Hi, I want to place some cameras here and there, currently 8, 2 remotely tiltable with two-way audio, and the rest 6 simple dome. My requirements would be:
only PoE
at least FHD resolution
H.265 codec usage
0/24 recording
optionally: support for local storage too (it sends the steam to the network and a copy stays on the SD card).
Some of them will be inside some of them outside, so I will need some IP 67 or 66 ones too. Besides the cameras, the running system which records/saves the streams and gives the possibility to view them even in live should be quiet (mostly I mean the PoE and or the NVR or PC). The system should be able to handle the PTZ cameras.
These wouldn’t be soo hard, going to Aliexpress and buy some. What’re my concerns are to use some kind of NVR which can be efficient if I want to supply it from a UPS, but it’s very limited in storage capacity, also I would question how secure some no-name brand systems and how trustful are them, how can I connect later on to HA (if I want to), how much bandwidth is used up by these devices, and if I plan in a computer which would run HA in a docker container and some kind of surveillance software in another one how should I calculate the required resources? Also, does anybody have experience with the Aliexpress Chinese closely no-brand cameras how reliably are them? How do I know if I can use a random IP PoE camera with Synology or Blue IRIS? What can you suggest?
Basically No security cam will be secure.
Use VLAN. Block the cameras access to Internet. Since you have HA consider using HA for remote / live view.
I can’t recommend camera with audio but most POE are good. Armcrest, toughdog, wansview have worked OK for me in past.
Motioneye, zoneminder and blueiris are recommend NVR software. Shinobi is great but it always has issues with crashing but I think it may not like docker install.
I use Hikvision domes, 4k resolution which looks amazing. They don’t have audio though, however HA doesn’t support camera audio…yet? (I requested this literally years ago…still nothing)
For recording I use the MotionEye add-on in Home Assistant. It’s awesome. You will need a decent spec machine to record multiple high res cameras like these at full res though, I’m using an i7 NUC.
@sparkydave
I don’t want to record with HA, I want to view back only or maybe trigger some automation, like if I’m home shut down some of the cameras.
I do not really want to think in 4k res, I think the 2k or FHD is more than enough, I’m living in an apartment, there are no big distances and I also want to archive for a few months the records if I get a complain I will be able to have it. With one 4K camera, I would need 2,25TB storage with H.265 codec on medium quality for one month (according Seagate’s calculator), so that’s totally out, and I don’t want to rely on motion detection.
“You will need a decent spec machine to record multiple high res cameras like these at full res though”
What you mean decent? I looking for H.265 cameras because then the PC doesn’t need to encode, just save the incoming steam (technically) if the recorder supports also that steam type/codec. Am I wrong?
Also, can you say some numbers with what kind of settings how much is the storage required? Because it depends on which calculator do I using it says from 9-35TB storage for 8 FHD H.265 codec 30 FPS for 1 month… which is a huge deviation. @tmjpugh
Yes, of course I want to make VLANs but also I’m bit puzzled, which kind of equipment can handle it without lag the constant routing without lag. I also think to have a separate network to them and only the live view will go into the house network with some magic, so most of the time it won’t have VLAN routing which can cause problems as I saw some people using Unify equipment.
I use doods. I sample frame every second and capture/save all frame with object detected.
I have limited spec machine (older dual Xeon with NO AVX support) so currently I must limit 1 second to important area and other area sample at 3 and 5. I plan add coral and avx support cpu’s in future that may allor for slightly more
In this way I could use object detection to trigger motioneye video recording directly but I still leave this to motion detection of motioneye.
Currently the motion detect capture video for most event. The doods capture %100 and multiple images of event. In this manner I easily can check the event by review. Doods shows like time lapse and then I review video if more detail desired.
I use Hikvision 8MP bullet cameras. Using Blueiris on its own mini-pc. Blueiris works best (lower CPU) if you have a CPU with Intel VDI extensions and I could not access that on my ESX host. I also use DOODS in a VM for person detection. DOODS only triggers on Blueiris motion detection via MQTT so it’s cpu use is really low.
