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Video Insight is a very flexible platform. The software has many powerful features, however each of them uses additional processing power. The IP server displays and stores images received from the IP cameras. These images are compressed at the camera therefore saving the server processing time. Many cameras have built in motion detection and only send images to the server that need to be saved, once again saving the server from this process. However if the IP Server needs to do its own Motion Detection, the Server will be doing a significant amount of work. Take the following items into consideration as you configure your system:

Processor Utilization

By using the Task Manager, (right click the Task Bar) you can check the percentage of processor utilization (CPU). The processor is used for all computer activities, but is especially stressed while compressing the video, displaying the live images and saving the recorded images to the disk. As you increase the number of cameras and number of frames per second, you will use more of the processor time. If you check the processor and it is running greater than 80%, then consider each of the following items because they use a significant mount of processing.

• Displaying Live Video - To display live video on the Servers screen requires as much as 40% CPU Usage. This depends on how many cameras you are displaying. One consideration is deciding if you need to view the live video on the server or is it sufficient to just let the server record the video and review the video at a later time. By utilizing the "Disable Live Video" or the "Disable Live Video" after 5 minutes, you can lighten the processor load. You can enable and disable the Live Video from the View menu or the tool bar and will have no effect on the recording. This also works well if you are using the Network Client to view video without anyone watching the server.
• Adjusting frames per second - The more frames per second you capture, the more CPU required. Any many cases you will discover that you are recording more frames than are actually necessary for the particular camera. Try adjusting some of the cameras to lower frame settings and judge the performance while reviewing the difference in the actual amount of video stored.
• Motion Detection Recording (IP Server) - To decrease the amount of processor being used, decrease the number of cameras using Motion Recording or the number of Frames Per Second you are recording on each camera. The process of checking each frame using IP cameras is significantly more processor intensive than with Analog cameras because the image received by the server is already compressed and must be converted prior to image comparison.
• Date and Time Stamp - A feature of Video Insight is the burning of the date and time on each image as its being written to the AVI file. As you increase the number of cameras on a single server, the amount of CPU required to do this can be as high as 25%. If you do not need the date and time stamp, try disabling it in the Tools/Server/Setup/Record Tab.
• Numerous Users - If you plan on having a large amount of users connecting to the system to monitor video, we recommend that you use are more robust operating system, such as Windows 2003 Server.

Disk Usage

Another area of optimization is the number of days the system can store before the hard drive is full. Disk drives are inexpensive these days so its not a great concern, however the following tips can help you maximize the storage space.

• Frames per second - In many cases, the system is recording more frames per second than is actually required. Everyone gets excited about recording a lot of images, but as soon as they have to review the recorded video, they wish it wasn't recording so many images. The default settings are 7fps on each camera and its tempting to adjust it up to 30 fps but it will use a lot of disk space. The actually difference between 15fps and 30fps starts to be imperceptible to most people. In fact, the average frame rate is around 3fps for most systems.
• Bytes per frame - Increasing the number, increases the size of the image and corresponding the quality of the image. The size can be adjusted between 8k and 60k per image with a default size of 10k. In most situations, 10k will produce a nice image, however if the image appears to be out of focus or less sharp, try and increase the size. Note that image you see on the screen will only improve slightly based on changes to the image size, however the recorded image and the Network Client images will improve dramatically as the size of the image increases. The larger the image, the more disk space the images will consume. Find a balance between image size and image clarity that fits all your needs.
• Motion Detection Recording - To increase or decrease the amount of disk space used, you also need to evaluate how much of the activity is actually being recorded. After the system has been running a few days, review the recorded files. Look to see if the system has recorded cameras that didn't have any motion. For example, you just see a recording of an empty room. Try and adjust the motion sensitivity upward – the default is 10% you might try 20%. Every situation is different and each requires a little tweaking to find the right balance.