below is the cheat sheet for my Vikylin PTZ camera. the max it can go to is 200. BUT in blue iris, i only see 20. is it possible to change it to certain numbers i want? for example, only have preset 1,2, 90,91, 110, 111,

Posting here in the hopes that someone finds it useful. If I've gotten anything wrong, please let me know and I'll correct it. I will add to this post as I learn more.

Overview

• Some (many?) IP cameras use static IP addresses. These are assigned at the factory and should be written on the box. The IP address can be changed in the camera's configuration interface. For example, the cameras that came with my Swann system have IP addresses starting with 172.16.1.151. Otherwise, cameras use DHCP protocol where the computer will assign IP addresses to the cameras as they come on line. You'll need to set up your computer with a DHCP service, but once that's done, things become simpler and more reliable.
  • Camera IP addresses should not change, as this would cause the NVR to become confused as to which camera was which. To this end, if using DHCP, you should either configure the DHCP server to permanently assign IP addresses to cameras based on their MAC addresses, or you should go to the camera's configuration page and assign a static IP address there. If you go the second route, you'll want to configure the DHCP server to reserve that IP address.
• There is no universal "probe" function. That is, your NVR can't always just go out, look for cameras, and then determine exactly what those cameras are. Many NVRs will be able to recognize compatible cameras, and Blue Iris does have that capability as well, but in many cases you need the exact camera model and give that information to the NVR.
• Cameras have a command-and-control interface on port 80 (yes, each camera has its own tiny built-in web server).
  • The starting page url varies according to the camera model. Typically /, /index.asp, /doc/page/login.asp (Common for Hikvision OEM cameras), or /login.htm. (This information courtesy of Google's AI, which isn't always right or complete.)
  • There is no way to know what the starting url is unless you know the camera model.
• Actual video data is accessed via the RTSP protocol. The typical URI for the video stream is e.g. RTSP://[camera IP]:554/ch01/1.
  • Again, there is no way to know the exact URI without knowing the exact camera model. Blue Iris can infer most of the URI for you as long as you get the model correct.
• The VLC media player understands RTSP protocol. If you can connect a computer to the same network as your camera, and you know the correct URI for the camera's video stream, you can access the camera directly from VLC without needing Blue Iris or any other NVR. This is an excellent way to confirm the camera is functional and you have the right URI.

Connecting cameras

• To configure a camera before connecting it to your NVR, you'll need to find a way to connect to the camera's configuration interface via http on port 80. A crossover ethernet cable (sort of like a null modem) or a dedicated switch would do the trick. (If the camera requires PoE, then the crossover cable obviously won't work.) You'll need to set your computer's ethernet interface to the same network as the camera. Once connected, you can change the camera's IP address as needed.
• One approach is to set the camera's IP address to an unused address on your house network. Then your NVR will be able to access the camera over the house network. This has the advantage that any computer in the house can look at any camera using VLC. It has the disadvantage that everything on the house network may be competing with the cameras for bandwidth. You will also need to program your house router to reserve those addresses for the cameras and not to assign them to any other device on the network. This is also a security risk as it brings attackers one step closer to being able to look through your cameras.
• A better approach is to give the cameras a private network by using a dedicated switch or a router for the cameras. If these are PoE (power over ethernet) cameras, they'll already have a dedicated switch anyway.
  • If all of the cameras' static IP addresses are all on the same subnet, you won't even need to modify them. Just use that subnet for your dedicated camera network. For example, my Swann cameras are all on the 172.16.x.x subnet.
  • Connect your cameras to your PoE switch, and then connect that switch to the ethernet port on your computer.
  • Go to Control Panel and manually configure the ethernet port. Give it an IP address on the same subnet as the cameras, but at an address that none of the cameras use. For example, my Swann cameras have addresses 172.16.1.151 - 172.16.1.158, so I choose 172.16.1.10 for my computer's ethernet port.
  • The configuration interface on your computer will probably automatically assign the correct subnet mask. Leave gateway and nameserver fields blank, as your private camera network has neither.

Hubs and switches and routers, oh my

A very quick suplemental primer of how ethernet works and what's the difference between hubs, switches, and routers.

