Video Surveillance Server Build for Home / Business 

08:35 Scuff the LED's to diffuse the light

Ultimately a small piece of electrical tape solved the problem 😂 For the money, this has been quite a decent 2u case option

I like the build you jabe there - a bit more modern than mine, more horsepower. I am actually considering upgrading to a newer generation soon as well.

Hi l0gic23! Yes, I have been considering an updated out refreshed system video update. I'm also trying to work it soma type of benchmark standard. Thank you for hitting on the pints it'd interest. I will keep this in mind!

Glad you found some value in this one! I think this is a very doable setup for most people and SMBs. Thanks for supporting the channel!

Hi, that's awesome! I'm just getting into this type of tech. I'm looking forward to seeing how this CPU/iGPU handle the processing of the video and of course steps toward security.

I'm hopeful that delidding the CPU will be enough, I might try some benchmarks to see how it does under a strenuous load. I have not tried that or heard of it. Thanks for the info though, I'll look into it.

Hi CasperDaPyro! Glad you found this video and my channel :) Yes, recycling parts is definitely awesome, especially if you can turn them into some really useful like a video surveillance server! What kind of system are you going to use?

@@STS Currently I have a Cyberlowerpc mid-tower from 2014 when I bought it as a prebuilt. It came with a DVD/CD ROM Drive. I dont know much about it really. I will have to post a video when I get my new pc put together. I will post the link here for you unless you have a different way for me to send it?

Sure, upload the video to RU-vid and link it here!

Thank you Zachary! Ah, yes, i suppose some PSU manufacturers might not include that import extra few mmm of the grille. Which power supply did you end up going with? Also, what were you doing with your build? Video security or virtualization?

Hi Michael! This is a future planned set of videos for sure. For the most part, I assume most people will use unmanaged (no configuration) Power Over Ethernet switches all on the same VLAN. This is quick and easy setup but certainly far from ideal. If time allows, hopefully I can finally start on a refreshed video series for this topic soon.

Hi Richard! Sorry for the late reply! Glad to see others interested in useful tech 😀 I have not personally tested any 4K cameras yet so it's hard for me to know the requirements. I do know there's configurable options to reduce the workload on the CPU and iGPU to generally speaking get cameras working well. I would certainly suggest an i7 for multiple cameras, especially 4k ones. A good micro ITX motherboard should be OK but I would not necessarily go too far on the cheap or even junk side. The reason I say that is that mITX boards may not have the ability to cool the VRMs well while the CPU and iGPU are under heavy loads. In addition to that, cheaper boards generally lack good connectivity options, lots of SATA 6gbps ports, poor SATA controllers, few / no 3/4/ pin fan headers for system cooling. It's possible to get a great mITX board that checks all of your boxes though. One last thing to note, mITX usually means 1 maximum PCIe slot, if you don't have enough SATA ports or end up growing, you likely only have one slot to add an HBA / RAID card. Glad to see you have security in mind, that footage is yours and you should protect it as well as your network! The way I would set your network up (read, not a configuration hosted on this PC) is by creating a VLAN or virtual local area network. I would assign this VLAN for camera use only to the switchports camera are connected to. You can block Internet access on a per VLAN basis with a router or firewall as well as any other hosts on other LANs. You could add that PC/Server to that VLAN for maximum security or keep it off that VLAN and create custom rules to allow the cameras to get to the Blue Iris server. That part is kind of up to you. I would not personally recomend howver creating a VM for pFsense and running it on the Blue Iris server. It is common to try to consolidate but you likely do not want to get into a situation where there isn't enough CPU or IO power available to do both tasks well. I suggest build a low power, cheap, pFsense firewall and setting up your LAN from that. This will solve your security problems. PFsense does not require much, I build a custom server that was overkill with an embedded quad core Celeron board / CPU combo. Might do a show and tell on that one in the future if there's interest. I have not yet attempted to remotely view any footage as it's not something I need to do. The Blue Iris website however does have a "Web Server" page that outlines the functionality you are looking for. Here's a copy and paste with the source: Web Server Built-in web server enables you to bring your Blue Iris with you anywhere!Remotely connect to your Blue Iris from anywhere in the world, from any web enabled device.Desktop and mobile viewing.View live cameras, recorded clips and alerts.User authentication with permission based viewing.Automatically adjusts if IP changes.Detailed log.Use Blue Iris’s powerful digital Zoom and Pan functionality remotely!Access PTZ presets easily Credit: blueirissoftware.com/web-server/ Blue Iris If you are also looking for a file server, I would not recommend running that on a Blue Iris server either. Similar reasons to the virtualized firewall but more importantly, if hte data is important to you, you need a solution IMO versus extra hard drives. What I mean by that is a file system dedicated to storage, something withing with low overhead and storage oriented features. Good hardware dedicated to the task, a RAID card or a proven software array solution. If you used a mITX board for example, you would only have 1 maximum PCie slot, so you could only use a NIC or RAID card / HBA. It's also always a good idea to run ECC memory in storage servers. Rarely a requirement, but always a good idea. All of this being said, if you built a powerful enough machine, with the right software and configuration, you might be able to virtualize these hosts on it. It would take more dollars than I would assume you had planned though (likely) but could be a possible solution. I don't think I would recommend it though. Is this for your residence or a property? Customer perhaps? Something else to think about there when factoring in performance, reliability, complexity, and budget. This was probably way more than what you expected to get back. Let me know if you have questions and/or what your plan will look like! Always good to see others getting into the hobby of making computers do useful stuff!

