BI Versus Milestone Essentials

[randytsuch]

Last night, (in between innings lol), I got Milestone Essentials working to a point where I could connect my one camera (so far), and see it from an android phone and an ipad. I only have one camera right now. Running on a PC I had, with a I5 class processor.

My current needs are low, maybe motion detection, even though I know I can end up recording blowing leaves, 4-5 4MP cams, recording at a low frame rate all the time, and be able to access remotely from android and iphone. Hopefully will implement VPN for remote access, at least that's my plan. email notification, but not too many emails.
EDIT: Ohh, I want to interface my alarm system to the program, to record if the alarm goes off. I guess I need a USB or PCIE card for my PC to read the alarm signal, and the program would need to start recording at a higher frame rate on the signal.

This is my first system, so I don't really know what I need, or will want to do with this.

Wondering what advantages and disadvantages are between BI and Essentials?
Free versus $60 is an obvious advantage for Essentials, but I'll pay $60 for BI if it brings other features that I could use.

Thanks
Randy

 

[randytsuch]

So I think I answered my own question, lol.
I don't see a way to add the alarm input in Essentials.
But did some searching, and found guys here and elsewhere who made arduino interfaces to BI.

Downloaded a whitepaper for an arduino with an ethernet shield, relay and input board. I've played with Arduino's before, and this looks pretty straightforward, hardest part looks like it will be putting everything together, and boxing it up.
I'd like to add some PIR sensors to this too, and maybe have one box in the front of the house and one in the rear, to record on the sensor instead of using motion detection. Or really to get emails on pir and alarm events.

So I'll probably pay the money for BI, and figure out how to use it.

Randy

 

[tangent]

There are other IO devices you can use out of the box like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sealevel-SeaLINK-PLC-16-Digital-I-O-Interface-Adapter-8206-/252363363201

BI supports both sealevel usb and ethernet devices...

 

[randytsuch]

Thanks Tangent.
My PC is too far from my alarm for a USB box to work.
I saw the level stuff, but unless you get lucky in epay, too expensive for me.
And this is a nice to have kind of thing, so I can work on it after the main cam stuff is all good.

Randy

 

[bp2008]

You can't really change video encoding settings when the alarm is triggered. Not easily anyway. And you wouldn't necessarily want to because it could cause an interruption in the stream. You are better off simply setting the frame rate and bit rate as high as you want them. 15 FPS is usually a good place to set it unless you are struggling with high CPU usage, and use the maximum bit rate the camera is capable of unless you are struggling with not enough clip retention. If you use motion detection, there is little reason not to max out the bit rate.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks Tangent.
My PC is too far from my alarm for a USB box to work.
I saw the level stuff, but unless you get lucky in epay, too expensive for me.
And this is a nice to have kind of thing, so I can work on it after the main cam stuff is all good.

Randy

I purchased a sealevel 120e ethernet based device for 50 bux on ebay a while back...havent had a chance to mess with it...not expensive at all..

 

[randytsuch]

I'll keep checking then, see if one shows up. I can handle $50 or so, but over $100 and I will do it with an arduino instead.
In fact, I may still do it with an arduino, one advantage I get is flexibility since I can customize the program in the arduino.