Hey everyone,
We’re a large nightclub with around 75 cameras running through Blue Iris. I’ve been steadily fine-tuning the system, its in testing mode running along side our main NVR and wanted to get some input from others managing larger installations or advanced setups. A commercial VMS might be a better solution but thats very expensive and so far this seems to be working.
The cameras themselves are a bit of a hodgepodge of what was already in the space from the previous NVR setup a mix of 4 MP, 8 MP, and 12 MP cameras, with a few PTZs sprinkled in. Despite the variety, everything seems to be working well together so far.
Dell Precision 3630 | Intel Xeon E-2146G @3.50GHz (6 Cores) | 32GB RAM | Radeon Pro WX 5100 | Windows Server 2025
After properly configuring sub-streams, I completely resolved my CPU overload issues usage now stays around 20–30% even with all cameras online. However, I’m seeing random GPU spikes, and I’m trying to better understand how Blue Iris handles GPU offloading.
The system has both an Intel integrated GPU and a dedicated AMD GPU installed. The server itself is headless no monitor is connected.
Question:
Sorry if that’s a basic question I’m really not a GPU nerd. I’m very much an Apple guy, and while I know my way around Windows servers and office setups, I’ve never lived in the world of Windows gaming rigs or graphics card tuning. On the Mac side (I’m usually on M4 Max MacBook Pros), everything just works out of the box, no driver tweaking, GPU assignments, or decoding settings to mess with.
I plan to re-enable AI detection soon using DeepStack. From what I understand, it runs locally and connects via IP to process triggers.
Question:
I’d like my managers to access the Blue Iris web UI locally from the office LAN without sending traffic out to the internet and back into the camera network. Ideally, I’d like to use dual NICs one on the camera network and one on the office network.
Still early in that process, but it’s shaping up to be a powerful setup once complete.
One of my next goals is to set up real-time push notifications with short video clips when motion is detected but only when the alarm system is armed / a specific profile is active (for example, “Armed / After-Hours”) in Blue Iris.
My plan is to handle this through Home Assistant, pushing out 20-second motion clips directly to our phones in real time whenever a genuine event occurs like a break-in or after-hours movement based on when the alarm is trigger / armed and current profile state .
Right now, our old NVR system is incredibly cumbersome during emergencies. If there’s a break-in, we have to dig through the NVR app, scroll through camera lists, guess which one caught the intruder, scrub through the timeline, and try to piece together what’s happening all while rushing to the club trying to drive and relaying half-guess information to 911 dispatchers.
So I’m looking to confirm:
Question:
Would a NAS provide fast enough throughput for continuous recording and playback, or is it better to install all drives directly inside the Blue Iris server for maximum reliability and performance?
I currently have a 4 TB NVMe drive that holds the operating system. It’s not fully configured yet, but my plan is to use it for storing the first few hours of footage (around five hours or so) before automatically moving recordings to slower, large-capacity disks for long-term storage. I still need to finalize that configuration and determine the most efficient way to set up the recording and archive process within Blue Iris.
I know this is a big build, but Blue Iris has been incredibly flexible so far, and I really love how customizable it is. Just looking for some guidance as I move into the next phase.
Thanks in advance for any advice, this community has been a huge help already!
— Drew
We’re a large nightclub with around 75 cameras running through Blue Iris. I’ve been steadily fine-tuning the system, its in testing mode running along side our main NVR and wanted to get some input from others managing larger installations or advanced setups. A commercial VMS might be a better solution but thats very expensive and so far this seems to be working.
The cameras themselves are a bit of a hodgepodge of what was already in the space from the previous NVR setup a mix of 4 MP, 8 MP, and 12 MP cameras, with a few PTZs sprinkled in. Despite the variety, everything seems to be working well together so far.
Dell Precision 3630 | Intel Xeon E-2146G @3.50GHz (6 Cores) | 32GB RAM | Radeon Pro WX 5100 | Windows Server 2025
After properly configuring sub-streams, I completely resolved my CPU overload issues usage now stays around 20–30% even with all cameras online. However, I’m seeing random GPU spikes, and I’m trying to better understand how Blue Iris handles GPU offloading.
