I recently purchased a new computer and thought that my old machine would make a good NVR. I've been using Blue Iris for many years. Although I haven't pulled the trigger on the newest version, I have been running version 4 for a while.

I currently have 4 Ip cams from various manufacturers and hope to add maybe two more. This is a home set up. Up until now, I mainly used them for live monitoring my property, watching the kids when I'm working, etc. I am not recording but have tried to set up motion but found it to be temperamental and unreliable. Nature of the beast. I ran it on the workstation I was using regularly for work. I had 5 monitors connected to this machine and would through the interface up on one to just keep an eye on things.

Now that I have a free machine, I thought I'd set up continuous recording but it seems to be maxing out the processor. My specs are as follows.

Windows 7
Intel Core I7-2700K @ 3.50GHz
16 GB Ram
64 Bit
AMD Radeon HD 6700 series video adapter.

The O/S and apps (including BlueIris) are installed on a 250GB SATA solid-state drive and my data/recordings go to a 7200RPM 2TB Toshiba SATA DT01ACA200 6Gb/s.

Although this is a few years old, it was and still is a very capable machine. I keep it clean and have replaced components, reinstalled the O/S occasionally. It can do a lot of stuff at the same time and do it quickly.

My problem is, when I set up a continuous recording for 4 cams, it's maxing out the processor. I have noticed that when I minimize the app (not currently running as a service), CPU usage drops from the high 90's percentage to 80's. So obviously trying to view video while recording puts an extra load on. I was wondering if running as a service would lighten the load at all. My concern is that if I add cams to this setup, it may be too much. I can't help but think I just don't have the optimal configuration. I can't imagine the hardware is inadequate. But then again, this isn't my bag. I was thinking of doing a clean install of the O/S but I'm under the gun with windows 7 going kaput and I would likely have to upgrade BlueIris also. Not 100% against that but don't have time in the short term for that undertaking.

Thanks for any help.

I'm a relatively new user, so bear that in mind...

Am running 9 cameras, 5 MP each, Recording when Triggered, CPU Utilization now very low (10-30%) but it took me a while as it was initially at 100% and very maxed out...
Have i7 (3rd Gen), 8 GB RAM, 256 SSD, 4TB Purple Drive, etc.

Windows, BI and the Database file on the SSD--Database not on same drive as recordings.
One folder for your recording on the HD--do NOT use New/Stored on same drive. I just use New and then delete after 30 days.
Cameras web interface set to 15 fps, H.264, Main.
In BI for each camera, Direct To Disk Recording, etc.
Make sure your computer has a Gigabit Ethernet port and a Cat 5E or Cat 6 cable to the Uplink port of the switch, which should also be Gigabit (Suggested).

Lefty wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 4:50 pm Am running 9 cameras, 5 MP each, Recording when Triggered, CPU Utilization now very low (10-30%) but it took me a while as it was initially at 100% and very maxed out... Have i7 (3rd Gen), 8 GB RAM, 256 SSD, 4TB Purple Drive, etc.

Windows 7, Intel Core I7-2700K @ 3.50GHz, 16 GB Ram, 64 Bit, Windows 7, AMD Radeon HD 6700 series video adapter.

Yes, this PC is very capable of handling your 5MP cameras providing you use Direct-to-disk, enable Hardware accelerated decode (set to Intel) and decrease your cameras frame rates (not from Blue iris, in camera UI). When Blue Iris has to re-encode each camera's video stream, it uses CPU resources. So using the Direct-to-disk feature in Blue Iris allows Blue Iris to take each camera stream and write it directly to the recording clip. This will help reduce CPU utilization. Reducing each camera's frame rate from 30fps to 15 fps will also reduce CPU utilization. Most security experts will attest that the human eye does not pick up much difference between 15 and 30 frames per second. It is not until your frame rate drops below 7.5 fps that it becomes noticeable. I have all my cameras set to 10 frames per second.

Your Intel i7-2700K is a 2nd generation i7 (Sandy Bridge), so it support hardware accelerated decode using Intel Quick Sync. Hardware accelerated decode can reduce your CPU utilization significantly. For this to work, each camera's video encoding must be set to H.264, not (H.264+ or H.265). Also, in order to enable hardware accelerated decode on a 2nd generation Intel i7 processor, you would have to reduce the resolution of your cameras from 5mp to 2mp (1920x1080). This is not a limitation of Blue Iris, but a limitation of Intel Quick Sync on 2nd generation Intel processor. On Intel 3rd generation processors and higher there is no limiting factor to the camera resolution.

If you do decide to enable "Hardware accelerated decode (Intel Quick Sync), you can enable it in Blue Iris 4 -> Options -> Cameras tab by setting "Hardware accelerated decode" to "Intel". Remember that each camera video encoding must be set to H.264 and the resolution to 1920x1080 or 2MP.

Lefty wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 4:50 pm
My problem is, when I set up a continuous recording for 4 cams, it's maxing out the processor. I have noticed that when I minimize the app (not currently running as a service), CPU usage drops from the high 90's percentage to 80's. So obviously trying to view video while recording puts an extra load on. I was wondering if running as a service would lighten the load at all.

Yes, running Blue Iris headless (as a service) will reduce CPU utilization by a little. However, I have found that running Blue Iris as an app has been more stable for me.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you guys. Thank you very much for that information. I'm going to take a crack at configuring everything this weekend and will post back to let you know how I did. Thanks again.