@@STS hey mate, thanks a lot for your in-depth reply, really appreciated. So I'm pretty lucky in that I have acquired the mini ITX mobo for free (from a bin!!). It's a pretty decent one (Kontron KTQM77) and came with 8gb ram and the i7 with a low profile copper heatsink. It's old but by far the most feature rich board of this size I've ever seen. 6 sata ports, (4 of them SATA 3), with onboard raid support, and two PCI slots. A 1x and a 16x. Plus three onboard Intel gigabit Ethernet NICs. So hardware wise it's pretty sweet. I'll take your advice and not bother with a pfsense VM, instead I'll see if I can get windows to create a vlan on two of the ports. I've ordered four reolink 4k cameras in the hope they work. I'll reply back here when I find out. Maybe I'll make a video of my own. The built in web server sounds great. This setup is for myself, so I don't mind if what I do is slightly over the top or unconventional, since I'll be the one fixing it :) Thanks again, very helpful info.

Hi Alan! Your comment was auto marked as spam by RU-vid, just seeing it now. You are planning an AMD AM4 build? What CPU will you be using? Given the recent news and controversy over the BIOS updates, I would probably look into a B550/B570 motherboard.

Hi Again! Yes, I would suggest segmenting your network camera traffic from the rest of your network for security. There are many calculators available to determine run time for PCs at a certain efficiency, voltage level, and runtime. I would suggest using tools from Belkin, Tripplite, APC, and the like to help size your UPS correctly.

*Having* learn to spell , dumbass.

Hi eevd350z! I have had a lot going on since I published this video but I definitely plan on doing follow ups and possibly some in depth stuff. That is CRAZY! I'm glad you are (hopefully?) OK and your family! What are you running right now camera wise? Got a budget you're working in? I build an UnRAID NAS and the upgraded it, here's the new version: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0AL-fjn5oLY.html

@@STS Hey thanks for the reply! Oh we're definately ok but, looks like were revamping our perimeter / physical security. Currently we have analog (BNC) cameras attached to DVR. Thinking about upgrading to IP / PoE cameras 24 port switch / Blue Iris software Windows based. Of course the storage is going to cost more. Just wondering the which way to go with RAID. either separate DiY NAS or direct storage raid?

Hey Jaron! Thanks for the support :) You can always buy used parts to get you where you need to be. I chose the parts I had based on what I had on hand and could buy for a decent price quickly on Newegg. The important thing is to make sure you get an i5 or i7 from a recent generation. I have Twitter and Facebook setup but I could do Discord too sometime if that works.

@@STS Thanks for the info. That would be awesome! I'd love to chat. On discord i'm theleftyfifteen.

@@STS how is true turn machine of the TV into a DVR of a camera ??????????????????????

I am smelting a machine alpha TV to turn to a DVR that’s now but I don’t have the proper tools church turn on guns said send a picture to you see

The heart of this question is what level of risk are you willing to take? If it's a home network and you aren't relying on pfsense services (or dont care) that it's down, virtualizing probably will save power and device cost. If you're running a larger network with several devices depending on the services pfsense is offering, and there whether or not there is a backup waiting to take its place, or any business scenario, virtualizing may not be worth the risk. Virtualization is awesome stuff. That being said, I have reservations about virtualizing a primary firewall (assuming your question has only one pfsense server/instance). Its a firewall appliance so, generally I think of this as a device that uptime matters more than cost, space, heat, most other metrics. Thankfully pfsense firewall requirements are quite low which make it seem like a great candidate for virtualization. I personally would steer away from virtualizing pfsense as a primary firewall. The storage requirements for a video surveillance server are much more demanding than a pfsense server. In my opinion, the likelihood of a drive failure or other reason to physically power down a Video Surveillance / Security server is far higher than a firewall. Firewall configurations can vary widely but they aren't going to hammer storage much which will lead to reduced hard drive lifespans. While the physical server is powered down, you might not be firewalling, handing out DHCP addresses, matching DNS, and most importantly, likely stuck with every single host being disconnected from the Internet and possibly your network(s). Now, if you had a second backup spare pfsense instance running in a VM, that probably no big deal at all. In my home lab, I plan on keeping my main pfsense server a physical 2U box. I also plan on virtualizing a backup server in a on my soon to be setup VMware ESXi server. I have also considered virtualizing the backup in a VM from my Unraid server.

