How to get started

[ds76]

Hello folks,

I am just about to get started in home surveillance. I have done quite a bit of internet research, but I have have no hands-on experience yet. I know I want to go with IP 1080P cameras, but I haven't decided if I want to use an NVR or a dedicated computer or just have all my cameras upload to a cloud server. I'm leaning towards a dedicated computer and Blue Iris software. Is that the best course for a beginner? If I get a computer, what would be the minimum requirements for a reliable adequate computer system for 6 - 8 1080P POE cameras?

Thanks for your time,

David

 

[automag928]

You and I are in the same boat. I've been doing a bunch of research, and being in the IT field I think may be hurting me because I'm way over analyzing. I originally thought I was going to build a new i5 PC to run blue iris, but I'm now planning on running a Windows Server in VM, on a hp dl360 g5 or g6 / Dell 2950 (very cheap on eBay) connected up to QNAP NAS via iSCSI , networked with a dell 48 port POE switch to the 8-12 1080P cameras. The server while "bigger" is hopefully going to allow me to run other services, i.e. proxy server, and other stuff for home. Right now I'm looking at hikvision 3MP cameras, from nelly's or wrightwood surveillance as my research into purchasing at aliexpress is haphazard at best - i don't feel like i've found the right vendor maybe...

 

[fenderman]

Hello folks,

I am just about to get started in home surveillance. I have done quite a bit of internet research, but I have have no hands-on experience yet. I know I want to go with IP 1080P cameras, but I haven't decided if I want to use an NVR or a dedicated computer or just have all my cameras upload to a cloud server. I'm leaning towards a dedicated computer and Blue Iris software. Is that the best course for a beginner? If I get a computer, what would be the minimum requirements for a reliable adequate computer system for 6 - 8 1080P POE cameras?

Thanks for your time,

David

Welcome to the forum...both dedicated pc or nvr are fine for beginners. If you want lots of scheduling/recording and alert options, blue iris is probably the way to go. You can use an i5 haswell, available for 300 at the dell outlet sales (optiplex 7020/9020) or hp elitedesk 800 on ebay for 300 (i5 haswell)..

 

[MartyO]

Hello folks,

I am just about to get started in home surveillance. I have done quite a bit of internet research, but I have have no hands-on experience yet. I know I want to go with IP 1080P cameras, but I haven't decided if I want to use an NVR or a dedicated computer or just have all my cameras upload to a cloud server. I'm leaning towards a dedicated computer and Blue Iris software. Is that the best course for a beginner? If I get a computer, what would be the minimum requirements for a reliable adequate computer system for 6 - 8 1080P POE cameras?

Thanks for your time,

David

NVR or PC, no cloud. Feel comfortable with PCs?

 

[ds76]

I appreciate the information. I could tell from cruising the forum that there's a lot experience here. I am pretty comfortable with PCs, but I'm not committed to that route yet. If I go with an NVR, how is this one? http://www.nellyssecurity.com/eyesurv-ion-series-esdv-nvrion-8-8-channel-1080p-hi-def-mini-nvr-for-ip-cameras.html?___SID=U

Thanks again.

 

[fenderman]

I appreciate the information. I could tell from cruising the forum that there's a lot experience here. I am pretty comfortable with PCs, but I'm not committed to that route yet. If I go with an NVR, how is this one? http://www.nellyssecurity.com/eyesurv-ion-series-esdv-nvrion-8-8-channel-1080p-hi-def-mini-nvr-for-ip-cameras.html?___SID=U

Thanks again.

You need to match the nvr to the cameras or motion detection may not work. That NVR will work with 1080p or less dahua cameras..

 

[automag928]

Holy crap based off the current suggestions, is my refurb server idea way over kill?

 

[fenderman]

Holy crap based off the current suggestions, is my refurb server idea way over kill?

Not just overkill, but likely to yield poor results. The older xeon's were not that powerful and power hogs...would cost you a fortune to run. If you are going to run 24mp then go with a haswell i7..very efficient and can be had for under 500.

