Milestone XProtect

[LasleyMediaKentucky]

Questions about Milestone XProtect Video surveillance software... 

 

I'm installing 35 cameras in a daycare and we have ran into various problems throughout the way. Our main issue is that we are super tight on CPU usage using iSpy to control and record feeds from all the cameras. It's pinning it at 100% (even overclocked) The server specs are an Intel Core i7 6800K (6-core @ 3.4 GHz) with 16GB of RAM, a 120GB boot drive with Windows Server 2012 R2, and 2TB of storage. As well as a Quadro FX 1800 for video output since X99 boards do not have on-board video out. 

 

We also have a 6700K machine that has 8GB of RAM and a 240gb boot drive with a dual port gigabit nic. I know our school has two blade servers that run the 264 cameras our school district has, so I'd like to do the same thing here if possible to reduce the CPU load on the main server. 

 

Also, about how much does it cost for the most basic plan that supports this feature? We are on a pretty tight budget and don't want to spend a fortune if we don't have to. 

 

Thanks! 

[LogicalDrm]

I would say you need more cores. Like Xeons. But I'm not sure as I haven't looked into that service and how it utilizes hardware. Or less cameras.

[leadeater]

If you want to use multiple systems to do the recording the minimal supported version is XProtect Professional, Expert is better for central control, but this version is above your needs and likely costly. You would have to check with a license partner to know, you also have to buy camera license packs on top of the software.

 

However the hardware you have specified that is currently in use should be able to do much more than 35 cameras, more than 128 if you were to believe Milestone's hardware specs on the Husky M series servers. Click see all capabilities in this link so see their range of hardware and camera limits, https://www.milestonesys.com/our-products/network-video-recorders/milestone-husky-m30/

 

There's actually a lot of fine tuning required on these surveillance systems to get them to optimal efficiency which is more likely your issue.

• Make sure the cameras and software support efficient codecs such as H.264/H.265, this will greatly reduce CPU load
• Only record camera streams when there is movement
• Setup proper mask/dead zones on every camera to filter out areas of the image that detect a lot of movement that isn't needed e.g. a tree branch
• Lower the frame rate, 10 FPS is fine
• Don't use too many high resolution cameras, have a mix of 720P and 2MP/4MP cameras. Lower resolution cameras perform much better in low light and produce a less grainy image so I recommend a mix of cameras and well thought out placement

Milestone XProtect Express should suite your needs fine and with an optimal setup either the 6700K or the 6800K will be able to handle all 32 cameras.

[LasleyMediaKentucky]

On 12/15/2016 at 10:03 AM, leadeater said:

If you want to use multiple systems to do the recording the minimal supported version is XProtect Professional, Expert is better for central control, but this version is above your needs and likely costly. You would have to check with a license partner to know, you also have to buy camera license packs on top of the software.

 

However the hardware you have specified that is currently in use should be able to do much more than 35 cameras, more than 128 if you were to believe Milestone's hardware specs on the Husky M series servers. Click see all capabilities in this link so see their range of hardware and camera limits, https://www.milestonesys.com/our-products/network-video-recorders/milestone-husky-m30/

 

There's actually a lot of fine tuning required on these surveillance systems to get them to optimal efficiency which is more likely your issue.

• Make sure the cameras and software support efficient codecs such as H.264/H.265, this will greatly reduce CPU load
• Only record camera streams when there is movement
• Setup proper mask/dead zones on every camera to filter out areas of the image that detect a lot of movement that isn't needed e.g. a tree branch
• Lower the frame rate, 10 FPS is fine
• Don't use too many high resolution cameras, have a mix of 720P and 2MP/4MP cameras. Lower resolution cameras perform much better in low light and produce a less grainy image so I recommend a mix of cameras and well thought out placement

Milestone XProtect Express should suite your needs fine and with an optimal setup either the 6700K or the 6800K will be able to handle all 32 cameras.

I'm running 35 cameras that are 1080p set on motion detection utilizing H.264 streams and it's maxing out the 6800k. It immediately locks up when I turn them on, and with the included camera software, CPU is low but it freezes up constantly. 

 

[leadeater]

7 minutes ago, LasleyMediaKentucky said:

I'm running 35 cameras that are 1080p set on motion detection utilizing H.264 streams and it's maxing out the 6800k. It immediately locks up when I turn them on, and with the included camera software, CPU is low but it freezes up constantly. 

 

Then I'd definitely give Milestone a try using the trial, also if you aren't CPU bound with that or the included camera software but still have issues check things like HDD queue and network bandwidth. 35 cameras can be rather demanding on HDD and networking when added up, should be less than 50% of a 1Gbps network link though.

 

Edit:

It would also be interesting to know at what point the problem starts by turning cameras one one by one.

[LasleyMediaKentucky]

Just now, leadeater said:

Then I'd definitely give Milestone a try using the trial, also if you aren't CPU found with that or the included camera software but still have issues check things like HDD queue and network bandwidth. 35 cameras can be rather demanding on HDD and networking when added up, should be less than 50% of a 1Gbps network link though.

NIC usage is about 12% (1gbps), HDD is not under a constant write and is inactive a lot. It writes to the disk every 30 seconds with no issues. 

 

Also Xprotect will not add any of my RTSP cameras at all. It just says error. I've even called my district network tech at the school who manages over 12,000 network devices in our district, and he doesn't know why. 

 

I'm stumped...

[leadeater]

1 minute ago, LasleyMediaKentucky said:

NIC usage is about 12% (1gbps), HDD is not under a constant write and is inactive a lot. It writes to the disk every 30 seconds with no issues. 

 

Also Xprotect will not add any of my RTSP cameras at all. It just says error. I've even called my district network tech at the school who manages over 12,000 network devices in our district, and he doesn't know why. 

 

I'm stumped...

Give Milestone support an email with the cameras you've got and see if they can help, even if you aren't a customer you might be one so they will help.

[LasleyMediaKentucky]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Give Milestone support an email with the cameras you've got and see if they can help, even if you aren't a customer you might be one so they will help.

By no means am I impressed with them. I contacted them a month ago saying I needed to purchase ASAP, the rep from Milestone contacted me with some questions next-day and said he would forward me to the local territorial manager, and I haven't heard back in THREE weeks. Ridiculous. I'm hanging on an edge here and they aren't even trying. 

[leadeater]

Just now, LasleyMediaKentucky said:

By no means am I impressed with them. I contacted them a month ago saying I needed to purchase ASAP, the rep from Milestone contacted me with some questions next-day and said he would forward me to the local territorial manager, and I haven't heard back in THREE weeks. Ridiculous. I'm hanging on an edge here and they aren't even trying. 

Well that is rather disappointing, only other places to try would be installers but they will charge for assistance. Unless you find a very helpful one that can just say yes or no to if the cameras are even supported by Milestone.

[LasleyMediaKentucky]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Well that is rather disappointing, only other places to try would be installers but they will charge for assistance. Unless you find a very helpful one that can just say yes or no to if the cameras are even supported by Milestone.

They're not in their verified camera list but their forums say that Xprotect supports RTSP/ONVIF cameras. Is there a way to manually add stream URL's?