Camera security systems

[Cameramonkey]

No offense, but take WooWoo's sizing with a grain of salt. You can easily do with less storage through careful camera adjustments if the canned system has less than that. Do you REALLY need 30 frames/sec (full motion video) and 6 months of recordings? You can really scale back on the storage needed with motion recordings instead of full time, and also reducing it to as low as 5-15fps (choppy but court admissible and plenty of frames to grab to print out to ID the perp) Remember you dont need to be able to show the judge that he is an awesome dancer... just that he took your stuff.

But if you are looking at a modular recorder that you have to buy the drive separately, Storage is pretty cheap even for NAS/DVR rated drives, (WD purple, Seagate Surveillance, etc) so 4 vs 1TB isnt a huge difference.

+1 on Hikvision. Good stuff. Not cheap, but good.

 

[woowoo2]

No offense, but take WooWoo's sizing with a grain of salt.

None taken, but like you said, storage is cheap.

I like to know if I go on vacation for two weeks, it will all be there, even with some cameras recording full time.

Two cameras, a 2Tb drive, full time recording, 1080P-25fps will store about eight days of video.

 

[Cameramonkey]

But there is a huge drawback to FT instead of motion. Not only space, but if something happens, do you really want to scrub through 8 + hours of video to find the incident? BTDT. it sucked.

 

[looney2ns]

After a break in my BIF went through this same decision making process. I helped him install this system
http://www.amazon.com/LaView-Securi...ra system&qid=1460833221&ref_=sr_1_12&sr=8-12

http://www.laviewusa.com/

Actually it was the 1tb version of this one. But this is the same price as his 1tb version was at the time.
From everthing I've read it's a rebadged Hikvision. It does an absolutely fantastic job. MUCH better night vision then in the video than WooWoo posted.

The kits are the cheapest route, if you go piece mealing things together, it gets expensive.

The kit I posted includes everything you need. I'll see if I can get my BIL to send me a couple of examples.
We hooked it up with and HDMI splitter, and he can view it on 3 tv's in his house, on his laptops, or on his cell phones. He has a 70" tv in the living room and it looks fantastic on it.

Seriously, I've dabbled with lots of security cams systems over the years, and was really impressed by this one. He's going on a year of operation now and not had a lick of trouble.

Run the wires, plug to back of DVR, Turn on DVR, it will auto discover all the cams, and your up and running. You will need someone probably like cameramonkey to assit with the port forwarding and such to get remote viewing up.

 

[RyanGSams]

Real world price examples.

Cameras $100 each
Dahua HFW4300S 3MP Eco-Savvy 1080P HD Outdoor Night Vision Bullet Network Security Camera - Newegg.com

.

I have 4 of those cameras. I would recommend them have had them for around a year maybe and no problems yet.

 

[looney2ns]

Here are three picture examples from the system I mentioned upthread from the LaView IP system.
These stills where captured from my BIL's cell phone with the LaView Android app, He is out of the country on a job. So the pic quality is diminished a little. Click on pictures to enlarge.

First up, no lights on except the IR from the cams.


Daylight


With motion light on garage on.

 

[cosermann]

I love threads like this. Just sayin'.

 

[looney2ns]

Please let us know what you decide on Mouse.

 

[cosermann]

If I put several, let's say up to 8 IP cameras on my home network, I'm going to want/need to do something so the video traffic doesn't bog down the whole network, aren't I (like segment/sibnet/VLAN it)?

 

[Cameramonkey]

If I put several, let's say up to 8 IP cameras on my home network, I'm going to want/need to do something so the video traffic doesn't bog down the whole network, aren't I (like segment/sibnet/VLAN it)?

Not unless you are planning on sending those all across a wifi bridge to another wired network. A 100mbit network will handle most of the IP cameras in that quantity just fine. And some of the systems like Hikvision have an integrated PoE switch that you plug the cameras directly into, and then attach the NVR to your regular LAN; The camera streams dont even touch your data LAN.

If in doubt, unmanaged gigabit switches are under $50, and modern PCs come with gig adapters already. Replace the switch if you are concerned.

 

[cosermann]

I like the looks of this system. Anyone see any red flags with it?

Complete 4 Channel 3MP IP IR Outdoor Bullet Surveillance System - 4 Camera Systems - Hi Def IP Security Camera Systems - Packages & Complete Systems - Nelly's Security

 

[cosermann]

Follow-up on my previous post. Ordered the system. Took about a week in my spare time pulling Cat 5e to where I wanted the cameras, getting everything setup, and tidying up the cabling. Hardware seems to be good quality for the price. Built-in IR illumination gets out to about 17 feet pretty decently which is fine for my situation.

The only hitch was that online quickstart videos and guides do not match the menus on my NVR (newer firmware I'm guessing). However, the support from Nelly's Security has been outstanding so far and was frankly the primary reason I ordered from them (pre and post sale). Support seems to be something that's often lacking in the consumer security video space. Recommended.

