Two BI servers and camera connection stability

[Gswanson74]

I am attempting two BI setups. The first (main) BI setup is for motion triggering/alarms and notifications (to app and email). The second setup uses the same camera feeds, but it for motion recording only (with a lower trigger threshold than system 1). I am trying to accomplish alarm triggering and almost continuous recording simultaneously. I am having an issue with the cameras staying connected two both systems at the same time. I am using port 1024 for the cameras, port 81 for BI web server 1 and port 82 for BI web server two. Am I overlooking something simple for keeping these cameras connected reliably? If I take system two offline, system one stays connected without issue. With system two online, system 2 drops cameras sporadically and system 1's watchdog will reboot cameras sporadically. Any help is appreciated.

 

[fenderman]

I am attempting two BI setups. The first (main) BI setup is for motion triggering/alarms and notifications (to app and email). The second setup uses the same camera feeds, but it for motion recording only (with a lower trigger threshold than system 1). I am trying to accomplish alarm triggering and almost continuous recording simultaneously. I am having an issue with the cameras staying connected two both systems at the same time. I am using port 1024 for the cameras, port 81 for BI web server 1 and port 82 for BI web server two. Am I overlooking something simple for keeping these cameras connected reliably? If I take system two offline, system one stays connected without issue. With system two online, system 2 drops cameras sporadically and system 1's watchdog will reboot cameras sporadically. Any help is appreciated.

What cameras? How are they connected? wifi?
You dont need two systems to accomplish this..you can set blue iris to record 24/7 and get alerts/motion detection....

 

[Gswanson74]

The reason I want to use two systems is HDD space and processor availability. Yes, I am running 9 camera's, all on wi-fi with an Asus RT-AC87R router.

 

[fenderman]

The reason I want to use two systems is HDD space and processor availability. Yes, I am running 9 camera's, all on wi-fi with an Asus RT-AC87R router.

The root of your problem is the wifi cameras..You will likely have the same issues with one system...also you are doubling the load on the wifi as well as the camera itself...many cheap cameras have issues streaming to multiple devices.
Running two systems is a complete waste of money....it would be much cheaper to buy a new efficient pc...also, you likely dont have blue iris setup to run efficiently..did you set blue iris to record direct to disk? What cameras are you using? What processors are in those machines?

 

[Gswanson74]

The root of your problem is the wifi cameras..You will likely have the same issues with one system...also you are doubling the load on the wifi as well as the camera itself...many cheap cameras have issues streaming to multiple devices.
Running two systems is a complete waste of money....it would be much cheaper to buy a new efficient pc...also, you likely dont have blue iris setup to run efficiently..did you set blue iris to record direct to disk? What cameras are you using? What processors are in those machines?

 

[Gswanson74]

Yes, direct to disk, running one server (Laptop actually running win10 x64 corp) (
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2694 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
) with 32gb ram. One system runs fine with 10 sec trigger record buffer (runs around 40%). Camera are all Wansview (2 w1, 2 q1, and 5 k1). And it's cheaper for me to run multiple systems if possible, I have a surplus of laptops on hand. Also, already purchased a second BI license. Can I feed the stream from one instance of BI to another so it is just one stream? The camera's have 3 streams, any way you know of to access a lower quality stream simultaneously?

 

[fenderman]

Yes, direct to disk, running one server (Laptop actually running win10 x64 corp) (
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2694 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
) with 32gb ram. One system runs fine with 10 sec trigger record buffer (runs around 40%). Camera are all Wansview (2 w1, 2 q1, and 5 k1). And it's cheaper for me to run multiple systems if possible, I have a surplus of laptops on hand. Also, already purchased a second BI license. Can I feed the stream from one instance of BI to another so it is just one stream? The camera's have 3 streams, any way you know of to access a lower quality stream simultaneously?

Something is wrong..you should not be having any processor issues...are you using hardware acceleration?
Consider the power consumption as well..
Laptops in general are a poor solution...
yes you can stream from one instance to another...there are several treads discussing this...
This setup is a mess. In the future stay away from wifi and wanscam..

 

[Gswanson74]

Something is wrong..you should not be having any processor issues...are you using hardware acceleration?
Consider the power consumption as well..
Laptops in general are a poor solution...
yes you can stream from one instance to another...there are several treads discussing this...
This setup is a mess. In the future stay away from wifi and wanscam..

They're Wansview, not Wanscam (however they may be the same, don't know). The are reliable for me and great video quality. The wi-fi range on them are pretty good also. When hardwired, I have not had an issue with them. Even wireless (after I figured out I had major interference on the channel I was broadcasting on) they stay connected reliably. It is only when I introduce the second instance of BI.

Something is wrong..you should not be having any processor issues...are you using hardware acceleration?
Consider the power consumption as well..
Laptops in general are a poor solution...
yes you can stream from one instance to another...there are several treads discussing this...
This setup is a mess. In the future stay away from wifi and wanscam..

I turn off one server and it runs flawless. Can't see where that categorizes the setup as "a mess". Just wanted to add a second instance as a fail-safe almost continuous recording. In effect, I can set the alarm triggers less sensitive so they do not false alarm at night, yet I won't miss recording anything. Once I went direct to disk, my processor utilization dropped dramatically, even with a 10 second trigger record buffer. My biggest issue, I believe, is lack of HDD space. If I added storage, would I just create clones of the existing camera's in a single instance of BI with different triggers?

