Full System Upgrade

YYZed

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Since you all have been a wealth of knowledge in my endeavor to upgrade my entire surveillance system, I figured I would give you an installation thread from testing until completion. I mentioned what I was planning to do in my introduction page https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/hello-from-california-may-need-some-guidance.40070/, but now it's time to get down to business.

Other than some of the conduit that was run by the previous tenant (aka...the wife's ex), this will be a gut and replace. The system that up there now is an old coax, 720p, non-adjustable anything POS. It will be going from 8 cameras to at least 16 so that it covers some MAJOR blind spots. It's amazing the quality difference from these junk cameras in comparison to a 5321R-ZE. Not even close! My amazing wife, even though her interest in this project doesn't go much further than having moved it up to high priority status on the project list, seems to be impressed already with the quality upgrade. If she happens to read this, I love you and thank you for not kicking me out after all of the camera talk and research :lmao:

For starters, the critical areas will use 5321R-ZE cameras so that I can utilize face detection (of which was just made aware to me to is a useless gimmick, so strike that idea...going with the cheaper 2231RP-ZS). I have paid close attention to all of your wisdom about using certain cameras/angles for identification, whereas others can be used for an overview. We have too many people come up to our door in this quiet neighborhood, and the house is large and well insulated enough to where we can't hear them whatsoever. I want to record every single soul that crosses into my domain so that the we and the neighborhood can be aware if we are getting any shady characters.

A bullet will be used if I decide changing one of the current junction boxes isn't worth the trouble or I'm having a hard time mounting a turret for the angle needed.

If I can get cabling to the front door (one of the very difficult spots),I will use an HDBW4231F-AS at a low mounting point since I have seen some great threads about how well that camera does for clean face shots in that scenario. Yes, dome and outdoors, but even my wife liked the look of something smaller than the turret cameras. At the price I figure it's expendable/upgradeable if it degrades too quickly. It's about 75% sheltered from the elements except for sunlight, which varies depending on the year because the front door faces due south. We'll just have to see about rain when it happens.

To be continued...I got busy while in the middle of typing this!
 
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fenderman

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Then unless there is something glaringly different between the 5321R-ZE and the 2231R-ZS, would I be better off using the 2231R-ZS to save some coin? The only thing I see that is of no use to me is 2 vs 3 substreams.
The 2231 does not have audio capability... The 5231 has a mic
 

YYZed

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And the to be continued part!

I have been in testing mode the last 24 hours with a 5321R-ZE and the IPCT approved 2x4 in a weighted bucket test rig. Other than moving the thing around it has been the near perfect solution to making sure current and additional camera locations will work. I'm sure my neighbors who have taken notice of the setup are wondering what the heck is going on.

I know this is a picture thread, so I promise to start posting some shortly. I have cabling, junction boxes, and other equipment on the way.

Speaking of equipment, this is the current list. Any comments are welcome since the majority of this has not been purchased just yet -

NVR - NVR5232-4KS2 32 Channel (so that I have options for future cameras, if needed)
PoE switch - TBD, but I need two of them of at least 16 channels each
WD Purple 4Tb (or larger) drive

Cameras -

(10-12) HDW2231R-ZS - For every location except for where a bullet will be used
(2) HDW2231T-ZS - Bullet locations
(1) SD1203T-GN 2MP 3x Starlight IR PTZ - Indoor location, and because I like to move things
(1) HDBW4231F-AS - Front Door if I can get cabling there
(1) PTZ SD49225T-HN - This is the "toy" in the system and it may or may not work out. If it does, it will cover a second angle of the driveway and the sidewalk/curb area in front of my house.

**This is not a complete list of equipment, just the main stuff**

I'm sure this doesn't seem excessive to you all considering some of the elaborate setups I've seen, but my house has 5 points of entry (one being the roll up garage door), and a lot of ground floor windows - a good chunk of which aren't visible to the street. I can only do my best to make sure that we have eyes at least watching the critical areas to hopefully deter someone from making a bad decision.
 
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YYZed

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I was confident enough in my testing that I went ahead and ordered about half of the system, which is the "easier" half that doesn't involve running cable through the conduit. Some are through walls, but the holes are already drilled for all but a couple of them. It puts a little less strain on me thinking I have to do this all at once, and instead allows me to get the critical areas online and running smoothly and securely to where adding new cameras is essentially just a matter of plugging them in after the cable has been run.