Sample pics from my front porch a few morning's ago and the same scene at night (not full resolution):

 

[searpinski]

Follow-up on my previous post. Ordered the system. Took about a week in my spare time pulling Cat 5e to where I wanted the cameras, getting everything setup, and tidying up the cabling. Hardware seems to be good quality for the price. Built-in IR illumination gets out to about 17 feet pretty decently which is fine for my situation.

The only hitch was that online quickstart videos and guides do not match the menus on my NVR (newer firmware I'm guessing). However, the support from Nelly's Security has been outstanding so far and was frankly the primary reason I ordered from them (pre and post sale). Support seems to be something that's often lacking in the consumer security video space. Recommended.

Sample pics from my front porch a few morning's ago and the same scene at night (not full resolution):

That's really neat! I'm very jealous now. So, does the recorded just keep recording until full and then write over the oldest footage? Is it constant or motion activated? Make sure to post your impressions after a few weeks!

 

[cosermann]

The system overwrites when the disk is full. I went with the small, default 500 GB HD to start out and get a feel for the recording capacity in practical terms.

It was setup for 24x7 recording by default and that gave me about 4 days of video. Changed the config over to motion detection Friday evening. We'll see how far that extends the history.

I've been reading and watching the technology for a few years now and finally decided to pull the trigger.

The wiring is by far the most time consuming aspect of the install. Now that it's done though, it's easy to upgrade a camera or the NVR in the future. Just plug in a new one and configure.

One of the things I liked about this package was that 4 cams were enough to get me started monitoring all my ingress/egress points, but the NVR has an 8 port POE switch built in - so there's some extra capacity to add cameras if there's a need/desire at some point. Kept the entry price reasonable, meets my initial goals, and has some expandability.

 

[churchmouse]

The system overwrites when the disk is full. I went with the small, default 500 GB HD to start out and get a feel for the recording capacity in practical terms.

It was setup for 24x7 recording by default and that gave me about 4 days of video. Changed the config over to motion detection Friday evening. We'll see how far that extends the history.

I've been reading and watching the technology for a few years now and finally decided to pull the trigger.

Keep us updated.
We have not pulled the trigger on a system as yet. To many other projects ongoing and I want this to be priority when we do it.

 

[cosermann]

FWIW, I'm not planning to enable the port-forwarding necessary to check the video while remote. I'm not comfortable with that from a security perspective.

In discussing with other IT policy and security guys at work our consensus is that handling remote access via a virtual private network (VPN) is probably the better way to go. So the idea would be, that when remote, I'd just VPN in to the home network to check video when on vacation or whatever.

Setting up the VPN router will be phase 2, probably not until the second week of June or maybe even July.

 

[searpinski]

FWIW, I'm not planning to enable the port-forwarding necessary to check the video while remote. I'm not comfortable with that from a security perspective.

In discussing with other IT policy and security guys at work our consensus is that handling remote access via a virtual private network (VPN) is probably the better way to go. So the idea would be, that when remote, I'd just VPN in to the home network to check video when on vacation or whatever.

Setting up the VPN router will be phase 2, probably not until the second week of June or maybe even July.

This is something I've always wanted to do (install a video system), so thank you for answering questions and updating. I'm looking forward to your future impressions. When you get a chance, how would you rate yourself IT wise?

 

[RobbyMaQ]

Pretty slick cosermann! Makes me optimistic.
CM let me know on the cat 5/6. I'll still split a spool with ya. 200 ft tops is all I need to reach all four corners of the house.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Pretty slick cosermann! Makes me optimistic.
CM let me know on the cat 5/6. I'll still split a spool with ya. 200 ft tops is all I need to reach all four corners of the house.

dont waste your $$ on Cat6/6e. You only need Cat5e riser rated. The more expensive plenum rated is only needed if you are going to cheat and use your HVAC ductwork as a raceway. If its in the attic/walls and not within air handlers riser is all you need. (Riser rated is made with PVC so it gives off nasty things like cyanide gas when it burns. Plenum cable doesnt, and is self extinguishing, hence the higher cost)

And stay away from flourescent ballasts by 3' or more, and dont parallel AC wires. Both will introduce interference that will cause data errors.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

dont waste your $$ on Cat6/6e. You only need Cat5e riser rated. The more expensive plenum rated is only needed if you are going to cheat and use your HVAC ductwork as a raceway. If its in the attic/walls and not within air handlers riser is all you need. (Riser rated is made with PVC so it gives off nasty things like cyanide gas when it burns. Plenum cable doesnt, and is self extinguishing, hence the higher cost)

And stay away from flourescent ballasts by 3' or more, and dont parallel AC wires. Both will introduce interference that will cause data errors.

The last bit was kind of a given. Like running speaker wires alongside power wires in a car.
I figured cat 6 would give a little extra insulation... so some cost savings found in your advice, thanks!