Camera Recommendation (Pet Cam & Indoor Bullet?)

[KFG_Vegas]

Hello all,

Relatively new to Blue Iris and hard-wired PoE cameras overall.

I have a Blue Iris instance setup and running on an i7 based machine (using Intel +VPP encoding) -- and overall everything is running fine. CPU on the machine rarely goes over 7%, and I also have Plex and 2 VirtualBox VM's running on the same machine as well. So overall hardware seems right in line with what I need.

I currently have 3 cameras in my Blue Iris install:

• Reolink RLC-811A for my Driveway camera (Firmware updated to latest for correct ONVIF protocol)
• (2) eufy C24 WiFi cameras as our "pet cams"

The eufy cameras were a left over remnant of when we had a full wireless eufy system in place, and I've enabled the RTSP stream on these WiFi cams to be able to pull them into Blue Iris. And yes, while this technically works.. the quality of those eufy cams in Blue Iris is rather poor.

The native 2k resolution of the eufy cameras is downgraded to 1080p max resolution when you use the RTSP streaming. And additionally, there's definitely stream lag both when Live Viewing and when viewing back any Alert clips on the eufy cams.

I know WiFi cams in general are going to be inferior to anything wired, but for the pet cams I'm OK with some level of trade-off on this. So I'm looking for a recommendation on the the following:

• Table-top WiFi Indoor cam with ONVIF that will work well with Blue Iris (ideally something 2k resolution or even 4k if available)
• Biggest thing is I'm looking for something that won't have that stream lag with the WiFi cams (I do have a WiFi 6 router, so my WiFi network is capable of higher throughput)

Second recommendation I'm looking for is an "Indoor" bullet cam that I will have mounted inside my garage. I have a 2nd RLC-811A for this -- but I feel like it might be overkill, and the spotlight and overall size of this thing really don't make it a good fit for something indoors.

Many thanks in advance for any recommendations guys, and happy to be part of the IP Cam community now!

 

[wittaj]

Welcome!

I am sure you will come to realize that the Reolinks will only tell you what time something happened, so hopefully you don't plan on that actually providing useful information to the police...

Many folks use this camera for an indoor wifi that works well with BI. And it has kinda quasi autotracking as well!

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-1920TVL-Security-Wireless-IP2M-841B/dp/B0145OQXCK/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=amcrest&qid=1668718002&s=electronics&sr=1-11&th=1

Keep in mind that you shouldn't have your cameras connected to your home router. It will cause problems. Wifi 6 router is irrelevant. These cameras do not buffer like streaming services. Most that have a camera for wifi have it on its own wifi router separate from the rest of the home network.



Is there a reason why you want a bullet in the garage? Real cameras are gonna be large - most would opt for a turret model.

 

[KFG_Vegas]

I am sure you will come to realize that the Reolinks will only tell you what time something happened, so hopefully you don't plan on that actually providing useful information to the police...

I've actually been having some issues with the Reolink cam, where I'm encountering stream lag when viewing the Live View in Blue Iris web UI3 interface and additionally through the mobile app. Recorded clips seem fine, but just about every single time I attempt to view the Live View of the Reolink for more than 20 seconds or longer, I get the Orange Clock symbol in UI3 telling me my network isn't fast enough to stream. And I can see the FPS spiking up to 18FPS and then down to 0FPS repeatedly.

Just last night I purchased a Hikvision DS-2CD2085G1-I as a direct replacement to test it out. If that works without the stream lag in Live View, I'm going to be selling off my Reolink cameras and move on from that brand.

Is there a reason why you want a bullet in the garage? Real cameras are gonna be large - most would opt for a turret model.

The only reason I was considering bullet for the garage is because it's a wall mount and not a ceiling mount. I know you can mount the turret cameras on the wall, but I was under the impression that viewing angles get kind of weird when wall mount a turret?

 

[wittaj]

Yeah the Hik will blow the Reolink out of the water from a nighttime performance aspect.

