Nvr With Intel Nuc
Intel® NUC Kit with 8th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors product listing with links to detailed product features and specifications.
Many have asked if they can run NVR software on the Celeron version of the NUC. The advantage of this version is that it costs a lot less, about $130 making it a very appealing alternative to an NVR because of it’s low power consumption, flexibility and size.
I recently reviewed the i5 version of the NUC which I’m personally using as my NVR PC with 10 cameras on it and so far it’s doing its job well. Power consumption based on my Kill-A-Watt device has shown very low power consumption in the 10-12W range which is outstanding.
So this seems like an odd comparison as you would think they are the same except for processor, but no. They look the same, have the same slot for a 2.5″ hard drive, same dimensions. What the Celeron NUC has that is unique is WiFi (plus gigabit Ethernet) and a full size HDMI port (i5 has a mini HDMI and an adapter or special cable is needed). It also has a 12V wall wort power supply vs. the power brick used with the i5. It only has one RAM slot vs. 2 on the i5. Also has 3 USB ports vs. 4 on the i5.
I put the same DD3L 4GB RAM in this unit and added a spare SSD drive I had laying around. Power consumption is lower, about 8-10W but likely due to the SSD vs. the 2TB spinning disk on the i5. Like the i5, I installed Windows 7 64-bit since I had a spare license from an old PC that aged out.
But the big question is, what can I run on it effectively. I tried BlueIris which is a more CPU intensive product. It worked with one 3MP camera at 20fps at a range of 45-56% CPU. Adding a second similar camera quickly raised CPU to 100% and so slow that it took me about 10 minutes just to terminate it. So I would not recommend the Celeron NUC for running BlueIris.
Then I ran Milestone XProtect GO, a free version that Milestone provides with a few limitations, most importantly. it can only be used with 8 cameras and you can only keep 5 days of recordings with older recordings automatically deleted. It’s excellent software if you can live with these limitations, if not, the Essentials version is worth it at $49/camera. If you do need the Essentials version, get it from an authorized Milestone partner like WrightwoodSurveillance.com.
The results are that it worked well when I used it with 6 cameras, 3MP, 20 fps each. I configured each camera to use the motion detection of the camera and configured it to use the 2nd stream at 704×480 for live and mobile viewing. With the server process only running, CPU utilization bounced between 20 and 30% depending on how many of the cameras were recording. With the addition of SmartClient watching the 6 cameras live, CPU utilization bounced between 54 and 68%. So far, this can be very suitable as an NVR PC with 6 cameras, possibly more. During playback, when watching video from a single camera at 3MP at 20fps, CPU utilization shot up to 95-100% and playback was slow and choppy. One could use it to find what they wanted, then export the video to watch later on another computer. My “best practices” recommendation would be to use the Celeron NUC to run the server process only and run SmartClient from a more powerful laptop or desktop.
There’s other NVR software choices out there that would likely work including manufacturer specific software like Hikvision iVMS4200 PCNVR and ACTi NVR3 and other commercial NVR software solutions like Exacq. The key is to use this with software that leverages the camera for motion detection and has a separate client that you can run on another PC to view the cameras and recordings.
Nvr With Intel Nuc Download
The Celeron NUC, when I used it with Milestone XProtect Go was very responsive and didn’t feel like the old Intel Atom “netbook” based low cost computers from a few years ago. I would recommend this if you have a small number of cameras and are looking for a low cost solution that’s very small, discrete with very low power consumption to use as an NVR server.
Having a PC as an NVR has some physical drawbacks, they are large, they use a good amount of electricity, fans can be noisy and they give off heat. Along came the Intel NUC (Next Unit of Computing), Intel’s first foray into making consumer PCs. Using the latest 4th generation i5 processor, promising low noise, low heat, low power consumption and a PC that fits in the palm of your hand.
Main Features
- Intel® Core™ i5 4250U processor (1.3 GHz with turbo capability to achieve 2.6 GHz, dual-core processor with 3 MB smart cache)
- Mini HDMI + Mini DisplayPort – supports ultra-high definition (4K)
- Supports DDR3L 1333/1600 MHz RAM
- Supports Internal mSATA SSD Card
- Supports Internal SATA 3 2.5″ SSD/HDD (95mm)
- Gigabit Ethernet Port
- 4x External USB 3.0 Ports (2 in back, 2 in front)
- Dimensions: 116.6 mm x 112 mm x 51.5 mm (4.6″ x 4.4″ x 2″)
‘The model in this review is the D54250WYKH. It has the room to install a hard drive. They make a shorter version without the room for a hard drive that is a little less expensive but without a hard drive, it may not be suitable as an NVR. You can tell the two apart because the one that accepts hard drives has vent holes on the side like in the picture above.
