Recommendations for IP cams, switch, nvr

[Linwood]

Relative to IR, I put in 7 cameras at my prior house, and only one presented problems with IR range.  It was inside a screened lanai, and I was trying to see outside beyond it to the dock -- the screen lit up, the dock didn't.  I put two I/R floods at opposite ends of the dock and they positively glowed.   All those need are 110V outlets, they have their own day/night switchover, and are cheap.  
 
Be aware that IR lights (at least the common ones) are visible -- you can see the dim red dot.  They also show up on cell phones.  Not saying that is a problem, just if you are trying to be subtle.    h34r:

 

[LarrylLix]

Relative to IR, I put in 7 cameras at my prior house, and only one presented problems with IR range.  It was inside a screened lanai, and I was trying to see outside beyond it to the dock -- the screen lit up, the dock didn't.  I put two I/R floods at opposite ends of the dock and they positively glowed.   All those need are 110V outlets, they have their own day/night switchover, and are cheap.  
 
Be aware that IR lights (at least the common ones) are visible -- you can see the dim red dot.  They also show up on cell phones.  Not saying that is a problem, just if you are trying to be subtle.    h34r:

This can keep your boat dock private from prying eyes and long distance camera lenses at night while  you are  out tanning naked.
 

 

[gregking]

Apparently this (phoning home) is done on many consumer camera to allow app access when off the local network.  I think this avoids having to put a hole in the firewall making it easier for the average person to set up.  Still concerning from a security perspective...Might put off purchase until I can understand it and how to block it a bit better.  I don't need app access, perhaps through the nvr but not individual cams.

 
Phoning home is an "outbound" connection from the camera.  It shouldn't need to do any outbound actions.
Just make sure you put a rule in your firewall to block all access by this device to all outbound connections.  I have all of my cameras configured this way and it keeps them from doing anything nefarious.  The only thing they are allowed to connect to is my internal NTP server which provides time to all cameras.
 
For incoming connections, you have to make a decision regarding punching a hole in your firewall.  If you end up using some sort of NVR system, then you likely won't need to access your cameras directly and would only need to pick up the streams being served by your NVR.  That's what I'm doing (sometimes) with BlueIris.  This way the only incoming port would be the BI webserver.
 
I also have a VPN configured and don't usually have any ports exposed except for that.  Once on the VPN, then you can access all of your internal devices/servers.