Camera recommendations?

[Linwood]

Without some serious software, out door motion detection is subject to a lot of false alarms.  If sun and shadow is in view, ever time the clouds come by there's a good chance.  Flipping in to (usually automatic) IR mode vs visible light may cause an alert if they are not somehow synchronized. At night i have the occasional large bug (moth for example) fly near the lens.  I had some jet skis parked in my driveway which had fairly tight covers on them, but just wind blowing against the cover kept triggering motion.  Waving leaves can be masked off but their shadows are more of a problem.
 
Not saying it's not possible, just that it can be a serious challenge; when I was looking for NVR software some tools had much more serious analytical tools than just motion, e.g. line crossing or tracking, or recognizing the difference in people and non-people. But they are more rare than just "motion". 
 
Now indoor motion is usually easier because you can control all that stuff.

 

[jmed999]

This Reolink system was recently recommended to me...
 
https://www.amazon.com/Reolink-Security-Surveillance-2560x1440-RLK8-410B4/dp/B01AHXEHSU?ref=ast_p_pc_bs
 
It's an 8 camera POE system that includes and NVR.
 
Any thoughts on this system? 

 

[mikefamig]

This Reolink system was recently recommended to me...
 
https://www.amazon.com/Reolink-Security-Surveillance-2560x1440-RLK8-410B4/dp/B01AHXEHSU?ref=ast_p_pc_bs
 
It's an 8 camera POE system that includes and NVR.
 
Any thoughts on this system? 

 
Read the 1-star reviews at your amazon link. There's a problem with the NVR that causes the  AC adapter to give a big spark when you plug it in and a warning to not attach any hdmi or vga devices before plugging it in.
 
Mike.

 

[jmed999]

Read the 1-star reviews at your amazon link. There's a problem with the NVR that causes the  AC adapter to give a big spark when you plug it in and a warning to not attach any hdmi or vga devices before plugging it in.
 
Mike.

 
Yikes!  Do you recommend a similar system without that issue?
 
Thanks!

 

[mikefamig]

Yikes!  Do you recommend a similar system without that issue?
 
Thanks!

 
I don't have a simple answer to that question. I have done a load of looking and reading about surveillance systems in the past two years and I still haven't decided what to do here. What I HAVE done is to buy four  inexpensive IP cameras and learn how they work for me and how they work in general.
 
A basic modern surveillance system consists of one or more IP cameras connected to the internet and software to view them. After that you may want to record video from those cameras. The systems  like you are looking at will get you there. The problem is that it is a canned system and may not suit your needs exactly.
 
For one thing the cams are all the same. What if you want a wider or narrower angle of view for a small or large room? What about pan tilt and zoom? Maybe higher resolution?  Maybe one or more outdoor cams? Then the software that comes with a canned system is probably not going to be everything that you dreamed of and the NVR box is large.
 
When I finally pull the trigger I plan to go with a small windows based machine with an efficient power supply. This way it can do the video chores and still run windows tools and things. Then add a  nice big ethernet switch with POE and various cameras that suit my needs. What is stopping me from doing it so far is that I am too lazy to pull all of that ethernet cable through the hous eto get the job done.
 
So in the meantime i have accumulated four Foscam cameras, two wired and two wireless and they give me a lot of bang for the buck. I can look and listen in my garage and house but I do not have recording capability.
 
Mike.

 

[mikefamig]

I don't have any experience with this (yet) but this is the kind of thing that I'm thinking about using as an nvr.
 
http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=2388
 
Mike.

 

[cobra]

That's a nice little unit.  Also, you can get something like a Qnap NAS and it comes with surveillance software built in.  It's nice if you want to build in a lot of storage (and you can use the storage for other uses as well.)  Downside is it only includes 2 or 4 camera support in most of their boxes, then you pay $50/per for additional lifetime camera licenses.  Software is basic though, but you can run external software to further handle the video if you want.

 

[Del91574]

There's 2 ways to go with cameras....either you buy a halfway decent embedded solution, staying away from consumer grade hardware OR you build your own NVR on a PC and install VMS software, which comes in all sorts of flavors. The largest issue with brewing your own is if you're not familiar with CPU load, bandwidth, R/W cycles, utilization and even NIC capacity, you can easily paint yourself into a corner for any additional devices added or future upgrades.

