I just spoke with Mr. John Duncan regarding a situation I'm faced with. I'll
recap for you here.
We (the EPA) seized a computer during an environmental crime investigation
that appears to have been used as a DVR running your software. I am in
possession of a computer forensic hard drive image of that drive. It is
suspected that the camera(s) captured evidence of the environmental crimes
under investigation.
I have been tasked with reviewing the captured video for evidentiary
material. Hence my contact with you.
I downloaded your software, today, installed it, and tried to view the
files. This was unsuccessful. I read all the FAQ material I could find on
your site and Mr. Duncan's, and could not find a workaround. I did find that
if the system was up and running I can export the files to a more standard
format, but as mentioned earlier, I have the data, not the system.
Can you provide any assistance with our viewing (not editing or otherwise
converting unless necessary to view) the files we seized? If so, please
contact me at the numbers listed below or via e-mail.
The files have a .bvr file extension.
I downloaded and installed the Blue Iris software onto my PC. I then copied
the .bvr files in question onto the PC's hard drive. When I double-click on
the files, the Blue Iris application opens, but displays the error message:
Unable to open file:80004005.
When I right-click on a file and choose "Open With" and select the Blue Iris
software, the application opens, but displays the same message and error
code. Since I am unable to get Blue Iris to open/play the files, I am unable
to get to the point in the process where I would be able to export them out
to a common file format.
Investigator
To Investigator
Do you have a short file you can send to me? It‘s possible that the file
uses MJPEG compression, or if the file is very old, possibly even MP42, for
which codecs are no longer included with the Blue Iris installer.
I have a stand-alone MJPEG installer here: http://www.v1home.com/Updates/codecs/mjpg.exe
Blue Iris Support
To Blue Iris Support
I was able to get through it. In short, one only needs to rename the files
with the mjpg extension, and then the videos can be viewed with VLC Media
Player.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html
I also used a bulk file renaming tool so that I could rename (change the
extensions on) thousands of files at once. The tool was called File Renamer
Basic.
Actually, this process is MUCH easier than the process referred to in the
Blue Iris software. Converting the files as instructed, even if it works, is
far more difficult than what I did with the two tools above. (However, I
understand that with proprietary software, there may be a reason to keep
things from being straightforward.)
Investigator
May 2012
To DuncansOnline,
A few weeks ago, I bought a PICO card and Blue Iris software from you.
I installed it on my old Dell GX280 and all worked fine, however the Dell
recently died, so I bought a Zoostorm PC (8gb RAM, 750gb HDD etc!)
Having installed the Pico card, I can't get the drivers to install. I've
tried with Windows 2008 x64, Windows 7 x64 and Windows 7 x86 but they're all exhibiting the same symptoms
- the card shows in Device Manager and when I try to install the drivers, I get an
error message:
This installer was not able to automatically install the driver. This could
be due to a missing DLL that is required to install automatically drivers ... etc.
I've tried a manual installation, but that doesn't work either.
Any ideas?
UK Customer
To UK Customer
So far I have never heard of anyone being successful with Windows 7 64 bit
and installing drivers to get that PICO card to work with Blue Iris.
I have heard rumors that there has been success with the 32 bit version of
Windows 7 and PICO card, but so far I have not been able to track those rumors down to an
actual user who can share what he or she has done.
So, at this moment, I have no solution for a Windows 7 installation that is
the operating systemfar a PICO card and Blue Iris.
Searching Google has so far failed to turn up any solution as
well...although from time to time I try to search again.
If you are going to stay with that computer, then I would suggest dropping
back to an XP operating system.
The more advisable alternative, of course, is to pick up a second hand XP
system and then be able to access your cameras from the Windows 7 32/64 computer over your
local area network with Internet Explorer...that will work.
Around here, where I live, a person can purchase a second hand XP system for
$35....and then you would end up with a far better surveillance project, because your XP
camera "server" would be dedicated to surveillance, freeing up your high powered Windows 7 machine
for personal use.
