PC build for 7x 5MP camera & more

[Volcom]

Hi,

new home new security system.

I'm moving to a new house where I'll need 7-8 security cameras. In my current appartment all I need is a single IP camera, POE switch, Synology NAS and UPS. This system is pretty old (2013) and many things have changed so I face many new questions but first let me tell you about my certainties. I want:

• Blue Iris hence PC-based system (no NRV)
• All cameras powered over ethernet
• Cat5e cables because higher categories are overkill
• Reolink 5MP cameras. I'll use a mix of RLC-410 (bullet) and RLC-520 (dome)
• 2MP or 4MP camera

Here are the questions.

Reolink

I've seen many people complaining about the fact that Reolink cameras have troubles with BI. For example they can't keep the same FPS settings for mainstream and substream which leads to incorrect/buggy motion detections. Few days ago I've seen this video where it seems that all problems have been fixed. Can you confirm me this?

AMD vs Intel

I understand I need at least a 6th generation Intel CPU due to h.265 support but what about AMD? I have no problem with Intel. I am just trying to understand if Intel is the only option we have in this particular market.

CPU vs CPU & GPU

What if add a low-end GPU? Can it help with Deepstack and with reducing CPU usage? Is it worth? Any experience? I was thinking of Nvidia GT 1030 or a more powerful Radeon RX 550.

CPU model

I can build a PC for anything but I have no idea of it takes to run BI with 7 or 8 5MP cameras running 24/7. What is the minimum CPU model I should aim to? Would it matter if I add a GPU? I mean with a GPU could I aim to cheaper CPUs?

Storage

I will install Windows, BI and Deepstack on an SSD drive and I already own the following stuff:

• 2x 2TB WD Red installed on a Synology NAS (2 bay)
• 2x 2TB WD Green (not in use)

For the PC that will run BI, I want to to get 2x 2TB WD Purple. Am I correct? Are there better/cheaper options?

That being said, what is the best use I could possibly do of my 6x drives? I was thinking of transfering motion detections to the NAS on a daily basis so that I don't have to worry about losing them. I could use the two super-slow WD Green to keep an extra copy in another place.

Thanks for reading!

 

[fenderman]

Reolink as a company is a lying sack of shit. For years they lied about iframe issues and BI compatibility. Even if this update helps, avoid at all costs. Moreover, the cameras you selected have small sensors and will not perform well at night.

 

[wittaj]

Even if Reolink fixed the frame rate, that only fixes the part about motion triggers in BI. The image quality is still poor at night.

A few other tips....It is simple LOL do not chase MP - do not buy a 4MP camera that is anything smaller than a 1/1.8" sensor. Do not buy a 2MP camera that is anything smaller than a 1/2.8" sensor. Do not buy a 4K (8MP) camera on anything smaller than a 1/1.2" sensor. Unfortunately, most 4k (8MP) cams are on the same sensor as a 2MP and thus the 2MP will kick its butt all night long as the 4k will need 4 times the light than the 2MP... 4k will do very poor at night unless you have stadium quality lighting (well a lot of lighting LOL).

There is not a 5MP camera on the market that is on the ideal MP/sensor ratio.

Follow every optimization in the wiki and you can get by with a 3rd or 4th gen CPU. Members here run over 30 cameras on a 4th gen CPU at sub 30%. Running substreams are a must.

My humble i5-4590 still humming along with 30+ cams:

I see people posting about their i7-xxxx system bogging down with less than 10 cameras so I wanted to update my setup. I have ~33 cams running on my BI system: HP Elitedesk 800 G1 tower i5-4590 @ 3.3GHz 16GB ram 12TB total purple drives for storage 30+ total cams currently - 22 cams visible in...

ipcamtalk.com

What Reolink makes up in for static image quality (and the static image is what almost every NOOB gets fascinated with), they lack when it comes to motion at night...

What you mean a missing hand isn't normal LOL

How about missing everything but the head and upper torso

The invisible man, where can he be. Thank goodness he is carrying around a reflective plate to see where he is LOL (hint - the person is literally in the middle of the image at the end of the fence)

I've seen better images on an episode of ghost hunters

And of course, this is an example from Reolink's marketing videos - do you see a person in this picture...yes, there is a person in this picture.... Could this provide anything useful for the police other than the date and time something happened? Would this protect your home? The still picture looks great though except for the person and the blur of the vehicle... Will give you a hint - the person is in between the two columns:

Bad Boys
Bad Boys
Watcha gonna do
Watcha gonna do
When the camera can't see you

 

[Volcom]

Oh oh! That's why I love forums. Thanks! Reolink goes in my blacklist. I'll find something else.

Thanks for explaining me how sensors work. At this point I'll stick to the good old 2MP (not less than 1/2.8") or 4MP (not less than 1/1.8"). I'll try to find some brand/camera with these specs.

(Btw the maximum distance I need to cover at night is 12 meters)

Follow every optimization in the wiki and you can get by with a 3rd or 4th gen CPU. Members here run over 30 cameras on a 4th gen CPU at sub 30%. Running substreams are a must.

Wait what!? Really? I mean I aleady own a super old i3-3245 (3rd gen) 2 core 3.4 Ghz. If it can really handle 7 cameras thanks to substreams, I'll give it a try before burning money for an unnecessary new CPU and motherboard.

 

[wittaj]

If you have a 3rd gen sitting around, give it a try! A member here is running 18 cams on a 3rd gen just fine. Just do substreams and all the optimizations.