Thanks @@STS . Actually, I just received my 1u rack case yesterday, my original plan is to have a dedicated pfsense machine, then after watching this video, it got me thinking, but then I'm not really sure, I already turned down the idea of having pfsense on my unraid server. So its done deal, will have a dedicated machine for the pfsense. Thanks again.

Are you running 30 cameras using Blue Iris?

@@jlzandrad I think I am at 24 and have 4 more to install, and a few more to likely add. Why? Any suggestions?

@@philindeblanc I'm going to try to setup a 32 5mb cam tomorrow on a i9 with 32 GB of memory, 240gb ssd for windows and blue iris DB and 8tb purple for videos. Everywhere I get different opinions on what hardware will be enough, I'm triggering motion on the camera and not on blue iris and it's a busy business a d from time to time I'll have 20 cameras recording at the same time

@@jlzandrad i9 is overkill, but maybe worth it. "newfiebort" has good info

Hi Phil! I have not yet had the opportunity to run a system with that many camera running at 4k! That's quite the system :) its possible you may need to offload to a GPU depending on your CPU. I'm not sure how much CPU utilization you will see or what CPU you have. I would suggest the best CPU you can get for your budget with iGPU to be honest.

Disregard this question in my research I discovered that LGA 1156 socket doesn't have support for Intel CPU with integrated GPU. Thanks for the tip to check for this

Hi Mrosa131! Sorry for the late reply here - I'm assuming you found another suitable system? Yes, I'm glad you checked, a newer generation Intel system would likely perform significantly better especially for a couple of 4k cameras. I would probably look into a 6th,7th,8th gen platform if you haven't found anything yet though.

Blue Iris is the software to beat right now, that's for sure. I haven't had any experience with Zoneminer but many have recommended it to me over time. BI is still Windows only, I doubt (IMO) that this will ever change. I haven't tried GPU acceleration on BI yet myself, interested though once GPUs are purchasable again. At the moment out of my 11 or 12 cameras only the critical 6 are up and running. I'm always adjusting and fiddling, such is life 😂 I have an I5-6600 now doing this task, handles x5 1080p 15fps cameras just fine in BI. The real interesting bit will be when I get rid of this intel system that makes use of the integrated GPU for efficiency and try to do this with an AMD system (no iGPU acceleration) using the new updates in BI version 5. The sub-stream feature seems to lower CPU usage quite a bit. There's a small FAQ here: ipcamtalk.com/wiki/sub-stream-guide/

​@@STS​Yeah GPUs are super expensive. Add the pandemic plus cryptomining and the end result is GPUs become a luxury item almost. That is definitely the only problem going with AMD, the lack of a integrated GPU. But you can find decent low profile GPUs like quadros or even a 1050 TI which you could use to get a video output (in case you ever need it) and you could also use it to help with your cameras video feeds. But that is me just guessing as I have not set up any of this yet. Thanks for sharing the link!

Hi! Yes, there are some Quadro nVidia cards that do not have the encoding limitation. To my understanding though, for the purposes of Blue Iris and camera video processing, this does not impact the number of cameras you can assign to the graphics card. It seems the limitation is more the amount of VRAM (video RAM) and GPU clockspeed.

I8THEmagictoaster check out shinobi. It’s free open source and can use Nvidia card for decode, encode, and motion detection.

SamsTechStuff encoding limit can be removed with a modified driver.

Next Level Code That is an interesting option I may have to check out! I have read that driver modification can allow you to unlock interesting features on the GeForce series GPUs. I don't believe the encoding limit comes into play when using Blue Iris but, it certainly would be useful for a dedicated Plex server serving content to multiple clients at any given time. I plan on virtualizing my Plex server soon and possibly trying to benchmark multiple streams with and without a GPU modified in this way, should be neat :D

@@STS Nice. If you use linux for Plex there is a GitHub with a script that will automatically patch the driver to remove the 2 stream limit. I've read it's possible on windows too but have never tried.

Hi Wajid! I have not looked into an AI camera solution. If I do go down that route I will post a video

