Question on Remote Storage

[Karey Watson]

I am pretty much set on the camera's I am going to purchase for my home but my question is about NVR or PC.

I am curious if anyone has had any experience with shooting triggered video from motion to a Dropbox account ot Google Drive from an NVR. I have done some google'ing today and it seems like most of the NVR's will only shoot still images? I'd really like to have the video off site and as soon as possible and am thinking my only option for something like this is a PC.

I bought my father a TVI setup from Speco from my local supply house (SES) and noticed on the box that the machine does Google Drive out of the box. That's HD over Coax though and I would really like to implement IP @ my house so I can run 3 or 4mp cameras. It seems like an NVR is logical because the POE switch is built in (thus saves a bit of money??) but the above mentioned question for myself is a deal breaker. I want the video off site and ASAP.

Any help would be immensely appreciated - Thanks guys!

 

[fenderman]

Offsite storage is silly and overrated...pushing tons of data will clog an internet connection as well as data restrictions which you may have. Also it is depended on the internet working and line not being cut. You are much better off backing up to a hidden local nas. You dont save much with built in poe...poe switches are not that expensive and you have more control if you use a managed poe switch.
Using pc based NVR like blue iris will allow backup to google drive if you are still dead set on it.

 

[Karey Watson]

I am not worried so much about the data restrictions. I have a business class connection with unlimited bandwidth. Can Blue Iris email me the video footage as well after triggering? Also, is it possible to set schedules in BI where it will stop triggering certain events during certain times? As in, so I don't constantly get alerts after I get home?

-Edit- Good point on the NAS in respects to the line being cut. I didn't consider that.. I feel like that would only happen if the crook was intelligent but still a very valid point... I am trying to keep costs down (if that's even possible...) so I am not sure how much a NAS would run me. Any thoughts there?

 

[fenderman]

I am not worried so much about the data restrictions. I have a business class connection with unlimited bandwidth. Can Blue Iris email me the video footage as well after triggering? Also, is it possible to set schedules in BI where it will stop triggering certain events during certain times? As in, so I don't constantly get alerts after I get home?

Yes. Blue iris has a VERY powerful profile/schedule setup.. You set schedules as well as manually manage it from the mobile app.

 

[Karey Watson]

Yes. Blue iris has a VERY powerful profile/schedule setup.. You set schedules as well as manually manage it from the mobile app.

I do see.. When I first thought about getting this done I was dead set on BI but as I seen the prices of NVR's I started leaning away but it seems I may be full circle and end up using BI anyways..

 

[Karey Watson]

Any suggestions on not overly vast NAS? Also, you replied to one of my threads a while back about NVR vs PC and pointed me to refurb'd warrantied machines which is likely the route I would take. If I had a NAS would there even be a reason for a larger HDD in the initial machine?

 

[fenderman]

I do see.. When I first thought about getting this done I was dead set on BI but as I seen the prices of NVR's I started leaning away but it seems I may be full circle and end up using BI anyways..

For most installs a 300 dollar pc is all you need. How many cams? What resolution?

 

[Karey Watson]

For most installs a 300 dollar pc is all you need. How many cams? What resolution?

3 cam's but in all likelihood, 4. I'd like the best resolution possible but at the same time am a realist.. I figured to buy 3 or 4mp Hikvision's.

 

[fenderman]

3 cam's but in all likelihood, 4. I'd like the best resolution possible but at the same time am a realist.. I figured to buy 3 or 4mp Hikvision's.

You can easily run that on a 250-300 dollar i5-haswell/skylake system....with TONS of breathing room."best" resolution is NOT the highest resolution (high res cams will generally not perform well in low light)....find the dahua turret starlight review thread by nayr...1080p very good low light and lots of other great features..

 

[Karey Watson]

Low light is going to be a MAJOR problem for me and I don't know that there is anything I am going to be able to do about it, at night.. You can stand in front of my house and clearly see they skipped a light pole when building the neighborhood an and of course my house is RIGHT in the middle of that black spot. Literally if they kept the same pattern with the street lights down the road there would be one right in front of my house. It's dark, needless to say...

