laggy when trying to playback/scrub video

[TL1096r]

I will have this issue when trying to scrub or even playing back videos where it lags. It doesn't happen all the time.

It is very random that I don't know what could cause it - after the lag it sometimes works and other times it will just continue to be laggy.

Does anyone know what would cause this?

I use to record on older 4tb purple and then i started to record on 10tb new purple drive - no difference.

These are new videos on 10tb not older ones (just recorded)

when I reset blue iris it sometimes works but then eventually does the same thing. It feels random to when it will happen so I don't know if it is the computer or BI causing it.

this happens with all updates - i am on 5.4.9.18 because when i switch to the new updates the padding on the camera name (color coded part) becomes too big. A separate issue I need to look into. So I stayed at 5.4.9.18 for now

 

[Flintstone61]

what are the computer specs?
are you using substreams?
some newer versions of BI can aggravate intel quick sync hardware acceleration. you could try taking some of the cams off hardware acceleration.

 

[TL1096r]

what are the computer specs?
are you using substreams?
some newer versions of BI can aggravate intel quick sync hardware acceleration. you could try taking some of the cams off hardware acceleration.

i5 8500
16gb

main streams

hardware decode is intel


thanks

 

[wittaj]

Use the substream option. Playing back mainstreams is a CPU hog.

Do every optimization in the wiki and you won't have a problem:

Optimizing Blue Iris's CPU Usage

Blue Iris uses a lot of CPU time. In most Blue Iris installations, your CPU is the limiting factor which determines how many cameras you can have. As such, it is extremely important to optimize your configuration to ensure you can get the most out of your system while consuming the least...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Flintstone61]

Playback improves when cams are displaying substreams in the Console.
I also split my cams (2/3-1/3)across 2 hard drives to further improve performance.
playback may also improve if you try removing 50% of the cams off Intel Quick Sync.
im running 17 cams on my i5-8500 with 24 GB ram. An 8 TB WD purp and some refurbed WD 5 TB green or Blue.

 

[CrusaderNZ]

I have a similar issue related to hardware acceleration. On my current system (connected to a 4k monitor) I have no problem scrubbing through video very smoothly with NVDEC on the 1080Ti in my gaming PC.

I have been trying out DirectX and Direct3D11 though after upgrading from BI 4 to 5.5 for these options last week, as I want to build a dedicated separate PC (for my 5 cameras), using an old gaming GPU (R9 280x, which I am currently lending to a friend). But both of these options cause laggy playback, as well as when scrubbing through video on my 1080Ti, so can't imagine the much weaker 280x will fare any better.

So I was looking for the best cheap CUDA core card that could handle it, and being that it is using up to 25% GPU power on my 1080Ti, I am wondering if I can get way with anything less then a 1050Ti?? (which has 768 CUDA cores, versus the 3584 on the 1080Ti).

Rest of system is/will be AMD 2700x, 16GB 3200MHz RAM; currently new clips record to SSD, then transfer to the stored folder on a WD Purple, and locked clips go onto a 7200RPM WD Data Center Ultrastar after that. (Database is on an M2 SSD)

Current camera system consists of three 4k, two 4MP 5542's and a 2MP PTZ. All are running high bitrates (main stream in BI), and I could turn down the FPS on most of them to 15 (one of the 4k's is 15FPS already). Usually sitting in the 400's in BI, but goes up to 888MP/s. With NVDEC on, CPU sits ~5% with console closed and 15-20% with it open and maxes out at 40% when scrubbing through video off my new Dahua 4k-x whilst the other cameras are recording at the same time.

 

[wittaj]

@CrusaderNZ - since you just updated from V4 to V5, are you utilizing the substream option?

If not, it is a game changer and really negates the need for hardware acceleration, which is good as many people have been reporting issues with hardware acceleration in recent BI updates.

Once you get over 4 cameras, most people do not recognize the difference between seeing substream or mainstream when viewing cameras in tile mode. This is where the substreams really bring down CPU not ony in live stream, but also in playback.

 

[CrusaderNZ]

@CrusaderNZ - since you just updated from V4 to V5, are you utilizing the substream option?

