Make my own NVR for my security cameras?

C

c3k

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 8, 2007
Messages
2,330
Folks,

I've got "security system in a box" setup. It came with 8x 1080p PPOE cameras, an 8 port switch, and a DVR. The cameras are all TCP/IP.

It works. All cameras are up and running and I can access the DVR from any computer on my home network.

However, the DVR is SLOOOOOOW. I can barely get it to replay any video without timeouts and dropouts. The software is hard to figure out, as well. (I access it via TCP/IP on my home network.)

I've got some spare computer hardware. I'd like to build my own Network Video Recorder, but don't know where to start. Sure, I can toss a motherboard/cpu/gpu into a box, and plug the satellite switch into it. But, what software do I use to run the system? What do I do after I click the Ethernet cable from the camera satellite switch into the mobo network port and turn on the box?

I'd like to be able to record a full 1920x1080x30fps from each of 8 cameras and have full replay ability from any recorded stream, as well.

(I assume any security software will allow me to setup the cameras for record on motion, record on time, and record manually, as well as any other "normal" functions.)

Where do I start???

Thanks,
Ken
 
First you need to make sure the cameras are compatible with the software you intend to use. If you are going to use blu iris, this is imperative. Just because they are ppoe does not mean they will work.

Also, you will need a poe switch to try the cameras with the software.

If all that checks out, the hardware requirements are low.
 
Thanks.

I'm glad you mentioned Blue Iris. I bought it over a year ago. I'm sure I've got a license/key floating around. Gotta check it out.

This leads me to think that I'd need a Windows install? (I'd like to use a dedicated computer, not one of the others I'm running...)
 
c3k said:
Thanks.

I'm glad you mentioned Blue Iris. I bought it over a year ago. I'm sure I've got a license/key floating around. Gotta check it out.

This leads me to think that I'd need a Windows install? (I'd like to use a dedicated computer, not one of the others I'm running...)
Click to expand...

Yes. I use a dedicated windows 7 box, with a decent poe switch, after I made sure the cams would work.

My cams came in a bundle also, 8 fhd ip cams that were poe. Oddly the blue iris software webpage said it did not support the brand camera, but after some internet research I got them working.

It was a lot of work. For my use it was overkill. I ended up selling it all locally.
 
I've played with Blue Iris and some others and actually landed on Luxriot EVO (the free one is limited to 16 cameras and I think just 1080p
 
What kind of hardware is in that box?

It's one thing to record 8 cameras straight to disk, it's another thing to play them back while recording. As soon as you try to mix the workload on HDDs the performance is going drop significantly.

In the real world no one is recording video at 30fps because that consumes way too much disk space. You can get what you need at 10fps or even lower than that. Bitrate is going to play another big role in what quality vs space and performance you get.
 
bman212121 said:
What kind of hardware is in that box?

It's one thing to record 8 cameras straight to disk, it's another thing to play them back while recording. As soon as you try to mix the workload on HDDs the performance is going drop significantly.

In the real world no one is recording video at 30fps because that consumes way too much disk space. You can get what you need at 10fps or even lower than that. Bitrate is going to play another big role in what quality vs space and performance you get.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what's in the box. I expect it's pretty low.

I've got a second hdd to toss in. I don't know how it raids the two disks it is advertised as being able to use.

Grr.
 
c3k said:
I have no idea what's in the box. I expect it's pretty low.

I've got a second hdd to toss in. I don't know how it raids the two disks it is advertised as being able to use.

Grr.
Click to expand...

Most likely JBOD. So when the first drive fills up it starts writing to the 2nd drive. Given that all of the newer drives seem to be 5400rpms instead of 7,200rpm drives like they used to be, if it's a single drive you're talking about ~60 iops if I had to guess. if 1 io = a 256KB write, you'd be able to push up to 15,360KBps sustained. But if you toss in some 64KB reads now all of the sudden you might only be able to get < 10MBps out of the drive. If there's a database that's also on that drive expect that to throw random 4KB reads and writes at the drive, tanking it down to like 2MBps of throughput.
 
bman212121 said:
Most likely JBOD. So when the first drive fills up it starts writing to the 2nd drive. Given that all of the newer drives seem to be 5400rpms instead of 7,200rpm drives like they used to be, if it's a single drive you're talking about ~60 iops if I had to guess. if 1 io = a 256KB write, you'd be able to push up to 15,360KBps sustained. But if you toss in some 64KB reads now all of the sudden you might only be able to get < 10MBps out of the drive. If there's a database that's also on that drive expect that to throw random 4KB reads and writes at the drive, tanking it down to like 2MBps of throughput.
Click to expand...

Awesome analysis. Seriously. Thanks. Yes, the drives are 5400. They're WD 4TB purples.
 
What i like about Blue Iris is that it lets me record to 1 drive and offload to mp4 format to another drive. Other software may do the same but fairly intuitive with Blue Iris. No performance hit this way with playback. The reason I went to BI is because the cameras i bought (funlux) came with a dvr and it sucks. Uses 1 drive for record/playback and performance is terrible. Went to a dedicated system (WIN10) running BI and its 100x better. If it's in your budget to run a dedicated system, go for it. Will love the performance.
 
RandyG said:
What i like about Blue Iris is that it lets me record to 1 drive and offload to mp4 format to another drive. Other software may do the same but fairly intuitive with Blue Iris. No performance hit this way with playback. The reason I went to BI is because the cameras i bought (funlux) came with a dvr and it sucks. Uses 1 drive for record/playback and performance is terrible. Went to a dedicated system (WIN10) running BI and its 100x better. If it's in your budget to run a dedicated system, go for it. Will love the performance.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I could do that dedicated system. Are you saying a Win10 machine just running BlueIris and having a set of hdds?
(See sig: I have a spare rig collecting dust.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top