POE security camera system?

[RAL]

There is a 5x to 6x difference in processor performance between the Core2 Duo in the Dell 745 and the slowest Core2 Quad processor.  So I'd be surprised if the Dell could handle more than 1 or maybe 2 cameras.

 

[pete_c]

ZM eats memory especially with HD.    It records all of the streams 24/7 and saves only events even though you can save everything if you want.  (direct to disk).  Time stamp with ZM are an over lay.  I split up feeds to two ZM boxes which are identical boxes.  I do not run any of the feeds at 30fps today.   It would be better to run ZM on an old (now) Haswell iSeries CPU.  I am currently using one for automation with 16Gb and it never sweats.
 
Newest release of ZM does very well today with the RTSP IP HD feeds.  Grandstream will do RTSP or MJPG such that I use both and do reverse feed RTSP to my Grandstream decoder / encoder for the OmniPro touch analog video hub stuff. 
 
The step by step for ZM is very easy.  Basically you are just building a LAMP server and adding ZM meat to it.  Years ago there was much manual configuration stuff; especially with the analog video capture cards.  With IP cams that stuff has gone away.
 
It is posted here.
 
Guides for Ubuntu Server

Ubuntu Server 12.04 64-bit with ZoneMinder (http://zoneminder.com)  1.25.0 the easy way

Ubuntu Server 14.04 64-bit with ZoneMinder (http://zoneminder.com)  1.26.5 the easy way

Ubuntu Server 15.04 64-bit with ZoneMinder (http://zoneminder.com)  1.26.5 the easy way

Ubuntu Server 15.10 64-bit with ZoneMinder (http://zoneminder.com)  1.28.1 the easy way

Ubuntu Any Version 12.04+ 64-bit with ZoneMinder (http://zoneminder.com) 1.28.1 the Docker way (two commands)

Ubuntu Server 14.04 64-bit with ZoneMinder (http://zoneminder.com) 1.29.0 the easy way

Ubuntu Server 15.04 or 15.10 64-bit with ZoneMinder (http://zoneminder.com) 1.29.0 the easy way

Ubuntu Server 16.04 64-bit with ZoneMinder (http://zoneminder.com)  1.29.0 the easy way
 
Blue Iris has some very good ratings.  Linux is Linux and ZM is free.  Video is Video is Video multiple and streaming/recording is just that

 

[newalarm]

OK, so it sounds like this PC will not work. I can look at picking up a PC on CL or maybe new. I can't imagine a basic PC would be that much.

 

[JonW]

I was recently looking at some refurb PC's with Core i5/i7 processors and was amazed at some of the deals out there for around $300.  Newegg has several to choose from.

 

[newalarm]

Any thoughts on this kind of a system? http://www.costco.com/AvertX-16-Channel-HD-IP-NVR-with-6TB-HDD%2c-4-4MP-Cameras%2c-4-Autofocus-4MP-Cameras-with-100'-Night-Vision.product.100221886.html
 
I assume it is better to go with a built to suite system, but just thought I would throw it out there...

 

[drvnbysound]

I'm getting ready to install Blue Iris with a Hikvision 3MP camera for testing and will build it out to 8 or 10 cams.
 
I'm going to run BI in a VM.  My host server has 24 cores and 96GB of RAM.  I can either run BI on one of my existing Server 2012 instances or spin up a new Server 2012 or a W7/W8/W10 instance to host it.
 
Any thoughts on the best host OS and proc/ram allocation?

 
The largest system I've done to-date with BI has been 6 cameras. It was on an i7 processor and 16GB of RAM. From what I recall, CPU usage was around 35%. I have no recollection of what the RAM usage looked like, but I know it was minimal.
 
I've only run BI on W7 Pro x64 personally. I've recently started to use W10 (slightly) as we bought my wife a laptop with it a couple of months ago. I'm still just not as familiar with it, but if I had to choose today, I'd probably go with W10 just because of the long term future support. I run Pro versions so I can use native RDP. I've used TightVNC before, but it seems to have a large overhead compared to RDP from my experience.

 

[Del91574]

Yes, technically speaking there aren't splitters.  BUT there are POE+ (11at) powered switches that provide two POE (11af) power sourcing ports.  I know that Netgear as such a device but there might be others.  Depending on location, this device might need to be an extended temp range 'industrial' switch and I'm not sure if this exists..  SO if running a second CAT drop is VERY difficult and/or expensive, one can deploy this type of switch.

They do exist. Have a job with a Cisco core and all Etherwan hardened switches in a large parking structure. Somewhere around 300 cameras, IP intercom, paging speakers and kiosks. Mix of POE and POE+ and some ultra high power POE via separate midspans.

Etherwan

 

[pete_c]

Posts here have me looking to upgrade my old #1 ZM server which is Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz, 2 cores to a quad core duo for around $20 and base memory of 4 Gb (2 sticks) to 8 Gb (4 sticks) for whatever.  (maybe less than $50 for the upgrade).
 
Looking on Ebay this morning you can purchase an older iSeries generation i7 motherboard for less than $100 these days.
 
Newest industrial strength motherboards here are BCM these days (with one Asus).
 
ZM running in Ubuntu video processing has always worked much better for me than Wintel of old.  (there was just way too much overhead for the eye candy in Windows).
 
IE: running in Linux Ubuntu Server (pure meat NVR) versus Windows 10 (pure eye candy NVR) is a night and day difference as Windows 10 is pure internet tablet fluff these days.  Windows server would do better. 
 
I would budget the camera spend higher than the PC spend these days.  (for ZM on Linux as it runs on anything and you can start small these days).
 
I purchased the smaller / larger mid span injectors for less than $100 here.  The smaller ones are all new.  That said you can also purchase a used Cisco POE switch at a reasonable price.

 

[newalarm]

So a quad core with about 2.4 ghz processor. about 8gigs of ram is what I need to be starting with? I would rather start with a base machine and if i need to upgrade when i get more cameras, do it then. How important is graphic card, or other features?
 
Found this on CL for $150.

Desktop HP 1TB 6GB Ram Quad-Core 2.8 GHz, 1T HD

 

[newalarm]

Costco has this deal for $700

• Brand: Dell i7
• Computer Type: Desktop Tower
• Graphic Card: AMD Radeon R9 360
• Hard Drive Size: 2 TB
• Monitor: Monitor Not Included
• Operating System: Windows 10
• Optical Drive: DVD-RW
• RAM Included: 16 GB

 

[pete_c]

Better deal on deal news...
 

 

[newalarm]

Pete, when you click on it, it is actually $900 at dell, where the link takes you to.

 

[pete_c]

I ran through the purchase of it and put in the coupon code and did get the deal offered at $579.00.
 
Guessing if you add the stuff included from above the deal will come out to $629.00
 

 

[newalarm]

Sorry, I must not have entered it right. I will try when i get home.
 
That is good. Should suite me well for what I need to do right?

 

[pete_c]

Yup.  Started here and at the very end added the coupon code.
 
Dell Deal
 
Should work fine.
 
If you are in to DIY builds you could build something just as fast or faster with hot swap removable drives.
 
My current NAS box looks like this.  It is a bit tight and it has a compact look to it.  Shopping around it could be around same price maybe.
 
I am using an LSi SATA controller with it.  You can get these with 4 drive cages instead of 8 and start with two drives instead of 4 or 8 drives.
 

 
U-NAS does have a website these days to purchase their wares.