DuncansOnline
To DuncansOnline
Thanks - I am, as I type, installing Windows XP - a shame really as I have a
whole 8gb of RAM.
As for Windows in general, I'm afraid I'm not a fan of that bloated
operating system - all the other machines on the LAN are Macs!
I'll let you know how it goes.
UK Customer
To DuncansOnline
Just for your information, I did manage to get BlueIris working together
with Windows 7 (32 bit) and my PICO card on my old Dell Optiplex GX280 (4gb RAM and a 2Tb HDD).
I used a copy of Windows 7 Professional - a direct Microsoft product, (not
the Dell offering), installed the card, installed the BT848 drivers, the cards was recognised
and then Blue Iris was installed. It worked for just over a week, then the Dell decided it had had
enough and died - I suspect power supply, but rather than replace the PSU on what really was an
ageing machine anyway, I bought a Zoostorm desktop with 8gb RAM.
The Zoostorm came with a 750gb HDD already installed, but I decided to put
the 2Tb drive in instead, however I couldn't' get it to boot - not even in safe mode, so I
disconnected the 2Tb drive and reconnected the 750gb one, and this is what I've been trying so
far.
With the PICO card installed, Windows 2008 32 bit and 64 bit see the card,
but can't install the drivers. Windows 7 32 and 64 bit - same result. Windows XP - works fine.
I haven't tried Windows 2K8 R2 yet - my next step is to try that - I can
easily swap the drives around in the BIOS and boot from the other drive - I just don't have W2K8R2
to hand at the moment, but as much of my work is working with Citrix XenServer and virtual
machines, what I'd really like to do is to get the Zoostorm working with XenServer and see how
PICO and BlueIris works (or not!) in a virtual environment!
I will keep you updated with my progress!
UK Customer
To DuncansOnline
It looks as if I need to seek some help!
I have the BT848 card installed in my new PC and am having problems with
Blue Iris.
The system seems to run OK for a short time, then on remote view, the
cameras drop out - but locally they are still visible on the screen and are updating.
I try to reset the machine, but it refuses to close Blue Iris and if I try
to close the process via Task Manager, it simply fails to close it.
I've downloaded the latest version of Blue Iris and have also completely
removed both that and the BT848 drivers and re-installed.
I'm running Windows XP SP3 (2002 Version) 32 bit on a G840 Pentium @ 2.80GHz
machine with 3.4GB RAM and a 750GB HDD. The machine has a Gigabyte motherboard.
I am also having problems with the motion detect recording - which isn't
working, no matter how sensitive I make it.
Can you give me any other suggestions as to what to try - it seems
everything is OK until I install Blue Iris, then the problems begin.
UK Customer
To UK Customer,
When you talk about remote accessing, do you mean from a computer on your
local area network, where the accessing computer and the camera computer are on the
same side of the router, or from a computer outside of your local area network where the
router is "in between" the accessing computer and the camera computer
I am forwarding a copy of this to Blue Iris support.
Both of your problems are a surprise to me, as I have not encountered anyone
else having either of these problems before.
One thing to try in the meantime, is to reduce the camera frame rate and see
if that impacts the issue.
Let me know, and I will be back to you after I have heard from BI support.
DuncansOnline
To DuncansOnline
The remote viewer is on the LAN ie. the same subnet as the DVR.
I've tried 5fps & 7.5fps - currently set at 7.5fps.
UK Customer
To UK Customer
More quick thoughts...
What is the operating system of the viewing computer?
Are you using IE for viewing?
Did it install the Active X control all right, and do you have the Active X
permissions set low enough?
Do you think there might be a setting in your router preventing the
streaming of video on your LAN?
DuncansOnline
To DuncansOnline
The primary viewer is a Mac mini running Safari under OS X, but I've also
tried IE 8 with Windows XP and the Blue Iris client running on an iPhone 4 - all give
similar results.
The Active X control seemed to install OK on the Windows setup.
