I anticipate that. It's always a possibility. This is why I didn't put any cameras inside my house. They can watch my driveways, back yard and garbage cans all they want. I might put in an inside camera, but will only connect it when we leave the house for a few days.
Security Camera Thread - Home Solution Write Up
- Thread starter NYGuns
- Start date
I anticipate that. It's always a possibility. This is why I didn't put any cameras inside my house. They can watch my driveways, back yard and garbage cans all they want. I might put in an inside camera, but will only connect it when we leave the house for a few days.
Yup..Another reason not to get cloud based services...However, in this case it's a password issue. Most people don't change the default passwords or set a good password.
masterswimmer
.450/400 Nitro Ex
***Thread update***
I went along with @NYGuns recommendations for:
- cameras
- PoE switch
- cat 6 cable
- SSD hard drive + 6TB
- dedicated refurbished Dell desktop
- Blue Iris app
I ran all the cat6 with the help of my electrician buddy. Then @NYGuns came by to hook it all up.
The high definition of these cameras is amazing. They have nighttime infrared sensitivity that is amazing. Totally dark outside and here's a pic of the night vision.
Bottom line, @NYGuns knows his business. If you've got questions, he's got bona fide, top notch answers. His recommendations were spot on. I couldn't be happier with this video surveillance system.
Thanks bro, you rocked it!!!
FYI, I did everything in my power to screw up everything. I didn't know jack about what he was doing. His patience was incredible. If it was me, my patience would have worn thin.
I went along with @NYGuns recommendations for:
- cameras
- PoE switch
- cat 6 cable
- SSD hard drive + 6TB
- dedicated refurbished Dell desktop
- Blue Iris app
I ran all the cat6 with the help of my electrician buddy. Then @NYGuns came by to hook it all up.
The high definition of these cameras is amazing. They have nighttime infrared sensitivity that is amazing. Totally dark outside and here's a pic of the night vision.
Bottom line, @NYGuns knows his business. If you've got questions, he's got bona fide, top notch answers. His recommendations were spot on. I couldn't be happier with this video surveillance system.
Thanks bro, you rocked it!!!
FYI, I did everything in my power to screw up everything. I didn't know jack about what he was doing. His patience was incredible. If it was me, my patience would have worn thin.
Thanks dude! Glad it worked out, looking forward to getting the other 2 installed for you!
Cleck
.308 Win
Overall I'm happy with my setup, but I want to know if I can do more with it. I'm having trouble configuring the sensitivity, threshold, and anti-dither. My basic understanding of sensitivity and threshold is that sensitivity is how easy the camera is to trigger a motion detect event, and threshold is how much of a change the pixels need to see to trigger the event as well. For example, I've got a few branches in my view that are constantly blowing, especially yesterday. If I don't want those to trigger an event, I can create a zone that doesn't trigger it by putting sensitivity at 0, and threshold at 100. (Tell me if I have that wrong) What I don't get is anti-dither, I can't find a consistent answer. I've read some that say it's the length of the recorded event, and I've read some that say it's the length between events, so I am unclear there.
I've got a few pics of what my cams see that I will illustrate and share, each with different spots that I want looked at differently. I wanna catch cars/people coming in my driveway, but I don't want tree shadows or leaves setting the damn things off every time. Maybe it's unrealistic, but just thought I'd pick your brain to see if it's possible.
My other question is using different software on this Amcrest NVR. Is it proprietary equipment or can I use this Blue Iris for better control of these things? We're getting more and more bold people coming through our neighborhood and I'd rather know what I'm setting up and can be confident that it'll work and not suck up all of my storage space with bullshit. I'd like to turn on trigger alerts on my phone again, as long as it's not going off every 5 minutes.
I've got a few pics of what my cams see that I will illustrate and share, each with different spots that I want looked at differently. I wanna catch cars/people coming in my driveway, but I don't want tree shadows or leaves setting the damn things off every time. Maybe it's unrealistic, but just thought I'd pick your brain to see if it's possible.
My other question is using different software on this Amcrest NVR. Is it proprietary equipment or can I use this Blue Iris for better control of these things? We're getting more and more bold people coming through our neighborhood and I'd rather know what I'm setting up and can be confident that it'll work and not suck up all of my storage space with bullshit. I'd like to turn on trigger alerts on my phone again, as long as it's not going off every 5 minutes.
