Hi to all from a new member

[misterfredsr]

Hi to all from a new member,<br>I’m looking for a system to keep an eye in and around my house because my mom has Alzheimer’s and is recovering from a broken hip. &nbsp;I would really like to keep an eye on what going on in my house when the sitters come by and spent time with my mom while I’m at work.<br>My problem is I know very little bout surveillance systems. The only thing that I have really learned here is that everything needs to be wired and you need to get good brand named cameras.<br>I’m looking for a good PC to run blue iris because I believe I’ll be able to run a wider range of cameras if nothing else I’ll have a new computer.<br>My first question is what are the chances of me with my no knowledge get a system up and running? I do have an open attic to reach everywhere that I need at put a camera it’s just the switches, port forwarding, etc…. I’m going to have problems with if I don't have good instructions.<br>I did buy one of those foscam cameras to get my feet wet and after 2 months I finely got tired of resetting it all the time(wifi) to just to use it.<br>Thank,<br>Fred<br>

 

[kameraman]

Hi Misterfredsr,

I'm in similar position...relatively new to the ipcam game. I've seen lots of recommendations for Dell Optiplex systems for running BI. After trying to run a few cams on an old Surface Pro, I took the plunge and picked up a refurb Optiplex 7040 Micro on ebay. It's a solid foundation that's spec'd really nicely for the price, with the latest Intel Skylake chip which can handle BI's HD hardware acceleration features. I will be running around 15 cams total. So far it's running like a champ with my 4mp Hikvisions (8 cams or so). The 3mp Hikvision cube in 2.8mm and 4mm is a great indoor cam to keep an eye on things inside the house.

If you're interested in picking up a similar PC, this is the one I have been having much success with...at least since BI fixed the memory leak bug in the code yesterday!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-7040-Micro-Tower-Quad-Core-i7-6700T-8GB-500GB-WIFI-3Yr-Warranty/111962638807

I only have two wifi cams running, but I'm trying to remove those from the mix ASAP. Amazon's great with returns if you need to take a few models for a spin. I've had luck with zyXEL managed POE+ switches and using Actiontec MoCa adapters with existing catv coax cabling throughout the house for connecting between different floor levels without having to run ethernet through the floor/ceiling (powerline adapters could also be an option). I've gotten over my fear of blasting holes in the side of the house with the inception of this project, but only want to do so when absolutely necessary

Hope you have some extra time to fiddle with all of this... It's definitely a serious endeavor, not for the faint of heart!

 

[misterfredsr]

Thanks for your support kameraman. I'm currently looking at another PC on e-bay, an Acer i7-6700 with 16gb memory and 2td hd for $570