Putting a basic surveillance system together.....is this ok?

[f13dfx 0]

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!

Edited May 22, 2013 by Guest

[hotwire 0]

Welcome to the forum! Can you tell us what model Mac Mini you have? Is it a dual core or quad 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? Will you be using the internal drive or an external drive for the camera recordings?

[buellwinkle 0]

That should work. Can you install windows over the OS-X or do you have to use Fusion, Parallels or bootcamp?

[f13dfx 0]

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

[f13dfx 0]

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

[flynreelow 0]

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

 

 

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

 

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

[hotwire 0]

I wish that the developers of VitaminD would update the software to work with cameras that have resolutions higher than 1280 x 1024. It's great software, but hasn't really seen any major updates in ages.

 

SecuritySpy http://www.bensoftware.com/securityspy/ is another choice for Mac OSX software.

[flynreelow 0]

I wish that the developers of VitaminD would update the software to work with cameras that have resolutions higher than 1280 x 1024. It's great software, but hasn't really seen any major updates in ages.

 

SecuritySpy http://www.bensoftware.com/securityspy/ is another choice for Mac OSX software.

 

 

I asked Vitamin D about this, and they say its in the "works"

 

Since you have used both, how is Security spy? Better or worse than VitD

[ak357 0]

I wish that the developers of VitaminD would update the software to work with cameras that have resolutions higher than 1280 x 1024. It's great software, but hasn't really seen any major updates in ages.

 

SecuritySpy http://www.bensoftware.com/securityspy/ is another choice for Mac OSX software.

Latest "rumor" about Vitamin D

Company been sold

[f13dfx 0]

 

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?

[MaxIcon 0]

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.

[f13dfx 0]

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!

[buellwinkle 0]

They sell those at Costco too, $299 for the 2-pack. Not all that good, certainly not equal to the Hikvision cameras. The biggest complaints from many is color balance is not good and changes during the day, the IR cut filter keep getting stuck, noise reduction is strong both day and night sometimes blurring fine detail in objects, like grass looking like a green blotches than grass and the IR LEDs are very bright and exposure does not correct quickly so people that enter the field of view are overblown, appear like ghosts and the IR LEDs come on different times than the IR cut filter. Then you have to realize that 3MP is more than twice as many pixels as 1.3MP. If you are not sure what that means, to be able to identify someone's face, you need their face to be at least 80-85 pixels high, at least 40 pixels wide. With a 1.3MP camera, say with the 3.6mm lens, that means to ID someone, they have to be at most 3-4m from the camera (see, Americans can convert to meters) and with a 3MP camera, it will work at about twice that distance, say to 7m. For example, from my driveway is 26' long, with my 3MP camera, I can ID someone on the sidewalk, can't even come close with 1.3MP.

 

What prices have you been getting from China on Hikvision? I found that even with shipping, it's about the same as Costco charges for the Swann/Lorex mix but could be Canada has higher import duties from China than the U.S. (1.9%) so the camera prices may be higher for you.

 

Also, consider ACTi cameras. They have 1, 3 & 5MP cameras, supported by just about any NVR software, comes with free NVR software (albeit for Windows only) and free IOS app and their prices are not that much higher than these cheaper Dahua and Hikvision cams. With offices in the U.S., they are at least a quicker service and support option than getting this from China.

 

If you still want the HFW2100, let me know, I have 2 of the Q-See version from Costco that I can sell you. One is brand new in the box, never used.

[shockwave199 0]

Then you have to realize that 3MP is more than twice as many pixels as 1.3MP. If you are not sure what that means, to be able to identify someone's face, you need their face to be at least 80-85 pixels high, at least 40 pixels wide. With a 1.3MP camera, say with the 3.6mm lens, that means to ID someone, they have to be at most 3-4m from the camera (see, Americans can convert to meters) and with a 3MP camera, it will work at about twice that distance, say to 7m. For example, from my driveway is 26' long, with my 3MP camera, I can ID someone on the sidewalk, can't even come close with 1.3MP

At the moment I have a dahua 2MP mini domes and I have the bit rate set at 4096. Would bumping them up to 6144 or the highest, 8192 help distance resolution any? Or rather, noticeable enough to warrant the increase?

[buellwinkle 0]

The issue with Dahua is that the noise reduction is on day or night and it can make some fine detail look blurry, so not sure going above 4k bit rate will help much. I have mine set at 5k mostly because it was a sweet spot with BlueIris software, but didn't notice any quality difference. On my 3MP cameras, I set to 6k and I can notice a difference between 4k and 6k.

[shockwave199 0]

Cool- thanks.

[MaxIcon 0]

Higher bit rate is mostly going to affect scenes with a lot of change or fast motion (higher bit rate gives less pixelization), and for detailed images it can help by allowing less compression on both the i-frame and the p-frames.

 

Distance resolution will mostly be helped by making sure your focus is optimized for further away, rather than nearer, or by putting a longer lens in. Sometimes you can improve it by going with a better quality lens, but this can be a hard thing to get solid info on with M12 board cam lenses.

 

I always run at higher bit rates, rather than lower, unless there's a compelling reason (like the BI limitations Buellwinkle mentions on the 2 and 3MP Dahuas, which are improved on the newer versions). I run all my MP cams at 8192 if I can.