain light conditions. That is where the infrared coming on off based on light should be done.

Which camera models are these?

Or you started changing settings in BI without knowing what they do.

 

[TonyR]

How do I ensure this setting is remembered? I just went through and changed it to Yellow on a single camera, and checked every other camera I have and they all initially showed yellow (as if this is a global setting). Once I saw them all yellow, I closed Blue Iris UI and then re-opened it only to find them all back to green. I am currently running Blue Iris as a windows service, if that matters.

Log into each cam's webGUI and insure that the IR is set to "auto".

 

[le0pard]

None of us are experiencing the issue you are having.

There really is no reason to be pushing that "button". That is for certain unique circumstances. I have never touched it.

Fair enough, that is what I was worried about. I haven't found much by googling around, so it does seem like what I am experiencing isn't normal.

I suspect you probably had set up the profiles in the NVR and forgot you did and now with using BI, the cameras are running a different profile scheme.

This is definitely possible, although when I go through and visit each camera's specific URL for configuring it, I see the video settings are all set to have day/night switch set to 'auto' and look something like this:

I was just thinking about what you said and now I should mention that I do still have the Swann NVR online and being used, but there are no hard drives in it - so I've just been using it to monitor the live feeds while the Blue Iris machine is doing the recording. I wonder if there is a conflict being caused by this.

You set up in the camera GUI how you want the camera to behave in certain light conditions. That is where the infrared coming on off based on light should be done.

Which camera models are these?

These are basically all rebranded Hikvision cameras: 3 are from Annke (I61DR), 3 are from LTS (CMIP8932-W), and 2 are from LaView (LV-PDK50812A-2PK).

Or you started changing settings in BI without knowing what they do.

This is also quite possible, as I'm only 2 days into using Blue Iris. However, I actually tried to do as little as possible just to get them working. I actually assumed my problem might be that I have done too little, as opposed to too much. I did follow the advice presented in this video: in order to try to save on CPU usage, but nothing in those tips suggested to me that it could have an effect on the IR settings as I am seeing.

 

[wittaj]

So are you feeding the cameras into BI via the NVR (are the cameras connected to the NVR POE ports) or are they connected to an external switch and then providing a feed to the NVR and to BI separately?

 

[le0pard]

So are you feeding the cameras into BI via the NVR (are the cameras connected to the NVR POE ports) or are they connected to an external switch and then providing a feed to the NVR and to BI separately?

They are all connected to an external PoE switch and then both the NVR and BI are pulling them in via their respective IPs. So, from your choices this is the 2nd one you asked.

 

[wittaj]

In that case the NVR shouldn't be interacting with BI or vice versa, but sometimes weird things happen.

As a test, how about turn off the switch, NVR, and BI computer and then unplug the ethernet cable from the switch to the NVR and then simply turn back on the switch and the BI computer and see if this behavior still continues. If it doesn't then you know it is some weird conflict with the NVR.

If it does continue without any connection to the NVR, then we need to troubleshoot why this is happening.

 

[le0pard]

In that case the NVR shouldn't be interacting with BI or vice versa, but sometimes weird things happen.

As a test, how about turn off the switch, NVR, and BI computer and then unplug the ethernet cable from the switch to the NVR and then simply turn back on the switch and the BI computer and see if this behavior still continues. If it doesn't then you know it is some weird conflict with the NVR.

If it does continue without any connection to the NVR, then we need to troubleshoot why this is happening.

Great suggestion, let me remove the NVR from the picture completely and see what results I get. I really appreciate the help troubleshooting!

 

[le0pard]

Well this is very odd, and a bit embarrassing, but removing the NVR from the picture completely (offline and unplugged from the switch) seems to have fixed the problem - at least so far it seems that way. I checked in one of the rooms that was having the issue and tested turning the lights on and noticed after 5 seconds it adjusted to day mode, then turned the lights off and waited another 5 seconds for it to go into night mode with the proper IR picture (no purple hue).

So, even though I'm not sure why, it seems like the NVR is definitely doing something that is probably conflicting with what Blue Iris is doing.

I will let it run like this for 24 hours and see if I notice the issue to be completely gone or not. I really would like to continue using the NVR as it's a great way to monitor the streams both from my phone and on an external monitor I have set up in my office. However, if this solves the problem I will find another solution to view the streams from Blue Iris to replace the current way(s) I am doing it (using the Web UI, for example).

Thanks @wittaj and @TonyR for your help and suggestions. I truly appreciate the suggestions and patience to help walk me through a few scenarios to test.

 

[wittaj]

Nothing to be embarrassed about - this is certainly an odd and unexpected behavior that most wouldn't consider to be the issue.

I am struggling to try to figure out how/what the conflict is. I am guessing that it is some sort of conflict between the camera and the NVR if previously you had the cameras connected to the NVR POE ports?

If not and this was how you always ran the cameras and you simply added BI to the switch, then it is a head scratcher.

I am sure after a few days the UI3 viewer will be sufficient for you. Change always takes a few days but most here love UI3.

Should you decide to want to try to bring the NVR back into the equation, I would suggest going into each camera GUI and making a user/password that is a read only privilege and then change BI and the NVR to that user/password. Maybe that would prevent either one from conflicting and changing stuff since in theory it should be "read only" access at that point.

 

[le0pard]

FYI This has been working PERFECTLY ever since I shut off the NVR. I haven't done much to try and bring it back online as Blue Iris is doing exactly what I need. I might try to tinker with the NVR a bit later to see if I can still use it for live viewing purposes, given that my setup had a monitor hooked up to it. Thanks again for all the help everyone!

 

[looney2ns]

You can use a monitor connected to the BI computer for live viewing.
Or you can navigate with a browser to the IP address of the BI computer, and view live video and much more with UI3 that is built into BI.

 

[le0pard]

You can use a monitor connected to the BI computer for live viewing.
Or you can navigate with a browser to the IP address of the BI computer, and view live video and much more with UI3 that is built into BI.

I did just hook up a monitor to my Blue Iris computer today; I had to wait for an adapter to show up given the older monitor that I have (it has HDMI, my computer has display port). That does seem to be working, thanks for that suggestion as well!

Since I run my Blue Iris as a service, do you think loading the live view in a web browser versus loading it with the app (and going full screen in both cases) makes a difference on the CPU usage? In my quick tests it seems like the app is handling it better, but I haven't done any real data collection or monitoring to verify that.

 

[looney2ns]

What app are you talking about? The Smartphone app or the console on the BI computer?
Using UI3 with a browser, will have minor effects on CPU usage.

 

[Flintstone61]

Perhaps his NVR POE ports were experiencing a Brown out or power sag--- lack of sufficient power from the NVR....Swann was my first cam......from Menards. Stuck it outside to get eyes on the rear parking lot. survived a couple years in bitter cold.
But were talking Analog. different animal.