I want to purchase BI instead of a NVR device so as to benefit from its AI capabilities.
BI is intended for home usage with around 12 cameras (mainly Dahua, Hikvision and IMOU - 1080p up to 4K) and DeepStack later for few of the cameras.
I'd appreciate any advice about the recommended option to run BI:
(a) Is Synology NAS DS920+ (https://www.synology.com/en-global/prod ... 920+#specs) adequate for the above use? (the NAS is idle in general - no other VMs are running)
If yes, VM or Docker is recommended for BI/DeepStack?
(b) Is a dedicated machine a better option or an overkill? (and in this case if to use 1 or 2 HDD bays)
I see that Mini PCs are used a lot. If this is a better option than (a), which are some low-cost and not so power-intensive devices?
Thanks in advance!

I'm going to hate myself for this... head over to ipcamtalk and post your question there as well. There's a lot of folks who can advise you.

I am using 14 cameras with BI and I am recording directly to a NAS ( much to the dismay of the IPCAM folks). I was using an i7 3770k with 16 gb of ram pc for my BI machine and all worked well. Just upgraded to an i5 12600k with 32 gb of ram. Not because of BI, but I use the pc for video and photo editing. 4 cams @ 8mp, 5 @ 4mp, 5 @ 2mp. the NAS is a TrueNas machine that I built. Utilizing 7TB (out of 36Tb) of space for BI. I have yet to run into an issue of any type of bottleneck or slow down in recording. I record 24/7 and snaps shots approx every 45 seconds from all cams, not to mention all the alerts. The impression I get from the IPCAM crowd is they keep suggesting to get on older used hp or Dell for a BI machine. If that were all you were going to use the pc for …than that should work. They are an extremely cost conscious group over there. Also, just want to mention, I am communicating from my pc to the NAS with a 10gb nic on both ends.

The owner/mod over there has a couple of perspectives that drive all of his recomendations.

• Act as if your life depends on BI accurately running every second of the day. Nothing, nothing that could impact this should ever be considered. This means a bare metal install of Win and then BI and only BI installed. No other apps. No running in VMs.

• Intel QuickSync is the best and only acceleration to be considered.

• Building your own machine rather than using an outlet purchase from Dell/HP is a fools task.

HeneryH wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 3:11 pm The owner/mod over there has a couple of perspectives that drive all of his recomendations.

• Act as if your life depends on BI accurately running every second of the day. Nothing, nothing that could impact this should ever be considered. This means a bare metal install of Win and then BI and only BI installed. No other apps. No running in VMs.

• Intel QuickSync is the best and only acceleration to be considered.

• Building your own machine rather than using an outlet purchase from Dell/HP is a fools task.

Personally, I find the tyrannical subjugation by a idiosyncratic bête noire a price too high for the value. I'm reminded of the phrase coined by Euripides "I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees"

That said, in the past year or so, there have been some knowledgeable and approachable members.