Is there a Blue Iris equivalent for Linux?

Mastadon said:
Already got a digital watchdog referral, and I am checking it out, but I don't think it's the right thing for me. Seems a bit over the top.
I have paid for many windows licenses, and it's really not an issue.
Cost is a consideration, yes, but as an overall solution seeming that I'm considering a 300$+ NVR I can't say I'm cutting costs.
I actually didn't want to start a windows vs linux discussion, but you're really trying to force it for some very weird reason.
A simple "No there isn't" would've definitely been sufficient.
I already have a Linux setup with all sorts of stuff its doing which is completely not relevant for this discussion.
Migrating that system to Windows just to run a windows based VMS simply makes no sense, and I can't see a reason to maintain 2 separate PCs. What's more, finding a PC with power, noise, heat dissipation ratings similar to a well designed NVR is very hard job, given that the space is limited, and in a central area in the house, heat buildup and noise pollution are an issue, especially when more than 1 electronics is involved.
This is part of the picture (pardon the pun). I am sure you have many ideas and solutions that will suggest how I can tweak the setup, and find very good pcs and what not. Please don't do it. I'm not interested in making my setup more complex than it has to be, and maintaining 2 PCs makes zero sense to me.
Now I have wasted everyone's time in explaining something completely unimportant to the discussion, just cause, well, never mind I'll try to stay civilized.
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you specifically asked about blue iris because it's customizable and has many features now you want your setup to be simple....please.
It's obvious that you have no knowledge of the heat dissipation power usage or noise of a modern PC...you want to run any VMS on a clean system not something gummed up with all your other crap.... I encourage you to buy an NVR then when you're displeased with his performance you'll come back...
 
Actually The most interesting feature BI has as far as I see is that it supports more than 1 vendor cameras without losing camera functionality (I believe I wrote that already before in this thread). I think most of the feature it has are of no use to me, but who knows? Maybe I'll find out I'm wrong one day.
I actually have researched the matter of power heat and noise in various solutions. But if you say I don't know... OK I'll believe you.
If a VMS requires a dedicated clean setup, you've just solved my dilemma, HW NVR it is. Not sure why though, since it's just another software. Why would it need to be separate? Security? Does BI take a lot of resources and other processes will starve? Seems a bit wasteful to have a dedicated machine just for one piece of software. Even when using an NVR, I can log into the embedded Linux machine and run my own processes (which is what I'm considering to do to save the extra PC if I choose NVR BTW. Not sure it's viable, but if I can save a PC, I most definitely will)
 
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Mastadon said:
Actually The most interesting feature BI has as far as I see is that it supports more than 1 vendor cameras without losing camera functionality (I believe I wrote that already before in this thread). I think most of the feature it has are of no use to me, but who knows? Maybe I'll find out I'm wrong one day.
I actually have researched the matter of power heat and noise in various solutions. But if you say I don't know... OK I'll believe you.
If a VMS requires a dedicated clean setup, you've just solved my dilemma, HW NVR it is. Not sure why though, since it's just another software. Why would it need to be separate? Security? Does BI take a lot of resources and other processes will starve? Seems a bit wasteful to have a dedicated machine just for one piece of software. Even when using an NVR, I can log into the embedded Linux machine and run my own processes (which is what I'm considering to do to save the extra PC if I choose NVR BTW. Not sure it's viable, but if I can save a PC, I most definitely will)
Click to expand...
Get the NVR... you deserve it.
 
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I think what's gumming up this discussion is that we'd all like to know why you cannot run a Windows machine in this particular situation.

It's none of my business, really, but if people understood the situation, they'd probably be more inclined to help. As it is, it seems mysterious, and folks are less likely to be interested in a problem if they feel they're being kept in the dark, or being misled in some way.

I'm not a huge fan of Windows, but over the years, it's what I've had to use because so much of the software that I need to use is only available for it. And I was not a fan of the whole 8080 processors and their progeny, but early on, IBM's platform was open, so if I was going to design add-in boards and interface instruments and industrial controls to a PC, it had to be an IBM style.

Apple was always a closed architecture, so it was useless to me, and thus, PCs, and therefore Microsoft became necessary.

But you gots to do what you gots to do!

I've been perfectly happy with my dedicated Win10 Blue Iris machine, dedicated solely to being my NVR.

That's not to say that I can't, or don't occasionally use other programs on it to edit or at least export the videos from the security cameras. But 99.99% of the time or more, it just sits there running BI, and has been rock solid.

