Recent content by kd4e

Is the porch picture 2k on the left and 4k on the right, or the opposite, please? Or, is it just the 4k with and without the light kicking in from motion activation?) Thanks!

It's all passing through separate POE switches to a non-poe managed switch and then to a Dell Optiplex 7060 SFF 3.0 GHz Core i5-8500 (it ramps up to 4.1GHz under load) 16GB RAM (will be upgraded to 64GB) 256GB SSD (will be supplemented with a 2TB NVMe and a 1TB HDD). Chipset is a Q370 and GPU is...

Key Takeaways from this thread for me ... wittaj "... do not buy a 4MP camera that is anything smaller than a 1/1.8" sensor. Do not buy a 2MP camera that is anything smaller than a 1/2.8" sensor. Do not buy a 4K (8MP) camera on anything smaller than a 1/1.2" sensor." "... if you record at...

This switch at $38. (8 ports, 120w, 100Mbps uplink) looks interesting https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0899NR75K/ I'd add a little noctua fan (efficient and really quiet) to vent the power supply heat.

Is the use of multiple smaller unmanaged POE+ switches (to shorten the power runs) - then the switches fed to a single managed non-POE SPF+ switch an OK plan?

Cool. I'll start by only dealing with the non-wifi cams - wiring them directly to a switch - then to the computer with the software NVR (the current plan is Frigate & openHAB). I'll let openHAB manage remote access to the camera. Does that sound right? Should I prefer a managed POE switch...

We have 3 wifi routers - one master and two slaved - all the same model Asus. It sounds as though the best strategy is to avoid wifi cams?

With so little bandwidth required - why do I read about concerns for router bottlenecks? Is it because the camera streams are competing with data streams? Is a managed switch that uses QoS, or some other priority-management tool, a good solution?

When I look at switches the modern ones are all 1000 base-T/1g for each port. Am I correct (after reading a dozen discussions and pages) that a 5.0MP 2560x1920 continuous camera video feed at 30fps only requires 15Mbps (a tiny fraction of 1g)? Or, am I missing something?

Has anyone compared one of these to the Empire Tech for sky watching? "VALUCAM 6MP IP PoE Turret Camera Outdoor - 1/2.7” 0.002 Lux@F1.6 25fps Starlight, IVS Smart Detection Intrusion/Tripwire, Built-in Mic, 164ft IR Night Vision, Support SmartPSS & DMSS"

OK, cool. I'm taking a hard look at Frigate on a dedicated pc. Unless something changes in my understanding of features and performance - I'll load and test that once the pc arrives. I sure appreciate the informed discussion here - it's the reason that my existing setup is working.

Interesting proposal. Airgap a computer with a MS version of windows and install Blue Iris. Only access it via VPN. How would you implement secure updates from Blue Iris, especially if they (some time in the future) require a newer MS version of windows?

A MS loaded PC with no updates from MS? OK, but then how do you patch newly discovered security holes?

What about openHAB? It's more of a complete home automation and security system but is cross-platform. https://www.openhab.org/addons/bindings/ipcamera/#hls-http-live-streaming It appears to be a bit of a bear to set up - but user-customization can be good. The Forum is very active and...

It's not only about money. MS has always been awful on privacy and security and I don't want my home security system dependent on an operating system that they control.