Blue Iris and Synology NAS

[jabou]

I currently have a Synology NAS running Surveillance Station with 10-3MP HIkvision cameras (recording 24/7). The system as it stands works fine but I've been trying to integrate my cameras with my home automation system (Control4) - and the consensus form Control4 users is that I use Blue Iris to accomplish what I'm looking to do.
I understand that I will need to buy a PC to run the software (Optiplex 5040 or 7040) - but I don't have an idle windows machine to test the demo version.
Here's what I would like to do - wondering if any users can answer these questions.
1.) I would like to record to my NAS - to be able to store 30 days of archived video. Do I lose any functionality if I store direct to (NAS) disk from BI? I'd like to not have to rely heavily on yet another hard drive (in the BI PC) - and basically go straight to the NAS.
2.) Maybe a better solution is to leave the Synology as is and then set up the BI PC to grab the camera stream (and do what it needs to do)? In that way, if BI PC crashes, it doesn't affect any of the recordings. Is this setup possible (or advisable)?
2.) Since the BI PC will be mounted in a server rack, there will be no monitor connected - my thought was to use Windows Remote Desktop Connection to connect to the BI PC if I need to access the BI software (to access recordings, settings, etc). Is that going to be an issue?
3.) If I were to eliminate Surveillance Station, does BI have an android and/or an iOS remote viewing app? Want to make sure that there is an easy way for users to log in and look at the cameras. Synology has an app called DSCam - hoping that BI has something similar?
Thanks,
jb

 

[cyberwolf_uk]

Jabou,

I have both BI and Surveillance Station running (as a backup) And BI is light years in features and than SS will ever be. Download BI and it will run in demo mode for 15 days, play around with it before purchasing! I don't think you'll ever find a better product unless you're spending $$$$.

As for your answers, depending on what model of Synology you have, here are my recommendations.
A1) You would not lose any functionality using the Synology as the storage site, I do it via iSCSI but you could just do it the normal way. Be aware it would be advisable to have a WD purple drive as the drive you're writing to (These drives are designed for heavy writes i.e Video surveillance. I do this by having a separate volume of 2 x WD purples in my NAS for surveillance)

A2) For BI you can use addon tools to automatically start BI should it crash. Also you can set you PC to reboot on Blue Screen etc then have BI running as a service which will load on bootup. And yes you could Remote Desktop etc to view BI PC, I like Google Remote Desktop personally.

A3) There are both iOS and Android versions of apps for smartphones. I have both but find the Android version better, My opinion mind.

Hope that helps

 

[jabou]

Ok thanks for that. I don't have a Windows machine to test this out so I am going to buy one... I know there is lots of information out there on best processors, speed - but wondering what is more important single core or multi-core speed. Dell has a deal on some Optiplex i5 6500 (small form factor) which are half the price of a comparable i7 6700.
Running 10 - 3MP cameras and may want to add 2 or 3 more (maximum). The machine will be dedicated. Anyone have any experience with said machine/processor for similar MP load?
Cheers,
jb