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  1. J

    (near) real-time backup solution?

    If you leverage mtime in your script, I wonder if you could target files of a certain age in part of an rsync command. This is just some guess work, not tested at all, but thinking something along these lines: #!/bin/bash find /media/surveillance/ -name '*.mp4' -mtime -7 -exec rsync -a --delete...
  2. J

    (near) real-time backup solution?

    What OS is running the samba share? You could look into an OS-specific utility to ensure the data in the samba share is written elsewhere. On Windows, I'm unaware of a real time multi-directory sync. It may very well exist though. Best I can think of on Windows is something like FreeFileSync...
  3. J

    Blue Iris or cam manufacturer's NVR question

    Based on what I've seen, your chances of mixing-and-matching different cameras, and them working, is typically higher in a PCNVR solution than a dedicated NVR system. By PCNVR I mean the likes of Blue Iris, Exacq, etc.
  4. J

    Blue Iris on laptop?

    Agreed - it does depend heavily on the laptop. I tested my setup on a laptop before putting it on my server. The laptop, a Dell with an i5 2400m-series processor, ran shockingly cool with 6 cameras recording. It wouldn't have phased me to use it as my main CCTV system if it wasn't for the fact...
  5. J

    Best IP cam motion detect monitor/record software?

    Indeed. The lack of a mobile client is surely a bummer, though I keep hearing talk about one coming about, so we'll see how that goes. I'm at least thankful that TinyCam does great with the live view, though. I have to say, in my experience, any school district or business I've worked for that...
  6. J

    Best IP cam motion detect monitor/record software?

    I hear you. It's hard to beat free. I don't have a problem paying for software as long as it does the job I need. You may very well find that Milestone Free Edition does what you need it to. I've heard of others using it, so I'm sure it has its benefits. I'd be curious if others using Milestone...
  7. J

    Best IP cam motion detect monitor/record software?

    Windows wise, popular ones are Blue Iris, Milestone, and I've talked to a number of users working with Exacq (Exacq also works on Linux). Linux wise (most of my work+personal time these days is Linux focused, so this is where the brunt of my experience lies), the big ones I've used were Motion...
  8. J

    Why are prebuilt computers like the Optiplex heavily recommended by some?

    Pre-built systems being spoken about on these forums have given me a lot to think about when it comes time for future installs. To date, I've always done self-builds and specifically chosen hardware that's low end enough most people would think I'm nuts (though six 3MP cameras with a processor...
  9. J

    Where to get my SSL Certificate

    I use NameCheap. They seem to work -- haven't had any issues. Support was decent as well when I used it. I went with NameCheap mostly because I already had my domain registered through them and utilize DDNS with them. If this was strictly for CCTV, I'd look into generating your own certs. All...
  10. J

    QSee vs Custom NVR with BlueIris

    FYI, I run my cameras at 10 FPS full time recording. Even that has its times where I question if it's "too much", but I leave it as such because I like a blend of fluid playback + not annihilating my disk space, as 30 FPS would. It does the job quite well.
  11. J

    NAS vs NVR vs PC for camera footage storage

    nayr brings up excellent points. I wouldn't typically use my NAS as an NVR, but I went about it in a slightly different way that is more 'kosher' in my mind. If nothing else, here's my layout and how I went about it. I use Ubuntu Server coupled with Bluecherry. Originally, my NAS was simply a...
  12. J

    Using Synology as a VPN server questions

    This has nayr written all over it, but I'll chime in. To get my VPN working I leveraged OpenVPN on my Ubuntu Server, which already had port 443 forwarded (for Nextcloud access) over TCP. I just forwarded 443 UDP to the same box for use with OpenVPN, with my VPN settings pointed to UDP. You also...
  13. J

    Buying a nvr

    Have you tested your cameras with wireless at those resolutions? I purchased two 3 megapixel Hikvision wireless+POE cameras with a pretty decent Netgear router. The first camera was installed for a few days. It was... fine. It had a tendency to drop connection throughout the night a few times...
  14. J

    NVR display for offsite location

    I'd like to know what steps you take to get to that point. I almost forgot, I have an old Toshiba laptop that I put Windows 8.1 on straight from an 8.1 ISO. I specifically use this for the ActiveX nonsense that comes with configuring certain cameras, as no other systems in my house are...
  15. J

    NVR display for offsite location

    Some interesting counter-experiences here... you're going to entice me to spin up a new Windows box just to see for myself -- aren't you? :P
  16. J

