Has anyone set their CCTV up on Amazon AWS?

[rcx664]

I've got a mix of 7 Dahua and Hikvision cameras around my house. I'm getting a bit tired of the noise from the Blueiris server and looking for a way to reduce that.

As well as looking at the obvious option of buying a silent CPU fan and power supply, I'm also trying to see if I can stream the cameras direct to Amazon AWS. Here's my initial thoughts:

1. I don't use any of the advanced Blueiris features any more. It's just recording video when there's motion and also streaming to a monitor in my office. So a simple solution could fulfill my needs.
2. Data transfer into AWS is free so an AWS based solution could be very favourable.
3. Amazon has a video streaming solution called Kenisis, the pricing looks very good. But it may even be possible to bypass Kenisis by saving video direct to AWS storage, if I can find a way to also stream the video from all cameras to my local monitor.
4. Not certain about bandwidth requirements and if my home broadband will cope. This may be a deal breaker. Although I think seven cameras won't use much bandwidth (if you actually measure the real life bandwidth usage it's not that big). But I suspect Virgin will notice there's continious streaming and it violates their terms.

Has anyone explored Amazon AWS?

 

[IAmATeaf]

You’re thinking of a complex solution to a simple problem, either move the BI PC or spend some time quietening it. You could even maybe use the old 12v and 5v trick to run the existing fans at 7v which should quieten them.

Also, Virgin has high download speeds but mediocre to down right slow upload speeds so with your cams uploading I reckon it will flood your overall internet to a point where it probably would not be usable.

 

[crw030]

I’m with @IAmATeaf if you can’t physically move BI somewhere where the noise isn’t a problem, then as long as your system isn’t overheating you can run fewer/quieter/slowed fans to drastically drop the noise level. There are also companies that try to make quieter fans like beQuiet SilentWings.

Not sure about your config, CPU, case size etc. But at the extremes end if you aren’t running the system full tilt to keep up I’ve even seen fanless CPU coolers (so no noise, but fitting in a case will likely be a problem because they are MASSIVE: NoFan CR-95C IcePipe Fanlesss CPU Cooler

If it was me, I’d move the Blue Iris machine to a mechanical closet or someplace the noise isn’t an issue even if it meant running a new network cable from where it is. My newest build sounds a little like a jet engine starting up, but it will be in a closed room with a loud furnace. I won’t hear it unless I’m walking by on a quiet day.

 

[TonyR]

+1^^.
Not sure why your PC is so loud...have you opened it up see if the CPU heatsink and the heatsink fan is caked up and blocked with dust? If so, the CPU fan will run continuously because it can't do its job. The power supply can do this as well.

PC's sitting on the floor, and especially on carpet, act like vacuum cleaners. The tar from cigarette smoke is very sticky also. I've had to literally disassemble fans from heatsinks and scrape them to dislodge the dust, a power blower won't do it. BTW, I use a small, electric power blower; air from a compressed air hose can have undesirable static, air from a can of compressed air can be too wet and too cold if not chosen and used correctly.

In rare cases the heatsink thermal compound or pad between the CPU and the heatsink can dry up and lose the thermal bond that allows the 'sink to pull the heat off the CPU.

Also, if the CPU usage is really high, like on a lower-tier Pentium or Celeron, the fan will run full tilt 24/7.....a properly chosen PC with hardware (CPU, RAM, etc.) as per the Wiki and configured as per the Wiki won't run the fan all the time.

I've got 6 each 2MP cams running @ 15 FPS, Direct to Disk, motion detect, on a Dell Inspiron 3650 desktop, i5-6400, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, CPU sits at 27% most of the time, I never hear the fan unless I reboot the PC.

 

[Coldair]

you trust Amazon with your security?

 

[shalem2014]

First off, I'd say it's important to have a properly sized CPU. I have 16 cameras on an i7-8700k based system, and it runs around 20-40% CPU usage with the fans running quietly. I have several systems with 5-6 cameras on an i7-3770 and they behave the same way. All cameras are 1080p (2mp), direct-to-disk encoding, motion detection through BI, and the computers are quiet enough that I don't hear them at all from a couple feet away. I'd check your CPU usage to get an idea what kind of load you're running. If it's below 50% with Blue Iris running in the background, the fan should not be running fast (CPU usage always spikes when you open the GUI or stream all the cameras, and the fans do start to speed up and become audible after a few minutes of that). If the fans are running fast under 50% CPU usage, I'd be looking for issues like bad thermal paste or a plugged heatsink. Also make sure your Windows Power Profile is set to Balanced, not High Performance (or Best performance in recent versions of Windows 10) so the CPU can throttle back from full speed.

