Advice needed on Geovision VS Blue Iris

[yzpmpgq]

I have used Geovision for 10+ years and have loved it. I updated to IP cameras a few years ago and used mostly Geovision cameras (free to use with their software), but also some 3rd party for which I had to buy licenses at $50 each. Then I was notified the latest version will be $500 for the base license so I didn't upgrade. My system died and after replacing the motherboard, the 3rd party licenses were gone. They say I have to but them again. Seriously?

I have:
18 cameras (around 10 2MP and the others 3-5MP) with 2 PTZ
System is:
i7-7700 @3,6 Ghz
16MB RAM
250GB SSD for Windows 10 64 bit and surveillance software and 3 4TB data drives
2 Nvidia 1080Ti cards

I'm also very interested in LPR use.

Anyway, I'm looking for advice preferably from those who have used or compared BI to Geovision. What would I miss and how is the performance?

 

[wittaj]

You have a capable machine, so I would suggest download BI from their website. If you don't pay, you get a trial for 15 days to try it.

I haven't used Geovision, but I knew within 30min that BI was superior to the NVRs I had been using.

 

[jakespeeddemon]

@yzpmpgq, did you try blue iris ? i'm also a long time geovision user updating my pc & exploring alternatives. downloaded milestone xprotext but can't get it to install. opened support ticket that got deleted. so installed blue iris w/o issues & am trying it out. curious to hear your opinion on comparisons if you've tried it.

 

[KagaChe]

The Geovision software hasnt been updated in almost 2 years. Its interface is horrid and very dated and the way to save video snippets from recordings is terrible and requires special codecs to even view which don't work half the time. Im not sure if all your cameras will work in BlueIris but that is something I recommend you look into.

 

[RuralDude]

I also switched from 10+ years on Geovision to BI, I don't think i ever really understood all that i could do with Geo after all the years because the documentation was horrid and dated and always felt that you have to find features by accident and never felt straight forward. Updates on BI are fast and easy.
Geo had a sense of being rock solid but lacked in tech advancement imo.
With Geo I always had a remote monitor up to view the live view of all cams in real time, being a hybrid system most of my cams were analog but still could watch in real time without lag. I miss that a little, BI uses UI3 browser based for real time and ended up setting up a raspberry pi dedicated to showing live cams non stop all day every day without problem, just get used to a couple seconds of delay. I'm still getting used to numerous settings and fine tuning allowed in BI but will never look back.....BlueIris for the WIN!

I think you would be better off switching to BI, little different but easier to manage, view remotely and all in all future proof.

 

[bp2008]

BI uses UI3 browser based for real time and ended up setting up a raspberry pi dedicated to showing live cams non stop all day every day without problem, just get used to a couple seconds of delay

The video delay should be basically imperceptible between UI3 and Blue Iris's local console. Since you're running on a raspberry pi, you may need to reduce the streaming resolution to 720p or lower so the pi can keep up.

 

[RuralDude]

The video delay should be basically imperceptible between UI3 and Blue Iris's local console. Since you're running on a raspberry pi, you may need to reduce the streaming resolution to 720p or lower so the pi can keep up.

Are you saying the streaming profile should be lowered?

 

[bp2008]

Are you saying the streaming profile should be lowered?

Yes

 

[dimammx]

BI is amazing NVR for the price. However i experience reliability issues in my install (reinstalled 3 times already on 2 different machines) . I can't just leave it running and forget about it. Sure enough 3-4-5 weeks later go in to check footage and find BI not running or not running property. Don't have experience with geovision NVRs, but ran ACTi cams+ PC NVR for years and while it was not the most feature rich or easy to use software it was rock solid.

 

[wittaj]

BI is amazing NVR for the price. However i experience reliability issues in my installs (reinstalled 3 times already on 2 different machines) . I can't just leave it running and forget about it. Sure enough 3-4-5 weeks later go in to check footage and find BI not running or not running property. Don't have experience with geovision NVRs, but ran ACTi cams+ PC NVR for years and while it was not the most feature reach or easy to use software it was rock solid.

