Anyone have experience with DIY home security cameras?

[pete6032]

I live in a condo that has a wired camera system with a few external cameras. There is some kind of central PC where all the wires go in. The system is ANCIENT (mid 2000s) and I'm honestly surprised the HDDs are still recording have not died. The system was installed by a contractor so its probably some kind of professional setup. It does NOT run Windows. Looks like some kind of Linux system I think? Not connected to the internet. How feasible is it to replace one of these systems with a Windows PC and run a freeware software that people could log into to view the livestream of the camera or download captured footage? Is there any kind of freeware software like that out there? I figured I could buy some new cameras, build a cheap PC and then run the software? Is it more complex than that?

 

[deadlyapp]

Seems like more work than necessary. Assuming the cameras are POE, you should be able to just get a new NVR ($100-200 probably) and plug it in. It'll give you ability to record, play back, and access remotely. If they are POE cameras with ethernet runs, then it should also be easy to install new cameras that are higher definition.

If it's something more standalone, using coax or something, then it changes the game a little bit.

 

[Sukhoi]

Blue Iris is the software you're looking for

 

[SKORPI0]

Blue Iris is the software you're looking for

 

[JM Aggie08]

We have 5 PoE cameras and a home server running Windows w/ Blue Iris. You need a decent CPU, depending on the quality of the cameras, but as mentioned above, there are some performance modifications that can make a significant difference, namely having multiple streams and setting a lower-res thumbnail on the home screen.

PM me if you have any questions.

 

[Red Squirrel]

There's software called Zone Minder too which does not require windows as it runs in Linux. Last I tried it it was not that great but it may have improved. I want to eventually setup a bunch of POE cameras around the house but it's one of those things that is lower on my spending priority list. It's hard to find good cameras since they are pushing the wireless cloud based crap so much now days and you have to filter through all that to try to find the proper normal ones.

Axis cameras are suposedly good but they are very expensive, like over a grand per camera. It's cheaper to just let people steal my stuff... lol. That's the other thing even if you catch them in the act you can't legally do anything anyway in most places.

 

[deadlyapp]

There's software called Zone Minder too which does not require windows as it runs in Linux. Last I tried it it was not that great but it may have improved. I want to eventually setup a bunch of POE cameras around the house but it's one of those things that is lower on my spending priority list. It's hard to find good cameras since they are pushing the wireless cloud based crap so much now days and you have to filter through all that to try to find the proper normal ones.

Axis cameras are suposedly good but they are very expensive, like over a grand per camera. It's cheaper to just let people steal my stuff... lol. That's the other thing even if you catch them in the act you can't legally do anything anyway in most places.

It isn't that you can't do anything legally, it's just that camera footage on its own is useless. This is why it's important to be able to identify a vehicle or have cameras set up to get vehicles, and you have to hope they haven't fenced the goods already.

The Foscam cameras I have are reasonably good quality and basic off the shelf POE. Their NVR leaves a lot to be desired. The other one I have is Reolink, which is fantastic NVR system and application, however they have proprietary cameras/NVR communication so if you ever want to add on, you have to use their cameras (as far as I know).

 

[skyking]

all of the above does not address the core question.
These are not POE cameras. They are analog wired with coax to a card.
Pete, I may have a card yet for those cameras, and you can set up zoneminder to work with a hardware card. The software is the next layer down.
You *might* be able to use the card that is there.
complex? oh heck ya it is a PITA to get it rolling. i converted some old iron like that in an SNF with 15 old analog cams and a dozen or more POE and other network cameras. I kept that running for 15 years using a few linux servers that I wore out.
The system was still running two years ago when I fired them as a client. It had a running database of 200K motion events and probably 19 busy cameras. It would roll over 500 gig raided hard drives @90% and about 4 months of retention.

 

[skyking]

Blue Iris used to work with an analog hardware card too. I have no idea as I never dicked with it, I was hardcore linux and zoneminder. I would be surprised if they still supported analog CCTV.

 

[Charmonium]

I have a wifi standalone system set it to use a reserved Japan frequency range to eliminate any potential interference. It's a shitty system though so I had to add wifi antennas to a couple of units, but if you get up into the 500-$1k range, it should be a much more reliable system.

If you insist on using MicroStiffy's OS though, I would strongly suggest that you spring for a server version. Any old server version should be much, much better than regular windows - that's especially true if you also intend to use it for other apps.

 

[pete6032]

Based on the feedback here I'll have to do some more research. Existing cameras are not POE so would need to re-wire everything.

 

[skyking]

no, you can use the old cameras and wire, and hook them to either the card that is in the system now, or another analog capture card. Go take some pics at the server end and bring them back if you want to go that route.

 

[spacejamz]

Based on the feedback here I'll have to do some more research. Existing cameras are not POE so would need to re-wire everything.

I have two DVR's, one POE (with 4k cameras) and the other BNC connectors (probably the coax connectors the OP is talking about - 1080p cameras) and I am able to view the streams from both together on the same montior using Blue Iris...

the ones on the BNC connector are two that I haven't gotten around to replacing with the POE cameras LOL

 

[Denly]

No clue but I have a few Blinks, a lot easier than running wires and setting up shops.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

These are not POE cameras. They are analog wired with coax to a card.

There are digital video recorders (DVRs) and Network video recorders (NVRs) available on the Bay and the 'Zon for under $100 that should be direct connect capable for those cameras. Either add you own drives, or pay a little more for one included. Most of them have a LAN port and some kind of software to view remotely.

You can also get new, higher resolution analog cameras to use the same cabling if you wish.