Hi BO Photo! I'm sorry for the delayed response! None of those were stupid questions! They are in fact extremely important points to make when considering this type of PVR / Security system. 1.) The server has what are called rack rails screwed into the sides of this style of server grade 2U case. They slide into a set of rails that slide allowing me to horizontally mount this in the server rack and pull it out towards me in order to work on it. It does this with ball bearings, I plan on showing this in better detail in a future video. This is NOT a requirement for anyone who wants this type of home / business security though. I have a few custom servers, routers, switches, and other rack equipment for my lab at home so this made the most sense for me. Since this server is in my rack, if I need local access to it, I need to connect my LCD console to it. This is a 1U device that is mount in my rack that folds up to reveal an LCD screen, keyboard, and mouse. These three can be plugged into the USB port of any device in my rack. I rarely need local access to the machine though, that's really only for bad system crashes or something like a BIOS update or change. How I would normally access the machine is remotely through a program call TightVNC (though any windows VNC client would work). I run it as a server on this machine and use a workstation (Windows 10 / Ubuntu) to gain remote access to this Security server while on my network. This way I can manage and use it and do not need to physically be at the server. Video playback is not good this way, any footage I want to watch I save to a network share or drive and view from another PC. 2.) Storage back up is up to you, there is additional cost in parts and time in setup. I believe its worthwhile though as this data relates to physical security. In this server, I used a basic hardware RAID card I got from eBay for 10$ shipped. The RAID card ensured any data written (including the instance of the operating system itself) was backed up to a second drive. In the event of a drive failure, the system can still be used normally until a replacement drive is sourced and reinstalled into the array for the rebuild / protection process. This all of course only helps you in the event that you only have one drive failure (which does happen, all things that move eventually stop moving). Backing up the footage depending on the rest of your setup can be as easy as a batch file / scheduled task copying the files to a network share from a NAS or purchasing a service plan like Carbonite (or any cloud host really) to backup to with some client. It depends on what you are securing and its value to you in terms of how far down the rabbit hole you should go here. The counter to not using a cloud service is Mr. Bad guy breaks into your location and steals the server or lights the place on fire. Either way, your local data is gone in those scenarios. A cloud copy would be nice to have here. I'm not sure if you went ahead and built anything yet or where you are in the process but if anything else comes up or you just want to share progress, let us know 😀

Hi Jeff! Yes, you most certainly can use a server like that for this purpose. I would caution you though, the computer power on those CPUs is typically regarded as being low. With that in mind, and the issue that they do not have an Intel based integrated graphics processor to utilize the quicksync feature that Blue Iris uses for acceleration, this type of server would be massively power inefficient. I would strongly recommend using an older 6/7/8 generation Intel based system, even a pre-built from eBay, to do this task. It will likely perform better and cost you less to operate in terms of power consumption (and probably be physically much smaller).

Hi Carl! It has been a while since I looked at this, I'm thinking about a potential refresh. I can go through the parts list and revise it much sooner though. I would still have to pick Intel based systems however as they will be much more efficient than even newer 3000 series AMD Ryzen processors. Blue Iris takes advantage of the iGPU (integrated graphics processor) on consumer-grade processors to accelerate video processing. At this time, AMD processors / APUs cannot be used this way with Blue Iris.

Hi Wayne! I have not attempted to build a system for a trading workload. If each VM or container requires high CPU performance and you will need many cores, I would probably suggest a Ryzen 3000 (either a 3700 or probably a 3900/3950X). The Intel parts still hold a single threaded performance crown but typically at a higher price. What are you running your trading bots on right now? Were you looking o build a system like this inside of a rackmounted server style system like this, or a more regular standing ATX style PC?

HI J Manhattan! Glad to see you're building a system! Are you going to use the same or similar 2U server case that I did or will you be putting this in a desktop tower? The cooler I used was the NH-L12 which had a height of 66mm without the top fan. The NH-L12S is 70mm and does not have the top fan (so the fan isn't an issue). I have not measured exactly but I have read in multiple places that the maximum height for a 2U cooler is 72m. Since I have not tested this, I would say its likely this cooler should fit in the case I order or similar but its going to be very, very close. As for the RAM, any kit would really do, there isn't much that was special about what I used other than it was on sale. I do however tend to go with G.Skill kits, here's a few options: 16GB 3200MHz - G.Skill: amzn.to/2zPGPF1 16GB 3200MHz - Corsair: amzn.to/2YkC27T 16GB 3200MHz RGB - G.Skill: amzn.to/2BuW5HL As for the RAID card, any LSI based RAID card is what I would choose. You will get the best deal from an older used or refurbished eBay deal. The RAID card I use here was an eBay special for under $20. I have used many Dell PERC 5/6 RAID cards as well as the H310 model and the IBM M1015's. The main thing to be aware of is that if you plan on running 2 SATA drives in RAID 1 like I did, that your RAID card either has to have SATA ports on it or you must buy a SAS to SATA cable for SAS only RAID cards. I like the H310s which have SAS ports, I just buy a cheap cable on eBay that is SAS to SATA. (this is what I did in my newer UnRAID server, that video is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0AL-fjn5oLY.html) What CPU / motherboard platform did you choose or are thinking of? Out of curiosity, what type of cameras did you opt for?

I contacted Noctua support, they were able to confirm the newer NH-L12S will fit in a standard 2u rackmount case :)

@@STS Thank you for the reply! I was able to obtain the same 2U case you used in the video and have the NH-L12S already. For the motherboard I grabbed the MSI Arsenal GAMING Intel 8th Gen LGA 1151 M.2 DVI HDMI DP USB 3.0 Gigabit LAN CFX Micro ATX Motherboard (Z370M MORTAR). Do you recommend that I de-lid the CPU? (I5 9600k 3.75GHZ) I have Silicon Lottery website up now. I have not even looked at cameras yet due to the fact that I just wanted to get the server up and running. Are there any cameras that you outright recommend? I will likely only run four but may upgrade once I move. Thanks for your replies, it means a lot!

@@STS Great, thanks for contacting them. That was above and beyond!

