Blue Iris

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2024-07-06T01:58:06+00:00

Just found this script and it's not working for me for a couple reasons. First is that the $oldvid variable isn't being translated into the foreach loop I think. I copied the params line into the loop though and fixed that problem. Second though, is a bigger issue, in that ffmpeg doesn't seem to like bvr files at all. Whether I run the PS script or a manual ffmpeg command, I get "Error opening input: Invalid data found when processing input" for any of 20 BVR files I've tried from my current recording directories.

Searching around more I'm finding references to this thread for a possible solution, but then more results that seem to indicate ffmpeg cannot read bvr files, so support for bvr files is unclear to me at this point.

Anyone have any luck with ffmpeg recently?

Statistics: Posted by archaic0 — Sat Jul 06, 2024 1:58 am

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2024-01-09T02:38:53+00:00

I use handbrake, is an open source that can read bvr (or any format for that matter) and convert it with several options. It can batch process a folder.
https://handbrake.fr/

cheers

Statistics: Posted by mlutteral — Tue Jan 09, 2024 2:38 am

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2023-08-09T20:16:46+00:00

Does anyone know if this script to batch convert is hardware accelerated? I have an RTX 3080 I am hoping to dump this work load onto.

Statistics: Posted by tmoran000 — Wed Aug 09, 2023 8:16 pm

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2023-07-19T18:37:30+00:00

I guess the attached file got deleted? Anyone have it to reupload

(File is attached below.)

General Info
BVR Converter converts Blue Iris .BVR files to .MP4 fideo files while preserving their original timestamp. It also typically reduces their size, in some cases dramatically. Converting to the MP4 format allows the files to be provided to others to view without having to install Blue Iris. It can process an entire directory, file by file, and optionally move the files to another directory for storage (such as a NAS, an external hard drive, thumb drive, etc).

This powershell script converts .BVR files to .MP4 files, preserving the original file's timestamp. Options include keeping the original size or scaling to 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4 of the original video size/resolution.

The only external component required is the free utility "ffmpeg", which may be found here:

https://www.ffmpeg.org/

and downloaded from here:

https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html

It's recommended that you get the pre-compiled binary instead of the source code. Versions of ffmpeg are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. The powershell script is intended to be run under Windows 8 or greater.

Install ffmpeg in a location that's in your computer's PATH variable so it can be run from anywhere, or install it somewhere else and add its location to your PATH variable. If you opt not to do either of these then you'll need to modify the bvr_converter.ps1 file so the full path to ffmpeg is referenced in the script.

-------------
Configuration
-------------

The "source" directory is where the .BVR files to be converted are found. DO NOT use a trailing slash (\).
For example: "C:\BlueIris\Stored"

The "target" directory is where the converted .MP4 files will stored. DO NOT use a trailing slash (\).
For example: "C:\backup_video"
You can set this to a different directory, a NAS, attached storage, or other remote location if you want.

The "pause" time is an optional time to wait between each file conversion. This may be useful to avoid overloading the PC that's doing the converting. The "pause" time value is set in seconds, and typically 1 or 2 seconds is plenty, but adjust as needed.
For example: $pause_time = 2

Command line settings for ffmpeg
There are several sample command line parameters for conversion. Don't change these if you don't know what you're doing.
Uncomment ONE and only ONE of the parameter lines. If you uncomment more than one, the last uncommented one will be used.
For the most reduction in file size, use one of the settings that scales the image.
--------------

If you find bugs or have enhancements to this script that you'd like to have added, please feel free to contact the user "Thixotropic" on the Blue Iris forum: https://blueirissoftware.com/forum/index.php

-----------------------------------------------------------------
README.TXT
These tests were run with an sinput file (input.bvr) file size of 6703K (6.7M) and with ffmpeg using the x264 codec (included).

