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tone363

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Hey there and thanks for reading. A few years back I installed some Hikvision turret cameras on the corners of our house. I am using Blue Iris and a POE switch and over the years it has worked fine. Recently there have been some thieves going through our neighborhood, stole a car last night, and have realized the night vision on these cameras is not what I want it to be. So that brings me here.

I know I want to upgrade these turrets to a Dahua starlight camera. I am just not sure which ones to look at. Our house sits on the main road of our subdivision and our property is only 0.25 of an acre which we are pretty close to the road and i do not have a lot of ground to cover. So basically the cameras on the corner of our house capture everything. Budget wise I am hoping to keep it under $200 USD each if possible. I have read through this forum pretty extensively but it just seems there are several to choose from, just trying to see who has good luck with what and any recommendations on model as i am open to any, thanks!!
 
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aristobrat

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I agree with @Walrus' suggestion. They're varifocal turrets, so you have the option of zooming them in tighter on whatever scene that they're covering. That gives you a higher PPF which can help with ID'ing folks you don't know.

It's not unusual to see folks doing layered coverage, where some of these cameras are used for "overview" ... zoomed out to fairly wide angles, complemented by others that are zoomed in much tighter on key areas, like cars, doors, gates, etc. The overview cameras generally won't have enough PPF to ID someone you don't know if they're more than 15ft from the camera, but they're great for seeing big areas... then you wait for the person to walk into the scene of one of the cameras that are zoomed in.

If you haven't already found it, put your home address in at IPVM Camera Calculator V3, add up to three cameras to the image, change their models to models you're interested in, then position them around your house and check out their estimated image quality. It's a very handy tool.
 
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Walrus

Walrus

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Personally, I won't buy anything that's not varifocal. I started with 2 varifocal cams at the front of our house. I wasn't totally satisfied with the coverage, and added a 3rd. I was then able to adjust the field of view on all 3 to get the exact coverage I wanted.
 
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mat200

mat200

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Hi @tone363

I would still keep your older cameras, and just add a couple more of those varifocal starlights. Remember the max point where you want to ID a suspect the FOV needs to be 19.8 feet wide ( for the 100 ppf density and a 1080P / 2MP camera ). I would use that measurement about 1 car width out from your mail box - and test it to see how well that may work to ID someone at your mail box.
 
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tone363

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Thanks! Yes for sure keeping the older ones, just trying to get better vision on the front of the house during the night. I think i might have captured the car leaving last night but the image is just not clear enough so looking for something better. Really appreciate everyone's input.
 
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Alan Carter

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What is audio actually used for? I need one more cam too and am not sure whether to get the 5231 or another type.

Budget wise, trying to keep everything trim (fat chance so far)
 
mat200

mat200

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Alan Carter said:
What is audio actually used for? I need one more cam too and am not sure whether to get the 5231 or another type.

Budget wise, trying to keep everything trim (fat chance so far)
Click to expand...
Hi Alan,

FYI - Do be cautious with audio - potentially there maybe legal issues, depends on the State.
Yes, probably not going to be an issue for most home users - however, you do want to be cautious thus:

Ideally you post a sign indicating security cameras and audio recording.. that should help with any potential issues. ( ianal so anyone probably will want to double check this in their state / country )
 
mat200

mat200

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