Seriously looking at BI

58chev

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Well last night my Hikvision NVR was driving my cats nuts with a constant beeping.

When I took a look at it the WD Purple drive was dead. :( Only 15 months old, so packed it up today and sent it off to WD for warranty replacement.

This is what I have for a PC, once the WD Drive comes back, I'll put it in here and not in the NVR.
This currently has a Samsung Pro 850 SSD 128Gb for C drive and a 1Tb for D drive.

I have been running BI on this in eval mode for the past week or two. Got most figured out aside from some phantom emails from car lights glaring off my parked cars in the driveway.

BI-PC.jpg
 

Silas

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Did you by ANY chance do an upgrade on the NVR recently?

I have seen 2 drives die recently only days after they were updated, mine required a return, the other I was able to 'restore' performance to the drive and although lost all the data, it is now running fine.

Might be coincidence but both were surveillance drives.
 

pal251

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I've always used nvrs .I've used generic ones, hikvision and dahua. Blue Iris takes a bit more work but the mobile app is awesome and lots more features.
 

58chev

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check out the CPU, camera count and MP/S . at the link below.
Blue Iris Update Helper

Also do a clean install of windows 10 before installing bI.
Been through all the notes. :headbang: Think I have BI where it should be.

I have my BI eval version sitting at 8-14% CPU with 4 cameras, continuous recording.
Was a clean Win10 install, nothing else on the computer. Stripped out as much as I could from Win10 as I could.

Just some needed tweaking with Triggers. Need to find the time to sit and go through all the tutorial videos by @Dasstrum


Did you by ANY chance do an upgrade on the NVR recently?

I have seen 2 drives die recently only days after they were updated, mine required a return, the other I was able to 'restore' performance to the drive and although lost all the data, it is now running fine.

Might be coincidence but both were surveillance drives.
Haven't touched my NVR since the last FW update about a month ago. Sent the drive to Western, just have to wait for the replacement.
 

Kendive

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I don’t know how I ever made it without Blue Iris. I’ve had several different DVRs and Blue Iris blows them all out of the park!


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To each there own. I did the Blue Iris thing back in 2005 and I prefer an stand alone DVR or now an NVR... I don'e need to have another PC running for a simple camera system.
 

Walrus

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I have my BI eval version sitting at 8-14% CPU with 4 cameras, continuous recording.
Once you pay for the full version, you'll see that usage drop... apparently because direct to disk doesn't actually work on the evaluation version. I have two cameras right now at 20FPS, and my usage was 10-13% on the eval version. That has dropped to 5-8% with the paid.
 

Mike

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To each there own. I did the Blue Iris thing back in 2005 and I prefer an stand alone DVR or now an NVR... I don'e need to have another PC running for a simple camera system.
It's all personal choice for sure. Have you tried BI since then? I know a bunch of people who prefer an NVR, I'm not one of them though ;)
 

Dasstrum

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To each there own. I did the Blue Iris thing back in 2005 and I prefer an stand alone DVR or now an NVR... I don'e need to have another PC running for a simple camera system.
Woah 2005? A lot has changed in 14 years. There have been so many changes and enhancements. Might be worth another look
 

Kendive

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Woah 2005? A lot has changed in 14 years. There have been so many changes and enhancements. Might be worth another look
Yea I been doing this a while. I still don't want a PC running my camera system. I prefer a stand alone setup.

My setup that will be up and running soon... Posted here

Hello from Florida
 

fenderman

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To each there own. I did the Blue Iris thing back in 2005 and I prefer an stand alone DVR or now an NVR... I don'e need to have another PC running for a simple camera system.
yes, because everything is the same since 2005. You do understand that since about 2013 pc's are very efficient and take just a bit more power than an NVR. "i dont need a another pc running" makes no sense. The difference bettern blue iris (and most other vms) and an NVR is significant. You do understand that a pc is just as standalone and an NVR. Both run operating systems. NVR's are a joke compared to vms. Most folks turn to blue iris because they want options and control over their system. As well as quick and smooth playback.
You are literally better off with almost any vms over a dahua/hik nvr. If you only had burgers, you wont crave a steak.
 

Kendive

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yes, because everything is the same since 2005. You do understand that since about 2013 pc's are very efficient and take just a bit more power than an NVR. "i dont need a another pc running" makes no sense. The difference bettern blue iris (and most other vms) and an NVR is significant. You do understand that a pc is just as standalone and an NVR. Both run operating systems. NVR's are a joke compared to vms. Most folks turn to blue iris because they want options and control over their system. As well as quick and smooth playback.
You are literally better off with almost any vms over a dahua/hik nvr.
Yes you are correct pc's have come a long way and I might setup a PC and play around with Blue Iris again for $50 it's cheap and the NVR was cheap also. I consider most electronics noadays throw away items. LOL I bought an 10gb WD Purple to go in the NVR and it could be easily moved to a PC to run BI.

I would need a small form factor PC to fit in the same spot as I have the DVR and then NVR now. We don't own any desktop PC's anymore I have no reason to own one we just use laptops. Hell I could setup a laptop to run BI if I wanted... I have a spare i7 HP with an SSD and just use it to mess around with changing parameters on my 2015 F150 and when I am hacking something. Mostly my quad and drones and or android phones.
 
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I have a spare i7 HP with an SSD
speaking as someone that has personally used a laptop for a year, prior to upgrading, there is no reason it won't work especially just to "test drive" Blue Iris for a couple weeks to see how it has changed since 2005. It would not be a long-term recommended configuration, and I think anything decent would likely be larger than I imagine an NVR would be (I've never owned an NVR).

However, laptops aren't recommended for a few reasons:
  1. They tend to use the mobile version processors (lower power and lower performance/cores)
  2. They don't usually have space for extra surveillance drives, so you increase your risk of failure by plugging an external drive in via eSATA or USB
  3. They usually just have one network port (which means if you want dual-nic configuration you are left buying USB adapter)
  4. They are almost always more expensive for less performance and most hardware failures take out the mainboard which is typically costly to replace
  5. Some people have said laptops have lower durability, but I'm not sure I'm in that camp, but they do have more problems with heat and maintenance.
Having said all that, a 6-year-old laptop I had laying around ran fine for a year until I could get something different. But a PC could also be exactly what you needed, have user replaceable parts, be user upgradeable (more ram, storage etc).
 
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