The factors that influence the output file size the most are the codec, the output size (scaled or unscaled), and the CRF (Constant Rate Factor) parameter. In general, a higher CRF produces a smaller file. Note that a lower CRF *may* produce a larger file under some circumstances. For x264, sane values are between 18 and 28.

CRF can be used in a constrained/capped mode to prevent bitrate spikes.

0 <---- 18 <---- 23 ----> 28 ----> 51
(Lossless, better, worse, worst)

More information on CRF can be found here: https://slhck.info/video/2017/02/24/crf-guide.html

Standard compression with CRF of 30
ffmpeg -i input.bvr -vcodec libx264 -crf 30 output.mp4
Converted size: 4626K

Standard compression with CRF of 25
ffmpeg -i input.bvr -vcodec libx264 -crf 25 output.mp4
Converted size: 8037K

Compress and reduce size to 1/2, CRF of 30
ffmpeg -i input.bvr -vcodec libx264 -crf 30 -vf "scale=iw/2:ih/2" output.mp4
Converted size: 854K

Compress and reduce size to 1/2, CRF of 25
ffmpeg -i input.bvr -vcodec libx264 -crf 20 -vf "scale=iw/2:ih/2" output.mp4
Converted size: 3524K

ffmpeg -n -loglevel error -i input.bvr -vcodec libx264 -crf 28 -preset faster -tune film output.mp4
Converted size: 5379K

ffmpeg -n -loglevel error -i input.bvr -vcodec libx264 -crf 28 -preset faster -tune film -vf "scale=iw/2:ih/2" output.mp4
Converted size: 979K

BVR_Converter.zip

Statistics: Posted by Thixotropic — Wed Jul 19, 2023 6:37 pm

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2023-07-19T17:38:27+00:00

I've attached a converter script I wrote a while ago that uses ffmpeg. I think this will do exactly what you want.

BVRConverter.zip

1) Read the README file.

2) Modify the source and target params at the top of the script and run it. It'll convert a directory full of .BVR clips to .MP4, with selectable scaling and resolution (quality). Please let me know if you have any trouble with it.

Note that you'll need to install ffmpeg (free) for it to work.
FFMPEG can be downloaded from here: https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html

Cheers

I guess the attached file got deleted? Anyone have it to reupload

Statistics: Posted by Yffud — Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:38 pm

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2022-01-02T04:51:05+00:00

why would I need to play the exported clips using BI?
For me the point of exporting the clips was to play them using other players on other platforms. (??)

Each use case is different. Some export files to MP4 to present them as video evidence.

Anyway, BI has an embedded video player that plays several file formats quite well. It allows to speedup playback at various rates, which is very important when reviewing several clips at the end of day. This feature also helpful when playing MP4s, if it can. Generally, a video player-editor is expected to play a file it converted to another format - this is bottom line quality standard. I currently have to use 2 players: BI player for BVR and MPC-BE for MP4 to use accelerated playback. Note, that the question "why?" can not substitute the answer to my question "how?", which was asked repeatedly by users for many years. BI Help advising to install K-Lite codec is not well justified and simply doesn't work lately.

Statistics: Posted by ramaz16 — Sun Jan 02, 2022 4:51 am

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2022-01-02T02:01:52+00:00

For me the point of exporting the clips was to play them using other players on other platforms that didn't or couldn't have BI on them. (??)

That's my understanding as well.

Statistics: Posted by YrbkMgr — Sun Jan 02, 2022 2:01 am

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2022-01-02T01:08:35+00:00

Did you try to playback exported by your script MP4 in the latest BI version?

No, I wrote it and used it for a while for a project I was doing. Later I decided I didn't really need to export clips for what I wanted to do and I moved on to other things.

Maybe I misunderstood what you said; that is, why would I need to play the exported clips using BI?

For me the point of exporting the clips was to play them using other players on other platforms that didn't or couldn't have BI on them. (??)

Statistics: Posted by Thixotropic — Sun Jan 02, 2022 1:08 am

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2022-01-02T00:13:50+00:00

Pretty much what I said above.