 

[mikefamig]

There's 2 ways to go with cameras....either you buy a halfway decent embedded solution, staying away from consumer grade hardware OR you build your own NVR on a PC and install VMS software, which comes in all sorts of flavors. The largest issue with brewing your own is if you're not familiar with CPU load, bandwidth, R/W cycles, utilization and even NIC capacity, you can easily paint yourself into a corner for any additional devices added or future upgrades.

 
It's affordable to buy an I7 intel pc with more than enough processing power and adding a lot of memory and hard drive space. Just overkill and you don't even need to study the specifics of the machine. Then run the surveillance software in a VM like you said and you're there. I don't have a lot of network know-how and find it harder to determine how to control the ethernet traffic. I know enough to try to balance traffic between the four ports on the back of the gateway but I have no way to measure the traffic to know if I did a good job or not.  Lucky for me I only need 6 - 8 cameras.
 
Mike.

 

[mikefamig]

I don't have any experience with this (yet) but this is the kind of thing that I'm thinking about using as an nvr.
 
http://www.networkcameracritic.coIntel m/?p=2388
 
Mike.

DEL
 
What do you think of the Intel NUC as an NVR?
 
Mike.

 

[mikefamig]

Regarding cameras and network traffic on a local network(no internet), assuming an otherwise quiet network, is it reasonable to expect to stream 1080p at a 4meg bit rate with the camera connected via wifi? I've had trouble and have turned the cam settings down to 720p at 1meg and they work smootly. Is this expected?
 
Mike.

 

[linuxha]

Regarding cameras and network traffic on a local network(no internet), assuming an otherwise quiet network, is it reasonable to expect to stream 1080p at a 4meg bit rate with the camera connected via wifi? I've had trouble and have turned the cam settings down to 720p at 1meg and they work smootly. Is this expected?
 
Mike.

 
How many neighbors are nearby? Where I live there are around 60 APs on a good (bad?) night. And if you are on wifi, that's 4 up and 4 down on the same channel. So maybe.
 
It's one of the reasons I like to use wire when i can.

 

[pete_c]

Personally here wired all of the CCTV cameras.
 
Note that using wireless you will be sharing the wireless bandwidth and may have occasional drop outs and if that is not an issue and you are comfortable then that is all that matters.  Commercial wireless CCTV stuff uses a dedicated wireless connection (point to point)
 
Any Intel iSeries computer / 8-16 Gb of RAM and mSata / .m2 SATA should work as an NVR.  Capacity / Raid if needed is up to the user. 
 
Just recently been helping a CT user who purchased a multiple CPU / multiple drive 1U enterprise server which is old but very functional to use as a CCTV NVR.   Costs to get the server up to date have been about 4 times what user paid for it and getting familiar with the product.
 
User did not want to spend any monies on NVR software such that he went to using ZM on Linux.  User is not a computer person and had issues with maintaining the Ubuntu OS and understanding the Web GUI and any mobile applications (paid or free) of the NVR application. 
 
Personally and over the years see that "Easy" is always related to a user's knowledge base of IT, CCTV, NVR's, proprietary embedded firmware, software running in whatever OS. 
 
I am guessing running Windows software (Blue Iris) would have caused similar issues.
 
I had previously suggested that the user just purchase an NVR (no cameras) at his local Costco and he has decided to do this hoping that the embedded firmware has an easier to deal with GUI.   Not sure if you can purchase a commercial NVR at a Costco store.  It was suggested to user to do his homework before going to Costco.  He did not and when looking at the variety of firmware NVRs did not understand what he saw hardware wise and shopped mostly relating to price.
 
Users only use of computers at work only involves use of email and proprietary software running on Windows.
 
I am only guessing that this might work for him.
 
Note no disrespect is intended here. 

 

[ddennerline]

I have three different HikVision cameras that are rock solid. The cameras all have a variety of ways to configure “motion detection” triggers. The cameras are hooked up to a Milestone NVR system installed on Windows10 HTPC/gaming,NAS,… computer. Milestone has a “mobile server” component that can be hooked to Internet as SSL server (no VPN required) to remotely view real-time video. The cost was much higher than BigBox packages. But the video quality even at night is pretty very good.
 
The Windows system uses Storage Spaces and ReFS with multiple drives.

 

[tinnytinny]

I bought a wireless solar waterproof WiFi camera on imeshbean. No electricity required, it is solar and battery-powered. No wiring needed, it can avoid damage to existing decoration due to wiring. Support Off-line operations, it can be monitored without networking. Resolution is 1080P. Not sure if it is the camera you need.