Security Camera Recording Question (ZFS RELATED)

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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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I just run BI alone on that VM. No biggy since I can license as many copies of windows 8 as I like.

It's a cpu pig. With 8 HD cams @30fps it verages about 33% of an 8 core Avoton and about 3MB ram using the balloon driver.
 

canta

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Nov 26, 2014
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Depending on what VMS you use.. you could do something like 4 FPS constant and then bump it up on motion.

Try to keep the motion detection on the camera.. pretty much all cameras support it.. and then there is no load on your CPU.

Your recording storage numbers seem off... I ran them through AXIS Design Tool | Axis Communications which we typically use.. and get way less hard drive usage...
I No trust on camera motion detection, they tends to give many false triggers.
I use ZM motion detection, where hard to configure for beginner due on many options and selections.
let alone tiny/slow risc processor in camera to process camera signals :D.

blueiris is a GOOD product when windows is the only platform. I know some friends are using blueiris for simplicity and happy with the outcome.
 

canta

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Nov 26, 2014
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I just run BI alone on that VM. No biggy since I can license as many copies of windows 8 as I like.

It's a cpu pig. With 8 HD cams @30fps it verages about 33% of an 8 core Avoton and about 3MB ram using the balloon driver.
can I have one wins 8 license?...... just asking :-D
 

canta

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Nov 26, 2014
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.......
I use Hikvision cameras, so I use their free iVMS-PCNVR software and iOS app. Mainly because it's free, and it allows me to do motion detection on the cameras themselves so the VM has zero CPU usage unless an event is triggered. It runs inside a Windows VM which is also isolated from directly accessing the internet.

I've been wanting to start an open source project for a long time to build a dedicated linux-based IP camera NVR package, but haven't really gotten it off the ground...
you can try ZM, this takes weeks to learn configuring OpenSource ZM.
motion detection does not much cpu processing in ZM ( well, depends on configuration that you pick). the most processing bound is during recording.
Ehem; I am using broken LCD core 2 duo laptop, and plan to move to VM (proxmox).
 

Mr. F

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Sep 5, 2011
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you can try ZM, this takes weeks to learn configuring OpenSource ZM.
motion detection does not much cpu processing in ZM ( well, depends on configuration that you pick). the most processing bound is during recording.
Ehem; I am using broken LCD core 2 duo laptop, and plan to move to VM (proxmox).
I ran ZM for a while. It was maxing out CPU on 2 cameras at the time and using a ton of storage space since it converts everything to MJPEG. It has been around for a long time and I'm not sure if they've updated the internals yet to allow native streams of encoded video from an IP cam versus individual frames from a capture card. This was an active project on their github issue tracker last time I looked at ZM.
 

CJ145

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Mar 11, 2015
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I honestly have no idea what's out there, what they cost and the benefits.

I just know Blue Iris is "clunky" but it works.

I probably wouldn't want to spend more than $200-400$ for Software / OS for the security camera system.
Zoneminder is FOSS and you can (and should) run it on a hardened Linux machine. There is no other software that comes close to it's motion detection ability IMO.

Anything with motion detection in software will be CPU bound first usually. It also depends on the type of motion detection as well.

I use blob based with per camera tweaks and I get 0% false negatives and around 5% false positives. Fog and rain only rarely trip my unprotected camera, the most common false positive is headlights from cars because of the % area they can light up quickly.
 

T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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Do you have any suggested tutorials for Zoneminder? I don't mind running linux, I'm much more familiar with it than windows as far as a server enviroment as I use it for web hosting clients, and software dev. business as well.
 

CJ145

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Mar 11, 2015
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There are a few setup guides out there. Debian/Ubuntu has a package that handles all the pre-camera set up for you. The rest can be found on the ZM wiki. A lot of the motion detection optimization is trial and error, combined with reading the help for the setting. I'm on 1.28 right now and the defaults were not bad at all, a great starting point.
 

NeverDie

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Jan 28, 2015
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Where is the insidious firmware that folks here are worried about coming from? The factory, or somewhere else in the delivery chain? If the factory firmware can be trusted, then I would think burning the latest release into the camera would eradicate any trojans or other bad stuff. Wouldn't it? It would seem self-destructive if companies that are in the business of selling security would be baking trojans into their gear. Why would they want to play those games? If it's found out, their reputations are ruined.

As for storage of security camera video, I was tentatively planning to use my triple parity ZFS pooled storage, but not because I think it warrants triple parity. Rather, I overprovisioned because of ZFS inflexibility, so I'm planning to make use of the extra space until things get cramped enough that I need it. Hopefully by then storage costs will be even lower, and so I'll buy separate storage for the security cameras then. Or, at least that was my plan before reading this thread. Now I'm not sure what to think, especially if there's merit in thinking security cameras may be harboring hostile code.:eek:
 

mackle

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Nov 13, 2013
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Zoneminder is decent enough. I feel like it's a little rough around the edges though.

Good motion detection should allow masking, so you exclude the moving trees.
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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@NeverDie - unfortunately even the factory firmware can't be trusted. Dahua had a recent load that would expose your cameras to a server somewhere in China. Hik has been hit too. Even D-Link got caught with a funky back-door login that used UpNP to open a pinhole in people's firewalls and made the cameras visible to anyone who knew the magic port/password.
 
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canta

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Nov 26, 2014
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I never trust camera firmware. All that I need is camera can stream to my ZM.
 

canta

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I ran ZM for a while. It was maxing out CPU on 2 cameras at the time and using a ton of storage space since it converts everything to MJPEG. It has been around for a long time and I'm not sure if they've updated the internals yet to allow native streams of encoded video from an IP cam versus individual frames from a capture card. This was an active project on their github issue tracker last time I looked at ZM.
I have 2 mjpeg cameras on my cor2 duo laptop. yap cpu shoots to 80% max when recording mjepg simultaneosuly.
overall current CPU processing is increased greatly:D. I am no worry running on VM.

if you are running X/H.264, as long as you hardware supports it. ehem... ZM only use whatever OS provides ( hardware enable or not).

I believe running on VM would only support software, Not hardware accelerated. well cpu is fast enough. planning to move proxmox 3.4 with e3 V2.
 

CJ145

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Mar 11, 2015
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Zoneminder supports both masking off an area you don't want triggered, or defining only the area you want watched. I use the second method as it reduces CPU load by having to monitor less pixels.

Zoneminder is decent enough. I feel like it's a little rough around the edges though.

Good motion detection should allow masking, so you exclude the moving trees.
 
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CJ145

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I have 2 mjpeg cameras on my cor2 duo laptop. yap cpu shoots to 80% max when recording mjepg simultaneosuly.
overall current CPU processing is increased greatly:D. I am no worry running on VM.

if you are running X/H.264, as long as you hardware supports it. ehem... ZM only use whatever OS provides ( hardware enable or not).

I believe running on VM would only support software, Not hardware accelerated. well cpu is fast enough. planning to move proxmox 3.4 with e3 V2.
You should see if you are using libjpeg-turbo or not. Using the other (normally default) libjpeg results in much higher CPU utilization than the optimized libjpeg-turbo.
 
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canta

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You should see if you are using libjpeg-turbo or not. Using the other (normally default) libjpeg results in much higher CPU utilization than the optimized libjpeg-turbo.
yes indeed. turbo rules....
the limitation is the weak of processor laptop :D. just to double check... the laptop is running core solo, Not 2 duo.
 

T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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FWIW - We don't want to prevent any area from being 'Motion'. We live rural, so all angle is important to record :) We'll see what I can get for utilization.