If not, it is a game changer and really negates the need for hardware acceleration, which is good as many people have been reporting issues with hardware acceleration in recent BI updates.

Once you get over 4 cameras, most people do not recognize the difference between seeing substream or mainstream when viewing cameras in tile mode. This is where the substreams really bring down CPU not ony in live stream, but also in playback.

I had only looked at it very briefly on one cam, so I went back now to see what difference it would make by turning it on for all my cams - bar my PTZ which doesn't have the option.

It made it so the video would mostly play back ok (slight hitching), but scrubbing through video it is still stuttery (albeit not as much before), but I am used to being able to go through the days footage (or a clip) at high speed and it being buttery smooth (less chance of missing things too). It is only using 20% CPU when doing this, so it isn't like it is taxing my CPU's 8 cores/16 threads either.

So I have ended up turning NVDEC back on. I can put up with the substreams on the console window, even though they don't look the best on my 49" 4k monitor, but can't stand the playback and scrubbing not being buttery smooth. On the plus side, it lowered my GPU usage from 25% down to 15%, so I may be able to get away with a 1030 instead of the 1050Ti (with console closed CPU went from ~5% to ~3%).

I am guessing my monitor being 4k is causing the issue without NVDEC on? I tried it with it just set to 'default', and with 'BVR' ticked and unticked for GPU acceleration.

In general I have seen more changes I don't like, plus glitches with this BI upgrade than pros so far I have to say. BI 4 was pretty rock solid for me.

 

[Flintstone61]

I'm running 17 cameras with buttery smooth playback. in this version. 5.4.7.11 x64 (06/11/2021)
No video card. I have a GTX 6GB 1060 laying on the desk that won't fit in a SFF.
what hard drives are you writing to? I had stuttery playback on the WD Blues, because they use Shingled Magnetic Recording. SMR.
Google "WD red NAS drives SMR problems". they wont finish a raid 5 rebuild for days if at all. make sure your using a Surveillance drive(s)
Red Alert: WD Sued for Selling 'Inferior' SMR Hard Drives to NAS Customers - ExtremeTech

 

[CrusaderNZ]

I listed my HDD's in my first post above, all the new footage is written to an SSD before being moved to the storage drives, and yes I am aware of the issues with SMR, neither of my 2 WD drives are SMR.

It doesn't matter which drive the footage is on, if NVDEC isn't turned on it stutters. I will go and dig out one of my lower resolution monitors and see if it just a 4k related issue (which both of my main monitors are), and if not that, I will try an older build, seeing as how it is smooth for you.

 

[Flintstone61]

Are the storage drives local? or Nas? How many cams? It might be whats going on in the background with CPU writes, reads, transfers, + a call to playback? Could be you're right about the 4K? i haven't used one of those yet.
I had to remove some of the drives from Hardware Acceleration when i came up to this version. CPU was overworking, system was gonna crash. I thank Wittaj ( I think) for clueing me in on that.
@SouthernYankee and @sebastiantombs told me not to write the footage twice. They said not to use " Stored" in Bi just write once to a folder and let it be. right now you're writing once to SSD, then a second write to Storage, While trying to also record all the frames coming in. You take a performance hit for that. AND if you decide to playback whilst transferring written footage from SSD to WD Purps, AND they are trying to receive all the incoming Frames, you could experience lag, or stutter, in playback.

 

[CrusaderNZ]

Yes, all drives are local (5 cams as per my first post above). It happens whether any of the cams are currently writing or not. As above, my CPU usage is low (have plenty of spare RAM), and I have checked background activity on the HDD's (as I have a 20 second record buffer on them all), it is not that either - turning NVDEC on wouldn't fix the problem like it does if the HDD's were getting slammed anyway.

 

[Flintstone61]

Very strange.
Dammit Scottie I need more power!

 

[SouthernYankee]

screen shots

1) windows task manager process tab sorted by memory (most at the top), Must contain, memory, disk, network, GPU, GPU engine columns
2) Blue iris status (lighting bolt graph,upper left corner) clip storage tab
3) blue Iris status cameras tab
4)Blue iris settings clips and archiving tab , for the NEW folder, stored folder, alerts folder. (three screen shots)
5) on two of the camera properties the record tab.