This picture is to give you perspective on the size of this thing. It would clearly not be big enough to use as a mouse pad. This works out for people that are concerned their NVR PC will get stolen as you don’t even notice that it’s a PC and you can hide by mounting it behind a monitor (comes with the mounting bracket), or stick it on a shelf behind books or a picture.
This is a kit, not a complete computer system. What you need to add to make this a computer suitable for use as an NVR is RAM, HDD, Mini-HDMI adapter, mouse & keyboard and an operating system. This is what the components looks like next to the NUC, the RAM, HDD and mini-HDMI adapter.
The first step is to open it up. You loosen the 4 screws on the bottom (they don’t come off completely) and you pull the bottom cover off.
Since I was replacing an existing system and it had a purchased copy of Window 7 Pro, I transferred the license rights to the new PC. For mouse and keyboard I use wireless USB devices, makes it easier to hide the NVR somewhere without a lot of wires tipping it off. For memory, you want low power memory, hence the L in DDR3L and it’s laptop style memory with 204 pins. I used 4GB Kingston DDR3L 1600 MHz for RAM, about $40 as Milestone for me uses about 2 1/2 GB and is adequate. You can install a MSATA SSD drive as your boot drive, not very expensive and you’ll get fast boots. Since I don’t plan on booting this often, I forgoed that expense and additional electricity it may consume and heat it may generate. Since I typically have 9-12 cameras at any given time, I needed the largest hard drive that would fit which is the Samsung Spinpoint M9T Hard Drive 2TB hard drive. Typically this runs about $140-150, a little pricey for a 2TB but it fits. You can put in a thicker drive, but you’ll have to make modifications to the case and then you mess with it’s ability to manage heat, not a good idea. But there’s a way to get this drive for less. What I did is I bought a Seagate 2TB Backup Plus Slim Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive for $115, cracked it open like a sardine can and inside there’s a perfectly good Samsung 95mm Spinpoint M9T drive.
This is with the RAM installed. You have to remove the HDD bracket to get to the motherboard. It’s typical laptop memory you slide in at an angle and then press down to clip it in place.
This is with the Samsung hard drive installed. It slides in, no screws used. Takes a little finesse to get it in. The screws holding the bracket down have to be removed to insert the hard drive.
After installing Windows 7, I went through and applied the latest updates and installed Milestone XProtect 2014. Right off the bat everything worked as expected. The NUC was slightly warm to the touch, it was quiet and based on reviews, should only be using 30W of power, about 1/4th what a typical full sized PC uses.
I currently have 9 cameras on this system. 6 are 3MP resolution, 3 are 1.3MP resolution. 4 use camera side motion detection, 5 use server side motion detection. With Milestone server running, not viewing the cameras, the system fluctuated between 6 & 10% busy. Live viewing 10 cameras at full resolution is not practical, not even on a i7 system as it quickly went to 100%. By allowing Milestone to use the lower resolution sub stream on the six 3MP cameras, CPU use fluctuated between 24-29% CPU. Recordings still occurred at the camera’s highest resolution and frame rate. It’s not like live viewing 9 cameras on a grid is going to benefit much from being full resolution, so I don’t miss that as I can view recordings if I need more detail.
Download all files from onedrive to windows 7. Conclusion
I had my old NVR PC with an Intel i3-540 in a credenza and the heat it generated made the entire room hot, not to mention the CPU and case fan noise that was noticeable. Switching to the NUC made a big difference in heat and noise alone. I figure with CPU use as a server, I predict that you can have the full 26 cameras that Milestone limits with it’s Essential edition.
The pluses for the NUC are;
- Low power consumption (30W typical with hard drive)
- Low noise (no CPU fan, case fan is very quite)
- Low heat output
- Small form factor, fits in the palm of your hand
The shortcomings for the NUC are;
- Not the full performance of standard i5 processor
So what did the entire system cost me (not including Windows & Milestone whic I already had). The NUC was $361, RAM was $40, mini HDMI adapter was $5, disk was $115 and I reused the mouse/keyboard from the old computer. Altogether, $521. If you want to save some money, you can get the i3 version for $289 and use a 1TB drive for $60, to get an NVR PC for less than $400. If you only have a small handful of cameras, you can likely use the Celeron version which is about $169.
Click here to go to the company web page for the camera.