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Security camera recording

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  • Security
  • Cameras
  • Business Computing
Last response: in Business Computing
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September 18, 2013 1:10:50 PM

Hello everyone, i'm in need of a little help here.

My dad asked me to build him a PC which will be used only to record and store his office security camera videos 24/7 and of course, watch them in the same PC whenever he needs to. I don't know the model of the camera yet, and i don't know if it starts recording only when something moves or if it is recording all the time (I'm guessing it's the first option). What i want to know is, how do i do this? How much space should i put in it for that purpose? (i need an answer for both scnearios: movement detection recording or always recording). Will a 5200rpm HDD work fine or should i get a 7200rpm faster one? Is there a specialized software for doing this?

Any other ideas will be very much appreciated.

thank you! :) 

More about : security camera recording

a b 8 Security
a b w Digital camera
September 18, 2013 2:03:10 PM

ajchavez91 said:
Hello everyone, i'm in need of a little help here.

My dad asked me to build him a PC which will be used only to record and store his office security camera videos 24/7 and of course, watch them in the same PC whenever he needs to. I don't know the model of the camera yet, and i don't know if it starts recording only when something moves or if it is recording all the time (I'm guessing it's the first option). What i want to know is, how do i do this? How much space should i put in it for that purpose? (i need an answer for both scnearios: movement detection recording or always recording). Will a 5200rpm HDD work fine or should i get a 7200rpm faster one? Is there a specialized software for doing this?

Any other ideas will be very much appreciated.

thank you! :) 


What kind of camera it is will mostly determine on what you get.

But you can get a dedicated 4 or 8 camera system, with DVR, remote monitoring, motion detection, etc, etc, for less than you can make a PC for. And it will almost certainly work better.

I have one similar to this: http://www.lorextechnology.com/Wired-security-dvr-syste...
Got it for ~$160 a couple of years ago. Has been on 24/7 since then, with very, very few problems.
October 7, 2013 1:07:15 PM

I'm not an expert with security or surveillance systems, but I wanted to start learning a little bit. So I got a wireless day/night TRENDNet HD camera for around $150. This camera can record wirelessly and requires no additional software. You just log into the configuration of the camera directly using a web browser, and tell it where to store video files. You can use a separate computer to store data (this is going to be the most efficient performance and everything) but in reality you can use an existing computer and just put in an extra hard drive if you want, or use a simple NAS device.

It's very cheap and very easy to set up considering the cost of a normal IP based camera system is at least $1,000 for the hardware alone plus additional expense for the video software.

For my situation I used a very basic ATOM based media server I had spare sitting around with a 640GB hard drive. It's more than enough to handle weeks worth of HD video, it's high quality video, and I didn't have to run any cabling for it since it is wireless. The hard drive I have in there is a 7,200 RPM and that's probably what I would recommend.

Now, in an ideal environment if you've got the ability and the funds to, where's probably what I would suggest. Use wired PoE cameras instead of wireless. There's no need to worry about putting the cameras near a power source because it operates off of that single Cat5/e ethernet cable. Put in a PoE switch if you're going to be running multiple cameras. Remember, the more cameras you have running simultaneously, the more throughput your network experiences and the more storage you are going to be utilizing. If you're running multiple cameras it would be a very good idea to have all of those connected through a completely different network than the rest of the computers. Completely separate switch, wiring, etc. And set up a dedicated (though simple) computer for recording video. This doesn't have to be anything fancy. Like I said I've got an ATOM based system from a few years back running 1 GB of RAM with WHS and it's plenty of performance for one or two cameras. Running in HD mode with default settings, my cameras record about 12 GB of data per camera per day, so that should give you an idea of how much storage you should need depending upon how long you want to keep video files for.
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October 8, 2013 3:14:06 PM

I have a very great and cheap solution. Look at BlueIris security software (http://blueirissoftware.com). I have been using it for a few years with wireless IP cameras (and a few wired IP camera). It's about as flexible and as reliable as software gets. Not only do I have recordings all day, every day, I am able to view from my iPhone when I am away, get jpegs and videos emailed to me, and its all secure. I have 17 cameras in total - on a Dell Optiplex 390, i3 3GHZ and 4gb of ram. It has plenty to spare.

The software has NOT crashed on me yet. As long as you know how to setup, you are good to go.
a b 8 Security
a b w Digital camera
October 8, 2013 3:28:21 PM

Alliance76177 said:
I have a very great and cheap solution. Look at BlueIris security software (http://blueirissoftware.com). I have been using it for a few years with wireless IP cameras (and a few wired IP camera). It's about as flexible and as reliable as software gets. Not only do I have recordings all day, every day, I am able to view from my iPhone when I am away, get jpegs and videos emailed to me, and its all secure. I have 17 cameras in total - on a Dell Optiplex 390, i3 3GHZ and 4gb of ram. It has plenty to spare.

The software has NOT crashed on me yet. As long as you know how to setup, you are good to go.


Are you affiliated with BlueIris? If so, please indicate so.

I find a couple of your claims to be a little bit out there:
17 cameras in to one PC?
Motion detection and email of jpeg/video. From having my own set up, this is disturbingly hard to get right. Leaves, clouds, spiders...all trigger the motion, and generate an email.
October 8, 2013 3:50:07 PM

I am no affiliated with Blueiris, not one bit. I myself went through $200 in software before finiding BlueIris, and yes, everything I said works just fine. Why would I post a reply like that if it's not true? I have better things to do than to lie on a forum. All I did was come across this thread in the Business Computing section and thought I would share.
a b 8 Security
a b w Digital camera
October 8, 2013 3:55:24 PM

Alliance76177 said:
I am no affiliated with Blueiris, not one bit. I myself went through $200 in software before finiding BlueIris, and yes, everything I said works just fine. Why would I post a reply like that if it's not true? I have better things to do than to lie on a forum. All I did was come across this thread in the Business Computing section and thought I would share.


OK.
But that actually happens more than you'd think. Dredge up an old thread, and shill for some company/product.

Just checking.
October 8, 2013 4:00:25 PM

Oh I see. Yeah, not me, just recommending. It's well worth $50. I have set this up for people in our neighborhood too. BlueIris even has a really nice iOS app.
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