Oh you want to IDENTIFY at 12 meters, yeah those reolink focal lengths or any 2.8mm or 3.6mm focal length will suck.

Here are my general distance recommendations, but switch out the Dahua 5442 series camera to the equivalent 2MP on the 1/2.8" sensor or equivalent Hikvision works as well.

• 5442 fixed lens 2.8mm or the 4K/X - anything within 10 feet of camera OR as an overview camera
• T5449H-ASE-D2 2.8mm fixed lens - anything within 10 feet of camera where the object would be in a backlit condition at night
• 5441F-AS-E2 (AKA Boobie cam) or E3241F-AS-M- great choice for a front door camera. The boobie cam can have one lens pointed down for packages
• T5241H-AS-PV - Great little active deterrence camera with two way talk. Good for anything within 10 feet of camera or as an overview camera
• 5442 ZE or 5842-ZE- varifocal up to 13mm- distances up to 40-50 feet (personally I wouldn't go past the 30 foot range but I like things closer)
• 5442 Z4E - varifocal up to 32mm - anything up to 80-100 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 60 feet but I like things closer)
• 5241-Z12E - varifocal up to 64mm - anything from 80 feet to almost 200 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 150 feet because I like things closer)
• 5241-Z12E - for a license plate cam that you would angle up the street to get plates up to about 175 feet away, or up to 220 with additional IR.
• 49225 PTZ - great auto-track PTZ and in conjunction with an NVR or Blue Iris and the cameras above that you can use as spotter cams to point the PTZ to the correct location to compliment the fixed cams.

You need to get the correct camera for the area trying to be covered. A wide angle 2.8mm to IDENTIFY someone 40 feet away is the wrong camera regardless of how good the camera is. A 2.8mm camera to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet is a good choice OR it is an overview camera to see something happened but not be able to identify who.

One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area. Most of us here have different brands and types, from fixed cams, to varifocals, to PTZs, each one selected for it's primary purpose and to utilize the strength of that particular camera.

So you will need to identify the distance the camera would be from the activities you want to IDENTIFY on and purchase the correct camera for that distance as an optical zoom.

If you want to see things far away, you need optical zoom, digital zoom only works in the movies and TV...And the optical zoom is done real time - for a varifocal it is a set it and forget it. You cannot go to recorded video and optically zoom in later, at that point it is digital zoom, and the sensors on these cameras are so small which is why digital zoom doesn't work very well after the fact.

 

[Volcom]

After a lot of research, I am back with one simple question.

When it comes to motion detection, image processing (eg. face recognition and stuff like that) and software, every brand has its own pros and cons. Generally speaking the more you spend the better quality you get.

Since I am planning to use BI for image processing, am I correct to say I can pick any camera I need just looking at hardware specifications and ignore software-related stuff since I am going to use BI?

 

[sebastiantombs]

As long as the camera has ONVIF capability BI will generally be able to identify it and configure it automatically. That said, it sometimes takes a little trial and error to get things like two way audio working.

In terms of facial identification we're talking about consumer/business level processors and a single processor. Even with a higher end GPU system, like an RTX3060 or better, facial recognition isn't what you see in the movies or on TV. Most of us who have tried it have dropped it. It's more of a novelty and takes many, many, many (you get the idea) captures of each face you want to identify under all kinds of conditions to even get a modicum of dependability, say 50% or higher.

 

[Volcom]

Thanks.

Anyway allow me explain myself better. I don't need face recognition or sci-fi tech probably used in Fort Knox. I just wanted to make sure that with BI & ONVIF I can take any camera with decent hardware without worrying about software.

 

[The Automation Guy]

When you use sub-streams with BI, the CPU usage levels are very low for regular recording. I have 12 cameras running on a i7-6700 CPU and the system stays at about 12% CPU usage normally. Honestly you could put BI on just about any old computer and it would run fine with 7-8 cameras.

Now I am not doing any Deepstack or other AI on this computer - it simply runs BI. I primarily use the suggested Dahua cameras that wittaj posted above and they have excellent AI built into the camera. I use that AI on the camera instead of trying to set up AI on my computer. If you plan on exploring Deepstack or the other AI alternatives and plan on using the same computer for AI and BI, then your CPU needs to be pretty strong. I would suggest a fairly modern (within the last 2 years) and powerful chip in that case - an i5, i7 or i9 Intel or AMD equivalent. Of course you can also use a GPU to help offload some of that processing power too, but that requires a slightly more complicated setup.

Finally, I would not worry about H.265 support when you pick your chip. H265 for CCTV use generally isn't needed and many times provides a less stable/usable result due to the compression algorithm. There are countless number of posts on this forum alone where people had trouble with the fine clarity of their clips when they used H265 and went back to H264 and got much better results. The difference in storage between H265 and H264 is negligible as well. So the one argument to use H265 - it saves space - isn't all that compelling for our use case. After all, we aren't trying to archive video footage for years to come where a few mb here and there can add up to a lot of extra space over time. We just need enough storage space to be able to record X days (10, 15, 30, etc) of footage before it is deleted and that space used again. A single 8-12 TB drive would provide more than enough storage space. Now that being said, the chip you pick may support it, but don't base your decision on that factor alone.

 

[looney2ns]

You can use the AI built into todays cams, and then use that to trigger BI recordings.
It will have much less chance at nuisance recordings/alerts than just plain motion detection.