Your experience is not typical. If that were the case, none of us would use BI.

Are you running it as a service?

Have you turned off Windows updates?

Have you turned off BI updates?

Have you set the BIOS to restart on power outage?

What i number and CPU number and amount of RAM?

Post a screenshot of your BI Camera status page - the one that shows FPS/KEY, etc.

Is the computer being used for anything else?

 

[TonyR]

I've done 6 BI installs since 2014; none crashed, none froze; all but 1 still running and he just went out of business. YMMV, of course.

 

[dimammx]

Hmmm it could be Deepstack's doing.
It is on i7-2600k old but cpu is not loaded above 30-40%
16 gig of ram. BI is a service, bios set to auto power on. Pc only used for BI and Deepstack

Last time it crashed i just stopped using it since it is in remote location and not easy to monitor. But only error i could find was in Windows event viewer
0x80000000000000

Have you turned off Windows updates?

Have you turned off BI updates? NO to both so also probably had some effect, nothing good comes out of auto windows updates

 

[wittaj]

Yeah, that is an old machine, but should be fine for 4 cameras.

Use the substreams option as that will bring the CPU down tremendously. Probably below 10%. Then maybe DeepStack won't crash it out.

Yep Windows updates always screws us over! And turn off auto updates to both Windows and BI.

And no need to run 30FPS - we are not making Hollywood movies, which are shot at 24FPS. 15FPS is more than fine.

Follow every optimization in the wiki and your machine will become stable.

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

Watch these, for most of us, it isn't annoying until below 10FPS

 

[dimammx]

Lol yep in process of recycling my old 4790K machine for BI, DeepStack does have GTX 970 for processing staff .
Its actually 3 cams right now and all of them for ALPR. The rest of cams are on entirely different NVR.

 

[wittaj]

OH LOL.

Also turn off hardware acceleration - that has been problematic for many people once DeepStack was introduced. And it seems to impact people at different times - some where that update, some have been fine until the most recent update, and some have had no problems.

 

[dimammx]

I guess it heard me taking smack about it


Last 150is log records before crash :

