Switch from NVR to BlueIris?

[CaliGirl]

Hi guys. Currently have 5x 4mp Dahua cams on an 8ch 4K Dahua NVR. Running into so many software issues and lack of overal functionality. iOS app crashes like crazy and can't access a lot as a Mac user.

Can someone please recommend a Windows computer with lower power draw for a remote location that can handle my five cameras and increase to 8 4mp cameras at some point in time? Also needs to handle a power outage and power back up ok on it's own.

I think I can take the hard drive from the NVR and use it in the new computer.

Much appreciated!

Here is my long standing build thread: Need help picking out Equipment for remote Location- Needs to boot back up easily

 

[hmjgriffon]

Hi guys. Currently have 5x 4mp Dahua cams on an 8ch 4K Dahua NVR. Running into so many software issues and lack of overal functionality. iOS app crashes like crazy and can't access a lot as a Mac user.

Can someone please recommend a Windows computer with lower power draw for a remote location that can handle my five cameras and increase to 8 4mp cameras at some point in time? Also needs to handle a power outage and power back up ok on it's own.

I think I can take the hard drive from the NVR and use it in the new computer.

Much appreciated!

Here is my long standing build thread: Need help picking out Equipment for remote Location- Needs to boot back up easily

I7 6700, go go go

 

[CaliGirl]

hmjgriffon,

How do these I7 6700 desktops handle a dozen power failures over the winter? Do they boot up upon power being restored, and start recording blue iris on their own ok? This is a remote location where I can't access easily. Obviously will ad a surge protector. Thanks so much.

 

[hmjgriffon]

hmjgriffon,

How do these I7 6700 desktops handle a dozen power failures over the winter? Do they boot up upon power being restored, and start recording blue iris on their own ok? This is a remote location where I can't access easily. Obviously will ad a surge protector. Thanks so much.

You can set the computer to boot up when power comes back, if you don't lose power for hours you could put it on a UPS, you can run blue iris as a service and set it to start with a green light.

 

[logbuilder]

hmjgriffon,

How do these I7 6700 desktops handle a dozen power failures over the winter? Do they boot up upon power being restored, and start recording blue iris on their own ok? This is a remote location where I can't access easily. Obviously will ad a surge protector. Thanks so much.

In the BIOS of the PC, you can set it to automatically boot when power is restored. Run BI as a service. Install a remote console program such as VNC and configure as server. Then you can access it from anywhere. You will likely have to open a port on the router. I do have a tp-link WIFI connected power switch that the windows server is attached to. I've never had to use it but should the windows machine become unable to accept remote console requests, then I can cycle the server with an app on my phone that turns the power switch off and then on. Server boots and starts fresh.

There is a pretty nice BI app for my phone. The iPhone app is better than the android but they do both work. With that I can view clips/alerts/video and can set the profile. I have several profiles that do different things with different cams. To help to understand, my profiles are Away (everything on), No Security (cams not alerting or recording), Sleeping(same as Away except for the inside cams being off), Arriving (basically No Security but using Homeseer3 to control lighting for arrival at night).

Hope that made sense.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Why is everyone against the built in rdp lol. Works fine and I access mine from Linux.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[misterfredsr]

Why is everyone against the built in rdp lol

That because most of us are newbes here. Most of us have no idea what we are doing and what we want but we got to have it now and it has to work our way only. Thats us newbes..

 

[randytsuch]

For 5 cams, an I5 might be enough. I7 would give you overhead to grow though.
There are lots of recommendations here for finding deals on surplus PC's.
And if you have openVPN, you can remote into the PC using something like teamviewer. Its pretty simple to setup.

 

[hmjgriffon]

That because most of us are newbes here. Most of us have no idea what we are doing and what we want but we got to have it now and it has to work our way only. Thats us newbes..

windows rdp is already there though and works, making more work for yourself looking for other software.

 

[Q™]

RDP is going to get hammered by villains if you use default port 3389. Better to access your LAN by way of a VPN, or (if you must use RDP) simply change the RDP listening port to a non-allocated ephemeral port within the 49152 to 65535 range. My RDP server was getting hammered with hundreds of logon attempts every day; after changing the listening port, not a single attempt...for the past YEAR.

