IP Cameras

[Linwood]

As people may have noticed in other threads have a new house and redoing various security/automation portions.
 
Next on my list (not that I'm finished with the predecessor) are cameras.  on the last house I had Hikvision 3mp turrets, and they worked nicely. I did go through the whole us vs international issue and trying to figure out which I was buying and which I could not update.  
 
It looks like Hikvision still seems to excel in the low-end, high-feature market.  Was thinking of buying some of their 4K cameras from an authorized site (B&H appears to be one).  They are pricey ($200 or so).
 
But I haven't paid any real attention for the last 4 years or so other than a few days of google lately.
 
Are there better alternatives?
 
Note I only want wired, reliable, with IR and will hook to an NVR.  I don't need cloud features or any of the other bells and whistles, just basic IP.
 
Any thoughts? 
 
Linwood
 

 

[LarrylLix]

Amazon and other big cloud stores offer 1080p webcams for really cheap. They don't have PTZ or anything fancy but after seeing some non-technical people install four of them for under $100 total,  I am ready to throw my so-called HD PTZ unit out  and get a dozen of those. WiFi and really nice NVR apps with lots of bells and whistles to email upon motion etc..
 
With PTZ where will it be pointing when an intruder creeps in anyway? Will it be in focus fast enough to even get a decent photo before the spray paint hits the lens? Dahua PTZ and not impressed but don;t have weeks of time to figure it out anymore. App sucks and takes 1-2 minutes to get the cam back on screen before it starts focusing again.

 

[wuench]

I've started installing 8MP Hikvision POE cameras,  so far no  complaints (DS-2CD2085FWD-I).   Got them from Amazon $164.   Using them with BlueIris.    They are running about 10-12Mbps, but my biggest concern is CPU.   Just spent many days figuring out GPU passthru for my ESXi box but CPU dropped in half with the onboard Intel GPU.

 

[sionxct]

Do the new Hikvisions still require ActiveX to view / configure in a browser?

I looked into the Ubiquiti Unifi cameras, as I like the unifi network gear. They don't really have many bells and whistles, but they do work without ActiveX

I've been messing around with the Blink cameras some. They are completely wireless, running off a AA lithium battery for a claimed two years. I've only had them about 6 months, and so far the battery is holding up.

Its mobile app based only, no PC solution (unles you run it in an android VM.) The mounting mechanism sucks, so plan on a DIY solution there. Thier current solution for sharing with others is to give out the username and password to the account, so not ideal.

The picture is surprisingly good. Night vision seems good to me. It can record sound (but does not record on a sound event). It takes short video clips when it senses motion or on manual command, no 24/7 recording. So, you can NOT see what happened before the motion was detected. The video clips are then uploaded to their cloud server over ethernet. There is NO monthly fee for the cloud service.

Each camera links to a hub. The range from camera to hub has been very good. The Hub then links to your WiFi.

In short, the blinks are convenient for limited circumstances but not a substution for a proper security camera set-up.

 

[wuench]

No activeX required for the cameras I have.

 

[upstatemike]

I got 6 of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G1U4MVA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 last year to use with Blue Iris and have had no issues with them. They are higher resolution than the Panasonic units they replaced which forced me to get a better PC for Blue Iris but no problems with the cameras themselves.