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Hello! I'm new to all this & I am piecing together a simple surveillance system for my home's exterior. Our back yard is around 50' x 50' and I was eyeing this Bosch PIR:

http://resource.boschsecurity.com/documents/Data_sheet_enUS_2604007691.pdf

 

How does it actually connect/integrate with my surveillance system which I plan to run with:

1. Mac Mini 2.3ghz dual core running Vitamin D.

2. 2 x Dahua HFW2100 Bullets (may add 1-2 more).

3. Zyxel ES1100-8p PoE Switch.

anyone using vitamin d with a camera over 2mp. i am still using the free version before i move over to the paid. it looks like it only supports 1.3mp? also after viewing clips it removes them from history. this happen with the paid too? any other alternatives out there?

I've been using the Vitamin D trial version on my Mac Mini 2.3ghz dual core. I'm only using it on our iBaby wireless camera, so only doing 320 x 240. Unlike what you're experiencing, after I view the clips, they are still all there until I delete them. I do like their object detection. Maybe I don't understand it correctly, but isn't it still based on pixel change? For example, there is a condition you can change as to ignoring an object ranging from 30 to 70 pixels. I tried this with the iBaby cam and it sort of worked 75% of the time, as it ignored our miniature poodles but detected my wife and daughter when they were walking around with the dogs.

Another potential issue with a Mini running Windows and Blue Iris is that the Mini tends to use relatively low power CPUs, which is good for power consumption and noise but bad for handling multiple 2-3MP cams.

 

If you're considering that path, you should check some of the performance threads over at cam-it.org, and see how the Mini's CPU benchmarks compare to what others are running. It does have a 15 day free trial for testing, but the demo version doesn't enable direct to disk recording, which reduces CPU load a fair bit.

Thank you for your suggestion on Blue Iris. I think I will stick with Vitamin D for now. It does everything I need:

1. Records video and I like the "People" detection mode. Can setup to use external HDD.

2. Sends email alert with snapshot.

 

As mentioned previously, only drawback is that Vitamin D does not have an iPhone/iPad app. However, I am able to use LogMein app to access my Mac Mini and Vitamin D to review video.

 

My only dilemna now is that because I reside in Canada, I cannot access the 3MP Hikvisions (aka Swanns) easily unless I buy from aliexpress.com, but their shipping from China is very expensive plus I'm worried about support down the road. So I'm leaning more towards ordering the ESC-HFW2100 1.3MP cameras from Empire Security Cameras. They seem to be very helpful and have responded to every one of my queries so far. Wondering if anyone here can chime in on their service and support. At this point, I'm not looking for "license plate" detection type cameras and the 1.3MP versions seem to be decent nightvision cams. I'm more concerned about suspicious activity outside my house more than anything else.

 

Thanks again for everyone's input. This forum has been nothing short of awesome for support!

 

Vitamin D runs on the mac, and it works very well.

 

http://www.vitamindinc.com/index.php

 

Trying free copy of Vitamin D. Very easy to setup & I love the detection method for people! Works very well. Only problem is there is no iPhone app . I have however been using LogMeIn to access my Mac Mini & Vitamin D. Very handy & will suffice for now.

 

Is this a safe & secure method to accessing video of motion-triggered events?

Welcome to the forum! Can you tell us what model Mac Mini you have? Is it a dual core or quad core? Dual Core

 

I don't think there is a version of Blue Iris that runs natively on the Mac, will you be using bootcamp with a Windows partition? Hmmm....I thought I saw it avilable for Mac....is there software beaides BI that runs natively on the Mac? I will probably use Parallels 8.

 

Will you be using the internal drive or an external drive for the camera recordings? Internal....although I have a WD My Passport 750gb that I guess I can use

Welcome to the forum! Can you tell us what model Mac Mini you have? Is it a dual core or quad core? Dual Core

 

I don't think there is a version of Blue Iris that runs natively on the Mac, will you be using bootcamp with a Windows partition? Hmmm....I thought I saw it avilable for Mac....is there software beaides BI that runs natively on the Mac?

 

Will you be using the internal drive or an external drive for the camera recordings? Internal....although I have a WD My Passport 750gb that I guess I can use

My 1st post.....hello everyone!

 

Just looking to put together a basic day/night surveillance system. We already have a monitored house alarm system.

 

Here is what I'm thinking:

1. Already have a Mac Mini 2.3ghz w/4gb ram & OSX Lion 10.7.5 installed.

2. Connected to a Sony 55" LCD via HDMI.

3. Planning on buying 4 Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I ip cameras.

4. Going to buy & use Blue Iris NVR software for Mac.

5. Buying Zyxel ES1100-8P w/4 PoE Ports Unmanaged Switch.

6. Already have 50mbps Cisco DPC3825 Wireless Modem/Router.

Optional 7. APC UPS for 30min.-1hour backup power.

Optional 8. Cheap Prepaid Data Cell Phone.

 

Don't know if I'll need 7 & 8 for now but exploring the possibility of integrating into the system if it isn't too hard to configure. BTW, I'm in Canada and Costco does not carry the Swann 3MP version of the Hikvision ip cameras here

 

Right now all we have is an iBaby Wireless ip cam (to watch dogs) which works very well with the supplied software. I bought IP Cam Viewer app which I can monitor & pan/tilt the iBaby cam from my iPhone 4s remotely via 3G or wifi.

 

Your thoughts & recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance to those who reply!

Newbie here

 

How is the Motion Detection on these compared to the Dahuas?