Looking for the ideal Blue Iris/Plex storage solution

[sakau]

Hey guys. I currently run a Plex server for my media around the home from my main desktop PC. For this reason, I leave it on 24/7, and it is kind of a power hog.

I've recently upgraded my network and am in the process of buying cameras for a home surveillance system. I bought a Dahua Starlight camera, Dell Optiplex 3060, and Blue Iris 5 to test things out... and I like the way it all works together. However, the Optiplex only has 1 additional drive slot and currently has a 1TB drive in it. Basically, I need more storage... and I don't think the Optiplex is powerful enough to drive as many cameras as I want and run a Plex media server as well with multiple users at any given time.

Unless I'm just going way down the wrong path, I think a NAS would be my best option for storing my Plex files. I am looking at the Synology 920+ (4 bays). It looks like I could drop 2x WD Purple drives in for storing surveillance footage, and use the other 2 drive slots for media storage to run the Plex server. Should I be looking at something other than Synology? I want to stay fairly brand agnostic as I am going to be using Blue Iris and haven't decided what brand cameras I will be using (I assume I will be mixing and matching depending on the desired functionality of the particular camera location).

How would you guys go about setting this up?

 

[Hetticles]

How many cameras are you planning? 4k?
are you fully utilizing substreams in Blue Iris 5? This can really up your megapixels without upping the budget.
Do you do a lot of transcoding with Plex? I would agree that this may not be an ideal setup to do both on the same budget hardware. Ebay has cheap machines that can run BI...

 

[samplenhold]

Hope you have read the Cliff Notes and the WIKI.

Most people here will tell you that for BI, a dedicated machine is best. As @Hetticles stated, there are cheap machines on eBay that will run BI. See the Cliff Notes for info on what is recommended.

It is also recommended that you record 24/7. That way you will not miss anything that events did not capture. With that in mind, having the cam vids on the BI machine is preferred rather than writing across the network and competing with your PLEX recording on a NAS. However, plenty of folks do record to their NAS. Personally I find it best to keep things segregated. When things go wrong, it simplifies the troubleshooting.

 

[sakau]

How many cameras are you planning? 4k?
are you fully utilizing substreams in Blue Iris 5? This can really up your megapixels without upping the budget.
Do you do a lot of transcoding with Plex? I would agree that this may not be an ideal setup to do both on the same budget hardware. Ebay has cheap machines that can run BI...

Not sure on the number of cameras. I imagine I will slowly add to the system. I could see eventually having 8-12 cameras.

I am not utilizing substreams (or really anything) in Blue Iris right now. I've barely played with it at all. Just enough to see the breadth of options and how it operates. I am still trying to select the hardware. There are plenty of youtube tutorials and tips and tricks and whatnot that I will familiarize myself with as I go along.

As for transcoding with Plex... I'm not sure when Plex transcodes. 95% of the Plex usage is on Rokus, Fire Sticks, and other streaming devices on TVs in the house. All connected to my home network. If Plex is having to transcode to these types of devices, then yes. But if it is the Roku+Plex app that is doing the transcoding, then no... basically no transcoding.

Hope you have read the Cliff Notes and the WIKI.

Most people here will tell you that for BI, a dedicated machine is best. As @Hetticles stated, there are cheap machines on eBay that will run BI. See the Cliff Notes for info on what is recommended.

It is also recommended that you record 24/7. That way you will not miss anything that events did not capture. With that in mind, having the cam vids on the BI machine is preferred rather than writing across the network and competing with your PLEX recording on a NAS. However, plenty of folks do record to their NAS. Personally I find it best to keep things segregated. When things go wrong, it simplifies the troubleshooting.

People are telling me to get a dedicated machine, and I've done that. That's what the Optiplex 3060 is. However, it doesn't have enough storage for medium-long term storage of clips. It has a 1TB drive which might be fine for a day or two, but at some point, I am going to want to move the files to a more longer-term storage device.

My idea was:
Main PC - relative powerhouse system, currently used for gaming, work, and general usage. also currently used as a Plex server, with all the media files spread out over several HDDs. System has to be on 24/7. goal is to have this NOT on 24/7.
Optiplex 3060 - runs Blue Iris and can store the files temporarily, but there is not enough disk space for 14+ days of storage. So after a few days, the clips are moved to a...
4-bay NAS device? - runs the Plex media server, has 2 bays dedicated to media for that Plex server, and the other 2 bays dedicated to long-term storage of clips

Even if I expand the storage capabilities of the Optiplex 3060 by dropping like an 8TB disk in the system, that does not solve my issue of where to run my Plex server.

 

[samplenhold]

the Optiplex only has 1 additional drive slot and currently has a 1TB drive in it

So does this mean there is an empty 3.5" drive bay? I take this statement to mean there are two 3.5" drive bays and one has a 1 TB drive in it. If that is correct, then pull that drive out and install two WD purple 10TB or larger drives. That will give you plenty of storage.

Get your NAS like you planned.

You could move recordings from the BI server to your NAS, but most folks have found this to be a waste. Usually if you don't need them in a few weeks, you never need them.

 

[sakau]

So does this mean there is an empty 3.5" drive bay? I take this statement to mean there are two 3.5" drive bays and one has a 1 TB drive in it. If that is correct, then pull that drive out and install two WD purple 10TB or larger drives. That will give you plenty of storage.

Get your NAS like you planned.

You could move recordings from the BI server to your NAS, but most folks have found this to be a waste. Usually if you don't need them in a few weeks, you never need them.

There are two drive slots; One is a 256GB SSD where Windows10 and BI are installed. The other is a 1TB HDD that came with the unit. I can probably get by removing this drive and replacing it with a WD Purple 8TB (or larger) drive.

Then, in addition to that, I should pick up a NAS and a WD Red drive(s) to store all my media on the NAS, which can then be played across the network (or internet) via Plex?

That would give me two always on machines -- a Blue Iris Optiplex server and a Synology NAS running Plex. Then, my gaming PC would only be turned on while in use.