Local LAN traffic doesn't go through the router - I have a 100MHz switch
(unmanaged) which forms the backbone of the local LAN.
The problem seems to be with the DVR machine - I'm contemplating
re-installing XP - I've just slipstreamed SP3, but that will have to wait as I'm off to bed now!
UK Customer
To UK Customer and DuncansOnline (From Blue Iris Support)
>> The system seems to run OK for a short time, then on remote view, the
cameras drop out - but locally they are still visible on the screen and are updating.
You are using the ActiveX and default web page? When you say “drops out” ..
what do you see? What is necessary to re-start the stream?
>> I try to reset the machine, but it refuses to close Blue Iris and if I
try to close the process via Task Manager, it simply fails to close it.
Are you streaming audio at the time? Are you on version 3.03.09? There may
have been an issue with shutting down while audio was streaming.
>> I am also having problems with the motion detect recording - which isn't
working, no matter how sensitive I make it.
According to the Trigger/Profiles page, is the detector sensing motion? The
motion meter needs to completely fill the space all the way to the right side. A common
mistake is to set the motion sensitivity too LOW ... too far to the left. The most sensitive
(easiest to trigger) is with the slider all the way to the RIGHT.
Thanks
Blue Iris Support
To Blue Iris Support
The remote client is a Mac, so it has to use the jpeg methodology, not
ActiveX - I also have two viewers with iPhones - all clients exhibit the same symptoms. Blue Iris will run for a time - it can be as much as an hour and a half, or
as little as a couple of minutes, after which time, connection to the client is lost - the iPhones
display "Camera/Feed Not Available" - at the time of testing, the iPhones were connected
wirelessly via the local LAN. The Mac simply displays a black screen in the centre of the viewing area and
the web page becomes unresponsive. On the server itself, all camera feeds either display
multi-coloured bars or simply a blank page. It is at this point I find that I am unable to shut
down Blue Iris - I have tried running it manually, by putting a shortcut in the startup folder and
by running it as a service (which would normally be my preferred option), but it doesn't seem
to make any difference. I am using version 3.3.9 of Blue Iris downloaded directly from
Blue Iris Software. I am not streaming audio at the moment - this will be added later, but for
now all I want is to get the system up and running and stable. After a drop out, the only way to
restart the stream is to actually power off the system and restart - I have tried running shutdown -r
-t 0 from the command line and even that doesn't work - I get the the "Windows is shutting
down" prompt and it can stay that way for over two hours.
The cameras and connectivity are tried and tested, having run Dico-800 for
over eight years - the only new things in the equation are a new server, a new BT848 capture card
and Blue Iris. I have run the machine for over 24 hours without running Blue Iris and there
are no problems.
I have the sensitivity slider fully to the right on the Triggers/Profiles
page, but don't see the motion meter move at all - I have a hotspot set on all four cameras and also
some areas masked (for legal reasons.)
I piloted the setup on a Dell GX280 before buying the new machine and it
seemed to perform well on that, however the PSU in the Dell died when I ran the machine for 24
hours! (It was a very old, surplus machine I had at the time). I did notice however that even
with the Dell, rebooting the machine took a long time.
The only other software I have installed on the server is the Gigabyte
utilities and TeamViewer (which I use to access the desktop from remote). You are more than welcome
to come if form remote and have a look via TeamViewer, should you wish.
UK Customer
To DuncansOnline
Regarding the problems I'm having with Blue Iris / PICO card and Windows XP
- have you ever heard of anyone running Windows 2003 Server (32 bit) with Blue Iris and the
PICO card? Did they manage to run this combination successfully?
UK Customer
To UK Customer
The best operating system for that card and Blue Iris is Windows XP
I know that card and BI will work on Windows 2003 Server (32 bit) but I have
no first hand knowledge that comes into memory.
I have never had anyone complain that they have had issues using Windows
2003 Server (32 bit)
I am sure there are very few that have or are doing it.
DuncansOnline
To DuncansOnline
OK, I have an update on this issue.
