Mail theft revisited 2020 long version ...for those who may not know

Feb 4, 2020
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Minnesota USA
This theft was one of 3 that we could find on the DVR and the Blue Iris machine. From the condo I worked at for 5 years.
Having about 6-7 weeks of video stored on the DVR helped us establish a pattern, and also resulted in some residents Getting re-issued checks in some cases.
1 poor guy was waiting for an insurance settlement for about $3000. It was taken. But the videos showed his unit# being stolen from, which helped plead his case with the Insurance co.
Later I discovered from chatting with another Condo down the street,...What his first action was, is to unlock the Front door.
But he noticed that there was no Postal key hole.
This happened 2 other times with guys in his gang trying to open the lobby door with the post office key.
Many of our neighboring Buildings had a Postal key that would allow entry to the entire building because the mailboxes were inside.
This weakness allowed package theft, underground parking access and access to whole condos!
By pure luck I guess we had this arrangement. so no package theft or garage access etc.
 
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Having about 6-7 weeks of video stored on the DVR helped us establish a pattern,
How do you manage 6 to 7 weeks of video stored on DVR? Low camera count, high storage capacity or something else? I currently have a 10TB and a 3TB drive in the DVR and the best I can get is 12 days. I do have 13 cameras
 
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How do you manage 6 to 7 weeks of video stored on DVR? Low camera count, high storage capacity or something else? I currently have a 10TB and a 3TB drive in the DVR and the best I can get is 12 days. I do have 13 cameras
Continuous vs Continous + Trigger is one way. Larger storage is also a factor.

I have some cameras record Continuous Main Stream and others that record Continuous in Sub and then switch to Main when triggered. Across my 40? cameras and 58TB of storage I have about 6 weeks of video I can go back and look at.
 
How do you manage 6 to 7 weeks of video stored on DVR? Low camera count, high storage capacity or something else? I currently have a 10TB and a 3TB drive in the DVR and the best I can get is 12 days. I do have 13 cameras
The system I inherited with the job was analog with 10 cams on 1Tb of storage. 2MP or less.
Then I took 4 of out of service (leaving 6).
I upgraded that 1TB mess toa Night Owl 16 Ch DVR with a 4TB drive.
Some of the cams were like 640x480 like the 4 stairwell cams. But they had 24/7 light so they looked OK.
Others were potato quality B&W which i replaced with Amcrest 2MP turrets.
the DVR was substream to Mainstream on motion.
So I was close to 7 weeks as I recall.

The BI machine was only holding about 4 weeks on 12 TB at the time with about 14 cameras. (eventually got to 17-18 cams before I left) some 2mp and some 4-5 MP.
 
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I think for home use though at my quiet neighborhood, 3-4 weeks is fine. Some states running businesses are not supposed to exceed a certain amount ( thinkin of a post about california Gun stores)
 
Oh yea, I forgot resolution. That is a factor as well.

Storage span can also vary with trigger frequency. I get a lot more triggers from cameras covering the yard during the summer than in the winter, so I will likely lose some days depending on how many kids are running around.
 
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I cannot remember if DVR's have control of FPS. But if it did I usually went with between 10 and12 FPS on most of those cams
How do you manage 6 to 7 weeks of video stored on DVR? Low camera count, high storage capacity or something else? I currently have a 10TB and a 3TB drive in the DVR and the best I can get is 12 days. I do have 13 cameras
 
Comparing analog DVR storage systems, against digital Blue Iris storage could = capacity differences. that and substreams can be a factor, & motion record only vs. continous as well.
 
Nice video, hopeful they catch this guy. Record by montion can save a lot of storage, but now most NVR we sell can do 40TB storage, but sure price is high for the 20TB right now.
 
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All 4mp cams @8192, except two that are 2mp.

I run substreams on all along with the mainstream.
Can't figure out the difference. I run the same way sub streams and main streams constantly. Best I can get is 12 days with 13TB
 
Amount of triggers (that record to mainstream) play a big role in the number days one can get.

I don't think Looney runs LPR and lives on a low travel road, so he could way way less triggers than you.
 
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Can't figure out the difference. I run the same way sub streams and main streams constantly. Best I can get is 12 days with 13TB
To get this 100% clear - are you:

A) Recording BOTH the substream AND the mainstream 24x7

Or

B) 'running' both streams constantly, E.G pulling them into BI, but recording ONLY susbream 24x7, and the main on trigger?

Amount of triggers (that record to mainstream) play a big role in the number days one can get.
Yes, unless you are recording mainstream 24x7 anyway, in which case the alert metadata and perhaps snapshot will take up a bit of storage which wouldn't occur with less alerts, but not much relative to what you would be using for the 24x7 streams anyway...?
 
To get this 100% clear - are you:

A) Recording BOTH the substream AND the mainstream 24x7

Or

B) 'running' both streams constantly, E.G pulling them into BI, but recording ONLY susbream 24x7, and the main on trigger?


Yes, unless you are recording mainstream 24x7 anyway, in which case the alert metadata and perhaps snapshot will take up a bit of storage which wouldn't occur with less alerts, but not much relative to what you would be using for the 24x7 streams anyway...?

I think most of us here record the substream 24/7 and only mainstream for triggers.
 
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Amount of triggers (that record to mainstream) play a big role in the number days one can get.

I don't think Looney runs LPR and lives on a low travel road, so he could way way less triggers than you.
I had this issue with a couple of my cameras. My flag's shadow would constantly trigger a few front cameras so they were essentially just recording 100% main stream instead of sub+trigger.
 
I think most of us here record the substream 24/7 and only mainstream for triggers.
Interesting. Currently I always record main + sub continuously. Storage requirements are heavy, but I always imagine how much I would kick myself if was recording sub + main on trigger, something happened, and the one shot I really needs somehow fell just outside the trigger range.

No doubt that can be mitigated by long post (and pre?) record times either side of a trigger, but what about something happening and somehow, not tripping a trigger?
 
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