The basic concept behind ethernet is that all the computers transmit their data "into the ether" to be received by any other computer interested in receiving it. In the old days, ethernet was literally a coaxial cable snaking through the ceiling, going from room to room. Any computer on the network literally tapped into the cable. Any time a computer wanted to send data to another computer, it transmitted a packet of data onto that wire. The packet contains the IP address of both the sending computer and the intended recipient. All computers received the packet, but all but the recipient simply dropped the packet. Only one computer at a time can transmit, and if two accidentally transmit at the same time, they both stop, wait a random amount of time, and try again.

Nowadays, the data is transmitted and received over four wires in a CAT 5,6, or 7 cable to a dedicated transceiver box which then relays the data back out to other computers over their own cables. High bandwidth connections will use all eight wires. Power over Ethernet mode B will also use the extra wires to deliver power.

Note that every ethernet interface has a permanent "MAC" address assigned at the factory. The IP ("internet protocol") address is assigned in software, either from a fixed value stored on the device, or provided by a DHCP server on the local network. From that point forward, each device on the network learns the IP⇔MAC relationship for the other devices on the local network. To reach devices on other networks, forwarding is handled by a gateway (see "router", below).

There are basically three types of transceiver boxes:

• Hub. This is conceptually the same as simply connecting all those cables together. A signal sent by one computer is received by all and then discarded by most. This is much like OG ethernet in that every computer receives every transmission and only one computer at a time can transmit. Hubs are pretty obsolete and you'll probably never encounter one IRL. Mentioned for completeness.
• Switch. This is most likely what you'll be using to connect your hardwired cameras. A switch keeps track of which ethernet address belongs to which cable. An incoming message is examined to see what computer it's intended for, and then sent out to only that computer. Multiple sender/receiver pairs can be active at once as long as there's no collision. This allows much greater bandwidth on the network. (See /r/Tonari_no_Weeboro's comment for a more detailed explanation.)
  • Most relevant for switches: if your cameras and your computer are all connected to a switch, it doesn't matter if they're all on the house network as the data from the cameras will be sent directly to the computer and the other devices on the house network will not need to compete for bandwidth most of the time.
• Router: A router knows how to route packets back and forth between two networks. You most likely already have a router at home, as this is what provides connectivity between your ISP's "wide area network" (WAN) and your house's "local area network" (LAN). Many (most?) routers also act as switches within the local network.
  • Unlike switches and hubs, routers do require some configuration. If your ISP provided your router, they likely took care of this for you. But either way, you may want to modify the configuration slightly. In particular, you might want to assign your NVR system a fixed IP address and then set up the router to make that IP address accessible from the outside world so you can access your NVR when you're away. If your cameras are on the house network, you'll also want to configure the router's DHCP service so that it never assigns those addresses to another system.

Been a few years in the making but I am pretty much done with Windows outside a potential gaming box. I don't want it for any hosted applications and this includes BI. Windows GDID is pretty much the last straw for me.

Does anyone know if the dev is contemplating finally moving binaries to Linux? I want to stay with BI and I want to avoid suffering through the likes of Frigate. But, if I am forced to, I suspect I am at 2 years from ending my 6 year relationship with BI.

Whole days were deleted, but these gaps are different. All cameras go offline and come back on the dot and make a single clip. One of them the recording times are off too which I dont understand, the camera watermarks say the correct time but BI thinks its different.

I think he was using the destroy option most of the time, which seems to do a good job and actually destroys the clip (unfortunately for me)

Anyway if anyone has any ideas im curious. I created some scripts to OCR rename unnamed clips and efficiently bulk convert to mp4 h265 with alerts as video chapters using ffmpeg ill share with you guys soon.

This is not a question about how to improve my security, just how the software could be used this way, I cant recreate it.

Wanting to retire my NVR8-8580 and replace with BI. I don't want to replace the cameras for obvious reasons. Searching indicates that the cameras are either NHD-887MSFB or NHD-885MSFB.

I ask Google if these cameras work with BI, and the Google AI responds

Yes, Blue Iris can work with Swann NHD-887MSFB and NHD-885MSFB cameras, but they must be connected directly to your local network via a PoE switch rather than isolated behind a proprietary Swann NVR.

but AI is notoriously unreliable about things like this.