On the way is the NVR, (6) of the HDW2231R-ZS cameras, (1) SD1203T-GN, switch, junction boxes, cabling, hard drive, SD cards, rack mount, tools, and anything else I need. The list feels like it's always growing, but thankfully some of the things aren't a one job use.

I'd like to add that since starting this endeavor that my wife and I have casually looked at the neighborhood homes to see who has cameras that are visible. I'm happy to report that it's a vast majority of them just from the couple of streets we've gone down, but I'm unhappy to report that I have yet to see anything that appears (at a glance) to be high quality or the cameras are set to more of an overview look instead of for identification. All of my cameras are varifocal for this reason and hopefully if something were to occur that we can assist in their capture.
 

YYZed

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A lot of people would recommend a PC running Blue Iris over an NVR.
True, but Windows based systems can burn in a fiery pit of hell. Everything I do for my job is Mac OS based and I swore off Windows a very long time ago. Microsoft thoroughly screwed up their operating system after XP and I'm happy to not have to deal with PC anything. I'll only use them if I have to, not because I want to. An NVR makes it so I don't have to. :cool: I'm definitely aware of the power of Blue Iris, but I think I'll be ok for my needs for now. I know there is Mac OS software out there for surveillance systems, but that's a perfectly good waste of a (usually expensive) machine. PC's are cheap and fun to build, but I still don't like them.
 

CCTVCam

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There are plenty of issues with NVR's but as I'm not a user, I'll leave others to tell you about them.
 

IAmATeaf

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You don’t have to like a windows PC, just view it as a platform on which BI runs. I’m a new BI user and what I found in terms of what can be configured just blows my mind.
 

YYZed

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You don’t have to like a windows PC, just view it as a platform on which BI runs. I’m a new BI user and what I found in terms of what can be configured just blows my mind.
Yeahhh...still don't want one. I'll give the NVR a shot and see if it fits my needs. At least the option to change is available.
 

bigredfish

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NVR/XVR's - Ive got 2 of my own, one at Mom's, installed 3 for friends, and 2 for the HOA I manage. They work just fine.

BI and other VMS systems do have additional features that can be desirable.
 

sfitz527

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For that many cameras it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have another HDD besides the one 4TB. From experience the more days of footage saved the better. It may not seem important now, but I’ve had a few requests to pull the footage from a package delivery from a few weeks ago that would have otherwise been saved over.
 

YYZed

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For that many cameras it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have another HDD besides the one 4TB. From experience the more days of footage saved the better. It may not seem important now, but I’ve had a few requests to pull the footage from a package delivery from a few weeks ago that would have otherwise been saved over.
Great info! That’s the one part of the equation where I’m not quite sure what my needs are. I did the math using the calculator on this site and 4Tb was the bare minimum for about 4-5 days of storage if 16 cameras are running. Since I’m doing this build in two stages I’ll be able to see what the real time load is for about 8 cameras before the other half is ready.
 

YYZed

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I'd start with at least an 8tb.
I’ll order another 4Tb. Thanks!

And to update my thread a bit -

I’ve been a busy bee today getting my locking server cabinet installed in a closet. I also installed a new electrical wall outlet and everything will be contained inside the closet, including a new cable entrance location from the conduit that is run on the wall outside. It’s the perfect spot!

I’m thankful every time I do a project like this that my father was a carpenter for 50 years (now retired), and I have enjoyed getting my hands dirty for as long as I can remember. For those of you with young kids or are about to start a family, these types of skills are invaluable to start teaching them as early as possible. Involve them in everything that you can within reason/safety, and make everything a teachable moment.
 
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YYZed

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I would have listened to @looney2ns and gotten an 8tb to start with.
I'd like to know how you came to the conclusion that I didn't listen to him. I neither said, nor implied anything of the sort. He's posted in this thread exactly once, which was an hour before my reply. In fact, I agreed with his information in my reply, thanked him, and said clear as day that I would purchase ANOTHER 4Tb. Meaning, I already have one 4Tb drive and I will purchase a second. The NVR can hold two, and the price difference between buying one 8Tb or two 4Tb drives is negligible. Reading comprehension!
 
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