Statistics: Posted by YrbkMgr — Sun Jan 02, 2022 12:13 am

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2022-01-01T23:47:47+00:00

I have copied a large number of .bvr files from the BlueIris file system over to a backup drive. What I would like to do now is to convert them all to mp4 so that they can be viewed outside BlueIris. Is there a way to do this?

Try adding your current drive & folder as Saved location in BI settings, and Regenerate the Clips DB. Then you can manually select all in Clips List and Batch Export to MP4 from Context Menu (Help. p.116)

Statistics: Posted by ramaz16 — Sat Jan 01, 2022 11:47 pm

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2022-01-01T23:39:30+00:00

Rightly or wrongly, I have copied a large number of .bvr files from the BlueIris file system over to a backup drive. What I would like to do now is to convert them all to mp4 so that they can be viewed outside BlueIris. Is there a way to do this?

Manually deleting stuff from folders like storage and alerts and such can be dicey. BI recommends against manual deletions and to rely instead on moving/deleting, etc from within the console so as to avoid corruption of the database. Ask me how I know...

It's probably best to get your arms around understanding how clips and archiving works so that you can set storage and retention parameters to manage what goes where and when, automatically. I no longer care about how many clips I have - I set it and forget it and can find what I want when I need to. Worth looking into in my view.

Since you've already manually moved the BVR's, here's what I would do... Create a new storage location in Clips and Archiving. Move your BVR's there and repair/regenerate the database. Then set retention and export policy to automatically export those BVR's to MP4.

Statistics: Posted by YrbkMgr — Sat Jan 01, 2022 11:39 pm

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2022-01-01T20:50:17+00:00

I've attached a converter script

Did you try to playback exported by your script MP4 in the latest BI version? I export fragments of BVR clips to MP4 using BI5.x x64 own encoder with 100% quality in H264/AAC with Zero frame latency in 2-passes. The source BVRs are from analog cam and standalone mic, they are re-encoded by BI to include date/time overlay. However, the exported MP4s won't play in BI. It shows "Install latest K-Lite codec" on screen, but once I did that, BI just shows empty framed playback window with no picture. Same MP4s are playing well in any soft video player, including Windows 10 Movies & TV. Why does one need to install K-Lite if Windows own player has no problems with these files?

For some reason, Exif Tool shows 2 tracks in this MP4 sample - may be this is the reason it doesn't play in BI after K-Lite install? Also, after installing K-Lite I got periodic monitor blackouts, so had to remove it anyway, never had need in it, as MPC-BE, VLC and such play everything.

Any suggestions, what K-Lite codec version or standalone Lav will work with BI for sure to play exported by it MP4s? Or better yet, how to link BI to the existing system codec? May be BI devs can do that for us?

Statistics: Posted by ramaz16 — Sat Jan 01, 2022 8:50 pm

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2022-01-01T15:37:15+00:00

I've attached a converter script I wrote a while ago that uses ffmpeg. I think this will do exactly what you want.

BVRConverter.zip

1) Read the README file.

2) Modify the source and target params at the top of the script and run it. It'll convert a directory full of .BVR clips to .MP4, with selectable scaling and resolution (quality). Please let me know if you have any trouble with it.

Note that you'll need to install ffmpeg (free) for it to work.
FFMPEG can be downloaded from here: https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html

Cheers

Statistics: Posted by Thixotropic — Sat Jan 01, 2022 3:37 pm

Re: Batch convert BVR to MP4

2024-04-05T19:15:23+00:00

...

Statistics: Posted by MikeBwca — Thu Dec 30, 2021 11:58 am

Batch convert BVR to MP4

2021-12-29T21:26:22+00:00

Rightly or wrongly, I have copied a large number of .bvr files from the BlueIris file system over to a backup drive. What I would like to do now is to convert them all to mp4 so that they can be viewed outside BlueIris. Is there a way to do this?

Statistics: Posted by ckilner — Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:26 pm