1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.286 PM    Alerts                  Move: 19 items 46.0M [20.0G/20.0G, 2.31T free] 4793 errors
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.372 PM    New                     Delete: 1 items 1.95G [3.90T/3.90T, 2.31T free] 1 errors
0     7/3/2022 5:34:35.374 PM    Stored                  Delete: nothing to do [0.98T/1.95T, 2.32T free]
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.424 PM    Alerts                  Delete: nothing to do [19.9G/20.0G, 2.32T free] 2636 errors
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.468 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.144023.8209-0.20069.20034.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.475 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.126023.8209-0.13502.13467.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.543 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.51984.8209-0.7024.6987.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.567 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.1000.5137-0.13101.13067.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.576 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_160000.2696940.145-0.14254.14218.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.600 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_160000.2675940.5137-0.10136.10100.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.620 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_160000.2662956.8209-0.7001.6967.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.640 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_160000.2647956.8209-0.12536.12500.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:34:35.648 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_160000.2635973.145-0.10706.10650.jpg
0     7/3/2022 5:34:36.239 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [occupied] 275ms
0     7/3/2022 5:34:38.902 PM    Cam4                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 225ms
1     7/3/2022 5:34:40.146 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:34:47.412 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:35:10.235 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:35:17.518 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:35:40.321 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:35:47.610 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:36:10.419 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:36:17.701 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:36:19.623 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:36:25.197 PM    road                    AI: person:63% [1620,138 1656,232] 262ms
1     7/3/2022 5:36:40.502 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:36:47.818 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:37:10.565 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:37:17.907 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:37:37.620 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
1     7/3/2022 5:37:40.987 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
0     7/3/2022 5:37:43.178 PM    road                    AI: person:73% [967,140 1006,229] 256ms
1     7/3/2022 5:37:48.001 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:37:48.444 PM    Cam4                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:37:55.116 PM    Cam4                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 246ms
3     7/3/2022 5:38:07.635 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
1     7/3/2022 5:38:11.054 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
0     7/3/2022 5:38:13.214 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 246ms
1     7/3/2022 5:38:18.127 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:38:23.619 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:38:29.093 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 242ms
1     7/3/2022 5:38:41.120 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:38:48.243 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:39:11.200 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:39:18.323 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:39:35.901 PM    Alerts                  Move: 15 items 35.2M [20.0G/20.0G, 2.31T free] 4795 errors
1     7/3/2022 5:39:35.902 PM    New                     Delete: nothing to do [3.90T/3.90T, 2.31T free] 1 errors
0     7/3/2022 5:39:35.903 PM    Stored                  Delete: nothing to do [0.98T/1.95T, 2.31T free]
1     7/3/2022 5:39:35.923 PM    Alerts                  Delete: nothing to do [20.0G/20.0G, 2.31T free] 2636 errors
1     7/3/2022 5:39:35.955 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.303023.145-0.13137.13100.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:39:35.988 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.288990.145-0.7734.7700.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:39:35.993 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.280023.145-0.7001.6967.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:39:36.004 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.257023.145-0.11035.11000.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:39:36.022 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.231023.145-0.11037.11000.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:39:36.047 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.211023.8209-0.13771.13734.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:39:36.056 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.184023.8209-0.19002.18967.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:39:41.284 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:39:48.427 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:39:55.602 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:40:01.162 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [occupied] 276ms
3     7/3/2022 5:40:04.640 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:40:10.097 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 237ms
1     7/3/2022 5:40:11.374 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:40:18.557 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:40:18.638 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:40:24.201 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 248ms
3     7/3/2022 5:40:33.631 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
1     7/3/2022 5:40:41.449 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
0     7/3/2022 5:40:46.233 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [occupied] 237ms
1     7/3/2022 5:40:48.727 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
0     7/3/2022 5:40:53.990 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 249ms
1     7/3/2022 5:41:11.542 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:41:18.858 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:41:41.631 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:41:48.946 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:41:53.622 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:41:59.178 PM    road                    AI: person:61% [966,155 1004,246] 231ms
