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Originally posted by deepocean:

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Originally posted by cruiser68:

I am using a pretty fast new computer I built as a dedicated BI server. It runs at about 15% CPU utilization. There are encoding options on some cameras that let you run H265 instead of H264 which cuts down on cpu utilization. I am running Hikvision cameras and have been extremely happy with the lack of effort I have been putting into maintaining it.

What did you use for your dedicated server? Did you compare your Hikvision cameras with the Dahua starlights?

How do you handle alerts? Does the BI software allow you to schedule recording around triggered events? Full time recording gets storage-intensive.

For me the decision between Hikvision and Dahua was arbitrary based on lots of info I read. I am setup to pretty much record 24/7 on 5 cameras but I get triggers for any motion. It can also alert my phone when I get a motion alert on the front door. You can set it up to record so many seconds before motion if you want. I've got a bunch of 6Tb drives for storage and I get about 30 days worth of storage.

Regarding the server I can't recall exactly. It was a current generation (a year ago) i7 processor in the $250 range with a reasonably cheap motherboard and 16meg of ram. I also ran a small SSD for the database and operating system as suggested by BI.

quote:

For me the decision between Hikvision and Dahua was arbitrary based on lots of info I read.

While these companies are huge Chinese companies they are persona non grata as far the US Government is concerned. Severe security issues and what not.
YMMV

https://www.securityinformed.c...l%20Redirect%20Popup

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

For me the decision between Hikvision and Dahua was arbitrary based on lots of info I read.

While these companies are huge Chinese companies they are persona non grata as far the US Government is concerned. Severe security issues and what not.
YMMV

https://www.securityinformed.c...l%20Redirect%20Popup

I'm still reading the white papers on ip cam talk (one is 55+ pages). The one which speaks of cameras is heavily slanted toward Dahua. Is there a brand you prefer?

Not defending the Chinese, they seem to steal everything in sight. Both companies had problems with security holes that could be compromised by malware bots as do many things connected to the interwebs. (Not spyware type stuff built into the cameras) Along with many others, they were targets of a couple of bad exploits last year, but then again what wasn’t?

Almost every box set of cameras you see at Costco or Wallyworld are made by one of the two.

That said they acknowledged the holes and as far as I know have fixed them. No doubt there will be more in the future as with most IoT devices.

There are better oem’s like Axis, Bosch and others, most of the cameras by those higher end companies start around $400-$500 ea and go way up from there. Dahua makes some very good low light cameras among other things for around $100-$200 and has an incredible selection of cameras and technology.. None of these companies sell direct to or want to service the end user. Their customer is the professional installer.

I have 18 between my Home and the HOA system I manage with a mix of Dahua and Axis. Have helped 4 others install similar systems. None have been compromised as I keep firmware updated, use a VPN, and apply appropriate router rules.

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Originally posted by bigredfish:

I have 18 between my Home and the HOA system I manage with a mix of Dahua and Axis. Have helped 4 others install similar systems. None have been compromised as I keep firmware updated, use a VPN, and apply appropriate router rules.

How difficult was it to setup the router rules and the VPN? I read one post on ip cam talk where someone said they spent something like 50 hours learning and writing code to deal with router rules. That would be a steep learning curve.

I’m no IP networking guru, I still don’t know how my TV works If you have a Netgear or Asus router with OpenVPN built in it’s pretty simple. Still there are trade offs as to accessing video remotely if you don’t have a device (like your phone) with the VPN software on it.

As to Router stuff, I’m a novice but again with the right router locking down stuff to not be able to talk to the outside internet isn’t too hard using the tools it gives you. I don’t attempt to write my own stuff. Also I found that with NVR’s with built in PoE switches, you kinda have another layer as the NVR assigns the cameras an IP address on another subnet and gives each a random port when you access them, so getting to the camera itself from outside is more difficult for BG’s and bots.

Thank you, bigredfish.

The security with any camera concerns me. That is the main reason I keep my cameras on a private network with no internet access. While there is some risk with the server having access to the interne, I can live with that. I firmly believe any computer is a security risk as I believe the government and non-government agencies have plenty of tools to hack whatever they want. Like in Enemy of the State. I'm just trying to keep all but the most diligent off my cameras

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Originally posted by cruiser68:
The security with any camera concerns me. That is the main reason I keep my cameras on a private network with no internet access.

I'm presently in the planning stages of replacing my two Reolink WiFi cameras with four PoE cameras. I plan on blocking the cameras at the border router.

In fact the one Reolink talks to my DVR (see below), so, once I'm satisfied that's solid, I'll probably deconfigure that from the Reolink app and block that soon.

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Originally posted by cruiser68:
While there is some risk with the server having access to the interne, I can live with that.

It's a single point of vulnerability vs. multiple, so that makes sense.

I'm Looking at probably the Dahua 2MP camera bigredfish likes for outdoor use, as that seems to be the one to beat for low light. Haven't decided what to use indoors. There's an Amcrest 2MP with VF for about $120 that might fill the bill.

I'll have only four cameras: Two outside (front/back) and two inside (most vulnerable room [in the back, lots of glass, incl. doorwall] and watching the safe).

I'll be using the Surveillance Station software that comes with my Synology NAS, and Synology's apps.