 

[Gswanson74]

They're Wansview, not Wanscam (however they may be the same, don't know). The are reliable for me and great video quality. The wi-fi range on them are pretty good also. When hardwired, I have not had an issue with them. Even wireless (after I figured out I had major interference on the channel I was broadcasting on) they stay connected reliably. It is only when I introduce the second instance of BI.


I turn off one server and it runs flawless. Can't see where that categorizes the setup as "a mess". Just wanted to add a second instance as a fail-safe almost continuous recording. In effect, I can set the alarm triggers less sensitive so they do not false alarm at night, yet I won't miss recording anything. Once I went direct to disk, my processor utilization dropped dramatically, even with a 10 second trigger record buffer. My biggest issue, I believe, is lack of HDD space. If I added storage, would I just create clones of the existing camera's in a single instance of BI with different triggers?

Also, regarding Wanscam, the only issues I ghave had with them are the power supplies on the W1 outdoor cams. They sent me new power supplies and a free cam to compensate. Everytime I contact support, they have an answer within hours. Whether it be CGI commands or firmware upgrades. I need (rent the house) to use wireless, and it is the best camera's i have found for wireless connectivity.

 

[tangent]

Running a second instance of BlueIris increases your network bandwidth (potentially doubling it) and wifi can't handle it.

wifi cameras are a steaming pile of poo, end of story. It might work for 1-2 cams but that's pushing it.

 

[fenderman]

They're Wansview, not Wanscam (however they may be the same, don't know). The are reliable for me and great video quality. The wi-fi range on them are pretty good also. When hardwired, I have not had an issue with them. Even wireless (after I figured out I had major interference on the channel I was broadcasting on) they stay connected reliably. It is only when I introduce the second instance of BI.


I turn off one server and it runs flawless. Can't see where that categorizes the setup as "a mess". Just wanted to add a second instance as a fail-safe almost continuous recording. In effect, I can set the alarm triggers less sensitive so they do not false alarm at night, yet I won't miss recording anything. Once I went direct to disk, my processor utilization dropped dramatically, even with a 10 second trigger record buffer. My biggest issue, I believe, is lack of HDD space. If I added storage, would I just create clones of the existing camera's in a single instance of BI with different triggers?

wansview wanscam, potato/potato same crap...
you are straining your wifi and or the camera using two instances.
Again, you can do everything you want with one instance running. You did note read my post. Simply set the camera to record continuously, motion detection and alerts will work as well.
You can add external storage via nas or usb but its not as good as having local storage.

 

[bp2008]

Wifi is obviously the problem here, and in fact I am amazed it works as well as it does for you (for now). Some people get lucky with it.

I hope you at least have the BI computers connected by wire, not wireless. #1 worst configuration mistake you can make is to connect Blue Iris to the LAN using wifi.

You can duplicate the cameras in one instance of BI and configure different motion detector settings on each of them. This will be relatively cheap for the CPU because it only has to decode the incoming video one time even though you have the camera in your list twice. Blue Iris can re-stream cameras to another Blue Iris instance, but it is staggeringly inefficient at doing this so you want to avoid doing it at all costs.

I can't fault you for using two BI systems. I do that myself, motion detection on the main system, and a backup system just recording continuously. It is nice keeping the two separate because one can be a backup in case the other system crashes. But as long as your cameras are connected via wifi it is a bad idea.

Like Fenderman, I suggest continuous recording + alerts, using single instances of each camera. This will keep your camera list and clip lists much cleaner than having clones of each camera, both recording on motion at different sensitivity.

 

[Gswanson74]

Thanks for the replies, I did pick up a few pointers I'll need to configure. Fenderman, always appreciate your input, but taking another look at those wanscams may surprise you. Thier latest firmware release helped tremendously. 1080p, good infrared, audio, temperature and humidity sensors for 50.00.... And reliable. The outdoor cams drop the mic and speaker but have inputs for them along with alarm triggers, which work well for the strobes. They run about 120. The ptz's work great also. Patrolling for 6 months and going strong. Crap sometimes gets better, along with great companies going to crap.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks for the replies, I did pick up a few pointers I'll need to configure. Fenderman, always appreciate your input, but taking another look at those wanscams may surprise you. Thier latest firmware release helped tremendously. 1080p, good infrared, audio, temperature and humidity sensors for 50.00.... And reliable. The outdoor cams drop the mic and speaker but have inputs for them along with alarm triggers, which work well for the strobes. They run about 120. The ptz's work great also. Patrolling for 6 months and going strong. Crap sometimes gets better, along with great companies going to crap.

lol, please wanscam is utter crap...its the same garbage rebranded under various names...they should never be used in any security application.

 

[Gswanson74]

Reading the manual, continuous recording while having motion alerts enabled tags the timeline. What does triggered and continuous do that just continuous with motion triggers does not do?

 

[fenderman]

Reading the manual, continuous recording while having motion alerts enabled tags the timeline. What does triggered and continuous do that just continuous with motion triggers does not do?

Its servers a completely different purpose...dont use triggered+continuous...use continuous only...