Bluecherry plus OmniIIe

[Jrock]

Is anyone familiar with Bluecherrys DVR card and software? The offer an add on sensor module and an add on relay module. I was wondering if I could use one or both of these modules to trigger events on my OmniIIe based on the cameras detection of motion. If this is possible I figured it would be a good alternative to outside motion detectors.

Thank you,
-Jeff

 

[Sacarino]

Is anyone familiar with Bluecherrys DVR card and software? The offer an add on sensor module and an add on relay module. I was wondering if I could use one or both of these modules to trigger events on my OmniIIe based on the cameras detection of motion. If this is possible I figured it would be a good alternative to outside motion detectors.

I use one of their cards with ZoneMinder. The problem with the motion detection from the camera is false positives - more a problem for exterior cameras than interior. Surprisingly (to me, at least), shadows from passing clouds caused a lot of activity for my setup. You can fine tune it with the motion thresholds and the area of the 'zone' to monitor, but it's still prone to hiccups. Perhaps their custom DVR software negates that a bit better than the ZM stuff does?

I found that outside motion sensors were also prone to false positives as well, but from birds, bugs, etc... I've been kicking around the idea of beam sensors to negate that problem, but haven't actively pursued that just yet.

 

[Jrock]

I have never used Zoneminder but from what I have read there are a lot of similarities between the two. So far I am pretty happy with the Bluecherry software. I have been using it at my house for about 8 months and just setup a dvr with their card and software at a restaurant I own.

I completely agree with you on the false positives. I have played around with the settings so many times to try to get it just right. Its nearly impossible though. I haven't really played with the settings on the restaurant dvr yet but last night after we were closed I logged into the web interface to see how well the cameras worked in the dark and they were constantly detecting motion yet nothing was going on!

I have a motion sensor light at my back door and you have to get pretty close to it from it to detect you so I was hoping I could use my driveway camera to detect when I get home and turn the back light on.

 

[pete_c]

I also use a similiar card with Zoneminder. I use it with Optex combo outdoor motion sensors. The PIR part of the cams are wired into the OPII panel and the video is plugged into Zoneminder. The video motion events broadcast Xap events on the network. The HA (HSPro) server picks up the Xap Events plus the PIR events and triggers additional custom events.

I take the video motion events into XAP and utilize the PIR motion events together via HAI OPII and HSPro. Its still not optimal and looking and have been testing single outside motion addendums.

I've installed ZM for a couple of businesses and it works for them. One being an HVAC facility warehouse with about 4 cams mounted about 25 feet up in four corners. It works for the owner. Another is a "store" with cams in the parking lot and about 4 in the store. The purpose mostly being internet viewing when owner is away from the business at a very reasonable cost.