But if your cameras are going thru your router, that is going to be a problem that will only get worse as you add cameras.

If you haven't you really need to either dual NIC your BI computer or get a managed VLAN switch to take the cameras off the router.

I have not experienced any weird viewing angles with a turret. I have mounted them horizontal and vertical and they are fine.

 

[KFG_Vegas]

Yeah the Hik will blow the Reolink out of the water from a nighttime performance aspect.

But if your cameras are going thru your router, that is going to be a problem that will only get worse as you add cameras.

If you haven't you really need to either dual NIC your BI computer or get a managed VLAN switch to take the cameras off the router.

I have not experienced any weird viewing angles with a turret. I have mounted them horizontal and vertical and they are fine.

I actually do have a PoE switch which is capable of VLAN's, although to be quite honest... I've never fooled with VLAN's in any capacity before, so I'm pretty green to the whole thing.

The switch I have is a TP-Link TL-SG1016PE

The computer I'm using is an OptiPlex 3050 which has an onboard NIC (Realtek chip). Two weeks ago when I first set up Blue Iris and started encountering the Live View stream lag with the Reolink, I thought maybe the onboard NIC was the issue. So I actually purchased a PCIE NIC and disabled the onboard NIC. Needless to say, the problem persists even with the newly added card and the onboard card disabled.

So I technically do have a "dual NIC" if I were to enable the onboard NIC again. I'm assuming this would be the same as running a Dual NIC card?

What would be the suggested configuration in a Dual NIC set up?

I mean, I should just educate myself on using VLAN's as well while dealing with this whole thing. lol

 

[sebastiantombs]

Re-enable your onboard NIC to your regular local LAN IP scheme. Assign the second NIC a completely different IP segment like 10.x.x.x, with spoofed gateway and DNS, and move the cameras to that via your switch. Assign each camera an IP address manually on that segment. No need for a VLAN and, basically, totally isolated from the Internet unless you deliberately enable routing on the Windows machine. That will keep all video traffic off of your regular LAN.

 

[TonyR]

What would be the suggested configuration in a Dual NIC set up?

Like this:



+1 on what @wittaj said about the Amcrest IP2M-841, I have 4 of them and 3 are on their own dedicated Asus AP (a wireless router set to AP mode).
It's a re-branded Dahua and is ONVIF compatible, provides RTSP, is 1080p (Full HD), IR, 2-way audio, has pan/tilt/digital zoom, record to micro SD card, wired or wireless, great with Blue Iris, VLC, etc. Comes with wall/ceiling mount, 1/4"-20 tripod mount female insert on bottom. Available in black or white for under $40, can be mounted upside-down and the image inverted as needed.

It comes with a USB Type A male to USB micro male cord, about 10 feet long and is furnished with a UL-Listed 5VDC @ 1.5A adapter with Type A female USB.

FWIW, there's a 4MP version for $10 more == >> Amcrest 4MP UltraHD Indoor WiFi Camera, Security IP Camera with Pan/Tilt, Two-Way Audio, Night Vision, Remote Viewing, 2.4ghz, 4-Megapixel @30FPS, Wide 90° FOV, IP4M-1041W (White)

 

[KFG_Vegas]

Like this:

View attachment 145883

+1 on what @wittaj said about the Amcrest IP2M-841, I have 4 of them and 3 are on their own dedicated Asus AP (a wireless router set to AP mode).
It's a re-branded Dahua and is ONVIF compatible, provides RTSP, is 1080p (Full HD), IR, 2-way audio, has pan/tilt/digital zoom, record to micro SD card, wired or wireless, great with Blue Iris, VLC, etc. Comes with wall/ceiling mount, 1/4"-20 tripod mount female insert on bottom. Available in black or white for under $40, can be mounted upside-down and the image inverted as needed.

It comes with a USB Type A male to USB micro male cord, about 10 feet long and is furnished with a UL-Listed 5VDC @ 1.5A adapter with Type A female USB.

