VMS viewing station CPU usage

[RedSq 0]

Hi guys.

 

I've used other VMS systems but for this project client requested Milestone XProtect.

We chose Essential since they didn't need any advanced features. Now... when client opens viewer on a desktop PC CPU usage goes to the max and they can't really do anything else on that machine.

 

Setup is as following: Client machine - new Dell desktop with 3GB RAM and dual core Intel E7500 (3Ghz). Viewer - Milestone SmartClient 5.0

Cameras - 12 Acti and Axis megapixel cameras, 2 Axis 3MP cameras. All cameras are set to H264.

 

Milestone support keeps insisting that it is normal and I should just view 3-4 cameras at once but I think they just don't want to help.

So my question is what are you seeing as CPU usage on your viewing stations for this camera count? (especially if you use Milestone)

 

Thanks!

[thewireguys 3]

I have heard that Milestone has issues with cameras over 2MP and H.246. Switch the cameras to MJPEG and see what happens.

[drvcrash 0]

My newer sandybridge corei5 system averages about 25% cpu viewing 5 cams on Milestone Go. one is the axis 5mp , one a 720p and the other 3 are just sd.

 

Milestone seem to be heavy cpu.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2448119/milestone-cpu.JPG

[thewireguys 3]

My newer sandybridge corei5 system averages about 25% cpu viewing 5 cams on Milestone Go. one is the axis 5mp , one a 720p and the other 3 are just sd.

 

Milestone seem to be heavy cpu.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2448119/milestone-cpu.JPG

 

All H.264?

[drvcrash 0]

no , the p1347 is h.264, the 212 ptz is mpeg4 , the others are all mjpg.

 

I agree Milestone seems to not like the 2mp + h.264 cameras. When I remove it from the system it settles down to about 8%. I Cant even get Exacq to load that camera.

[thewireguys 3]

no , the p1347 is h.264, the 212 ptz is mpeg4 , the others are all mjpg.

 

I agree Milestone seems to not like the 2mp + h.264 cameras. When I remove it from the system it settles down to about 8%. I Cant even get Exacq to load that camera.

 

Exacq has no problems with H.264 MP cameras. I have many installs with them working fine.

[RedSq 0]

That's odd... I will try to switch to MJPEG. But now it's going to eat storage like crazy. I have 2TB array and these two 3MP cameras are one of the most active shot so I get a lot of motion in them. I'll see if I can have Milestone L2 support to explain what is going on.

 

Thanks for the input everyone.

[thewireguys 3]

That's odd... I will try to switch to MJPEG. But now it's going to eat storage like crazy. I have 2TB array and these two 3MP cameras are one of the most active shot so I get a lot of motion in them. I'll see if I can have Milestone L2 support to explain what is going on.

 

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

I have heard from multiple people that Milestone has issues with H.264 cameras over 2MP. I would love to hear what Milestone has to say about this. Please tell us what they say.

[hardwired 0]

Try reducing the resolution in the viewing client from "full" to "super high" or "high" for all cameras, this will reduce processor load a lot, and the difference is not really visible in the split screen mode.

 

The resolution will change back to full when you select a single camera, unless you select otherwise in the setup.

[RedSq 0]

Well.... there's no such setting as 'camera resolution' in Milestone client. They have a setting called 'processing threads' but changing that doesn't seem to make much difference. I'm still dealing with no support from Milestone - their L1 techs just keep blaming L2 support for 'being busy and having backlog of tickets'. I even talked to a sales rep that blamed someone else in turn, promised to call me back in an hour and never did.

 

So my question is: am I the only one having all this trouble or so called "industry leader" Milestone Systems isn't worth of my clients money?

[thewireguys 3]

This is from their new NVR that they just came out with and look at what the limitations are. Notice they don't have anything over 1MP for H.264 and look at what the limit is for 3MP using JPEG.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2011 by Guest

[hardwired 0]

See setting under "Image Quality" in the smart client, here. Running on the server at this setting only adds about 35% CPU load. Server is a Win7, I5, GeForce 9500 machine. Cameras are all set at 2MP, H.264, 10-15FPS.

[RedSq 0]

Yes. That was a trick... Thrusters are firing now.

Thank you 'hardwired'.

[hardwired 0]

Yes. That was a trick... Thrusters are firing now.

Thank you 'hardwired'.

You're welcome, glad that helped.

 

You can also create multiple viewing profiles. Running at that image quality setting, or lower, will also help greatly with viewing remotely over low bandwidth WAN connections, or to laptops, etc. with limited video processing capability.

 

Also, you did not mention what video card your unit had, or was it on-board video? Most VMS software packages function better with a separate, reasonable quality video card.

[thewireguys 3]

So the solution with Milestone and MP cameras is to reduce image quality to get more cameras on the screen? Does it automatically adjust ito better quality f you only have one camera displayed? How many cameras can you view at one time with recorded video?

[hardwired 0]

So the solution with Milestone and MP cameras is to reduce image quality to get more cameras on the screen?

Yes. It significantly reduces processing load, and bandwidth necessary for a decent framerate, and the difference is not very noticeable, especially in smaller multiple windows.

Does it automatically adjust ito better quality f you only have one camera displayed?

Yes' date=' it goes to full resolution, unless you select otherwise (and, it is adjustable for full-screen and split screen on a per-camera, per-view, and per-user basis).

How many cameras can you view at one time with recorded video?

72 in a 16X9 format, 100 in 4X3 format (same in live or playback-although multiple monitors are supported, as well.) BTW, I just tried that out, those are pretty small squares, even on a 1080p 42" monitor!

[thewireguys 3]

How many cameras can you view at one time with recorded video?

72 in a 16X9 format, 100 in 4X3 format (same in live or playback-although multiple monitors are supported, as well.) BTW, I just tried that out, those are pretty small squares, even on a 1080p 42" monitor!

 

Milestone support told me the limit is about 24 cameras depending on your computers hardware and the resolution of the cameras.

Edited June 2, 2011 by Guest

[40th Floor 0]

... when client opens viewer on a desktop PC CPU usage goes to the max and they can't really do anything else on that machine.

 

Take a look at the screenshot. The camera windows are 320x240, but the full resoltions are pulled and decoded; the directx is doing the scaling down. No diff if I pop the windows up to full size, move to other monitors, or time of day (well).

 

If the attach doesn't, here is an imageshack, too (an 8-bit PNG, about 333 KB)

 

 

The taskmgr is at the far right. Yes, 2% CPU with the 9 cams viewing.

 

(Can't add the PNG here since the limit for me is 150 KB, but JPEG that wasn't anything but awful was much bigger than the 8-bit PNG.)

[hardwired 0]

How many cameras can you view at one time with recorded video?72 in a 16X9 format, 100 in 4X3 format (same in live or playback-although multiple monitors are supported, as well.) BTW, I just tried that out, those are pretty small squares, even on a 1080p 42" monitor!

 

Milestone support told me the limit is about 24 cameras depending on your computers hardware and the resolution of the cameras.

One of my sites is displaying 37 cameras (although a mix of megapixel and standard resolution) just fine, using the resolution settings I described earlier.

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Hardwired this is awesome.

 

Looking forward to giving this a shot tomorrow. Are the different profiles all setup within that same setup window you attached an image of?

 

Customer views a number of cameras at a time but let say anytime they have a multicamera screen can we have the lower res and when they double click to show just one camera it will display in full? It seems I can do this but not sure where to look at this. I'm no Milestone expert for sure. I've stayed far away but I got one customer with it and I didn't install it. They have this slow sluggish performance so I'm hoping this will help.