Hey, no problem! I'm glad you got all of the parts together :) It's not necessary to delid that CPU. Since mine was already delidded and I planned on overclocking, it seemed like a good idea to use. There are tons of new and used camera out there now. What were you looking for in terms of resolution and framterate? That's where I would start (but obvious has to be balanced by budget).

Hi Shanesingh7170! Weel, there's a few reasons from my point of view, which is important to understand, my point of view is mine. If the use case changes, the solution might too. NVRs from various vendors are notoriously horrible when it come to security vulnerabilities. There are times when I have seen NVRs deployed and made accessible on the Internet in a very insecure manner with ease. Some NVRs are very picky with camera support, essentially vendor lock-in. Some NVR systems have very undesirable issues that will just never be solved. I generally see NVR's as being good for use-cases where there is a desire for set it and forget it, nobody cares. That is a huge, unfair over generalization of mine however as I realize plenty of businesses and homes run Hikvisions for example for years and never have issues. I like building a server like this with Blue Iris because it allows me to better secure the system as well as customize it, and for nearly complete control of feature:budget ratio. I can build this on a server from a old gaming pc and use ultra cheap ebay cameras for example and have a relatively good feature set available for not a lot of money. Alternatively, I can build a solid system with RAID for fault tolerance which backs up footage to somewhere with a ton of 4k cameras of various brands all with AI supported detection features. If one year Reolinks are onsale, I could grab a few at a good price then next year, grab a few Amcrest cameras for example. There's a lot that can be done with Blue Iris, it is very powerful software. What's better for customers of yours? If I had to guess, packaged up NVRs that you are probably selling and supporting. A lot of people don't want to ever touch these systems and just want footage when a window get smashed for example but, they do not want to maintain or ever touch the system, theres a huge desire for security cameras / nvrs to be run as an appliance vs as a server that needs attention / configuration.

Hi RelentlessHomesteading! For a Blue Iris server, I would likely not recommend AM4 to anyone at this point in time. Any processor other than an Intel CPU with integrated HD graphics will be less efficient. Blue Iris is setup to use the iGPU in Intel processors (quicksync) to be quite efficient. Without the iGPU, other CPUs will have to work harder and likely use more electricity / max out processing power sooner. You can alternatively add nvidia graphics cards now too. These will be extremely power inefficient versus the Intel iGPU though. TL:DR : AM4 will work, but it will not be efficient for this type of server task. I don't remember saying that the Intel chips could not handle H.265 - the relatively modern chips most certainly can handle this, not every camera will though. The most important performance option is direct disk for cameras, then the iGPU being enabled on Intel consumer-grade CPUs to help with the video processing. This will reduce CPU load while saving energy. I have and have had a few Ryzens, they're great at most things, this task is not their best though. I would stick to an Intel processor with an iGPU of the current or within the last 4 generations. Are you looking to set this up at a residence or business?

Hi Pallet Homestead! Thank you for the tip, I will definitely check out at least on of those! Are you running a video security system of your own?

Hi Skoopsro! Sounds like you're off to a good start here. To answer your questions: I am assuming your cameras are wired and not wireless - is this correct? 1.) The cameras will either: have an AC power adapter for power and x1 Ethernet port for connectivity OR just use x1 Ethernet cable for data and power. Either way, the camera will need network connectivity somehow in order to communicate with the PC / Server running the Blue Iris application. 2.) What you described could be a possible solution. For reference, the best way to set this all up is with configuring VLAN and creating firewall rules to protect the rest of your network from the cameras and vice versa (including the Internet). For people starting out, they typically plug all of the cameras in the main network switch along with the PC / Server running Blue Iris along with everything else they have on the network. This is part of whats calls a flat network design. It's not optimal for security but it is how most people start out. In this scenario, you just plug the cameras into any available switchports and the BI PC. I suggest creating DHCP reservations (or static addresses if you can't reserve addresses) for the cameras and then getting them set up in BI. Wether or not you want your storage located in the PC / Server running BI is up to you, for simplicity, I would put the storage in that machine unless you are virtualizing. In this scenario, you can remote into the BI PC from your PC or laptop. This was a lot to write / read, I'll try to TLDR below Switch________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | Access point (wifi) Your PC BI Server Xbox Nest Cam 1 Cam 2 Cam 3 Cam 4 Cam 5 Cam 6 This is very crude, I'm not an artist :P but this is the jist of it. A much more secure method would be to either completely separate these network with different switches, you would lose the ability to remote in unless there were 2 network connections on the BI PC. An even better secure method would be to configure a smart switch with VLANs and basic firewall rules so that you can still use x1 or x16/24 port switch for everything BUT you can create logical networks to block Internet access to the individual cameras and from you regular PC hosts (and of course the other way around except for the BI server and your PC for example). Why do you need to protect the cameras from the Internet and your PCs? Well, generally we don't trust devices with firmware on them that never gets updated or is known vulnerable, most cameras fall into both categories. We also don't want to lose control of our PCs and have them access the cameras, only the BI PC should do that. This part is a much more advanced type of setup but is worth learning IMO, it could definitely benefit you in the future (especially if you work in or want to work in IT). Do people use flat networks and say who cares? Yes....many if not most people I suspect do this. Will you *probably* be fine? Probably, but theres always that chance someone figures out who to take control of a device on your network. Unlikely, but possible. What I typically do as I learn how to deploy most of these projects is start off with whatever is easy to get up and running, then I get dirty afterwards and sort out the particulars. This was a long one, but I'm glad you asked, this hopefully will help others looking into this piece of the setup. I might highlight this more in the future :) If you have other questions, ask away :)

