Blue Iris on Windows 8 - do I need to leave laptop on ALL the time for this solution to work?

[Gazza1234]

I am in process of setting up a simple home smart cam system. I am starting off with a Samsung SNH-P6410BN. I was planning to use the Samsung app but it doesn't seem to be very good.

I therefore started looking at a few options online and was drawn to Blue Iris which keeps coming up in various recommendations.

I now need to work out how to set Blue Iris up using a home broadband router and a home laptop (2012 Toshiba Satellite with 4gb RAM and 1TB hard-drive) on Windows 8.

I have 2 questions:

1 - Once setup will I need to leave the home laptop turned on ALL the time?
2 - Are there any simple directions I could follow to get this system set up?

Thanks so much in advance.

Gazza

 

[TonyR]

I have 2 questions:

1 - Once setup will I need to leave the home laptop turned on ALL the time?
2 - Are there any simple directions I could follow to get this system set up?

1 - Yes. Blue Iris accepts the video streams from the cameras and must be running to do so and to process that video AND to act as a server.
2 - The best contextual directions are contained within Blue Iris Help files, accessed by the big '?' at the top toolbar.
Click on underlined links to 'Quick Start', then read your way to 'Network Configuration and troubleshooting', then 'The Web Server'.