Secondly, many PC cases do a horrible job at actually removing the hot CPU air from the case, causing the CPU fan to work harder—often along with another fan that actually removes the heated air (PSU or Aux fan), creating even more noise. To fix this, turn the CPU fan around to pull air up through the heatsink and duct it directly out of the case. As an added bonus, the heatsink will no longer get plugged up with a mat of dust right under the fan. Now some fans can't be turned around due to lack of mounting options, and depending on your heatsink and fan, if their mutual fins are in close proximity, it might actually be noisier. To get around these issues, I have actually removed the CPU fan on some computers and fashioned a cardboard duct between the heatsink and the Aux fan on the back of the PC, moving the Aux fan's plug to the CPU fan connector for correct speed control. Depending on the fan, you may need to upgrade the Aux fan (low power, wrong connections, etc). Sometimes the removed CPU fan is the same size and you can simply swap them. Then tape up any spare ventilation holes in the back and sides of the PC, to force the PSU and CPU fans to pull fresh air through the front of the case and exhaust the hot air through the back or back+side of the case. If you have a dedicated graphics card that doesn't exhaust out the back of the PC, you may want to leave a few rows of holes open over it to help it stay cool too. This is a much more effective cooling pattern than what most OEM PCs are shipped with, which will cause the fans to run slower and possibly eliminate a fan, reducing noise and increasing reliability. Maybe you can adjust your fans temperature curve and minimum speeds in the BIOS. For example, start the curve at 50-60°C and end it at 80-90°C. Some BIOSes have an option to use PWM or voltage control. Usually voltage control will allow the fan to run slower and not make as loud of a ticking sound at low speeds. Some BIOSes allow you to set the minimum fan speed. Experiment and find the lowest value that the fan can reliabily keep running at, and set it there.

Thirdly, Blue Iris recently introduced SubStream support. I would strongly recommend giving it a try! This reduced the average CPU usage on my systems to about 5-10%. Everything seems to be working well so far. The benefit would be even greater if you're using higher resolution cameras.

 

[looney2ns]

I'm using an Optiplex i7-7700 and don't hear it setting 3 ft from it. Running 11 2mp cams.

 

[rcx664]

I wouldn't discount AWS so quickly. Blueiris is complicated and you have the hassle of maintaining your own hardware and having to back up the drive. Having the cameras stream direct to online is a good solution. Some AWS services are very well priced. For example their Deep Glacier storage buckets are CHEAPER than buying your own disks (assuming two year disk life) plus you get redundancy and built in backups.

Unfortunately for me, Amazon Kenisis doesn't support direct streaming from Dahua cameras so I haven't taken this further.

I've fitted a silent CPU fan, and swapped the power supply fan for a quiet one. The next noisy item was the HDD hard drive so I've chucked that. Blueiris now saves direct to the silent solid state C: and I then have a script that moves the video to Amazon Deep Glacier for long term archiving.

 

[looney2ns]

I wouldn't discount AWS so quickly. Blueiris is complicated and you have the hassle of maintaining your own hardware and having to back up the drive. Having the cameras stream direct to online is a good solution. Some AWS services are very well priced. For example their Deep Glacier storage buckets are CHEAPER than buying your own disks (assuming two year disk life) plus you get redundancy and built in backups.

Unfortunately for me, Amazon Kenisis doesn't support direct streaming from Dahua cameras so I haven't taken this further.

I've fitted a silent CPU fan, and swapped the power supply fan for a quiet one. The next noisy item was the HDD hard drive so I've chucked that. Blueiris now saves direct to the silent solid state C: and I then have a script that moves the video to Amazon Deep Glacier for long term archiving.

BI is not complicated. You can use or not use as much of it as you want.
To each his own, my hardware just sits and does it's job very quietly, no baby sitting needed.
The only maintenance required is to take it apart and clean the dust out of it every so often. Been that way now for 3 yrs.
You must have super hearing, can't hear the HD in mine at all.
Not good to do continuous wrights to a SSD. It will cause failure.
Streaming to AWS is great until your internet goes down, or they shut you off for violating their terms of service.