Computer vs NVR

Chapin said:

Does BI support Dahua Cams IVS or facial recognition features? Does it encode h.265?

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Chapin said:

Thanks. Trying to decide BI or NVR.

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fenderman said:

BI is far superior...its not even close...

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Bob Velke said:

I am in a similar situation. I have a fast dedicated PC running BlueIris and nothing else. I use BI to monitor four cameras at work but now I'm thinking of buying five HikVision POE cameras for home. I have researched a lot of cameras and settled on HikVision because I like its features. I've read horrible things about the HikVision NVR, however, and of compatibility issues between HikVision cameras and other brands of NVR - so I wonder if I need an NVR at all.

I want to be able to watch any camera in real time and to be able to review 24-48 hours of history (including audio which is supported by the cameras) in the event of an incident. All of the cameras also support an on-board SD card up to 128Gb. Otherwise, I don't need long-term storage.

If I'm understanding this thread correctly, it seems that BlueIris can handle all this and I can get away without an NVR, is that right? In that case, I assume that each of the cameras still needs to be wired independently all the way to the router (or to a splitter there to give me more ports?).

But I'm not sure how to manage the POE. Will I need injectors at each camera or can I use one POE splitter connected at the router? The router is in the basement and the farthest camera will be in the opposite corner of the house and one level above ground. That's about about 80 ft away when measured directly but, of course, the cabling will be longer because it may have to go up to the attic, across, and back down again. Do I need to worry about signal strength? Should I think about multiple POE splitters in different areas and will that simplify the ethernet cabling?

Thanks for any advice.

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Bob Velke said:

I am in a similar situation. I have a fast dedicated PC running BlueIris and nothing else. I use BI to monitor four cameras at work but now I'm thinking of buying five HikVision POE cameras for home. I have researched a lot of cameras and settled on HikVision because I like its features. I've read horrible things about the HikVision NVR, however, and of compatibility issues between HikVision cameras and other brands of NVR - so I wonder if I need an NVR at all.

I want to be able to watch any camera in real time and to be able to review 24-48 hours of history (including audio which is supported by the cameras) in the event of an incident. All of the cameras also support an on-board SD card up to 128Gb. Otherwise, I don't need long-term storage.

If I'm understanding this thread correctly, it seems that BlueIris can handle all this and I can get away without an NVR, is that right? In that case, I assume that each of the cameras still needs to be wired independently all the way to the router (or to a splitter there to give me more ports?).

But I'm not sure how to manage the POE. Will I need injectors at each camera or can I use one POE splitter connected at the router? The router is in the basement and the farthest camera will be in the opposite corner of the house and one level above ground. That's about about 80 ft away when measured directly but, of course, the cabling will be longer because it may have to go up to the attic, across, and back down again. Do I need to worry about signal strength? Should I think about multiple POE splitters in different areas and will that simplify the ethernet cabling?

Thanks for any advice.

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Bob Velke said:

OK, thanks. At what distance do I need to worry about signal strength?

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fenderman said:

standard poe and ethernet can be run to 328f...no problems...

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jasauders said:

I can't lie, but I agree with you there. The 'babysitting' aspect of a Windows system is one to consider. Given Blue Iris requires Windows, it's the reason I haven't investigated it further. Bluecherry, an entirely different NVR software (with their server portion being Linux based), certainly got my attention though. If I hadn't caught wind of Bluecherry I would have likely gone the NVR route as well.

I work in IT. I can handle updates, backups, system image captures, etc etc in my sleep. But like I said... I work in IT. Some days when I come home, another system is the last thing I want to futz with.

Just my 2c. Different strokes.

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DesertRat said:

Is Dell or HP preferred for a Blue Iris machine? Or does it make no difference?

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fenderman said:

doesnt matter...though note that the newer dell optiplex tower only have room for a single 3.5 drive (and 2.5 drives)...the hp tower and the dell precision workstation can hold 2 3.5 and a 2.5...

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DesertRat said:

Thanks for the reply Fenderman.

Would either one of these work for a 6 camera system? Would they have an extra drive bay?

Dell Optiplex 7020 MT i5-4590 3.30GHz 4GB 500GB Win 10 Pro 1 Yr Wty | eBay

HP EliteDesk 800 G1 Tower i5-4590 3.30GHz 8GB 1TB Win 10 Pro 1 Yr Wty | eBay

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DesertRat said:

Thanks for the reply Fenderman.

Would either one of these work for a 6 camera system? Would they have an extra drive bay?

Dell Optiplex 7020 MT i5-4590 3.30GHz 4GB 500GB Win 10 Pro 1 Yr Wty | eBay

HP EliteDesk 800 G1 Tower i5-4590 3.30GHz 8GB 1TB Win 10 Pro 1 Yr Wty | eBay

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fenderman said:

the elitedesk certainly does...the optiplex I believe does as well because that was before the design change - but check the dell spec sheet..
what resolution and frame rates do you intend to run?
also note that those processors do not support h.265 hardware acceleration that is being added to BI...you need sixth gen for that...

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DesertRat said:

I plan on four to six 2 mp cameras at about 10 fps. I like the starlite varifocals. Dauha 5231s.

How do you determine if a processor is 6th gen and supports h.265? Do I even need that?
Do I need two drive bays? Or can I use one large hard drive.
Thanks for your input.

DesertRat: 80 years old and still trying to learn.

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fenderman said:

you will be fine with a single storage drive...really depends on how long you want retention...
I recommend an ssd for the operating system and blue iris software (+database file) but its not required.
four to six 2mp cameras is a very light load...you can use a 3rd generation i5....even without the h.265 hardware acceleration you will be just fine...these can be had for about 100-125...
Intel® Processor Numbers: Laptop, Desktop, and Mobile Device

here is an i5 third gen - HP Compaq Elite 8300 i5-3470 3.20GHz 4GB 1TB Windows 10 | eBay

here is a newer 6th gen i5..you will need to install w10 using microsoft's media creation tool - it will activate for free...
HP ProDesk 600 G2 MT Core i5 6500, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Win7 Pro | L1Q38AV | eBay

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Chapin said:

Thanks.

That seems to be the view of many here. I’ll probably end up with BI if my frustrations with NVR are anything like my frustrations with my new cams.

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