So curious folk here probably want to know WHY you, as a confessed Windows user. cannot use Windows in this particular situation. I can think of some possible reasons, but I do think you'd get more cooperation in this thread if you'd let us all in on the secret. :)
 
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J Sigmo said:
I think what's gumming up this discussion is that we'd all like to know why you cannot run a Windows machine in this particular situation.

It's none of my business, really, but if people understood the situation, they'd probably be more inclined to help. As it is, it seems mysterious, and folks are less likely to be interested in a problem if they feel they're being kept in the dark, or being misled in some way.

I'm not a huge fan of Windows, but over the years, it's what I've had to use because so much of the software that I need to use is only available for it. And I was not a fan of the whole 8080 processors and their progeny, but early on, IBM's platform was open, so if I was going to design add-in boards and interface instruments and industrial controls to a PC, it had to be an IBM style.

Apple was always a closed architecture, so it was useless to me, and thus, PCs, and therefore Microsoft became necessary.

But you gots to do what you gots to do!

I've been perfectly happy with my dedicated Win10 Blue Iris machine, dedicated solely to being my NVR.

That's not to say that I can't, or don't occasionally use other programs on it to edit or at least export the videos from the security cameras. But 99.99% of the time or more, it just sits there running BI, and has been rock solid.

So curious folk here probably want to know WHY you, as a confessed Windows user. cannot use Windows in this particular situation. I can think of some possible reasons, but I do think you'd get more cooperation in this thread if you'd let us all in on the secret. :)
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I actually shared some of my considerations above.
I am well aware of the "linux vs windows" flame wars, and frankly I really don't give a damn. I just want the best tool to help me solve a problem under my personal circumstances. I was trying to avoid it by just saying "Trust me, it need to be Linux" and hoping people would be kind enough to assume it and move on instead of critiquing my entire setup design.
As far as I'm concerned, once I understood there is no good Linux solution, I got my answer and I can continue with my system design.
Thanks for your insight.
 
I ran nx witness (and Wisenet Wave) vms on an Ubuntu server (with a pitiful atom processor) running other services and it worked fine (it was only running 4 cameras, but they were all a minimum of 3mp bar one 1080p cube camera)

Dw Spectrum, Wisenet Wave and NX Witness are all essentially the same thing.
Awesome piece of software and I'd probably still be using it if I'd actually been able to buy it.
 
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I freely admit I'm a Linux snob. I don't even want to hide it! :wave:

But here is the thing, there is no good solution for running a dedicated NVR system on Linux without spending a fortune on Spectrum Watchdog. All the OpenSource stuff is absolutely terrible. I know. I’ve tried them all.

So Blue Iris is the answer on Windows and it’s an excellent solution. This is why I ended up running BI in a Win10 VM. I needed that host to do other things than just run BI. I simply didn’t want another server in the closet.

You’re better off either getting a dedicated Win box for BI or putting it in a VM than buying a pre-built NVR. BI will runs circles around a any pre-built NVR as far a features go.
 
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Most Linux VMS I have played with are by no means full featured. They are some options that are worth checking out. Most are not install and run, they require tweaking to get installed correctly.

Have a play at Shinobi.

I have heard the zoneminder thing 100000 times, I feel it’s bunk.

I have been waiting in hopes that Dahua would port SmartPSS for a loooong time.
 
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GSMarquis said:
Most Linux VMS I have played with are by no means full featured. They are some options that are worth checking out. Most are not install and run, they require tweaking to get installed correctly.

Have a play at Shinobi.

I have heard the zoneminder thing 100000 times, I feel it’s bunk.

I have been waiting in hopes that Dahua would port SmartPSS for a loooong time.
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what zoneminder thing? Great thread learning a lot. I don't know how people live without blue iris after using it for the past few years. I had an NVR and would spend 10x to never have to go back to it.
 
TL1096r said:
what zoneminder thing? Great thread learning a lot. I don't know how people live without blue iris after using it for the past few years. I had an NVR and would spend 10x to never have to go back to it.
Click to expand...

zoneminder was pretty cool and worked great.. Ubiquity actually acquired the guy that wrote it... I was sitting a UBNT conference when they stated, "You are probably all wondering to zoneminder. Well..........." lol.

