IP Camera Hardware setup

[archstenton]

Finally, beginning to run wire for the house integration. Last house was just simple setup of audio/video integration and htpc tinkering.
 
This time around going for the whole shebang except maybe for a relay that would shut off the kid's vocal cords. Plan on using ELK as the security and start of any automation prior to going to anything on top of that like Homeseer or just Girder or something.
 
Haven’t been able to wrap my head around an IP Camera setup since haven’t tried it before.
 
Did research some threads and found some good info on products and software, thanks
 
But still kind of in the dark on the global setup.
 
Could you run the software off any decent computer in the house or due to resources, probably should do a purpose built PC for it? Have a hard disk in there or go with a NAS drive? I'd probably have about 5 cameras max.
 
Performance wise, better to run cables directly to that machine with a multi-port ethernet card and avoid switches and routers on my home network although I guess if I ever want to see it remotely or on another machine, the aforementioned NAS, or TV, it would have to pass through those devices anyways.
 
Not a big deal to get power to them, so probably won't bother with POE.

 

[electron]

Do you just want to monitor locations, or record as well?  Do you want motion based recording, or 24/7 recording?
 
You can use a dedicated machine to run software such as Vitamin D or ZoneMinder, which both support IP cameras.  Some NAS units such as QNAP support recording IP cameras directly as well (keep in mind some units do require you to pay a license per camera), so you wouldn't need a dedicated pc.
 
I personally run Vitamin D on a PC which also serves my home with HTPC functionality, so it is only semi-dedicated.
 
As for network layout, IP cameras don't use that much bandwidth, so a high quality network switch will do the job.

 

[archstenton]

Do you just want to monitor locations, or record as well?  Do you want motion based recording, or 24/7 recording?
 
You can use a dedicated machine to run software such as Vitamin D or ZoneMinder, which both support IP cameras.  Some NAS units such as QNAP support recording IP cameras directly as well (keep in mind some units do require you to pay a license per camera), so you wouldn't need a dedicated pc.
 
I personally run Vitamin D on a PC which also serves my home with HTPC functionality, so it is only semi-dedicated.
 
As for network layout, IP cameras don't use that much bandwidth, so a high quality network switch will do the job.

 
Thanks, that's what I was looking for. I had just assumed the cameras and software would've been a hog on resources.