FWIW, there's a 4MP version for $10 more == >> Amcrest 4MP UltraHD Indoor WiFi Camera, Security IP Camera with Pan/Tilt, Two-Way Audio, Night Vision, Remote Viewing, 2.4ghz, 4-Megapixel @30FPS, Wide 90° FOV, IP4M-1041W (White)

That network diagram is super helpful, thank you! And I must say, you guys absolutely rock with these replies. One of the most helpful communities I've honestly ever come across.

So with the Dual NIC scenario -- going off the Network Diagram, I would need a 2nd physical switch? Which would certainly make sense given the different subnets the 2 networks would be working off.

I initially thought to myself... with a 2nd switch and whole different subnet, how will my other computers be able to see those IP cams? Then I realized the other computers on my network don't have to see the IP cams at all, as the Blue Iris server computer will be the center point -- and the computer with Dual NIC will be capable of communicating with both networks. So as long as my Blue Iris instance is being served up to my main network, I would have access to those cameras via the Blue Iris interface (UI3 & Mobile).

Is that a correct interpretation on this scenario?

 

[TonyR]

So with the Dual NIC scenario -- going off the Network Diagram, I would need a 2nd physical switch?

Yes

So as long as my Blue Iris instance is being served up to my main network, I would have access to those cameras via the Blue Iris interface (UI3 & Mobile).
Is that a correct interpretation on this scenario?

You got it!

 

[KFG_Vegas]

Yes

You got it!

Awesome! Well I guess I'm busting out my old 8-Port TP-LINK SG108E switch, updating firmware and enabling my 2nd NIC.

Thanks again guys, will post back results.

 

[KFG_Vegas]

+1 on what @wittaj said about the Amcrest IP2M-841, I have 4 of them and 3 are on their own dedicated Asus AP (a wireless router set to AP mode).

So I think I have my mind wrapped around the wired components of the Dual NIC/Dual Switch configuration, but I'm a bit foggy on the wireless portion.

Are you saying that you have your ASUS Access Point connected to the 2nd Switch that is NOT internet-connected (2nd subnet), and then the WiFi cams connect to that AP adding them to that network? So essentially putting them on the same secondary network that only the Blue Iris machine can see via the 2nd NIC.

Even if that's not your exact config, I think that should work. I actually have a brand new in-the-box additional eero Pro 6 router that I was going to use to extend my mesh network. I'm fairly certain these eero devices are hell bent on being internet-connected though, and not sure they even do AP Mode. So I don't think I'll be able to use that... although not 100%.

Care to share your ASUS router model for reference?

Thanks again!

 

[TonyR]

Are you saying that you have your ASUS Access Point connected to the 2nd Switch that is NOT internet-connected (2nd subnet), and then the WiFi cams connect to that AP adding them to that network? So essentially putting them on the same secondary network that only the Blue Iris machine can see via the 2nd NIC.

Yes.
The three 841's each have a unique static IP all in the same subnet as the BI PC. When configuring the 841 you have the Ethernet cable connected, log into the cam's webGUI, assign the wireless an IP an unique static IP different from the Ethernet, make the wireless mode default, have it survey to find the Asus' SSID, log in and "save". After it logs onto the wireless and the rear LED is green, unplug the Ethernet.

The Asus router essentially has DHCP disabled (so it does not perform routing, assigning IP's) and a unique static LAN IP also in the same subnet as the BI PC). Many newer wireless routers have a checkbox for "AP Mode" that basically does the above (DHCP disabled, static LAN IP).

Care to share your ASUS router model for reference?

Asus RT-N66U

 

[KFG_Vegas]

Hey guys,

Just a follow up on this post.