Looking at ZoneMinder and the source code looks like it's still being contributed too... so it'll be the first NVR I try before anything else... because I want a Linux NVR too :)
 
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Keimond said:
zoneminder was pretty cool and worked great.. Ubiquity actually acquired the guy that wrote it... I was sitting a UBNT conference when they stated, "You are probably all wondering to zoneminder. Well..........." lol.

Looking at ZoneMinder and the source code looks like it's still being contributed too... so it'll be the first NVR I try before anything else... because I want a Linux NVR too :)
Click to expand...

Thanks @Keimond

Good news to have developers doing interesting projects hired to ( hopefully ) continue on the project.
 
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Keimond said:
Looking at ZoneMinder and the source code looks like it's still being contributed too... so it'll be the first NVR I try before anything else... because I want a Linux NVR too :)
Click to expand...
I looked at ZM briefly. Did not like. (Don't recall why.) Wasn't interested in running MS-Windows. (Do not like.) Wasn't at all interested in a manufacturer-specific NVR. Found out the Synology NAS I was already running had an NVR app called Surveillance Station. Played with it a bit. Seemed like it would do the job ok. And that's about the best I can say for it: It's just ok. The first two camera licenses are free. It's more expensive than it's worth, once you get past four or so cameras, IMO.

As for "bigotry": I know and like Unix and Linux. I know and do not like MS-Windows. I also know and do not like OS X. If that makes me a Unix/Linux bigot, well, I guess I'm a Unix/Linux bigot :)
 
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Last I checked, some people had limited success running Blue Iris on Mac/Linux using Crossover. Search Results | CodeWeavers

I don't know enough about Crossover to know if it is possible to tweak things and make it work better. I'm not even sure what doesn't work, or if it is stable. I imagine hardware acceleration would not be available no matter what you did.
 
Mastadon said:
Already got a digital watchdog referral, and I am checking it out, but I don't think it's the right thing for me. Seems a bit over the top.
I have paid for many windows licenses, and it's really not an issue.
Cost is a consideration, yes, but as an overall solution seeming that I'm considering a 300$+ NVR I can't say I'm cutting costs.
I actually didn't want to start a windows vs linux discussion, but you're really trying to force it for some very weird reason.
A simple "No there isn't" would've definitely been sufficient.
I already have a Linux setup with all sorts of stuff its doing which is completely not relevant for this discussion.
Migrating that system to Windows just to run a windows based VMS simply makes no sense, and I can't see a reason to maintain 2 separate PCs. What's more, finding a PC with power, noise, heat dissipation ratings similar to a well designed NVR is very hard job, given that the space is limited, and in a central area in the house, heat buildup and noise pollution are an issue, especially when more than 1 electronics is involved.
This is part of the picture (pardon the pun). I am sure you have many ideas and solutions that will suggest how I can tweak the setup, and find very good pcs and what not. Please don't do it. I'm not interested in making my setup more complex than it has to be, and maintaining 2 PCs makes zero sense to me.
Now I have wasted everyone's time in explaining something completely unimportant to the discussion, just cause, well, never mind I'll try to stay civilized.
Click to expand...

There is an osx solution ..... If you want something that runs as good or better than BI on OSX, SecuritySpy is the top dog. BUT, break out your wallet because its a per camera license system. The free download version is view only. No recording until you break out the money.

Oh, and I usually just lurk and try to gain knowledge from people here that know what the hell they are talking about but, you are a snob..... Your feelings get hurt like a 10 year old girl.
 
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Mastadon said:
I actually shared some of my considerations above.
I am well aware of the "linux vs windows" flame wars, and frankly I really don't give a damn. I just want the best tool to help me solve a problem under my personal circumstances. I was trying to avoid it by just saying "Trust me, it need to be Linux" and hoping people would be kind enough to assume it and move on instead of critiquing my entire setup design.
As far as I'm concerned, once I understood there is no good Linux solution, I got my answer and I can continue with my system design.
Thanks for your insight.
Click to expand...



See post #37 if you can live with OSX
 
Hello. I am not linux fan nor windows fan. I am using windows based surveilance solution from digifort and i am fed up. The updates hell on windows is making this system unusable. Every two weeks the system disconnects from lan until i restart it to install updates, behavior of the system changes with each update etc. I really do not recommend windows for any 24/7 unattended task. It was usable through windows xp up to early windows 10 but now it is very unreliable due to forced updates and changes to the system beyond your control. I even had a periid of 2 months when system was hanging up ca every week. It started with one of the updates and cured itself with some other. I have no such problems with any of my linux machines
 
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