@@STS thank you for the really fast reply. this helps alot and just feeling more confident about moving forward with a project really helps get them done. that fear of the unknown can be oddly paralyzing. i totally plan to go the POE route with the cameras, as trying to use AC power cables isnt feasable without having an electrician do alot of work on the house. i may come back and ask a few other questions but that wont be for a while. you were extremely helpful and thank you for taking the time to write such a well written and thorough response!

No problem! You cought me right before some fried chicken :D Demystifying cool projects is why I decided to pick up the camera :) I completely agree on PoE, it is the way to go for most installations. Sounds like a plan!

Hi BeerDiaryShootin mcdaniel! Firstly, great handle. Secondly, I would not suggest you task one PC or server built like what I have here to accomplish your goals. I do no like adding responsibilities to video surveillance server as it will likely need its resources for its main purpose, saving / recording video data. I have not tested what happens when there is not enough CPU and GPU power but I have to assume it results in lost frames. This could mean that while users are requesting content from the Plex app that you may not record all footage from the 4 IP cameras connected. This would especially be true if for any reason the Plex app needed to transcode. Transcoding on a 4 core i5 for 1-4 users while recording with up to 4 IP cams would result in all tasks being performed extremely poorly in my estimation. I would highly suggest a minimum of two PCs/ servers here. One to handle video recording with IP camera management and one as a dedicated NAS with Plex jail / docker support. Another untested question would be, if you constantly record from the IP cams, or even only on events, what happens to the arrays ability to store frames from the IP cams while a user or up to 4 attempts to stream a video files located somewhere else on disk. Some NAS software / operating systems may have solutions to handle this but, I would not recommend this to anyone.

@@STS Thanks for the reply. 1 records constantly rest are record on motion. Appreciate the response.

Hey Umar! My apologies for the late reply here, things have been quite busy for me lately. AS to your question about the parts selection, it basically came down to knowing that Blue Iris (and various other NVR software) leverages the integrated GPU's ability to use QuickSync. That can drastically reduce your need for more CPU cores as you start adding more and more cameras and the bitrates start getting higher and higher. That also has the added benefit of reducing your overall power consumption. the iGPU uses much less power than CPU cores. As for the hardware that I specifically used, it was my old gaming PC so other than the case, it was free! That's one of the highlights of a custom built system like this, Blue Iris can take advantage of regular consumer hardware which worked out really well for me. Did you get your own Blue Iris or NVR type hardware up and running yet?

Hi D Jaquith! Yes, Direct to disc will yield great results in lowering CPU utilization but as the mega pixels go up and the total amount of cameras there will still be added CPU load. Eventually there will be a point where using Quicksync will become preferred or necessary to keep up.

@@STS .. My build is probably the new i5 10th generation, 32 GB RAM, 500 GB SSD/8 TB surveillance HDD, 9 cameras x 4K but using 720p 7/24 substream and in full 4K with motion and AI filtering. I just wish there was a local AI I could use instead of a cloud API. I considered the Synology DVA3219 with it's Deep Learning but my any using it felt it's not much more accurate. Having your email filled up with "crying wolf" notification defeats its whole purpose.

Whoa, C2D? I dunno, it's possible it might run but you're talking ~15 generations old now. If you have zero budget for a PC, I guess you have to try it right? If you can spare some budget for a PC though, maybe 80-150$ could go a long way towards a more capable and still power efficient workstation you could buy on eBay. If you want to run this on Windows 11, you're technically looking at 8th Gen Intel or better or Ryzen 2000 or above on AMD. How many cameras were you looking to use?

Sorry for the late reply here Ultraprecision Technologies! Blue Iris leverages Intel Quicksync which requires Intel CPUs - AMD CPUs with integrated graphics are much better for gaming but do not support Intel Quicksync hardware acceleration. With the substream optimizations now though, it's possible you might be able to get by with more cameras on an AMD CPU. In terms of power usage and efficiency though, you are much better off with an Intel CPU equipped with an Intel iGPU. Were you building a system for home or business use?

@@STS in my case home and business are the same thing lol. I’m just in the early stages of planning my server, which will handle and editing nas as well as a surveillance VM, as well as a few other tasks. Trying to decide if I should make a dedicated server for surveillance, or just make 1 mega server with overkill hardware and run VMs. In the research stage of what hardware makes sense here. But your reply was very helpful, as I was not aware of Intel quick sync.

Glad you liked the video! Do you have a security system of your own?