3     7/3/2022 5:42:00.443 PM    Cam4                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:42:07.116 PM    Cam4                    AI: DayPlate:87% [29,46 172,128] 237ms
0     7/3/2022 5:42:07.931 PM    Cam4                    Plate: 8248 [90.1%]
1     7/3/2022 5:42:11.716 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
3     7/3/2022 5:42:15.776 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
1     7/3/2022 5:42:19.074 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
0     7/3/2022 5:42:21.257 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 247ms
1     7/3/2022 5:42:42.133 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
3     7/3/2022 5:42:43.650 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
3     7/3/2022 5:42:48.440 PM    Cam4                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:42:49.124 PM    road                    AI: person:69% [965,142 1006,229] 240ms
1     7/3/2022 5:42:49.216 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
0     7/3/2022 5:42:55.106 PM    Cam4                    AI: Alert cancelled [occupied] 257ms
3     7/3/2022 5:43:06.652 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:43:12.142 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [occupied] 229ms
1     7/3/2022 5:43:12.218 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:43:19.355 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:43:42.292 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:43:49.447 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:44:12.363 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
3     7/3/2022 5:44:18.651 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
1     7/3/2022 5:44:19.524 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
0     7/3/2022 5:44:24.112 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 232ms
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.290 PM    Alerts                  Move: 18 items 42.0M [20.0G/20.0G, 2.31T free] 4796 errors
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.354 PM    New                     Delete: 1 items 1.70G [3.90T/3.90T, 2.31T free] 1 errors
0     7/3/2022 5:44:36.355 PM    Stored                  Delete: nothing to do [0.98T/1.95T, 2.32T free]
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.373 PM    Alerts                  Delete: nothing to do [20.0G/20.0G, 2.32T free] 2636 errors
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.374 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.555123.145-0.10402.10367.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.407 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.466023.145-0.7017.6967.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.429 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.416523.145-0.26636.26600.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.458 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.409023.145-0.7002.6967.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.464 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.397023.8209-0.9771.9734.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.474 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.366023.145-0.18236.18200.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.485 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.357023.5137-0.7001.6967.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:44:36.499 PM    Clips                   MoveFile Error 2: D:\BI\alerts\road.20220430_164512.325023.145-0.29002.28967.jpg
1     7/3/2022 5:44:42.451 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:44:49.640 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:45:12.513 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:45:19.734 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:45:22.437 PM    Cam4                    EXTERNAL
3     7/3/2022 5:45:22.620 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:45:28.204 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 275ms
0     7/3/2022 5:45:28.921 PM    Cam4                    AI: DayPlate:86% [32,49 167,127] 620ms
0     7/3/2022 5:45:29.752 PM    Cam4                    Plate: 8248 [89.7%]
1     7/3/2022 5:45:42.573 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
3     7/3/2022 5:45:49.640 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
1     7/3/2022 5:45:49.860 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
0     7/3/2022 5:45:58.069 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [nothing found] 6743ms
3     7/3/2022 5:45:58.449 PM    Cam4                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:46:05.152 PM    Cam4                    AI: Alert cancelled [occupied] 248ms
3     7/3/2022 5:46:05.636 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:46:11.199 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [occupied] 247ms
1     7/3/2022 5:46:12.660 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:46:19.973 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
3     7/3/2022 5:46:24.627 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
0     7/3/2022 5:46:30.100 PM    road                    AI: Alert cancelled [occupied] 242ms
1     7/3/2022 5:46:42.746 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
3     7/3/2022 5:46:46.614 PM    road                    EXTERNAL
1     7/3/2022 5:46:50.103 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
0     7/3/2022 5:46:52.088 PM    road                    AI: car:95% [860,125 1036,252] 245ms
3     7/3/2022 5:47:01.435 PM    Cam4                    MOTION_AB
0     7/3/2022 5:47:08.060 PM    Cam4                    AI: car:84% [1170,4 1617,258] 279ms
1     7/3/2022 5:47:13.145 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:47:20.211 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:47:43.216 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
1     7/3/2022 5:47:50.293 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry
1     7/3/2022 5:48:13.304 PM    Cam1                    Signal: Failed to connect
3     7/3/2022 5:48:19.167 PM    Cam4                    EXTERNAL
1     7/3/2022 5:48:20.381 PM    Cam1                    Signal: network retry

 

[wittaj]

Those are some incredibly fast deepstack times on that CPU!

So some people have had issues where if a camera signal fails the CPU ramps up until it crashes. I suspect that is what is happening to you.

I'd suggest rolling back to a stable version and set up watchdog to try to reset the camera.

 

[dimammx]

Its GPU times But yeah i tried multiple stable versions of BI, same result. I think it is windows update that did something. I had it somewhat stable for a month or two. Now is just a week of uptime at best.
Will try to move it to newer machine and fresh install.

PS the failing cam connection, the cam is not there anymore. Just forgot to remove it from BI.

 

[wittaj]

OK I was going to say that is crazy speed on a 2nd gen LOL. GPU makes more sense.

Yeah windows probably screwed you over and then that failing cam didn't help.

 

[DanDenver]

My BI instance fails on rare occasion and we have power outages as well. But I have read the threads on this forum explaining how to set up BI to start back up automatically and many other tips and tricks, and I find BI to be very reliable. I agree with wittaj, if it was as unstable as you indicated, I would not use it.