    NVR display for offsite location

    Guess we just have different experiences. Once upon a time when we were more Windows-focused it was the same way. From what I've seen, everything Vista onwards seems to be quite larger, image+updates wise, whereas ye olde XP days we could cram the images down substantially in size. The few 8.1...
  17. J

    NVR display for offsite location

    How do those Windows sticks fare after updates are applied? 32 GB seems wildly slim. We put a few 8.1 boxes on 64 GB SSDs to do single purpose tasks, and after a few months of updates, they're maxed (and 64 GB still provides more breathing room than 32 GB does, so... makes me wonder). 120 GB...
  18. J

    Play and/or convert .264 files using OS X or Linux

    Just tried that file here. Seems to work. VLC plays it back at a faster pace, though. SMPlayer plays it without issue, but I have to set my file type in the 'open' box to 'all files' to see it listed. SMPlayer plays back at regular speed. Same is true for Totem ("Videos" on Ubuntu) -- plays at...
  19. J

    Play and/or convert .264 files using OS X or Linux

    That level of proprietary is such a poison...
  20. J

    Play and/or convert .264 files using OS X or Linux

    Not having any luck so far. VLC took a dump to play it + didn't produce a playable video when I used VLC to convert it, Handbrake won't convert it, WinFF (ffmpeg frontend) doesn't fly, ffplay via terminal doesn't play it, and remuxing it with ffmpeg doesn't return a playable video...
  21. J

    New home surveillance set-up

    Hate to be blunt, but there's something about the idea of a 3rd party service "monitoring" my video feeds from outside my network that freaks the hell out of me.
  22. J

    Play and/or convert .264 files using OS X or Linux

    Would you be able to host a test video that we could download? I'm not familiar with the .264 extension, but I'd be curious about taking a shot at it and seeing if anything in my notes/software arsenal may help.
  23. J

    Hacked cams played a big role in the DoS attack earlier this week?

    Yeah I'm using NTP. They're syncing with ntp.ubuntu.com every half hour. I forget the exact model router -- it's a new one. Netgear AC1600 of some sort. The only port forwarded is to my server to connect to the live feeds over SSL. Nothing is forwarded for the cameras themselves. The requests...
  24. J

    Hacked cams played a big role in the DoS attack earlier this week?

    So I got around to trying this tonight. When I put in the loopback as my gateway, the firmware refused to apply the settings, citing an invalid address. For nothing more than kicks, I just put the camera's own IP as the gateway and rebooted them. This made no change. I set them back to their...
  25. J

    Hacked cams played a big role in the DoS attack earlier this week?

    Interesting yet simple idea. I'll have to try that. I assume since the cameras have a static ip it won't be an issue. Likewise, I don't suspect it would have issues connecting to my server for recording, or me seeing feeds externally since I'm pulling them from the recording server and not the...
  26. J

    Hacked cams played a big role in the DoS attack earlier this week?

    Maybe not related, or maybe related: I noticed Wireshark has a ton of entries from two of my six cameras. The two in particular are Hikvision -- the rest EyeSurv, which don't seem to populate any entries at all. This is just when running Wireshark on my laptop. It's a slew of entries, citing...
  27. J

    Electricity cost of Dahua NVR vs PC?

    Different strokes. I have six cams recording 24/7, so it's not exactly my first thought to go back to recorded video. More times than not it's wondering if my wife is home (is her car in the driveway) or whether my package was delivered (is there a box at the door). If I'm going away for some...
  28. J

    Electricity cost of Dahua NVR vs PC?

    Correct - no mobile client yet. Works great with TinyCam, though, as well as IPCamViewer for live view (though I have a preference with TinyCam personally). I actually never gave playback of recordings a thought when on mobile devices, but if I'm going to a location where wifi will be available...
  29. J

    Electricity cost of Dahua NVR vs PC?

    All depends on your angle. For me, Linux was a requirement. :) Bluecherry in particular is pretty easy. Install Ubuntu Server 14.04 or regular Ubuntu 14.04 with the graphical interface, add a PPA, install Bluecherry. Overall it's 2-3 commands they provide you on their web site, so it's a matter...
  30. J

    Electricity cost of Dahua NVR vs PC?

    Yeah. It's a several-year-old i3 at that, but like I mentioned above with my load average, it's far from breaking a sweat. Ubuntu Server doesn't take many resources to run, and Bluecherry is very light compared to most other PC-NVR programs I've seen. All of that + continual record (no need for...
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