Hi Sam 2000! You don't necessarily need a dedicated server but it's a good idea if you have a higher camera processing load or you really need to guarantee that this video recording device is rock solid reliable (for example, if you expected to have footage to turn into the local authorities). I would not personally do this but that doesn't mean you can't. If this isn't a concern, I have read about people using their desktop PC as the Blue Iris server. What type of cameras and how were you planning on deploying? This will help determine if your PC is up to the task.

@@STS Thanks for the response. I plan to have four 4K cameras for outdoors and 2-3 1080P for indoors, for a total of 6-7 cameras.

Sorry for the late reply here Aaron! Blue Iris would definitely be the self-hosted solution I would recommend. If you prefer not to do it yourself, an NVR is totally acceptable. I don't have much experience with NVRs but I know Hikvision is a popular choice.

Hi Troy! Blue Iris was updated a few years ago now to support the use of nvidia graphics cards. While they do in fact work, they tend to be much less power efficient. The Intel HD graphics is well positioned to be the best way to support Blue Iris video processing. It's quite powerful and has a low power draw when used this way. That being said, I have considered doing the exact same thing in my ESXi server. Are you trying to re use old hardware or to virtualize Blue Iris?

@@STS just weighing up my options but yer, thinking of using an old r310.

@@troymholmanify And older R310 can definitely work but its going to use up a fair amount of power and generate a lot of noise. Your compute requirements depend a lot on the amount on megapixels your pushing from your cameras. A good inexpensive option is a 6th or 7th or even 8th gen prebuilt office PC. They will have an igpu and run relatively quiet at low power draws. What kind of cameras were you thinking of?

Hi Muhammad! That is quite a high end powerful system you would need there. Blue Iris has a single server limit of 64 cameras. You would probably need to load balance 80 cameras across two beefy Blue Iris servers. What kind of budget do you have for a system like this?

@@STS ,budget is $ 1200 usd

And i am using Avigilon Client Application

Hi Alexandre K! The answer to that question depends on many factors. You CPU, iGPU (if applicable), total camera count, and MP (megapixels) count of all of the cameras added up together. I never reached a "limit" on my i5-6600K but, I suspect it would have done many cameras at a resolution of 1080p for example. Are you converting a PC you own into a Security Server or are you asking because you plan on purchasing a system? What kind of budget are you working with?

Hi Fazir22! I'm sorry your comment was auto marked as spam by RU-vid. You certainly could use that machine for a Blue Iris server. I would recommend removing the GTX 760 graphics card because your CPU and motherboard support use of Intel's integrated HD graphics solution. This will save you on power usage and allow for the cameras video processing to occur on the iGPU. Let us know how it works out!

@@STS thanks alot bud!! I will let you know how it does.

Sam's unite! Thank you for watching and liking! Yes, you can use your main PC for this purpose if you don't have a secondary PC to dedicate to this. This program will however constantly use resources and any downtime your PC has, so will your cameras. Driver installs that require reboots, Windows updates, Overclocking, troubleshooting, intensive tasks that use all of your CPU power, these are all possibilities that could make Blue Iris perform worse. If you cannot buy a secondary Intel 4th gen or higher system to dedicate to Blue Iris, your main PC will work. I would however, strongly recommend that instead of using your main PC, you purchase a second-hand or refurbished 4th, 6th, 7th, or 8th generation Intel system (at preferably an I5, I7 if its in budget). These systems tend to be complete PCs from HP, Dell, Acer (any other big name) that have the necessary type of Intel processor that allows the iGPU to be used for video output. This will be key in managing the resources Blue Iris needs to run efficiently. If you were to shop on Newegg right now for example, you might be able to find a business class / office class PC that can run BI well for ~$250-$450.

Hi Paddy! I have not done much in terms of building and selling PCs for this purpose - until now I have been primarily focused on building (and sometimes selling) gaming PCs. You can use this video as a template though for what you can build going forward. If you have any questions, post them here and I will do my best to answer! 😀

Hi Gene! Yes, building your own Blue Iris video capture server would be an alternative solution to buying an NVR system. Some people prefer to retain control over their NVR hardware. If components on this type of server or PC were to fail, you can replace from a wide spectrum of sources since it is a PC. NVR's may use less common hardware that might be hard to get a hold of down the line. Which solution is cheaper to purchase and operate over time depends highly on your specific deployment of cameras and costs in your region. There os also something to be said for "rolling your own services" and self hosting as well - though that is not for everyone.

Hi Ryan! Thank you - a bit of research went into building the server! Not much went into the camera however 😂. This camera was a cheap, quick ship, recommendation from a friend that spec-wise, appeared to be good 'nuff. I plan on watching my sump pump with it 😆 It seems difficult to determine requirements to me too to be honest. I would first pose the question, how valuable is this to you? Then what's your budget? You need a consumer grade CPU with an Intel HD GPU for the best possible performance. It seems like if you want to continue to expand, you're looking into a beefier current gen (9th generation) i5 or even i7. I don't know if an i9 would be wise $$ wise though but would have significant processing power. I have also never tested a 4k cam. I can certainly say you will want newer HDDs at a minimum, drives that can write fast and that are built for constant writing. I don't know if SSDs as main storage will be a benefit. I would use an SSD for the boot drive if I did it again though.