With the skylake system would you just get the machine you pointed me to a while back and just throw a larger HDD in it? Or, leave the measly one in it and send it all to a NAS? I am kind of intrigued with the idea of the NAS. The PC could do all the processing but I could also use the NAS as a Plex server, perhaps. I am currently using my gaming PC as a Plex server and I sincerely don't like leaving it running 24/7.

 

[fenderman]

Low light is going to be a MAJOR problem for me and I don't know that there is anything I am going to be able to do about it, at night.. You can stand in front of my house and clearly see they skipped a light pole when building the neighborhood an and of course my house is RIGHT in the middle of that black spot. Literally if they kept the same pattern with the street lights down the road there would be one right in front of my house. It's dark, needless to say...

With the skylake system would you just get the machine you pointed me to a while back and just throw a larger HDD in it? Or, leave the measly one in it and send it all to a NAS? I am kind of intrigued with the idea of the NAS. The PC could do all the processing but I could also use the NAS as a Plex server, perhaps. I am currently using my gaming PC as a Plex server and I sincerely don't like leaving it running 24/7.

Get a system that allows you to have a 2.5 drive AND a 3.5 drive...use an ssd and a standard drive...local storage is best...then you can backup to the nas.

 

[Karey Watson]

I guess I am just failing to see how I can pull of a $300 machine to do all of it with an SSD and a larger than 500gb 3.5 drive when the refurb'd machine alone is over 2?

Also, just wanna say thanks for your replies and your activity here. The few threads I have made you are always there with an answer so thanks for that

 

[fenderman]

I guess I am just failing to see how I can pull of a $300 machine to do all of it with an SSD and a larger than 500gb 3.5 drive when the refurb'd machine alone is over 2?

Also, just wanna say thanks for your replies and your activity here. The few threads I have made you are always there with an answer so thanks for that

The storage drive is a fixed cost that you will incur regardless of the recorder you use. A quality 275gb crucial mx300 is 60-80 dollars as the price fluctuates. You dont NEED the ssd, but it makes a much better experience. What is 100 +/- in the grand scheme of things...

 

[Karey Watson]

The storage drive is a fixed cost that you will incur regardless of the recorder you use. A quality 275gb crucial mx300 is 60-80 dollars as the price fluctuates. You dont NEED the ssd, but it makes a much better experience. What is 100 +/- in the grand scheme of things...

Hah! You sound like my boss! I hit him up trying to find a flush mounted storage solution for my network and while we don't do that stuff daily he texted me a box he found for $400. I laughed and he responded with "It's just money!".

I do know the joys of having an SSD, though. I haven't had a machine without one for quite some time and couldn't imagine one without. Atleast not my every day gaming machine per say. I am relatively shocked at the price point you referenced for them, though.. I can remember when I spend $600 give or take for 2x 140'ish GB Intel drives to put in a Raid 0. Now they have single drives that will do what that Raid 0 did with twice the storage and half the price. Go figure.

Thanks again for all your advice. Much appreciated. I am guessing I am likely going the route of the PC w/ BI. I just need to decide on the storage and if a NAS is really worth it for me. The NAS is tempting for above mentioned reasons w/ Plex and what not. Maybe I am going to need a bigger rack.... I bought a 6U to build the network in the house with (We pulled everything including the cam cabling last weekend), 16 port patch panel, 16 port gigabit switch, rack mounted power strip. Hell, be nice if I could find a PC for the price point of those refurb's that was rack mounted

 

[nayr]

if you use cameras with built in SD storage you can have em record to your NVR and locally to the cameras; they'd have to take your entire video surveillance system which is very unlikely..

if you want a simple nas device tha'd be easy to hide, Im quite fond of the pogo plug.. its very hackable and has a 2.5in sata dock: https://www.amazon.com/Pogoplug-Series-4-Backup-Device/dp/B006I5MKZY

you could probably run a pogoplug off an active poe to 12v splitter, I believe the v4 is a 12v model..