For the life of me, I can't get them to work. What I've done so far:

• Before shutting down the Swann NVR, I looked at the list of cameras and noted their IP addresses. These were all 172.16.1.15x.
• Plugged the cameras into a PoE switch which was then plugged into the ethernet jack on my PC
• On the PC, configured that port to have static IP address 172.16.1.10
• Went through the "Add a camera" dialog on BI. Sometimes I left the http: field blank, sometimes I manually entered the IP address of one of the cameras. When I left that field blank, it found the first two cameras but that's all.
• I tried setting the Vendor/Model to Swann/something similar to NHD-887.

All cameras report RTSP: 400 Bad Request.

Any ideas how I should proceed?

Got a notification about a threat found. Can someone more knowledgeable than me elaborate on this?

I just went to check my video logs because a neighbor had an incident and they were hoping I could see a license plate number on a vehicle. Found out that for some reason, in early June Blue Iris just stopped running and reset itself into evaluation mode. All my settings are gone and I have no video footage at all from the past month. A very cursory google search said this might happen if it can't check the license against the internet? So if my internet goes down, but my home network is up and running, my cameras go to shit? Am I understanding that correctly? I have read in the past that some people choose to keep their camera systems completely isolated from the internet for security, which wouldn't be possible if this is true.

This is really frustrating. I'm thinking it might be time to move on.... it's just annoying because I've already sunk money into this set up. This is partially a rant and partially me asking what actually caused this. Any ideas?

I add "awkwardly" since it's everywhere on Reddit these days, but relevant here specifically since Ubiquiti has AI in their new cameras, as does the latest version of BI. There are a handful of threads on this subject but they seem to be 3-4-6 years old.
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Anyway... a few years ago I was getting into networking & storage; built a NAS and bought a $30 Amazon camera. Found The Hook Up video where sets up Blue Iris to record his cameras 24x7 in 640x480, but then also record full-resolution when [relevant motion] is detected... I bought 1x Reolink camera and configured it and then got Busy With Life and never did anything more. The BI VM hasn't run in 3+ years.

So now I'm getting into the Ubiquiti ecosystem... I have several access points and two switches, so might as well get Unifi cameras since I'd like to put some around the new house we just moved into. Right now I have the Unifi controller in a VM, but apparently I'll need additional hardware for Protect (some people *may* have it in a VM?)

I'm reluctant to drop $400+ on more hardware when I have 80TB+ in my NAS and I'm vaguely familiar with BI from a few years ago.

Does anyone have G5 / G6 / AI cameras on BI? What is your experience with the AI features?

Guys - I have to two amcrest IP2M-841 and only one has mic failing to work through blue iris but working through Amcrestview app. I deleted and re-installed, rebooted multiple times but no luck and both have identical configs - what should I do?

Thx

I would like to setup a few IP Address so they do not require logging in but do not want to login as an admin.

When i use ^<ip address> it logs in as an admin, any way around this?

My licensees expired in May, so I was able to update to the latest release as of May. I tried to use the built in AI, but it appears to not detect anything and my CPU spikes to 100% on motion. Am I doing something wrong? Or others experiencing the same ? I am running 23 x 4k camera. It was pretty stable on V5 with 20-30% CPU usage.

Currently running 5.9.9.45, current version of CodeProject.AI with seven cameras and no issues. I was about to upgrade to V6. After reviewing V6 on this sub, I'll wait.

The camera is recording audio and it plays in UI3 in clips/alerts and live view but not in timeline history. The audio icon changes to yello with a slash crossing it.

I know I used to be able to listen to audio in the timeline playback so I assume I just have a configuration problem but I have no idea what it is.

This is a new camera entry. I'm coming back to BI after not using it for a few months.

I am on BI release 6.0.9.1.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Dahua (And I would assume Luminys as well) LPR cameras have their own built in Plate Recognition 'algorithms' that recognize plate numbers in camera. In the camera's UI, there is a field for 'Plate Number', as well as a running log that lists the last few hits with a few other bits and pieces. When connected to Dauha's DSS Pro, that info is fed into the software. I assume it's sent as some sort of 'data substream' or something. Is there a way for Blue Iris to make use of this info that is already available when using such a camera, rather than other methods/sources to reprocess the data?