@@STS thanks for the reply. I've been looking at i7-8700, but I'm wondering if it's overkill for my setup. The price of the build is quickly adding up. On the same token, blue Iris recommends 7200rpm drives for 4k storage. So I've been looking at wd purple 7200 rpm drives... Problem is they don't get to that write speed until 10TB, so they're $$$ (currently $333 on Newegg for the 10TB). Considering those two big expenses and the need for a pretty good monitor to view it all, I'm looking at a pretty pricey build before even considering the other components. But i don't know how much it can be spec'd down without sacrificing recording performance.

Hey, Sorry for the late reply here. Yeah, that is a tough one. I guess as for the CPU power, how far do you plan on expanding the camera in a year, or two, or three? For 7200rpm, it's possible you maybe want some type of RAID array or software storage solution to get cheaper consumer grade Seagates, Toshibas, or WDs that are cheap and 7200rpm. If I needed over 3TB, I would look into a hardware RAID 10 or create network storage connected to the system.

@@STS well i ended up finding a deal on the WD purple drive. Got a 10TB 7200rpm for $289 bnib with no tax and free shipping. That's pretty hard to pass up. So that became a non-issue lol. Sorry.

FYI, this deal literally went down at like 4am last night

Hi McCuneWindandSolar! I have not expanded the system as far as I originally wanted to yet but, I suspect it should support several 1080p 15fps cameras, especially if the memory was running in dual channel and if I bump the iGPU speed up a little bit. I don't know how well all of those cameras would do on an i5-6600K system. To be honest, for that, I would go with the latest 9th gen or possibly go to a video card that supported this workload. You may want to check out the ipcamtalk forums to see what people are using for system that demanding :)

Ha, yes! I ended up covering it with a small piece of electrical tape to save my eyes. Factoring in the cost of electrical tape, it's still a solid case and a good deal, especially if you catch a sale. I'm curious, were you thinking of building a surveillance server or checking out what you can do with a Homelab?

Hi Mi Dixie! Yes, you are correct. There are however differences between the popular apps. A lot has gone into BI from a usability standpoint which makes it attractive and easy to operate. I am curious about testing on Linux though. If time allows, maybe this summer I can give it a go.

I’ve been motion for about a year it’s pretty stable had some hiccups when starting out but figured them out running several reolink 5mp cameras and an axis 214 ptz with a 8tb wd purple on a core i5 quad dell optiplex 3040 micro with external hd enclosure

Interesting. How does your PC or VM handling the load from the video processing?

@@STS it runs pretty well I’m about to buy a 4 bay external drive enclosure for it to give it some more storage. Right now I only have a 2tb WD purple which if fills up rather fast

Hey! I have seen some complaints about that yes but I'm generally fine with this because it does help support the developer and keep up on updates, especially since the licenses are good for years. That being said, if you don't want to use the app, you can kind of work around this by building a VPN at your house/business then connecting to it when you are away and then connecting to a PC / jump host / other to check blue iris. Since you are not using blue iris actively anymore, what program are you using now?

Mr Dashpuppy - Yes! Sorry I missed this comment. BI rocks, especially considering the low price point. What are you running?

Hi Balla21! Hopefully you were able to make it through the whole video!? Seems like an issue with RU-vid playback, hopefully it was temporary. Are you or did you deploy a video surveillance system?

Upgrade your 2400 baud modem.

It seems to be the case that each solution has its positives and negatives. NVRs are proprietary devices that have a market, computer, or server-like machines also have a market. NVRs generally speaking are setup to do whatever the manufacturer wants very well and consume lower amounts of power. The firmware and software are written for the purpose of being that product. This however also generally speaking locks you into 1 vendors solution. Usually they require certain cameras for compatibility and only come with whatever level of features the manufacturer deems appropriate for the grade of NVR you bought. Building a PC or a server to do this is 100% going to be more expensive probably. It will likely suck up more power as well. In terms of benefits though, PCs and servers are very modular in terms of hardware. CPU, RAM, GPU, Case, HDD, all of these items can be upgraded as needed at smaller incremental costs. With software like Blue Iris, many different cameras are supported. From the low / cheap end, up to fancy feature packed 4k cams. The choice is yours. I would say its also quite likely an NVR will be simple and initially cheap to deploy if it meets the needs. I will however keep going at building a PC / server like machine.

@@STS Iv been in the industry for 14 years. We switched from pc based DVR/ NVR's many years ago. Cameras now days use onvif protocol.China has flooded the camera market. Everything works with everything ells. Its actually really easy to build systems to fit clients budgets now.

Yeah, compatibility is a better now. It all depends on the use case. At my Day job I know we just had to move to a system with multiple nvidia qudros for video processing. Likely a few more cameras than the average SMB install though.