• Finally got some time to re-enable my 2nd NIC in my Blueiris machine.
• Connected a 2nd Switch to my network -- this is a non-PoE switch and will basically act as my "Main" network now. (no cameras on this network)
• Re-configured the PoE switch away from DHCP, and manually set the IP and subnet accordingly to act as a completely separate physical network from my "Main" network.
• The PoE switch now has 192.168.1.x IP range -- while my "Main" non-PoE network is 192.168.4.x
• Set IPv4 settings on my 2nd NIC to 192.168.1.x -- with appropriate Subnet & Gateway. (this is the dedicated NIC for my camera network now)
• The 192.168.1.x network range will now be dedicated to my IP CAMERAS, and will only have my IP Cams, the 2nd NIC from my Blueiris machine, and the dedicated switch for this network (PoE switch).
• Modified the IP settings internally in my Cameras to NOT use DHCP, and hard-set an available IP in the 192.168.1.x range.
• From a browser, I'm able to bring up the Camera Admin interface with the newly assigned 192.168.1.x IP address -- so all is good with the networking.
• Modified the Camera's settings in Blueiris to reflect the new 192.168.1.x IP -- and Blueiris is able to see the camera perfectly fine.

So at this point, I have 2 fully separate networks on 2 different physical hardware switches.

And.... would you believe I'm STILL getting the Orange clock symbol and dropped stream when viewing Live View in the UI3 web interface? Here's a screenshot:

This happens with both my newly acquired HIkvision cam, as well as the Reolink RLC-811A So I think it's safe to say that I can rule out the camera at this point, as it's happening on 2 different camera brands.

I've changed the Streaming Quality profile from within UI3 to all variants (4k VBR, 4k fixed, 1080p, etc..) The Orange Clock/Dropped stream issue happens regardless of which streaming profile I'm using.

I guess I can live with this issue, as it really only presents itself when in LIVE VIEW of the camera (which I don't often use). But just kind of sucks as I've really jumped through some hoops to get this as perfect as possible.

Any additional suggestions on this?

CPU resources seem fine, reach a max of around 13% CPU, 40% Memory & 10% DISK.

Could my write paths (New/Stored/Alerts) possibly be causing this? I'm writing New & Alerts to my System Drive (C: drive), which is a 1TB M.2 drive (Western Digital Blue SN550) -- which should be more than fast enough to both handle the OS and Blueiris video files with a 2,400 MB/s write time. My "Store" path is a secondary local HD which is a larger magnetic drive to store clips once they've aged a bit.

Really at a loss on what to try next, or if this might honestly just be expected behavior of the UI3 interface?

 

[TonyR]

Insure you've enabled sub streams.

For optimum performance Windows, BI and BI's "db" folder should be on the SSD, video clips should go to a surveillance-rated HDD.

 

[looney2ns]

Blue Iris Storage configuration

 

[looney2ns]

Be sure to read the Wiki.
Be certain that you have excluded BI as per the help file from any antivirus, including Windows Defender.

 

[KFG_Vegas]

Insure you've enabled sub streams.

For optimum performance Windows, BI and BI's "db" folder should be on the SSD, video clips should go to a surveillance-rated HDD.

Sub stream is enabled. Here are a few screenshots:

Reolink Camera Settings


Camera Settings in BI


BI Status showing Main FPS & Sub FPS


When I referenced a larger magnetic drive in my earlier post, this actually is a WD Purple Surveillance Drive (WD40PURZ). I initially had New/Alerts set to the Surveillance Drive path, but thought this may have been the bottleneck causing my stream timeouts - so I temporarily changed the video store paths to my M.2 drive. And in settings, had the "Stored" path set to my Surveillance Drive -- moving files over after set file size was reached.

Will modify those settings here in a few minutes back to my Surveillance Drive, while leaving the DB path set to my M.2 main system drive. But just for reference, when I first set this system up a couple weeks ago this was the path configuration, and the Stream Timeout issue was present then as well. Mind you, this was prior to have the Cameras on their own separate switch.

 

[KFG_Vegas]

Be sure to read the Wiki.
Be certain that you have excluded BI as per the help file from any antivirus, including Windows Defender.

Awesome, many thanks for the reference! Will be going through my file paths here shortly and optimizing -- will also be excluding all BI folders from Windows Defender as well. Will post back results a bit later tonight.