I bought the Q-See 8-Channel 4K UHD NVR with 2TB HD, 4 5MP Cameras with Color Night Vision from the Costco Black Friday deal and I'm going to install the system after Christmas.
Is cat7 worth investing in, or is cat6 still the gold standard?
I'm going to be mounting to soffit, should I get mounts for this or will the included ones work fine?
My router is currently in a different room than where I plan to locate the NVR, is there any drawback to using a bridge to connect to my network wirelessly so I can use remote viewing?
Any other tips, tricks, hints, or suggestions you might offer will be greatly appreciated.
Welcome
@GameOgre
You got a nice deal on that kit, and yes there's a few compromises that come with kits, as well as bullets.
Don't worry too much about that right now - you should be able to add a nice dahua OEM 2mp starlight to that kit if you find that you need a better low light camera.
Remember to bench test the kit ASAP, before you get up and start mounting the cameras.
Cat7 - skip it for now, rather pricey for not much of a benefit.
I like to use Bulk Cat6 from monoprice AWG 23 solid copper wires - riser / in-wall rated. Note it is not rated to run it outdoors exposed to UV.
Remember to test your locations, run N+1 cable runs to each location - just in case you want to run an addition camera or external IR illuminator to a location. An external IR illuminator can help reduce issues of spider webs on the camera by allowing you to turn off the IR leds on the camera which will attract bugs, and then spiders ( re turning off the IR leds iirc you should be able to do on the Dahua OEM cameras ).
Those 5MP IP POE cameras should provide a decent compromise between the higher resolution 8MP cameras of the same generation and the 2MP Dahua OEM starlight cameras ( better in low light ). Bullet cameras with the IR leds rings around the lens tend to attract spider more than other form factors - so using external IR illuminators in cases where your cameras will use their IR mode is a good idea to plan for when running cables. ( hence the N+1 idea ). Of course if you have enough ambient light those cameras should be decent in low light compared to the previous generation of imaging sensors in older model cameras.
Remember to mount them low enough to get a good angle on any suspect.
Feel free to share any image captures you get.
If you need a camera by the front door check out the dual lens camera review looney2ns did ( counts as 2 cameras channels on the NVR - really nice for having one of these at eye level by the front door - aim one lens on those walking to the door, aim the other at the package drop off area )
Review-Dahua IPC-MW4231A-E2 Starlight Dual Lens Dashcam