So the process is basically:
Camera H265 feed --> BlueIris --> (Motion Detected)/Record Video --> MQTT --> DOODS(person detected) --> HA
Currently (sized for more cameras):
Blue Iris NUC
3x 8MP Cameras
Network usage (avg): 32mbps
CPU Usage: 11% (Intel Core i7 8700)
ESX Host:
VM running Docker for HA, DOODS, Mosquitto
This will sound stupid, but does the hikvision have a good quality video, because when I looked for them, it’s starting around 150€ (I’m living in EU) and for this amount of money… I would expect a lot. And I can’t find two-way audio (with built in mic and speaker) from the PTZ versions.
I had another look at my cameras and recording settings. Although they are 4K cameras, I’m only recording at FHD.
This is why I only record on motion detection. It seems to work quite well from MotionEye. I keep 30 days of footage.
Well when I initially used a Celeron NUC recording two cameras at FHD only on motion detection (remembering that this takes processing power to check for motion) it ran at about 70% CPU usage all the time, spiking to 100% when I wanted it to do something else.
Swapped that out for an i7 NUC which now sits on around 17% CPU usage.
Another way around the CPU usage would probably be to do the motion detection on camera and send the record command to the recorder (MotionEye etc.). The cameras I have can do that and I have set them up to notify HA of motion detection and line crossing but still playing around with it at this point, those sensors in HA don’t trigger anything yet.
I would have to wait until I’m home to check the figures but currently I’m only recording to the 480GB SSD in my NUC as I haven’t yet migrated it to external storage. I fit 30 days on there recording only on motion detection.
Video quality is excellent you can go on youtube and look at demos. Also a good way to look at the lens options which will determine your zoom vs FOV.
I can’t speak to audio, I am only doing video in my setup. Nor do I do PTZ, just static bullet cameras setup to capture the FOV I am interested in. One downside of the Hikvisions I have to admit are the build in cables. Kind of sucks to install them, but again it was another tradeoff. I ended up using Amcrest junction boxes to accommodate the cable harness. I wish they would’ve just had RJ45 female ports. Also be aware these are just CAT5, they only push 10Mbps so there is no need to run CAT6, etc.
First off don’t buy no name camera’s off of Alibaba, make sure you buy a reputable brand from a reputable seller, your only asking for issues and may stuck with a camera that doesn’t allow firmware upgrades. I also dont recommend using traditional NVR, personally I run Blue Iris which is one of the best software NVRs IMHO. It offers way more flexibility than a hardware based NVR, and much wider compatibility compared to a manufacturers hardware based NVR. Also don’t chase Megapixels especially if low light performance is important to you. Generally higher Megapixels means the pixel’s are smaller and can’t take in as much light. I highly recommend you read the IP Cam Talk Wiki - https://ipcamtalk.com/wiki/ip-cam-talk-cliff-notes/
I myself personally run a mix of Dahua 5442 camera’s (Varifocal Bullets and Turrets which are fixed focus). Info on these cams can be found in the post I referenced above. I also run a Hikvision active deterence camera and Hikvision Colorvu camera.
Yeah, I switched from Unifi to the Hikvisions, they can’t really compete. They only have 1080p which is 2MP, my 8MP cameras are 4x the resolution for less than the price they are asking for. People on their forum are constantly hoping the next camera will be better, but for some reason they seem to be stuck in 8 years in the past on camera technology. I use their switches though, I am a network engineer and those are very competitive and full featured.
Good to know, then I need to look something which fits well. I think also these hikvision cameras not that bad like it was from first shot. This IK10 rating can be also really useful, especially because I can’t put it from out of reach them .
Running BI on a PC I built, using on intel i3-8100, 16gb (8 GB would be fine), and gigabyte b370 motherboard and 512 GB samsung NVME Drive for fast write to disk and 2x3TB drives for long term storage. It currently runs at about 15% processor utilization with 4 cameras (Two are 4MP camera, and two are 1080p cameras). If you plan on running 4k camera’s then I would bump the processor up to an I5 or i7 depending on how many. You can also find build recommendation on the IP cam talk site I linked.
.