Cleck
.308 Win
Rear Driveway/Garage:
Red - Cars are usually parked in this area
Blue - Usually tree branches moving in these areas
Yellow - Only if someone is there for an extended period
Green - Only if someone happens to linger or move through those, not critters or leaves though
Driveway from back of house looking at road:
Red - Want people/car movement, not leaves or shadows
Blue - Usually only catches squirrels and leaves
Yellow - Branches constantly moving
Green - Only if someone is sitting there, like a car or delivery
Front Door and Driveway:
Red - Foot traffic (kids, deliveries) and vehicles, not leaves and shadows
Blue - Only if someone walks through there like a neighbor walking/shitting their dog or intruder
Yellow - Neighbor's kids or critters/leaves
Green - Reflections, sometimes flag when it catches the wind right
Red - Cars are usually parked in this area
Blue - Usually tree branches moving in these areas
Yellow - Only if someone is there for an extended period
Green - Only if someone happens to linger or move through those, not critters or leaves though
Driveway from back of house looking at road:
Red - Want people/car movement, not leaves or shadows
Blue - Usually only catches squirrels and leaves
Yellow - Branches constantly moving
Green - Only if someone is sitting there, like a car or delivery
Front Door and Driveway:
Red - Foot traffic (kids, deliveries) and vehicles, not leaves and shadows
Blue - Only if someone walks through there like a neighbor walking/shitting their dog or intruder
Yellow - Neighbor's kids or critters/leaves
Green - Reflections, sometimes flag when it catches the wind right
I setup my system to be good enough. It is far from being optimum set up. I will work on that next winter when I have more time to dedicate to this. It is somewhat like your computer, you don't know about everything it can do and probably never will, but it does its job.
Cleck
.308 Win
I'm happy with my phone integration and ability to check in whenever, I put a 3rd monitor on my computer to always keep it open at home so I can watch when I am nearby, I just wanna cut down on the false MD events. Snow, wind, and animals are the biggest issue. They trigger it too much and that sucks up storage. When it fills up, it loops, but it only keeps a week's worth of footage.
Cleck
.308 Win
Maybe I am just wondering if I can use Blue Iris on my PC now and get better functionality than I am from the Amcrest software. I'm reading up on it now if anyone wants to chime in.
I have DVR system. Cameras facing the street and side driveway record 24/7, but I can also replay just the parts when motion plus heat was detected. It is mostly triggered by passing cars. My backyard camera records only when triggered, I get false triggering from birds, cats maybe once every 3 days. I can live with that. My system keeps 14 days worth or recordings. 4 cameras record constantly and 2 when triggered. I only had to adjust one camera for the depth of detection, the rest are set on default settings.
Blimey
.450/400 Nitro Ex
Yeah. i think it's actually a low risk generally with nest, but some of the home grown systems (like mine) are pretty vulnerable. I'm not terribly concerned as I also do not have an internal cam right now.
I'm seriously thinking about an upgrade to my system to give me a nice zoomed in camera to grab all the license plates that go by my house. Looks like $200 for a Dahua will do it, including night time shots. It won't be good for anything except plates, but I still have my other outdoor cams for a wider berth.
I probably mentioned my system but it consists of hikvision 3MP cameras writing 24/7 about a week back to a hard drive each on a PC (no dedicated DVR). I also have motion events sending data to a second data repository such that if my house were robbed it would take a very diligent thief to identify the source of this data.
The hikvision app from app store has worked great for years.
I wrote a little app that sits on my PC and manages the motion-event jpgs and deletes them when they hit a certain age, so the entire system is totally hands off and has been running very well for 3-4 years now. I also pull an image from my backyard cam every 3 hours and I've been storing them away in a massive folder with the intent at some point to have a multi-year timelapse.
Blue Iris is FAR superior. Refresh my memory...How many cameras do you have and how many megapixels are they? Also, what are the specs on your PC? Is the PC dedicated to the cameras or do you use it for other things? I will let you know if your PC can handle it.
Cleck
.308 Win
I have 3 installed, want to add a 4th. They're 3MP (apparently), 1920x1080.
I'm running everything on a new gaming pc I just built, which I do everything on currently:
- Intel i5-4670k (overclocked a bit)
- 16GB G.Skill DDR3
- MSI Seahawk 1070
- 480GB SSD
- EVGA 650w psu
- water cooled
Your computer will easily handle Blue Iris, however you definitely should add a WD purple 4tb drive in there only for BI videos to record to. Blue Iris is a 1 time charge and holds up to 64 cameras, grab it from here, it's cheaper Blue Iris Software | IP Cam Talk
When you get it I can remote in and configure it for you for optimum performance, including settings and cpu usage. There are so many tweaks you can do to have it running perfectly.
I can't stress enough how awesome Blue Iris is. It's what I installed for @masterswimmer, it's what I have at my house and what I install wherever I can and where fitting in a camera job.
