Anyone with experience of running BI on a Mac Mini (windows 7) ?

[mrsdoubtfire]

Hi there,

I'm looking at running Blue Iris on a Mac Mini with Windows 7 / Boot Camp

ANyone done this?

Cheers

 

[fenderman]

Hi there,

I'm looking at running Blue Iris on a Mac Mini with Windows 7 / Boot Camp

ANyone done this?

Cheers

I have not done this, however, you would need a stronger processor than running BI on a windows machine. That brings us to the most important question. How many cameras, what type?

 

[mrsdoubtfire]

Cheers Fenderman

Just a small setup really - say 3 (I haven't bought them yet) 720p cameras - maybe Foscam

Actually I don't have to use a mac mini - could you or anyone possibly recommend a similar silent running compact sized windows machine with HDMI that would be a better bet (for Blue Iris) than a mac mini? And hopefully cheaper!

Cheers again

 

[fenderman]

Cheers Fenderman

Just a small setup really - say 3 (I haven't bought them yet) 720p cameras - maybe Foscam

Actually I don't have to use a mac mini - could you or anyone possibly recommend a similar silent running compact sized windows machine with HDMI that would be a better bet (for Blue Iris) than a mac mini? And hopefully cheaper!

Cheers again

OK. Perfect. First, please don't get foscam, they are junk. What are your needs? Indoor, ourdoor, audio, ptz. what are you trying to cover?
As far as pc, there are tons of options for slim desktop pc's that are quiet and will be perfect for 3 cameras. Here is one great option http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-EliteDesk-800-G1-Win-8-Pro-8gb-320gb-i3-4130-Keyb-Mouse-Best-Deal-/151243774641?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item2336d4dab1 note that that model does not have room to add a second hard drive and the drive in there is a laptop 2.5....model has a 3 year next business day warranty....cannot beat that price...there are other options from the dell outlet as well. The hp I linked to is the latest haswell processor.

 

[mrsdoubtfire]

OK. Perfect. First, please don't get foscam, they are junk. What are your needs? Indoor, ourdoor, audio, ptz. what are you trying to cover?
As far as pc, there are tons of options for slim desktop pc's that are quiet and will be perfect for 3 cameras. Here is one great option http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-EliteDesk-800-G1-Win-8-Pro-8gb-320gb-i3-4130-Keyb-Mouse-Best-Deal-/151243774641?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item2336d4dab1 note that that model does not have room to add a second hard drive and the drive in there is a laptop 2.5....model has a 3 year next business day warranty....cannot beat that price...there are other options from the dell outlet as well. The hp I linked to is the latest haswell processor.

Thanks for the info - that PC type looks good.

First of all I would like to cover a hallway and if possible use a camera hidden in a PIR detector

Would this one do the trick and work with Blue Iris? I assume the power is provided by the ethernet cable & socket

+ I assume that you set up the camera using the ethernet cable - and then after that it works wirelessly and the cable is just used for power?

http://www.lightinthebox.com/new-poe-wireless-hidden-ip-camera-with-1-3-sony-ccd-700tvl-h-264-4-3mm-pinhole-lens-motion-detection-covert_p590746.html

Thanks again

 

[bp2008]

Honestly the Mac Mini is probably the fastest option if having a small and quiet PC is important. But it is also the most expensive and will be outperformed by a full desktop. An Intel NUC with an i3 or i5, and 2.5 inch hard drive support would be cheaper, but probably half as powerful. The HP linked in that auction is okay, and faster than a NUC since it uses a full desktop CPU. But you can get a more powerful computer with more HDD space by buying a used or refurbished i5 or i7, while paying close to the same.

If you already bought one of those HPs though, its still a good system and probably quiet and if it truly has a 3 year warranty then that is likely longer than you'd get from any of the other options including the Mac.

 

[fenderman]

those hp's are really small and they are super reliable as they are business class machines. I have the previous generation hp8300 with ivy bridge i5's running in 3 locations flawlessly. The i3 haswell is plenty powerful for 3 720 cameras. the i3 benchmarks at 4849 which is pretty high as far as i3's go. If you wait for a deal you can get the hp 8300 i5 for about 300-350....problem with mac mini is that there is cpu loss just by running windows in parallels and im sure it will cause issues as BI is complex and lots of things could go wrong. The mac mini uses a dual core 2.5 ghz processor which is probably ivy bridge, and im guessing would benchmark lower then the i3 haswell. There is an i7 version for 800... also the mini comes with a 5400 rpm drive which is slow for video recording...

 

[bp2008]

Yes, the HP is definitely smaller than a typical microATX case you could buy if you were building a system yourself.

Computer	Size	Speed	Price
HP EliteDesk with i3	Small	4849	$400 ? but can do better surely
Mac Mini	Smaller	3805 (i5), 7280 (i7), 8320 (faster i7)	$700-$1000
Intel NUC BOXD54250WYKH1	Smallest	3479	About $560 fully loaded

 

[fenderman]

nice chart...yes that particular one at 400 is on the high side, but it does have a 3 year NBD warranty. I have personally purchased at least 10 hp 8300 i5-3450s machines that benchmark at about 6000 for 300-325 each...you simply cannot build it at that prices with the os...

 

[bp2008]

Yeah, not even close. CPU plus cheap MB and RAM will just about hit $300 and that isn't even considering the case, power supply, dvd drive, OS, HDD, and the higher noise levels and larger physical size you will get building it yourself.