 

[hmjgriffon]

RDP is going to get hammered by villains if you use default port 3389. Better to access your LAN by way of a VPN, or (if you must use RDP) simply change the RDP listening port to a non-allocated ephemeral port within the 49152 to 65535 range. My RDP server was getting hammered with hundreds of logon attempts every day; after changing the listening port, not a single attempt...for the past YEAR. View attachment 14803

opening rdp to the internet would be complete insanity, I was just saying if you're gonna access a windows box with a remote desktop you may as well use the one that is already there. I would never remote access anything unencrypted over the internet. Hell, I don't even leave SSH open over the internet and I have two factor using a yubi key, godamn chinese bastards were trying to brute force it day and night and I just got tired of seeing it in the logs. I only have two ports open to the world, VPN and BI over SSL.


EDIT: I now block all of the Chinese and Russian IP blocks in addition lol. That is going in AND out, so even if you back doored a cam, it wouldn't be able to phone home.

 

[CaliGirl]

Thanks. I would use my Open VPN to access the computer remotely. It is more secure then an open port unless that is a must.

I7 sounds like the best bet because I would like to add a few more cameras and not be limited by the I5.

So very few youtube videos of how blue iris works and the amazing things you can do with it. All the videos are either old, basic or from a foreign country in a langue I don't understand : )

I'm a Mac person, I take it, I could somehow do a screen share from the i7 and access the blue iris software with my mouse at home. And access the blue iris files remotely to create videos and time lapses?

 

[hmjgriffon]

Thanks. I would use my Open VPN to access the computer remotely. It is more secure then an open port unless that is a must.

I7 sounds like the best bet because I would like to add a few more cameras and not be limited by the I5.

So very few youtube videos of how blue iris works and the amazing things you can do with it. All the videos are either old, basic or from a foreign country in a langue I don't understand : )

I'm a Mac person, I take it, I could somehow do a screen share from the i7 and access the blue iris software with my mouse at home. And access the blue iris files remotely to create videos and time lapses?

Sure, all depends on what kind of network connection you have at both ends.

 

[CaliGirl]

5-8 Mbps upload speed 33ms at the remote site, very fast up/down at home.

 

[olli]

I think the remote use should work fine , however, if you download large amount of files, that can be slow. But remote watching them should be okay.

 

[CaliGirl]

That speed has been good enough to remotely view my Dahua NVR and 4mp cameras one at a time. Only occasional download. Would rather have the Blue Iris and I7 do the hard work and create time lapses of each day and store those on the hard drive for me to review each day. If that is even possible?

 

[hmjgriffon]

That speed has been good enough to remotely view my Dahua NVR and 4mp cameras one at a time. Only occasional download. Would rather have the Blue Iris and I7 do the hard work and create time lapses of each day and store those on the hard drive for me to review each day. If that is even possible?

Pretty sure you can do that and a time lapse should be a pretty small file

 

[fenderman]

That speed has been good enough to remotely view my Dahua NVR and 4mp cameras one at a time. Only occasional download. Would rather have the Blue Iris and I7 do the hard work and create time lapses of each day and store those on the hard drive for me to review each day. If that is even possible?

You will have no problem remote viewing via blue iris...one neat features is that you can set 3 different speed profiles for remote viewing so you can cap the bandwidth use depending on speeds you are getting.

 

[CaliGirl]

This all sounds great. It will have to be my summer project, too much snow right now to do all of this work. But I might buy it and experiment at home for a few weeks before installing at the remote site this summer. Here is what I like to do with the cameras. But the Dahua NVR is a bit cumbersome and if I could automate a time lapse from each day that would make editing a lot easier for me:

 

[looney2ns]

windows rdp is already there though and works, making more work for yourself looking for other software.

But you are assuming that most PC users know it's built-in. They don't.

@CaliGirl BI has a built in webserver in which allows you to do many things without the need to remote view the system.

And then there is : Blue Iris Tools - Weather Overlay, Watchdog & more!

And this: I made a better remote-live-view page

A PC at your remote location, as well as your NVR, should always be plugged into a Backup UPS such as: Amazon.com: CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS 1000VA 600W PFC Compatible Mini-Tower: Home Audio & Theater

You can configure the UPS so that it gracefully shuts down a computer in a power outage, when the UPS's battery is depleted.
Offers much protection.