Need to know how many Mega pixel cameras can be on one Server? Iam using milesstone software and the Arecont av3135 h.264...

You also need to specify the frame rate you intend to run. Milestone has an estimator on their website here.. http://milestonesys.com/support/questio ... +estimator? I just tested a 3105DN (same res, just box camera), for frame size and found about 115Kb per frame, in H.264...

You can get upto 64 Megapixel or ven more connected to single server.

This is going to get into one of those "Can you" versus "Should you" debates, isn't it?

Can you put 64 or more cameras on a single server... Sure, with a /24 subnet, you could put 254 cams on a server, on a /16 subnet, you could put 65534... Is it a good idea? Uh, no..

You need to specify what resolution cams, what frame rate you want, what length of storage, and percentage of activity (if using motion activated recording), bandwidth capability of the network, if you are doing a whole lot of cams, or an extremely high frame rate, you may want to create your own network...

If you are using Milestone, I'd call their tech support for their recommendations, they are pretty good. For as much as they charge for their software, I try to get as much out of them as I can....

that's right you can have a couple of cams running at full frame rate saturating the network or you can have 100 running at 1FPS .

you have to find the balance

Running GB switch links and VLANS can help but with IP cams you need network experience, otherwise your just fudging it.


z

Its not a question that can be answered that easy.

Depends on your server spec, and the application software.

Compression codec, frame rate and resolution all relate to a total bit rate, which needs to be known to determine how many cameras, regardless if they are Megapixel or not.

Are you going to run a true server client relationship or just a server with viewing client also installed on the server? You can get more cameras on a sever that is only being used as the server then you need a workstation to run the client application, if you put the client application on the server as well then the total number of cameras will decrease.

Talk to your application provider to get their recommendations, as it varies from one to another.

Rule of thumb for a server only, approx 250Mbit total for a standard machine with GIG NIC and single Quad Core processor.

This is one reaon I don't like Arecont. They send the entire video stream and let the software sort it out. You have a 3MP camera, sending 15 fps, wow, you will saturate a 100baseT (what the camera works with) with just a few cameras. You can use gigabit switches, but it's waste because these cameras don't support it.

This is why I'm sticking with Mobotix M12, all the logic is in the camera, it sends a low res image to the PC for display purposes and then logs events in hi-res to a NAS, then the PC is only used to configure the camera and view live events.

Put enough megapixel cameras on a single server, and you're going to need multiple NICs, bonded together in software, to provide enough network bandwidth.

You're also not going to be able to simply hang a bunch of NICs off a standard PCI bus either... because you'll saturate that too.

If you're running a metric ton of megapixel cameras, you're going to need a serious network infrastructure, and real server with real server-grade specs.

Dont forget that night and day images have vastly different size`s , as does the power supply system if your are using infrared.

ps I use the HP/compaq proliant series servers. [like the DL380 G5]
Spent about 5 years building them and are happy with there performance
and servicability


z

Another concern with megapixel cameras is storage. More specific, due to speed limitations of hard drives and other factors, you shouldn't have more than 4 megapixel cameras writing to the same drive if there's a lot of activity. Otherwise expect to replace drives on a regular basis.

for sure, but I use motion detect mode which solves most of those problems
only the overveiw cameras run continuous.

Disagree

so you think a camera should be filling up the system with a picture of a door 24x7 ?

Running 5sec before and after mode will capture anything needed.

No problem if all your monitoring is a door somewhere. Try recording multiple cameras in a mall environment with solid activity for 12 hours straight.

have 8 x 2mp cameras recording 24hr its been like that for 15 months never had a H/D problem