The system has both an Intel integrated GPU and a dedicated AMD GPU installed. The server itself is headless no monitor is connected.
Question:
- Will Blue Iris automatically recognize and use the dedicated AMD GPU, or do I need to explicitly tell Windows or Blue Iris to prefer that GPU for decoding and processing?
- Can I tell which GPU Blue Iris is currently using? Maybe the graphics card I’m using just isn’t beefy enough it came from a refurbished batch of computers I bought. I honestly know nothing about it; I pulled it from a stack of spare machines, tossed it into this box, and never thought about it again.
- Is this setup even powerful enough or should I upgrade to something more powerful?
Sorry if that’s a basic question I’m really not a GPU nerd. I’m very much an Apple guy, and while I know my way around Windows servers and office setups, I’ve never lived in the world of Windows gaming rigs or graphics card tuning. On the Mac side (I’m usually on M4 Max MacBook Pros), everything just works out of the box, no driver tweaking, GPU assignments, or decoding settings to mess with.
I plan to re-enable AI detection soon using DeepStack. From what I understand, it runs locally and connects via IP to process triggers.
Question:
- Does DeepStack need direct access to the video streams, or does Blue Iris handle that internally?
- Would performance be better if I ran DeepStack on a separate computer, or should I keep it all on the main Blue Iris server?
- Separate VLANs for office, POS, and internal networks
- All video traffic runs on a physically separate UniFi-based video network, completely isolated from the main office/POS network
- The security camera network is separate from the main office network, and both have their own dedicated fiber internet connections
- We also have a second Blue Iris server at an off-site storage facility, which I currently manage remotely and have linked into Blue Iris I’d eventually like to get those cameras displayed in a multi-camera view, but that’s a project for another day
I’d like my managers to access the Blue Iris web UI locally from the office LAN without sending traffic out to the internet and back into the camera network. Ideally, I’d like to use dual NICs one on the camera network and one on the office network.
- Can Blue Iris host its Web UI on both network interfaces (or multiple IPs)?
- Any caveats or recommendations for running this type of setup on Windows Server 2025?
Still early in that process, but it’s shaping up to be a powerful setup once complete.
One of my next goals is to set up real-time push notifications with short video clips when motion is detected but only when the alarm system is armed / a specific profile is active (for example, “Armed / After-Hours”) in Blue Iris.
My plan is to handle this through Home Assistant, pushing out 20-second motion clips directly to our phones in real time whenever a genuine event occurs like a break-in or after-hours movement based on when the alarm is trigger / armed and current profile state .
Right now, our old NVR system is incredibly cumbersome during emergencies. If there’s a break-in, we have to dig through the NVR app, scroll through camera lists, guess which one caught the intruder, scrub through the timeline, and try to piece together what’s happening all while rushing to the club trying to drive and relaying half-guess information to 911 dispatchers.
So I’m looking to confirm:
- Is Home Assistant the best way to handle these targeted push alerts and event-based clip delivery?
- Are there best practices or preferred integrations for sending those clips (or live links) instantly to mobile devices when a motion or alarm event occurs?
- Should I look at the Blue Iris app?
Question:
Would a NAS provide fast enough throughput for continuous recording and playback, or is it better to install all drives directly inside the Blue Iris server for maximum reliability and performance?
I currently have a 4 TB NVMe drive that holds the operating system. It’s not fully configured yet, but my plan is to use it for storing the first few hours of footage (around five hours or so) before automatically moving recordings to slower, large-capacity disks for long-term storage. I still need to finalize that configuration and determine the most efficient way to set up the recording and archive process within Blue Iris.
I know this is a big build, but Blue Iris has been incredibly flexible so far, and I really love how customizable it is. Just looking for some guidance as I move into the next phase.
Thanks in advance for any advice, this community has been a huge help already!
— Drew
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