24hr clinic ip cam monitoring

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woolooloo

n3wb
Nov 13, 2014
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I'm planning to set up about 12 Dahua ip cameras and 2 Dahua NVRs for security of a 24 hour clinic. One NVR will record 4 or 5 internal cameras that are only going to be recorded in case we have to review something, but will not be monitored. The other 7-8 cameras (outside and lobby area) will be on the second NVR and will be recorded and I want to allow them to be monitored on a TV screen in a room that will be staffed 24 hours a day.

This room is probably ~200ft from the server room where the NVRs will reside, and even if I could run this TV as a display for the NVR (like over a long HDMI cable), I'm not sure that would be the best solution because they wouldn't be able to control the interface to enlarge one camera, for example, since they won't have access to the NVR controls.

I'm looking for a solution for monitoring 7-9 IP cameras from this TV. Some of solutions I've thought of include:

1. Buying a "smart tv" and using some sort of app for monitoring the cameras. I've seen some talk of apps for this, but I'm not sure they are appropriate for 7-9 cameras.
2. Buying an external device such as a Fire stick or Google Chromecast, but again, although I've seen people talk about using these devices, I'm not sure it will work for 7-9 cams.
3. Having a small computer running Blue Iris (or other appropriate software) strapped to the back of the TV to monitor the cams. I wouldn't have Blue Iris record, only display. Not sure if a small computer (Atom?) would have the horsepower to let Blue Iris handle 7-9 cams.

I was hoping someone else has some practical experience with a setup like this to save me from wasting time and pursuing stuff that they know won't work - or just telling me something they know will work :)

Any advice is very much appreciated.
 
Welcome to the forum..
Dont even consider a smart tv..
an ethernet connected wired fire tv (not stick) will work
You cannot run a standard hdmi cable 200'... you can try a kit like this, you may need a repeater http://www.tripplite.com/hdmi-over-...ver-video-audio-1920x1200-1080p-60hz~B1261A1/ you would still have to figure out a way to control the nvr
You can mount the nvr in the room with the tv...
If you are using dahua cameras then you can use dahua's pss that will run fine on a low power pc....
 
fenderman - thanks for the quick response!

A wired fire tv sounds like a great solution! Is there a specific app for fire tv that I'd be looking to run?

I hadn't seen the Dahua PSS before, that sounds like another good solution. It looks like it is free, is that right? And do you know the difference between PSS and Smart PSS, or which would seem to be best for my situation?

If you were to choose between Fire TV and a PC running PSS for something like this, would you have a preference?

Thanks!
 
im not sure about the nuanced differences between pss and smart pss, @vector18 should be able to tell you...
Both versions of PSS are free, however they will only work with dahua cameras and nvr's...
If you run fire tv, you can use dahuas mobile app. or ipcamviewer by robert chou (however you will not be able to review any footage with ipcamviewer)..
Easiest thing to do is test a fire tv..if not return it..get a haswell i3 thin client
 
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That makes great sense, I will try the firetv first, that would be easiest (and cheapest). Thanks for the great advice!
 
Smart PSS is an updated version of PSS. It looks nicer and easier to use. I also think it's less work on a CPU than the old PSS. For your application, the easiest and cheapest solution would
be an hdmi extender with IR extender built in. I'll try to find one that does that and post a link. With that, you can give them the remote, and they can bring up full screen any camera they chose.
 
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Thanks for that info, vector18. I think I'm going to try the fire tv and/or smart pss. The more I think about it, the more I don't really want to give them control over the NVR which will be kept in a secure room. Thanks.
 
That device comes with an EU plug, so unless you are the EU, you might not be able to use it. Plus it might only be 220v.
 
Be careful with HDMI over cat5/cat6 extenders. Specifically, you should never plug them into the LAN you use for computer data. Most of the extenders are not compatible with IP networking anyway, but some are, and those are the ones to worry about. In my rather limited experience with them, they work by broadcasting extremely high bit rate mjpeg video (nearing 100 Mbps for 1080p) over the LAN. This is enough network traffic to completely cripple WiFi and bog down many wired devices, as everything on your network will be receiving nearly 100 Mbps of unsolicited data. So even if you are using an IP-capable HDMI extender, it is important to isolate it from the LAN.

The idea of using a Fire TV on wired ethernet is much better, as it should be able to operate on the existing network without significant side-effects.
 
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Just to add some info, use a cat6 for the balun kit(hdmi extender over cat5/cat6) instead of cat5, cat6 is more reliable compared to cat5, from years of experience, use a proper tool for crimping it.
If youre trying to put the devices on a secluded area, you can use an IR KIT, if you still wanna control it from anywhere inside the building or house,use a cat5 and resplice it, make sure you do the color coding from end to end. On my kind of work, I usually put all devices down at the basement,cable box,nvr,router,amplifiers (inside a rack) and only the tv's and monitors, remotes are upstairs.
Hope it helps.
Good day to all
 
bp2008, I rarely see hdmi extenders that run over the network? Do they use cat5/6, yes they do, but those wires are not connected to the network, they are just plugged into the etenders on each side.
I have alot of success with decent extenders, and some failures with the cheap chinese special extenders. I would even say, if the cat5/6 is actually part of the network, why not just buy a cheap computer and run software and than wire the output of the PC directly to the TV rather than use hdmi extenders?
 
I use several of the HDMI extenders and some VGA over cat5 video distribution devices myself and they have all worked great.

The newer HDMI ones I've used most recently work better than the slightly older VGA technology ones I have in use. I run CAT6 directly for the extenders and they do not go over the network of course, it is a dedicated run but they have worked very well so far and I will absolutely use them in the future again. I currently have 8 55" screens running on extenders like this with no issues.


As a side note, this is why I prefer to use client/server software as it is much easier to open a client on a basic PC and monitor the cameras. Or on a tablet, or whatever. Works great!
 
Hi Vector, HDMI extenders are just to extend your HDMI cable , so does VGA extenders thru cat5/cat6, no way youll be able to connect that to the network as it uses short HDMI cable at the end, like razer said, they work perfectly.
Good day to all.
 
Probably a dumb question, but do they optionally support a mouse? With remote mouse and HDMI support, and web admin, would cover all bases with a Hikvision NVR.
 
Its not a dumb question, on my kind of work, as far as I know, HDMI EXTENDER over cat5/cat6, is just to extend your HDMI cable ,same as VGA EXTENDER over cat5/cat6 to extend your VGA cable , and mouse doesnt have anything to do with it as it is a diff. accessory use for pc.
 
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I would have a dedicated pc or tablet running smartpss or gdmss for tablet. No wire running required
 
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