Trying to make a decision on my system

Saltman

Saltman

Young grasshopper
May 25, 2019
45
11
united states
Hi everyone,

I'm looking to setup an outdoor ip camera surveillance system. I'm looking to setup 4-5 outside cameras. I want night vision as well. The most important features for me are #1. Video Quality. #2 Push App Motion Notifications. #3. View live feeds from phone. #4 Night Vision. I've narrowed my ip camera choices to HikVision and Reolink. I have a synology diskstation and I would love to use the survelliance station software with the cameras. What would be a good setup in your opinion (specific cameras, app, etc) to achieve everything I want to do? I really appreciate your advice!
 
:welcome:

My standard welcome to the forum message.

Please read the cliff notes and other items in the wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Read How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) in the wiki also.

Quick start
1) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras or ICPT Night eye cameras (https://store.ipcamtalk.com/) if you need good low light cameras.
2) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
3) Do not use wifi cameras.
4) Do not use cloud storage
5) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
6) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
7) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
8) Do not use reolink, ring, nest cameras (they are junk)
9) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
10) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
11) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2

Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess
 
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Saltman said:
The most important features for me are #1. Video Quality. #2 Push App Motion Notifications. #3. View live feeds from phone. #4 Night Vision.
Click to expand...
FWIW, the most popular camera models used by forum members here are from the Dahua Starlight line. Hikvision has a similar line (called Dark Fighter), but IMO Hikvision is harder to source. The forum here is lucky to have a very trusted and liked vendor (Andy, @EMPIRETECANDY) that makes getting Dahua easy.

I started with Synology Surveillance Station but wasn’t impressed with the motion detection options or the process of viewing live feeds (or recorded alerts) from the phone. I begrudgingly setup Blue Iris on an old PC about two years ago (temporarily), but after a few nights of playing around with it after work, I loved how easy it was to view live feeds (and recorded alerts), and its motion detection was amazing... been using it ever since.

These two camera models are prob the most used around here because they do so well in low-light and because they’re varifocal, so you can zoom in tighter on the area being recorded.

Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE

Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal

This model is popular by doors and on porches/patios:

Front door ID camera IPC-HDBW4231F?
 
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I've definitely decided on going with the Dahua cams that were mentioned in the second reply for around my home. I'm just trying to decide which ones and how many I need. I live on 5 acres of land. Andy recommended an PTZ cam for certain parts of my property, so I was looking at this EmpireTech SD49225T-HN IP Camera. My question on this camera, is can I setup multiple zoom recordings on this same camera? For example, there are certain far out points on my property that I want closeups on, but I also want to get an overview recording as well on the backyard. For example I have a pole barn, etc. On the front of my property, I also have a long driveway. I would like to be able to do the same thing for this as well.
 
For the price of 1 ea. PTZ camera you can you can buy 3 ea. 2231s. Then you will not miss action while panning. Zoom one in, leave one zoomed out for overview and you have a spare.
 
anijet said:
For the price of 1 ea. PTZ camera you can you can buy 3 ea. 2231s. Then you will not miss action while panning. Zoom one in, leave one zoomed out for overview and you have a spare.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. A few questions. With the 2231's, how far out will they zoom? Also, what is the real difference between the Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE and

Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal?
 
Saltman said:
That makes sense. A few questions. With the 2231's, how far out will they zoom? Also, what is the real difference between the Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE and

Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal?
Click to expand...
Stated in the reviews that @aristobrat linked for you above.
Be sure to study the Cliff Notes on a real computer, not your phone.
 
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Saltman said:
...........Also, what is the real difference between the Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE and Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal?
Click to expand...

The main differences are lack of audio (mic) and only a main stream (no secondary streams). If you don't need these two items save the money and go with 2231s. Buy 5231s only where you need either item.
 
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anijet said:
The main differences are lack of audio (mic) and only a main stream (no secondary streams). If you don't need these two items save the money and go with 2231s. Buy 5231s only where you need either item.
Click to expand...

I apologize for not understanding this, but what do you mean by "secondary streams?" Does this mean that the other ip camera can record 2 different points of view at once or streams? I appreciate your help.
 
Saltman said:
I apologize for not understanding this, but what do you mean by "secondary streams?" Does this mean that the other ip camera can record 2 different points of view at once or streams? I appreciate your help.
Click to expand...
Multiple devices can connect to a camera’s stream.

A second (or third) stream is just a way to stream the same video, but usually with different rates (resolution, FPS, etc) on that stream.

An example would be the main stream set to full-resolution and a decent FPS, and the NVR set to record that stream. The second stream could be set for a lower resolution and lower FPS and only used when trying to remotely view the camera from a slow network connection.

My guess is that most folks don’t use a second or third stream often. Haven’t seen any complaints about the 2231 not having them.
 
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aristobrat said:
Multiple devices can connect to a camera’s stream.

A second (or third) stream is just a way to stream the same video, but usually with different rates (resolution, FPS, etc) on that stream.

An example would be the main stream set to full-resolution and a decent FPS, and the NVR set to record that stream. The second stream could be set for a lower resolution and lower FPS and only used when trying to remotely view the camera from a slow network connection.

My guess is that most folks don’t use a second or third stream often. Haven’t seen any complaints about the 2231 not having them.
Click to expand...

I plan to use Synology Diskstation with my cameras. So, if I have the synology recording all the cameras 24/7 and I view a live feed of the camera on my smartphone while I am away, does that count as using 2 streams?
 
Yeah, that would be two devices (NVR and you) streaming from the camera’s main stream.

That should work OK, although you should also be able to view the camera’s live stream through the SS app, which would only be one stream back to the camera.

The 2231 would only have the left part of the setup screen below. No sub-stream options.

A99B2743-B215-43BA-A616-698D1C7B3FCC.jpeg
 
IMO, the biggest advantage the 4231 wedge mini dome has over is its smaller size. Some folks want a smaller, more discrete looking camera by the door/on the porch.
 
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aristobrat said:
IMO, the biggest advantage the 4231 wedge mini dome has over is its smaller size. Some folks want a smaller, more discrete looking camera by the door/on the porch.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I think I'm just gonna go with all 5231's. A few more things. If I had a preference(based on my reading) I would probably go with blue iris based on what I read and terms of performance. But, I only have 1 main computer and a synology. So, it makes it pretty convenient to just use the surveillance station on it. Otherwise I would be buying a whole new system just for the cameras. The only bad thing is having to pay the license fees for additional cameras. What is a good POE switch to get for the cameras? Any additional accessories to get as well?
 
As far as the hard drive space. I think I read a lot of people here use some kind of purple hard drive or something. Will blue iris allow me to write to the synology for all recording?
 
Blue Iris can use a NAS. I'm not sure if it's a best practice to write directly to the NAS, or write to a local folder on the BI PC and then let BI move the recordings over after they hit a certain age or disk space constraint.

This thread should have info on what folks think about PoE switches:
PoE Switch Suggestion List
 
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