Cleck
.308 Win
So what about the HD I have in the NVR now?
What size is it? What kind? Are your cameras run to your nvr or a POE switch?
Cleck
.308 Win
1TB WD Blue drive, the cameras technically run to a POE switch, which then runs to the NVR.
I'm not concerned about the size of the drive or the type - just yet. I only want to record MD events, which seems to stretch the drive out at least a month now. I'm a lot better about checking the tapes every day now, because my computer is now hooked up in my "office" right outside my bedroom. Hell, I can see shit from my bed sometimes, ha.
If I were in your position I would leave the 1tb in the NVR, buy a 4tb (maybe even 6) and set up Blue Iris on your pc and keep the NVR recording continuously for a backup. I would also recommend that to clients and friends as well.
Cleck
.308 Win
Fair enough. Do I have to wait to get the BI, or can I still get it and set it up?
You can still set it up, it's really easy to set BI to record to the new drive when you get it. Let me know if you want me to remote in and bang it out for you
Cleck
.308 Win
I'm gonna go for it after dinner. Gonna grab a beer and watch you work. I'll hit you up in a bit.
Sounds good dude, just shoot me a PM when you're ready
Cleck
.308 Win
I gotta say, big thanks to @NYGuns here, homie helped me out big time on Friday night getting this thing all hooked up. Went out of his way to try some other shit too, which we're still working on. Thanks a lot, bro!
I already love this Blue Iris software. I may just end up stealing my hd from my NVR, because I'm not gonna use that to store stuff anymore. I've tweaked my settings a bit already, and I am starting to see improvement in the motion detection events that the cameras are catching. Night video is still catching some stuff, but I am learning to tweak that too, so I am not getting false triggers from headlights and shit. Wind/leaves/squirrels/etc. are going to be a work in progress, but I think I can at least get the animal triggers out of there, since I have cats that roam, and I am just changing the settings a little bit to only catch things bigger than them.
My favorite feature thus far has been the ability to watch the footage back and preview your triggers to see how they work. You can see in the pics my wife's car pulling in the driveway in full view. The other two pics show just the zones that I was talking about before, and you can see the boxes highlighting what is setting off the trigger. That right there has been so helpful in trying to fine-tune the settings.
I already love this Blue Iris software. I may just end up stealing my hd from my NVR, because I'm not gonna use that to store stuff anymore. I've tweaked my settings a bit already, and I am starting to see improvement in the motion detection events that the cameras are catching. Night video is still catching some stuff, but I am learning to tweak that too, so I am not getting false triggers from headlights and shit. Wind/leaves/squirrels/etc. are going to be a work in progress, but I think I can at least get the animal triggers out of there, since I have cats that roam, and I am just changing the settings a little bit to only catch things bigger than them.
My favorite feature thus far has been the ability to watch the footage back and preview your triggers to see how they work. You can see in the pics my wife's car pulling in the driveway in full view. The other two pics show just the zones that I was talking about before, and you can see the boxes highlighting what is setting off the trigger. That right there has been so helpful in trying to fine-tune the settings.
Awesome bro, glad to hear you are happy! I knew you would be! And remember, take off all the midget porn and your computer will run much better.
All joking aside, glad to help out a fellow NYGF'er, it was fun b/s'ing with you and getting it done. Keep tweaking those settings and refer to the help file (Question mark on top of software).
Enjoy!
Cleck
.308 Win
Yup, it'll only get better as I tweak it. I'll have to work the nighttime zones a little, we'll see when we get more traffic. I'll have to configure texts to my phone during certain hours if I am confident it's not gonna send me 22 texts overnight.
I may mess with the idea of running night vs day profiles, but we'll see. As much as I like screwing w/ things, I like them better when I don't have to, or with as little input as possible. Right now it's running much better than the Amcrest software ever was, and that's a great start.
I may mess with the idea of running night vs day profiles, but we'll see. As much as I like screwing w/ things, I like them better when I don't have to, or with as little input as possible. Right now it's running much better than the Amcrest software ever was, and that's a great start.
Wait I thought you were suppose to keep the midget porn and ditch the rest because they are smaller files.
I'm glad everyone is having luck setting these up I hope to get mine going next year.
Cleck
.308 Win
Hell yeah, I kept that shit! I mean, I couldn't get the big hard drive for the midget porn, but I'm doing well enough for at least a TB of space now. Brad Williams, eat your heart out.
When you add the new HD, just go into Blue Iris Options -> Clips & Archiving then the folders section. Change the directory for New, Stored & Alerts then right click near the clips section on the right, click Database -> Repair/Regenerate
Edit: don't forget to format the new HD once it's installed @Cleck