new here needing help. asap

ok guys I'm looking for at least 4 cameras and not breaking the bank. i work ems which is 24 hour shifts and the wife has brought it to my attention that someone has been taking it upon themselves to use our back porch, mind you that our yard is fenced in... so id prefer good image day and night with the ability to use a mobile app to view motion alerts. any ideas?

What is your budget and do you have a VPN capable wifi router? and please tell me you can handle Ethernet hard wire and not wifi cameras?

Motion alerts on any camera are terrible. You will want a different way to detect a person. Either infrared motion detector like an alarm system uses or laser trigger or basic gate magnetic sensor.

Why not get a vicious attack dog for the backyard and solve everything

id say in the 4-500 range, my current wifi routers are both apple airport extreme's. and i do know that id prefer wired over wireless.

i do have a "vicious attack dog" she stays inside with the wife and kids, plus in my neighborhood they don't "allow" outside animal's due to the neighborhood association... which i can't stand...

And do you have a spare desktop computer at home running 24/7 to act as the recorder/server or do you want a recorder box (NVR) to record all the action?

i have a dell poweredge2900 server downstairs that is running virtual environments.

and I'm not beyond purchasing another router just for the cameras to be on by themselves

Perfect. If that CPU is stronger enough to run blue iris it will save you tons of $.

AirPort Extreme is fine since u have a computer for the nvr. Google how to set up a VPN server on the the computer. Not a client but a server.

Get 4 turret style cameras off allieexpress for $70 each. 4mm or 6mm just not too wide angle or you will be able to get details in a subject to tell police. I like the 4mp Dahua. They are super sharp and not expensive. Very good dynamic range. Dahua has color day and black and white night vision that works well. Add a few trip sensors or infrared sensor to send you a push notification.

Mount cameras low enough that you can get a good angle of someone's face vs too high that you see a guy in a hoodie.

Remember this only helps with identifying a subject or the scene. It won't stop a crime. VPN is essential if you don't want others to be able to access or hack your cameras if they are setup for remote viewing.

Get a POE switch to power cameras through the Ethernet wire for simplicity and stability. And clean install. Pull cat5 Ethernet to each camera install location and back to server.

awesome where is the best place or seller for the dahua cameras?

I don't see the camera lens of 4mm or 6mm listed on my mobile safari page but that is the lens you want. This seller gave me no trouble and arrived fast.

https://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/8030352214.html?orderId=77818345390577

Also look into a small face black dahua ptz camera maybe for $170+ each, they can spin around and have small amount of zoom. But better to get more fixed cameras for your application.

https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/9163-Dahua-Mini-Black-Face-PTZ-(SD29204S-GN)