You will be pleased to know I think I have identified the problem. For some
reason (I don't know why), despite my having four cameras all the same, I had set two of them to
640x480 resolution! I have reset all cameras back to 320x240, the system has been stable for
over 48 hours now and I can do a remote reboot via TeamViewer.
Mac access from Safari is fine as is iPhone access using the Blue Iris DVR
app. I do have a couple of minor issues which I may have to get back to you regarding, but
overall I now have a working system. So much so that I've turned off my old system and am now
using Blue Iris exclusively!
Thank you for your help.
UK Customer
To UK Customer
Congratulations....good detective work.....thanks for the update.
DuncansOnline
April 2012
I have noticed one little quirk though - I
set up Blue Iris to install as a service and then it couldn't find the
"Video Composite" under the Video Input option when adding a camera -
service needs to be disabled when setting up the software I guess -
otherwise it seems to be running fine.
Thank you.
Feb 5, 2011
Attention Blue Iris Support -
Problem in Input Setting Box
Our customer John S is
not able to add a second or
third analog camera. (he is already a registered user)
His key is
************************
We
sold him the key last May and he bought and paid for a multi camera version and
that is what we should have delivered....I am pretty sure we did...
I have checked everything I can think of.
When he adds the first analog camera he gets the pull down box, with 4 composite
video choices.
He has a 4 channel PICO card and he has installed the BT drivers correctly.
There are no conflicts in his device manager and the drivers show up there under
sound, video and game controller as they should.
The system is a Vista 32 system
It is a fresh and clean install.
So the first camera installs
successfully and all is well.
Then he goes to add a camera and install the second camera
When he selects video source for the second camera the
pull down box is empty.....no
choices at all.
Can you comment on what may be happening?
DuncansOnline
From Ken at Blue Iris
Try turning off the run as service
option before adding new cameras ...
From DuncansOnline
Is that setting in Vista or Blue Iris?
From Ken at Blue Iris
Blue Iris software option
From Customer John
That worked. That was easy. Thanks.
Oct 29, 2010
I need instructions on the following
1. Continuous recording for all cameras with
Cyclic setting so that files are over written when the hard drive is full.
2. Setting to view current video from a
camera in full screen mode with Sequence that switches from Camera 1 to 9
and back all over again.
For #1, you want to go to Options/Clips and setup the folder size and/or
clip-age parameters there. If the hard drive does actually fill up
*before* these quotas are met, older files are automatically deleted as
well. When you enable continuous recording, you should use the "open a
new file each X hours" option, and use something like 1, 2, or 4 hours.
There is an option on Options/Software page to
"auto-cycle" between cameras in full-screen mode. To use this,
right-click the video window and select full-screen (or use the icon) and
then select any camera window by clicking on it.
Third Party Software
Following are links to third-party software
packages which might be required to use certain cameras with Blue Iris:
Windows Server 2008 as well as some older
operating systems may require the installation of the Windows Media
Component redistributables. Here's a link to the
Microsoft WMF11
redistributable.
In order to use the Hikvision DS-40xx
cards, download
DS40xxSDK.dll and save it into your Blue Iris program folder.
The
Vitamin
Decoder 2.1 is used to connect to many popular DLink and Vivotek
models, such as the DCS-2000,2100 and 3220, as well as the 4XEM MPEG4
cameras.
The Microsoft sample capture program
AmCap can be used
to test general connectivity with webcams and analog camera cards and
devices (not network cameras). If your device works with AmCap, it should
work with Blue Iris and vice-versa.
The XVID codec
is used to decode incoming video from many MPEG4 cameras, such as the
DLink DCS-950, Y-Cam and Gadspot GS4600. You may also use XVID to
efficiently record video and for webcasting.
To use the EyeView or Etrovision models,
please download the
Etrovision.zip file, unzip to a folder, and run the reg.bat file to
add the DLLs to your system.
These links provide 3rd-party software,
not developed by Perspective Software. They are provided here merely for
your convenience.
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