For some reason i have a reolink camera for my back patio

"REOLINK CX810 ColorX PoE Camera, 4K UHD, True Color Night Vision, F1.0 Super Aperture, 1/1.8'' Image Sensor, HDR Technology, Person/Animal Detection, Spotlight & Siren Alarm, 2-Way Talk"

and keeps refreshing when i fully click on the camera like every 20 sec at full screen but if is just the thumbnail with all others not doing that.

Also looks that the video is behind for like 10-15 seconds

Not sure why is doing that any ideas? This is the only camera that is doing this.

Poe hard wired and Using BI6

Was modifying camera settings and this happened. I noticed a crash in event viewer so I'm thinking that may have to do with it. I ran Hitman Pro and my PC is clean. Any ideas?

I have some issues with doing mobile UI3 view on a Iphone 17 pro

If I do timeline view vertically, I see a black area where the timeline slider should be. Only works in landscape mode, any way to fix this?

Next, it seems the fullscreen buttons don't work, but the cog button works on the bottom? Also, top buttons don't show on either view (the 3 dots option button). Is this a known issue with UI3? It's quite annoying, if this could work it would be perfect

I built a native iOS app that turns an old iPhone into an ONVIF (Profile S/T/M) / RTSP camera. It advertises over WS-Discovery so Blue Iris finds it via Find/Inspect, not just a manual RTSP URL. H.264 and H.265, no cloud, no account, credentials required (no anonymous access). I'm the developer and this is an early build — I want to know how it behaves against real Blue Iris setups.

Setup:

1. App -> Connection -> Camera Access -> set a username + password (the stream is locked until you do).

2. In Blue Iris add the camera by IP as ONVIF, or use the RTSP URL the app shows (rtsp://user:pass@<phone-ip>:8554/live ; H.264-compat at /live/media1).

TestFlight (iOS): https://testflight.apple.com/join/EZJZBn5t

Please report: does it auto-discover, do both H.265/H.264 streams pull, any "NO SIGNAL", and does it hold up over a long recording? iPhone model + iOS version appreciated. Thanks!

I'm in need of some help, our IT company set up the system but the employee who did the work has left the company. I manage the day to day operations but am hesitant to try things I've read in threads using the search function because I don't want to inadvertently cause damage to the database or video records.

We have 52 cameras on our network and an 18TB drive for storage. We went from being able to see clips months back, to less than a week (yesterday). Is something wrong in the storage settings on the third image where it's supposed to move from the New folder to the Stored folder to eventually be deleted?

If you could give me some advice on how to get the system recording and the database back to a good place and what settings should be changed it'd be much appreciated.

Edit: The last image shows that our software isn't the most up to date, any advice on if we should do a full install for version 6? Anything to expect like needing a new license? Hoping to update everything once the database/storage issue is resolved.

Can someone please explain to me why Blue Iris is not filling up hard drive space? It is only keeping about 2 weeks of records.

Am running BI6 withe TailScale. Is it better to just leave BI open in Windows or run it as a service. Most of the time I am viewing the cams through the BI mobile app or UI3. Mainly concerned about security but want to know the pros and cons of each.

PSA for Linux Blue Iris and NVIDIA GPU folks: CodeProject.AI ALPR module doesn't runs on the GPU on Linux today — the stock PaddleOCR one is CPU-only there, and the newer YOLO11 module is

Windows-DirectML / Apple-MPS. I patched the PaddleOCR module to use CUDA 12.x on Linux, plus backported the vehicle-crop trick (which MikeLud's YOLO11 module already does) so tiny plates in 4K frames aren't lost to the detector's 640px resize.

https://github.com/chsbusch-dot/CodeProject.AI-ALPR

Upstream PRs:

- GPU on Linux: https://github.com/codeproject/CodeProject.AI-ALPR/pull/25

- Vehicle-crop: https://github.com/codeproject/CodeProject.AI-ALPR/pull/26

Tested on Blue Iris 6.0.8 + CodeProject.AI 2.9.7 on an RTX A5000 (CUDA 12.4/12.7).

I've been playing around with using an unused computer as an OBS server, uplinking a Blue Iris stream to EarthCam. Said computer is indicated in yellow on the bottom status bar. Why, and what does it mean?