CCTV Server Power Supply Croaked

My HA server's power supply died back in March and the CCTV server's power supply died yesterday. It wasn't even 2 years old (the supply started off in the kitchen PC which was sporadically used. It wasn't used 24x7 until the CCTV server was created less than a year ago. Very disappointing. I've installed my backup ATX power supply, which has an intake fan over the CPU. The old supply didn't and rarely turned on its fan. It was a very quiet server, with just a slow case fan running. You can see the CPU temp is dramatically lower with the backup supply. The D201GLY2 got pretty hot at times, but was within specs. Now I need to hunt for a new 80Plus power supply.

New Toy: Aviosys 9100A Video Server

As I upgrade cameras, I keep the old ones around just in case I find some use for them. The main cameras are connected to an Avermedia NV3000. The leftovers are connected to modulators so we can watch our dog on Slingbox. I decided to get an Aviosys 9100A to get those cameras web enabled. It was easy to install and I've got 2 cameras running right now. I've integrated it into our Floorplan GUI using the device's special URLs described here. It works well, but the camera switching is a tad slow.

New Bullet Camera

I just put up a new bullet camera Wednesday to replace my main front camera, which is an aging 10 year old B&W camera I got from Target. The new camera is a day/night camera with a Sony CCD so it's a marked improvement in resolution & clarity. However, at night time, it's still not as good as the old Target cam even with the help of the front floods. The old camera moved over slightly and is angled toward the opposite direction for better coverage. The new camera is my first "real" camera, as it has a BNC connector and I had to run it over RG6. As I was prepping to run the new RG6, I took some time to clean up the messy wiring from the other cameras. It was definitely something that needed to be done. I also ordered another different day/night cam to replace another old camera and it should come next week. I plan on moving the older camera to a different location.

Camera Server Efficiencies

Our CCTV system has been hacked and pieced together over the last 10 years and became more convoluted than necessary. Now that the Avermedia setup is running, I've been able to simplify things quite a bit. Our system previously used an IR controllable 4-1 composite video switcher to select an active camera based on user input or motion sensors. The automation server would use this feed to take snapshots of the activity. Each camera was also modulated so we could view them on our TVs or Slingbox. Now, the Avermedia records all 4 cameras based on its software motion detection. Also, the software is running full screen as a quad viewer. Since the server is headless, I've connected a VGA to composite video converter and modulated that output. This allows me to remove 3 modulators and the video switcher while still allowing the automation server access to all 4 cameras (albeit smaller views). Finally, an old series 1 TiVo was recording the camera feed continuously and that too got turned off along with its modulator.

Camera Server Update

I had time yesterday to connect up 2 more cameras to the system. Oddly enough, the CPU utilization went down! It went from 26% with 1 camera to an astonishingly low 10% with 3 cameras and motion detection on each. I thought since it was dark out by the time I got the cameras connected, there wasn't much CPU used for motion detection on mostly black cameras. But it's bright outside now and the CPU is still low. Maybe with 1 camera, it does motion detection at 30 FPS, but dials it way down with more cameras? Who knows. I was thinking that I would have to reduce the resolution from 640x480 when I added more cameras, but it looks like I'll be able to leave it like that. I also put the server case on its side so the CPU heatsink would have better airflow (it's right under the power supply, which has no fan). That combined with the lower CPU utilization has the CPU temp down to 55°C from 66°C.

D201GLY2 Camera Server Testing

I received the Avermedia NV3000 Monday and I've had some cycles to play around with it. I've only hooked up one camera so far, but I've got it set up for motion detection and remote access. It works well so far, but I can't stand that it requires IE to view its web interface. Stupid ActiveX components. With the 1 camera running, I'm using about 26% of the CPU and it's getting quite hot - about 66°C, but from what I've read, that's typically how hot they run under load. I was hoping to get away with minimal cooling but it appears I'll have to add another fan to the case. There's already a 120mm Antec Tricool in the rear of the case. I'm looking at adding an 80mm on the side panel to exhaust directly over the CPU. Hopefully, by this weekend I'll have 2 more cameras online.

The NSLU2 and CM11A have been deployed at our other house. The Airlink IP cam is also there. I've been monitoring the system and everything is working fine. I'll need to do some tweaking to the lighting schedule in the future and add a few more lights to the system at some point.

A Couple New Cameras

I installed a couple new cameras around the house to watch Cody when we're not around. Like all our other cameras, these are modulated and we can view them using the built in tuner of our Slingbox Pro.

The dead N770 is still in repair with no update of status. It's been 2.5 weeks already and a month since it died.