How to Add IP Security Cameras to Blue Iris (Best Practices)

1. We’ll start off looking at what makes an IP security camera compatible with Blue Iris.
2. Then we will look at the various network configurations required to manage a camera with Blue Iris.
3. At this point, we’ll add 3 different brands of IP cameras to the management tool starting with Hikvision.
4. Then we will add a camera from Reolink.
5. And lastly a generic PTZ camera from Vikylin and I’ll show how to move the camera and in zoon and out using Blue Iris.

1. To add a camera in Blue Iris, use the plus (+) button in the upper right or right click anywhere and “Add new camera”
2. Let’s give the camera a name: Back Deck
3. Now a short name, I’ll use BD, which will be use as a prefix to this camera’s storage file names.
4. Select here if the camera has a mic.
5. Disable motion detector because I’ll be recording continuously.
6. Select Direct-to-disc as a performance benefit so the incoming footage is left raw and not encoded. With this option, Blue Iris cannot create overlays, so if you want the date on the footage, the camera will need to be configured to do this. On my i7 processor, turning this option on has saved me 1-2% on my utilization per security camera.
7. Click Ok
8. Next, you’re going to need the camera’s IP address on the internal network. Let’s look at a few methods to find it. First, you can click the Find/inspect button when the IP address field is blank. This will bring up a list of IP network cameras. This is the camera with a .97 IP address I want to add. If I click ok, the camera will add using a generic configuration, which is fine, but this camera has a more complicated configuration on my network and may not add correctly. I would rather use this option to find the IP address only and use this feature to fully add a camera if it were a generic RTSP or ONVIF camera not found in the list of supported brands. You can also find a camera’s IP address by looking at the network details for the camera on its app. The last camera in the list is the one I am after. If you don’t have that option, some brands of cameras have PC utilities which will scan your network for their brands of cameras. Here are all my Hikvision camera and #5 is the one I want. If that’s not an option, you could even use a network IP address identification app, like Fing (which is free). Also, if there is an IP camera written on the camera’s box, this might work, but is not guaranteed as your router may change this setting.
9. Now I’ll enter this camera’s credentials.
10. Since this is a Hikvision camera, we’ll select it. From the camera’s internal web user interface, I know that this camera uses an RTSP port of 977, so I will add that.
11. Let’s hit OK and move along.
12. There is nothing here on the video tab you absolutely need to adjust but do notice the frame rate at which you want Blue Iris to use. The camera streams at a given frame rate which can be configured in the camera’s app or web user interface. In this scenario, the camera is streaming at a maximum of 10 frames per second. If the max rate in Blue Iris is set to higher, it will use value from the camera as long as it’s not over 30. If the max rate is set to a lower value, like 6, then our Blue Iris live view and recordings will be at a maximum of 6. It’s a performance option if you have several cameras.
13. Here over on the Trigger tab, Motion recording is off. I normally don’t use this and just record 24/7.
14. Speaking of which, over on the Record tab, let’s set this to record all the time or continuously.
15. For Combine or cut video, it’s a personal thing but I like to keep my footage files relatively small so I can search through them quite quickly. I’ll set mine to 2 hours or 4GB. This means my 2-hour files will appear in chronological order in the clip window on the right and will make searching through them pretty quick, in 2 hour increments.
16. For, record dual streams, I didn’t configure a second video stream from the camera, but I don’t normally use this feature. Basically, it allows you to record a lower quality stream from the camera (in addition to the main stream) and it makes searching though footage faster.
17. Lastly, I’ll complete the addition by hitting OK.

Since we are repeating the same steps from the Hikvision add above, I will shorten them here.

1. Add a camera
2. Give it a name
3. Yes for a mic and direct to disc
4. Use the IP address and credentials
5. Select Reolink
6. I’m going to lower the frame rate. The current setting on the camera is set to stream at 30 but I’m going to select Blue Iris to live stream and record at 10.
7. On the record tab, select continuous and update the 8 hours to 2.
8. And we’re done.

Again, the add it shortened here since we did these similar actions above.

1. Add a camera
2. Give it a name
3. Yes for a mic and direct to disc
4. Use the IP address and credentials
5. I’m going to use the Find/inspect feature so Blue Iris will find the camera and populate the rest of the field.
6. I’m going to lower the frame rate. I know that this one is streaming at 20fps, and in this case I will match that to keep that nice smooth PTZ flow knowing that it will have a small CPU performance impact on my PC.
7. On the record tab, select continuous and update the 8 hours to 2.
8. And we’re done but since this is a PTZ camera, Blue Iris can also control the camera using the arrows and zoom feature. If I double click on the camera to make it full screen, I also have control as the mouse icon changes.