 

[automag928]

@fenderman - not doubting your knowledge at all, but i thought the dl360 g6's with the x5570s weren't that bad, i thought ballpark of like 90w per cpu? plus the resilience of an actual server. I've got thousands of servers in a data center 50 feet from my desk that run 24x7 with cpu's loaded and i'm not sure i'd trust a desktop pc to do that...? Then again I have absolutely 0 practical knowledge of installing a pc based NVR - you guys would know.

 

[fenderman]

@fenderman - not doubting your knowledge at all, but i thought the dl360 g6's with the x5570s weren't that bad, i thought ballpark of like 90w per cpu? plus the resilience of an actual server. I've got thousands of servers in a data center 50 feet from my desk that run 24x7 with cpu's loaded and i'm not sure i'd trust a desktop pc to do that...? Then again I have absolutely 0 practical knowledge of installing a pc based NVR - you guys would know.

The x5570's is an 09 cpu...so the server is likely to be six years old. They are horribly inefficient. A single i7 haswell will match 2 of the xeons performance on passmark and likely beet it in actual use. It will use a small fraction of the power. Here is an example of the 2950 power consumption. Though the cpu is not listed, Its likely the dual xeon.
A modern haswell i7 pc, will consume about 50-80 watts under 50 percent load. This thing is close to 300. The savings would be 200-400 PER year depending on your rates.
The dell optiplex and hp elite desks are built exceptionally well. I have many of these in service as BI machines (over 20) and business machines (30+, many running 24/7 as well) with zero issues.
Dont waste your money on an old power hungry clunky server. In the past, I recall folks seeing disappointing performance using old xeon servers with blue iris.

 

[automag928]

@fenderman - so now I'm looking for refurb i5 haswell's and the dell outlet store all looks like ~600? Any suggestions where to find a better deal / price? I see hp elite desk's running for 350ish on eBay with i5's. Does BI need 8gb of ram or is 4 enough?

 

[fenderman]

@fenderman - so now I'm looking for refurb i5 haswell's and the dell outlet store all looks like ~600? Any suggestions where to find a better deal / price? I see hp elite desk's running for 350ish on eBay with i5's. Does BI need 8gb of ram or is 4 enough?

If you are going to have 24mp worth of cameras get an i7 haswell(or wait until hardware acceleration is introduced in BI which should be soon) . Follow the twitter page they have a sale twice a month...

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[MartyO]

I appreciate the information. I could tell from cruising the forum that there's a lot experience here. I am pretty comfortable with PCs, but I'm not committed to that route yet. If I go with an NVR, how is this one? http://www.nellyssecurity.com/eyesurv-ion-series-esdv-nvrion-8-8-channel-1080p-hi-def-mini-nvr-for-ip-cameras.html?___SID=U

Thanks again.

If you go PC route, then get BI and its APP. Only get one or two camera to start (if you are in no rush), and just use whatever PC you have for now.

 

[ds76]

I've decided to start with one camera and scale up from there. I started out by ordering a fairly low cost no name 2 MP camera with on board SD storage. It had a beautiful picture, but the built-in mic wouldn't work. I tried to update the firmware from the vendor's site. The update failed and then the camera wouldn't work at all. I tried re-setting the camera - nothing. I tried uninstalling all the software and re-installing it - nothing. I emailed the vendor earlier because I had an issue with the default user name and password and didn't get a reply. Thankfully, it came through Amazon, so it went back with free shipping. After a little more research and a decision to spend a little more money (too much Scottish blood) I ordered a 2CD2532F-IS from Nelly's this morning. I've already had a couple of emails from them and I think I will get much better support. Lesson learned...

 

[NVR]

If price is one of the factors for going pc based, consider this 32ch NVR, fairly priced and holds 16tb. can also go without the POE for a little less and get external POE switches.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hikvision-DS-7732N-E4-16P-Network-32CH-NVR-with-16-POE-Interface-IP-Camera-NVR-/121699430553?hash=item1c55d9f099:g:8KMAAOSw9N1Vnews