Elk M1 Gold plus ISY994i - now adding Blue Iris

heitjer

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Hello,
over the last years I have bee putting together my home security system (ELKM1 Gold) then added the Home Automation system (ISY 994i & Webinterface) and added IP cameras. My cheap NVR stared acting up and I wanted to upgrade to a better system for the recording. Now I just added a HP EliteDesk i7 and installed the Blue Iris trial with the intend to buy. So far so good.

Is there a way to tie these together? I like to record full video for example if the 'driveway' is triggered. What DIO can you recommend? Can I trigger via email, website change?
 

tangent

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ISY and ELK aren't that popular on IPCT compared to other forums like http://cocoontech.com/
Storage has gotten so cheap it's harder to advocate recording only on motion these days, you wouldn't want to miss something important.

PIR/micro motion detectors, PE detectors, and vehicle probes are all more reliable than on camera motion detection or software motion detection in BI. It would help if you described your cameras in greater detail.

I'd start be trying to nail down all of the ways you'd like to integrate things and then try to figure out how/if you can do it.
examples:
-only record interior cameras when alarm is armed away
-turn tv on and switch to cams under certain circumstances
-turn on a light inside after a short delay when motion outside is detected via sensor or cam after 9pm

PTZ cameras are enhanced by automation more than fixed cams.

Search on the ISY developers forum for "blue iris" http://forum.universal-devices.com/forum/56-developers/
 

heitjer

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@tangent
I spend a lot of time on cocoontech and love the support over there. My system is up an running now. The ELK and the ISY work very well together but I keep the duties segregated strictly. The ELK handles all security matters while the ISY handles the automation around that. The cameras have been on the back burner but it looks like Blue Iris will be my new construction zone.

I have 8 IP security cameras, mostly Dahua and some Hik's (no PTZ yet). They are all outside and I will be adding maybe two more in the workshop soon. No cameras inside as I do not believe in monitoring myself but I think your idea of triggering this with the security (AWAY) setting maybe a situation that I can live with.

I fully agree that the PIR are the right and more reliable way of triggering recordings. I was more thinking about having my driveway monitor probe trigger a snapshot in BI so I can take a static picture of who comes and goes. That would allow for a quick review in the evening rather than watching a long video.

I am reading up on this stuff now and agree that my hard drive is big enough for continuous recording. Especially as I do not need to continuously record all cameras.
 
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tangent

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@heitjer, you already have a probe and outdoor PIRs wired into your ELK?

As you try to tie your ISY to BI, you should probably measure latency. Video is fairly time sensitive... if it takes too long for the message to get to BI it won't have the desired effect.

I don't actually use BI myself, I played with the demo a while ago. Some cameras have built in alarm IO you can hook things like a motion detector to, but it may not always be a piece of cake to get BI or other devices to be aware of these events.

There's a thread or two here involving interfacing IO with BI via an arduino or raspberry pi.

On interior cams you really only have to record on alarm but in that case you should be uploading or livestreaming the video as your computer may not be there when you get home. You could pick locations where they're necessary (your armory or safe for example), where you have to go past them, or where they blend into the clutter. Ultimately cams on the exterior do more good as a deterrent and because the door to door "salesman" who checks the locks on every front door can't get away with wearing a mask.
 
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fenderman

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BI also supports sealevel devices...you can pick them up cheap used...
 

heitjer

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Great discussion and help here....ethernet.... how would this work? My driveway probe is wired to the ELK so I get already a security alert and sound played by the ELK. Because the ELK is connected over the ethernet interface (M1XEP) with the ISY I get automation action when the driveway probe is triggered (between dawn and dusk outdoor lights come one) and I get a text message send to my phone. I also write (append) a HTML file that logs this event.

So the question is how would BI pick up the trigger either from a 1) physical device (state change), 2) a triggered device (output from ELK or ISY), 3) a text message or 4) a change in HTML file? I think the lag is actually in order of my list. To make a snapshot picture from the camera when someone drives over the driveway probe only 1) is actually fast enough.
 

heitjer

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you should be uploading or livestreaming the video as your computer may not be there when you get home. You could pick locations where they're necessary (your armory or safe for example), where you have to go past them, or where they blend into the clutter.
This is another reason why I want a trigger function so that the last video before an alarm can go into a cloud. The old NVR will still record hidden somewhere in a garage. Recording on the NVR work still well with this little thing (nelly 8 channel) but the interaction for ipad and internet has been unstable lately.
 

tangent

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Great discussion and help here....ethernet.... how would this work? My driveway probe is wired to the ELK so I get already a security alert and sound played by the ELK. Because the ELK is connected over the ethernet interface (M1XEP) with the ISY I get automation action when the driveway probe is triggered (between dawn and dusk outdoor lights come one) and I get a text message send to my phone. I also write (append) a HTML file that logs this event.

So the question is how would BI pick up the trigger either from a 1) physical device (state change), 2) a triggered device (output from ELK or ISY), 3) a text message or 4) a change in HTML file? I think the lag is actually in order of my list. To make a snapshot picture from the camera when someone drives over the driveway probe only 1) is actually fast enough.
If I didn't say it earlier, you should know I don't have an Elk or ISY. You're going to want to configure either your elk or isy to signal your BI pc. Most likely you'll be doing this with the isy's rest interface (search the isy forum as I suggested earlier).

As to some of the earlier discussion, their are a few ways to interface sensors with cameras:
-Cameras with built in alarm io ports, work best if all cams are the same brand and used with an nvr from the same brand
-Interface IO with the computer fairly directly, using a usb or ethernet device as an example.
-Interface IO with an alarm system, then connect that to an automation controller or a computer.

You do have to be careful, some alarm system automation interface devices can be slow. The biggest issue here is usually a config error like a slow baud rate. In your case with the ELK I think you'll be fine, but there's only one way to find out. Also wireless alarm sensors won't transmit frequent events, so doing things like actually monitoring if a room is occupied can be hard.
 
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