5 questions - UPS for 2 floors, HDMI over ETH vs Modulator...

[Volcom]

Hi,

I'm designing the network of my new home and I have a few questions. Hopefully you can help me

1) Powering hardware on 2 floors with the same UPS

In my setup there's a PC hidden behind a fake wall that runs Blue Iris connected to 8 cameras powered via POE. In case of emergency an UPS can provide power also to the usual stuff (modem, switches, Alexa, SmartThings). It's a 2 floor home hence I need to place hardware on both floors. Luckily both "cores" of my network are aligned vertically and can be easily connected thanks the many empty electrical conduits. That being said, I need to power both floors with the same UPS so here are my options:

• Purchase a long VDE cable that connects the UPS with the hardware of the other floor. The cable runs into the electrical conduit. Obviously I'll need to cut one extremity since I can't run the cable with the plug. I'll re-attach it when I'm on the other floor
• Maybe I am overcomplicating. Is it possible to connect the VDE to the UPS, cut the other side of the cable, connect all wires to standard electrical wires, run them into the conduit then re-attach them to the VDE plug when I am on the other side? This should be easier since VDE cables are pretty fat

What do you suggest me?

Please notice that the reason why I can't have an UPS for each floor is that one floor is very humid. I don't like the idea of having a battery in this place especially because it would be behind the fake wall.

2) HDMI over Ethernet vs RF modulator

The idea is that in any moment I can watch all my cameras running on Blue Iris PC from any TV. I have two plans:

• Use an HDMI splitter extender over ethernet. This way I can watch my PC by simply changing source on my TVs
• Use an RF modulator on TV coax cable so I can watch all cameras from a TV channel of my choice. I have already located where the main cable comes from

3) Special monitor

I'm thinking of buying a small touch screen monitor directly connected to Blue Iris PC via HDMI and powered by the UPS. The idea is that if my gf is home alone and power goes off, she could still see all cameras from this monitor, zoom & click via touch screen. Does it make sense?

4) Sensor to detect power failures

Maybe I am dumb but I can't find decent power failure sensors. They all seem very cheap. All I need is detecting power failures on SmartThings or Alexa so that I can use it as trigger to do stuff (eg. send email, play a sound etc.). Do you have any product to recommend?

5) Alternative to Reolink for Blue Iris

I wanted to buy Reolink cameras because they're cheap but the internet is full of people having issues to make them run with Blue Iris. It's a neverending story where people keep installing new firmwares that don't fix core issues (eg. FPS drop in substream, IR randomly turning on/off, artifacts). I don't want this kind of experience

What brands in the mid-low pricing have proved to work well with Blue Iris and that can be purchased in Europe?

Thanks!

 

[Mark_M]

2) HDMI over Ethernet vs RF modulator

The idea is that in any moment I can watch all my cameras running on Blue Iris PC from any TV. I have two plans:

• Use an HDMI splitter extender over ethernet. This way I can watch my PC by simply changing source on my TVs
• Use an RF modulator on TV coax cable so I can watch all cameras from a TV channel of my choice. I have already located where the main cable comes from

In my household a modulator is awesome.
It makes it much easier for family members to change to the cctv feed.

IP modulators might be better suited than HDMI... an advantage with an IP modulator is you can steal the RTSP feed from a camera and leave the NVR/Blue Iris's HDMI port free.
However, Blue Iris can do multiple HDMI outputs and that also reduces the cost from an IP modulator to an HDMI modulator.

3) Special monitor

I'm thinking of buying a small touch screen monitor directly connected to Blue Iris PC via HDMI and powered by the UPS. The idea is that if my gf is home alone and power goes off, she could still see all cameras from this monitor, zoom & click via touch screen. Does it make sense?

Anything is possible with Blue Iris....
Personally I would just show family members where the Blue Iris computer is and say you can use the mouse/screen to control while on UPS power.

Another idea is a cheap tablet and have the WiFi on UPS. (Or just use your phone on the WiFi!)

4) Sensor to detect power failures

Maybe I am dumb but I can't find decent power failure sensors. They all seem very cheap. All I need is detecting power failures on SmartThings or Alexa so that I can use it as trigger to do stuff (eg. send email, play a sound etc.). Do you have any product to recommend?

I would suggest a UPS with network or USB capabilities.
That can also tell the computer running Blue Iris when the battery is very low and to gracefully shutdown.

UPS statistics is usually; charge status, battery health, AC power status, estimated running time on battery, total loading, etc.

5) Alternative to Reolink for Blue Iris

I wanted to buy Reolink cameras because they're cheap but the internet is full of people having issues to make them run with Blue Iris. It's a neverending story where people keep installing new firmwares that don't fix core issues (eg. FPS drop in substream, IR randomly turning on/off, artifacts). I don't want this kind of experience

What brands in the mid-low pricing have proved to work well with Blue Iris and that can be purchased in Europe?

Dahua is commonly said here. I use Dahua and think it is decent.

Dahua manufactures the cameras, and there are many rebrands of it.
Such as:

• SPRO
• Montavue
• EmpireTech/EmpireTek
• ICRealTime

Hikvision and Uniview is also a well known manufacture.

You'll find a commercial brand works far nicer than consumer brands like Reolink.

 

[Volcom]

Thanks. All clear

I would suggest a UPS with network or USB capabilities.

Good point. The UPS is from APC and can be connected via USB to the PC that also runs Blue Iris. APC software isn't very smart but I found a workaround. When power goes off it creates an entry in Windows Event Log. I can detect this event by ID and do things.