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[Help] Frigate and security cameras

Hello everyone,

I have a few questions about Frigate and security cameras, and I thought this would be a good place to ask.

I’m new to security cameras and Frigate, so please excuse any basic questions I might have.

I have a PC at home with an i7-8700 CPU running Proxmox, where I plan to install Frigate in an LXC container for device passthrough.

I came across this Amcrest camera on Amazon: Amcrest IP5M-B1276EW-AI. Since Amcrest is recommended, I assume it should work well, but I’d like to confirm before purchasing. If you have any camera recommendations in the $60 range, I’d appreciate them.

I also read that having dual network interfaces is recommended. My router doesn’t support creating new subnets (I don't know if that would be a problem), and my PC currently has only one network interface. My initial plan was to get a PoE switch and connect the cameras and the router to it, but would getting a separate PCIe network card, and then connect my PC to the switch instead of the router work for creating a separate, internet-less network?

Lastly, I understand that using a Coral accelerator is highly recommended. I’m deciding between the $25 PCIe version and the $60 USB version. Does Frigate benefit from the more expensive USB Coral, or is the $25 PCIe version sufficient? My motherboard is a Gigabyte B365M DS3H, in case that’s relevant.

Thanks in advance for your help!

10 comments

If you can use the openvino stuff, you can skip the coral.

I actually saw a performance improvement moving from the coral to the openvino/iGPU, amusingly enough.
- I put a passively cooled GT1030 in mine and its doing the decoding & tensorrt detection for 4x 1080p cameras just fine, based on its current load I expect I could add another 4.
  
  I couldn't tell you if that specific Amcrest camera will work, but I have 2 of the recommended ones on the frigate docs (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083G9KT4C/) and they work.
- I could do that, but I don't know if the iGPU of my i7 8700 is good enough. Even then, if it means taking load off my CPU I think it would be worth it.
  
  8th gen is perfectly fine; it's the same GMA 630 that's in my 10850k which is doing 4 cameras without even breaking a sweat.
I use the pcie coral and it works fine with plenty of processing to spare although I believe mine coast e closer to $50. I have 6 amcrest PoE cameras. You should just buy a PoE switch and directly connect all cameras to it. Then link that directly to your frigate box and lock down access. Any amcrest camera should work well with frigate. I believe they all support rtsp protocol.
- My frigate box is a PC which only has one ethernet port, so I should buy a separate network card in order to do that, right? I was thinking of buying a 2.5gb card anyways.
  
  Yeah I would suggest buying another NIC. They're cheap, its good security, and it opens up another port upstream for other uses.

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