New here - New system and could use your help!

Karey Watson

Young grasshopper
Oct 25, 2016
41
1
Hey guys - New poster..

Background is I'm a low voltage tech by trade. Mostly commercial fire alarms but essentially anything low voltage including cameras.

Been in my house close to 3 years and finally deciding to set a small system up. In my trade the stuff I use I could never fathom putting in my home. We mostly install Avigilon based systems and with them having a per camera license, just can't do it.

I've tried doing some research but there's just so so much out there.. I know I could go to my local supply house and get a NVR with 4 cameras for relatively cheap but I also know the functionality isn't the best and if it ever dies or has to be repaired, I'm without.

ALL THAT SAID I am pretty much set on running Blue Iris on a dedicated machine but I'm here asking you guys how much of a system do I really need for this. 4 cameras. 720p in my honest opinion would be fine but I'm not opposed to 1080p. Motion recording. Can I get away with an i5 for this? Everything ideal with in my work were using branded Avigilon servers and what not so I'm a bit lost on how much power I need. I can easily build the machine myself or find something comparable cheap with you help.

While on it - Any suggestions for decent relatively inexpensive IP cameras? Back to what I know Avigilon well, ain't cheap. I don't know how realistic I'm being but I'd like to do it all under $800 if I can, I feel like I can..

Long winded post so I apologize for thag but in advance will say I'm super thankful for all of your insight and advice.
 
Hey guys - New poster..

Background is I'm a low voltage tech by trade. Mostly commercial fire alarms but essentially anything low voltage including cameras.

Been in my house close to 3 years and finally deciding to set a small system up. In my trade the stuff I use I could never fathom putting in my home. We mostly install Avigilon based systems and with them having a per camera license, just can't do it.

I've tried doing some research but there's just so so much out there.. I know I could go to my local supply house and get a NVR with 4 cameras for relatively cheap but I also know the functionality isn't the best and if it ever dies or has to be repaired, I'm without.

ALL THAT SAID I am pretty much set on running Blue Iris on a dedicated machine but I'm here asking you guys how much of a system do I really need for this. 4 cameras. 720p in my honest opinion would be fine but I'm not opposed to 1080p. Motion recording. Can I get away with an i5 for this? Everything ideal with in my work were using branded Avigilon servers and what not so I'm a bit lost on how much power I need. I can easily build the machine myself or find something comparable cheap with you help.

While on it - Any suggestions for decent relatively inexpensive IP cameras? Back to what I know Avigilon well, ain't cheap. I don't know how realistic I'm being but I'd like to do it all under $800 if I can, I feel like I can..

Long winded post so I apologize for thag but in advance will say I'm super thankful for all of your insight and advice.
Welcome to the forum...you can easily do this on a modern i3 haswell/skylake...but get an i5 as the price difference is negligible....search the forum for optiplex and elitedesk...you can pickup an i5-6500 skylake elitedesk for about 300 with full warranty-impossible to build at this price point...look at dahua/hikvsion cameras...beware of china region hikvisions as the firmware cannot be upgraded....this dahua is specd really well https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthrea...ams-from-dahua?p=130592&viewfull=1#post130592
Dont know anyone who as it but its 1080p, excellent low light and varifocal...buy one and test.
 
Welcome to the forum...you can easily do this on a modern i3 haswell/skylake...but get an i5 as the price difference is negligible....search the forum for optiplex and elitedesk...you can pickup an i5-6500 skylake elitedesk for about 300 with full warranty-impossible to build at this price point...look at dahua/hikvsion cameras...beware of china region hikvisions as the firmware cannot be upgraded....this dahua is specd really well https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthrea...ams-from-dahua?p=130592&viewfull=1#post130592
Dont know anyone who as it but its 1080p, excellent low light and varifocal...buy one and test.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. Looks like going the route of the elitedesk is probably a decent deal.

One more question.. I am weighing buying a 8 port (4 of them POE) switch to add to my network for the cameras. My only concern is the switch (unless you spend ALOT) is only 10/100. However, it seems like a 3MP camera on 30FPS basically cranked up all three the bandwidth needed is around 60-65mb/s. I feel like a 10/100 POE switch would suffice for 4 cameras, but am I wrong? Future proofing obviously wouldn't want an 8 switch and I know in that case I'd need more than 10/100 coming out of it feeding to another spot. The switches get expensive the more you start throwing POE and Gigabit together :/
 
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. Looks like going the route of the elitedesk is probably a decent deal.

One more question.. I am weighing buying a 8 port (4 of them POE) switch to add to my network for the cameras. My only concern is the switch (unless you spend ALOT) is only 10/100. However, it seems like a 3MP camera on 30FPS basically cranked up all three the bandwidth needed is around 60-65mb/s. I feel like a 10/100 POE switch would suffice for 4 cameras, but am I wrong? Future proofing obviously wouldn't want an 8 switch and I know in that case I'd need more than 10/100 coming out of it feeding to another spot. The switches get expensive the more you start throwing POE and Gigabit together :/
Here is a great managed gigabit 4 port poe switch for only 15 dollars more than a 10/100 https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/14685-Low-priced-managed-gigabit-switches-from-Zyxel-GS1200