New install advice needed

[jschlank]

My home was burglarized for the second time so I'm getting serious about video surveillance. I was gifted two outdoor cameras (Swann 720p NVR HD) to use for my outdoor perimeter and I have an old computer I am going to refit as my video control/storage platform.

My plan is to wire the cameras to a POE power injector switch that feeds to my LAN hub that my control computer is attached to. The control computer will be very basic with just Windows 7 Pro (64 bit) and Blue Iris (BI) running on it.

So, here's my list of questions that I'm looking for answers and advice on:

I don't see my specific camera supported on the BI website, but since they were free, i want to use them. What are the odds BI will recognize them anyways since many other Swann cams are listed?

The control computer will have the Intel i7 4790K chip on a basic board, an SSD to run Windows 7 Pro (64 bit) and Blue Iris, a WD Purple 2 TB spinner for storage. Do I need a video card or can I get by with the monitor support coming from the motherboard?

Will Blue Iris compress the video or do I need to add a card for H264 so I can conserve storage space? If so, recommendations?

I will only have 4 cameras total by the time it's all done. Please point out any glaring holes you see in my plan. All advice is welcome.

Thanks.

 

[fbnoise]

Looks like a good plan. The graphics on the i7 will be sufficient. I have a similar setup (and storage, but I need to throw in a third drive to keep more). I record a few cameras all the time, highest quality, then have motion detection going on top of that. I step up the quality to 100% on all snapshots and in BI I do direct to disk recording.

Wish you the best of luck and hope the cameras act as a deterrent and you won't even have to use any footage.

 

[fenderman]

+1 on what fbnoise...do not add a grahpics card-they do not improve performance, they suck power, add heat and often fail...you dont need any additional cards for compression or anything like that.
Many swanns are hikvision cameras...not sure about the 720p versions..regardless if they are network cameras then blue iris can most likely pull the stream.
Download the demo..

 

[jschlank]

Alright, gang. Got the new computer all built and burned in. Downloaded the trial version of BI and it doesn't seem able to find the one camera I have running on the network. It's not listed on the BI supported camera list so should i just assume it will never be recognized by BI? Also, I'd love a good tutorial for all the setup if anyone knows one.

 

[fenderman]

Alright, gang. Got the new computer all built and burned in. Downloaded the trial version of BI and it doesn't seem able to find the one camera I have running on the network. It's not listed on the BI supported camera list so should i just assume it will never be recognized by BI? Also, I'd love a good tutorial for all the setup if anyone knows one.

Blue iris can be used with almost any camera that provides a stream...you just need to know the path..what camera are you using?

 

[jschlank]

I've got the Swann 720p HD cam. I actually got two of them as a gift from an installer friend of mine so that's why I'm so determined to use them.

 

[jschlank]

I've tried a couple of IPs that I thought were it and used the auto configure/inspect, but still nothing on the viewing screen.

 

[fbnoise]

I'd make sure you can log into camera admin before trying anything in blue iris. Find the support page for it on the manufacturer's website for help on that. Let us know what you find.

 

[jschlank]

The camera is getting power. I could see the IR leds last night. Trying to figure out the MAC address so I can zero in on the IP.

 

[fbnoise]

Your best bet is to find the manual for the cam and start there as I was mentioning above. Aside from that, there are some smartphone apps that will scan your network for IPs (if you've hardwired the camera it should be on the network). Fing is one I use for iphone. Tons of others out there, too.

 

[bp2008]

You need to find the camera's IP address first. Do you have that?

Once you have that, you can try various camera types.

You should also be aware that a large number of the camera types in Blue Iris do nothing but pre-fill the port numbers and path field. Most IP cameras can be used with the generic rtsp / h264 option near the top of the list, if you happen to know the port number and path for the video stream. The port number can usually be found in the camera's web interface, though it is usually just 554 as that is the default for the RTSP protocol. You can usually get the URL / PATH information by googling, as a couple sites keep a list of known URLs you can try. For example: http://www.ispyconnect.com/man.aspx?n=Swann

Note that when you look at a URL list from ispyconnect's site, a lot of the URLs are for JPEG and MJPEG video which is very inefficient with bandwidth. You should try the VLC / FFMPEG options first, since they are more likely to be h264.

 

[jschlank]

It's hardwired, but in my network device list, there are several unknowns. Anyways, tried Swann tech support and not much help there. So, I'm up for camera suggestions that play nice with BI. I'm trying to keep the cams all POE to save wire running and attic time. Need about 40 feet of night vision and as high resolution as possible to identify faces, license plates, etc.

 

[jschlank]

I did get BI to find it via RTSP, but when I switch back to main panel from camera config screen it shows color bars for a second, then goes to a gray screen with the timecode on it but says RTSP: 404 stream not found and NO SIGNAL across image box. Am I getting close or should I just call it a day and pursue new POE cam?

 

[jschlank]

Just pulled new Cat5e cable to cam to eliminate that possibility. Nice smooth pull with no kinks. Still getting 404 No signal message on screen. Deleted camera profile and tried re-adding it. Just color bars for a sec then 404 screen. So close. Yet, so far.

 

[jschlank]

 

[fbnoise]

Can you log on to the camera's admin page?

 

[CYANiDE]

You need the cameras IP address first. I would find the reset button and just reset it then find the default IP and go from there.

 

[Daffy]

If you can find the mac address on the cam use the "arp -a" command to list all devices on your network by mac and ip.

one little trick I've learned is to ping ...255 first then do the arp command, it then lists everything active on the lan, a little copy/paste into a spreadsheet and a little follow up editing for a nice network layout of the lan.

 

[bp2008]

If you can find the mac address on the cam use the "arp -a" command to list all devices on your network by mac and ip.

one little trick I've learned is to ping ...255 first then do the arp command, it then lists everything active on the lan, a little copy/paste into a spreadsheet and a little follow up editing for a nice network layout of the lan.

That is a cool trick that I did not know about. It doesn't show quite everything though. I guess the pinging 192.168.0.255 trick didn't work.

 

[Daffy]

operative word is "active"