New BI user - questions on how to implement certain requirements

L

logbuilder

Getting the hang of it
Sep 30, 2016
107
28
In the Cascades 90 miles NE of Seattle
Hi all,

New to BI and this forum. My new member info is here.

I am rebuilding my security system. My old was Windows 7, Webcam7, analog cameras with a capture card. I'm starting from scratch. Windows 10, BI and wireless cameras. So far so good but I do have a few bits of functionality that I used to be able to do in Webcam7 that I have not been successful in duplicating in BI. I'm sure BI can do what I want, I'm just not sure how.

First, I am satellite based with a low monthly data cap. For that reason, my prior system as well as the new one will be based on still pics. Basically, the server runs BI and based on a motion trigger, it needs to capture a pic and FTP it to a remote website I built for viewing, archiving and deleting. On that site, I can see an hourly snap from each camera as well as a motions that were recorded for each camera. Also, the BI server needs to do a POST URL to that website when motions are detected. That will drive the remote website to send me an email which alerts me to look at the website.

I currently have three issues with this. Getting the hourly snaps to the website, sending the email, and being able to disable and enable individual cameras based on a schedule.

As far as the email sending, which is really BI POSTing the URL, I set up a Alert for each camera that goes off when each camera triggers. I then have it run a script that includes only one line which is 'start http://mydomain/programtorun?parms'. When I run BI not as service, it runs great. When BI runs as a service, I get nothing. I saw a thread directly relating to this and the answer is not to run the service under the LOCALMACHINE user but rather as an administrator. I changed the service to use my main user id but that did not resolve the problem. I don't think this is a BI problem but rather me not fully understanding the service/user relationship. I get the impression that LOCALMACHINE does not have the authority to allow me to run the start command on a remote web server. If it matters, my main user id does not have a password. That is so that it can boot up after a power failure. I don't think I need that when running as a service but that's what I used to do on the old webcam7 machine. As an aside, I also changed the BIOS so that it will boot after a power fail. It could be that there is a much simpler way to send an email rather than shelling out to the script. Ideas? RESOLVED

About the hourly snaps, first I need to either have different filename structure from the snaps that come from motion triggers or be able to direct them to a different directory on the remote server. BI needs to take a snap from each camera at the top of the hour and FTP it to the remote site. I tried using the 'JPEG snapshot each (mm:ss)' on the Record tab. I have the filename format different than on the POST tab. All the motion triggers have the filename format from the POST page. I have never seen a file get generated with the RECORD tab format. Ideas? RESOLVED

The scheduling I need for each camera is to be able to disable it or enable it based on a schedule. The reason is that at night, I get random triggers when bugs or raindrops are in front of the IR. My solution of is certainly not perfect. I live in a very remote area. Closest street light is 10 miles away. No close neighbors. I've not found the IR on the old analog cameras to not be worth a darn so I just turned ignored motions during night hours. Maybe I'll try turning off the IR on the cameras and see if that stops the bug/rain triggers. This is not my biggest problem at this point. I'm much more interested in solving the above to issues.

I realize that was a lot but I wanted to provide background so it got wordy. And help or thought you might have will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Robert
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dont use the functions for your first two issues...but with respect to the third, you can set profiles, and disable the alert for cameras during the evening profile..you can even set it relative to sunrise sunset. Also, blue iris has advanced motion options to limit false alerts. You can have completely different settings for day/night...
You can also use push notifications to receive alerts on your phone, you dont need a complex setup with another server. Blue iris allows for 3 different unique bandwidth settings for remote viewing. It doesnt use much data at all.
 
fenderman said:
Dont use the functions for your first two issues...but with respect to the third, you can set profiles, and disable the alert for cameras during the evening profile..you can even set it relative to sunrise sunset. Also, blue iris has advanced motion options to limit false alerts. You can have completely different settings for day/night...
You can also use push notifications to receive alerts on your phone, you dont need a complex setup with another server. Blue iris allows for 3 different unique bandwidth settings for remote viewing. It doesnt use much data at all.
Click to expand...

I've seen the profiles and I realize there is a lot of potential in them. I just haven't focused on them as of yet. Your suggestion on using different profiles at different times of the day is likely spot on. I just haven't quite cracked the nut of understanding on them yet. The association of multiple profiles to a single camera was not evident when looking at the profile tab. If I can have different profiles in terms of motion parameters on a given camera, that would be powerful. I fully admit I need to learn more about this. Thanks for the encouragement.
 
logbuilder said:
I've seen the profiles and I realize there is a lot of potential in them. I just haven't focused on them as of yet. Your suggestion on using different profiles at different times of the day is likely spot on. I just haven't quite cracked the nut of understanding on them yet. The association of multiple profiles to a single camera was not evident when looking at the profile tab. If I can have different profiles in terms of motion parameters on a given camera, that would be powerful. I fully admit I need to learn more about this. Thanks for the encouragement.
Click to expand...
Check out the help file it will get you going.
 
You are so right. The BI online Help is one of the best I have seen. I did look at profiles in help but it didn't quite jell yet. I will probably look to youtube for further assistance. I did a search on YT a few days ago and was surprised at the number that related to BI. That just validated my decision to position on this platform.

Thanks for replying. I realize that I am a low post member at this point and the tendency might be to not reply. I appreciate your input.
 
Note that most of the youtube videos are for older versions...the profiles have not changed much though..
 
I have resolved the email sending on Alert issue. I woke up with a new idea and it worked. I trashed the idea of shelling out and sending the URL. I had earlier tested the native email sending and it had failed. I revisited that this morning. I had been using a gmail account which was producing a cryptic error. This morning I changed it to a yahoo account. It also failed but gave me a good error message. The error was saying I was using an app that was attempting to use a simple login sequence which was not allowed. However, it also told me I could change a setting in my yahoo account settings that would allow simple signin. I changed that and it now works.

Now my biggest issue is the sending of an hourly snapshot with a unique filename. I'd sure appreciate any ideas you might have.
 
You can do the same for Gmail if you wish. Read the help file on the post tab.. it should give you some insight.
 
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