Advice for my camera layout

[jbrand]

Looking for advice on what cameras to use and placement(s) to monitor a detached garage, driveway, and my postal box located on the other side of a neighbor off the alley. There has been numerous times our mail was stolen/teampered with, before we could get to it.


I will be running an 8 port Cisco POE switch inside the garage. That switch will wire to another switch inside the home. The switch in the home will have the PC/NVR on it, directly. Then a patch into the "primary" switch running the remainder of the network in the home.


All Gigabit connections, switches, etc. Except for the camera itself which all appear to be 100Mb xfer. Saturating the primary network is a concern for me. Using all static IPs for cameras and other components. Inside the house will be a PC/NVR (possibly an FTP server) for storing the video.


Want to keep costs and bandwidth as low as possible (of course) while having enough clarity to identify intruders/offenders.


The camera pointing towards the postal box will need to be of quality to watch someone tampering with mail. The other cameras will be monitoring distances of within 10-20 feet.


There is a door on the back of the house leading to the garage. I want to monitor both doors and the patio slider as best as possible.


All of the proposed camera locales are under eves which have a fairly significant angle to them. The door area between the garage and home could be perfectly flat mounted.


Based on another post I am thinking DS-2CD2332-I for most locations, except near the doors. DS-2CD2132-I in that area.


Sample pics taken with 8MP camera. You will notice our eves are quite large and angled. Good and bad at times. I'd prefer to use dome cameras, if they can be angled properly. But may be forced to use some with arms (bullet) to get a better line-of-sight.


There are other pictures shot at 3MP. As marked.


I took a shot at a rough design. The problem is, without seeing the camera output it's difficult to determine if the camera/placement/angle combination will work.


Any advice welcomed and appreciated. I am thinking HikVision DS-2CD2132-I's, 5 of them mounted in locations as noted. All but maybe the one pointed towards the postal box should be 2.8mm? That means 98 degree view? I get confused on the lens mm's.


Jeff

 

[catseyenu]

This may help.
Advanced Camera Calculator http://ipvm.com/calculator

 

[icerabbit]

Great detail in the photos.

First thought would have to be you only cover half your house but it seems accessible from both sides.

Second, for detail coverage of the mailbox, I'd shoot from the closest structure corner you can. Closer is better to get details, then with the right tele you are not wasting pixels shooting everything else around.

Edit, but I see you have the roof angle against you ... with 90 ft I don't think you'll get enough zoom & detail with a 12 mm.

2.8 might be best under the walkway given the close proximty and you can put wideangle to good use. You can always split your order, try one 2.8 and decide if it is too wide, as it looks a bit fisheye, then go 4mm.

I had the same bandwidth concerns going in. Figure each camera to be 500kb/s in bandwidth with 1920x1080, h264, above average quality, decent framerate. I'm seeing 3MB/sec net coming from 6x hikv 3mp set to 1920x1080. Higher settings each camera would probably push 1MB/s. No sweat for a gigabit network.

PS edit: for the mailbox, I'd save the 20-24 ft of garage length and go above the lamp you have there by the garage door ( light shines down, don't want that to interfere with camera) With 12mm on the varifocal dome you should be able to get close enough I would hope, set focus to get it tack sharp where you need it. Nobody will be any wiser you are not covering your property.

 

[Shockwave199]

You have to be a bit cautious and flexible in your situation with those deep eaves if you plan on using IR cameras. Any hint of them in the field of view will make for a nasty night picture, and they're all white to boot, which makes the blow back even worse. Are you and/or your wife demanding the cameras be discreet up in those eaves so you don't see them? That all has to be taken into consideration with IR cameras. Tucking them up in there will force you to aim lower to keep white eaves out of the picture, which can change everything. You should start considering and getting comfortable with cameras less tucked up in there, possibly mounting on the walls or even those support beams I see. Also, if a camera is at that end of the house shooting the mailbox, does it really have a direct line of sight to it? I see a bush that can be an obstruction, or it may just be the angle of the picture. Take a ladder up there and with your eyes, see what the camera will see to determine if for all the work and cost, monitoring that mailbox is properly doable. If you're comfortable with it, you could even consider a PTZ on that corner. Not only can you shoot the mailbox at will with the perfect zoom, but you can redirect it as needed to other areas. It's best to buy one camera and try it all over, temporarily mounting it in some fashion, to get a sense of a starting point. It may be that one camera is so darn good you'll just get a bunch of only them.

 

[icerabbit]

Good spot, shockwave, on that shrub. There goes my idea doing it from by the garage door. But, I would move my mailbox well before I go to PTZ expense. And/or that shrub. Even if it is the neighbor's I'd make the case and pay for it to be moved and some ground coverreplacement ... or do it myself.

We use a PO Box to avoid mail theft.
It looks like a nice mailbox, but a more secure mailbox with drop area may help too.

 

[Shockwave199]

Well don't forget, shrubs don't make the rules, you do. They can be trimmed back and down to a more workable size, and still be attractive. And a PTZ can be an expense no doubt. But they are usually the camera you end up never wanting to do without. They are that useful. If there is a lot to gain from one in a particular spot, money well spent.

 

[jbrand]

Thank you so much. Excellent idea on the varifocus above the garage lamp.

Jeff

Great detail in the photos.

First thought would have to be you only cover half your house but it seems accessible from both sides.

Second, for detail coverage of the mailbox, I'd shoot from the closest structure corner you can. Closer is better to get details, then with the right tele you are not wasting pixels shooting everything else around.

Edit, but I see you have the roof angle against you ... with 90 ft I don't think you'll get enough zoom & detail with a 12 mm.

2.8 might be best under the walkway given the close proximty and you can put wideangle to good use. You can always split your order, try one 2.8 and decide if it is too wide, as it looks a bit fisheye, then go 4mm.

I had the same bandwidth concerns going in. Figure each camera to be 500kb/s in bandwidth with 1920x1080, h264, above average quality, decent framerate. I'm seeing 3MB/sec net coming from 6x hikv 3mp set to 1920x1080. Higher settings each camera would probably push 1MB/s. No sweat for a gigabit network.

PS edit: for the mailbox, I'd save the 20-24 ft of garage length and go above the lamp you have there by the garage door ( light shines down, don't want that to interfere with camera) With 12mm on the varifocal dome you should be able to get close enough I would hope, set focus to get it tack sharp where you need it. Nobody will be any wiser you are not covering your property.

- - - Updated - - -

Hmm, looks like cool. Thanks.

This may help.
Advanced Camera Calculator http://ipvm.com/calculator

 

[jbrand]

Discreet, no not demanding, but preferable. Yes, there is a direct line of sight to the postal box (aka the neighborhood slush fund).

The more I read the more I agree. I think I am going to start with 1-2 camera types and move them around to see if/where it works best.

J

You have to be a bit cautious and flexible in your situation with those deep eaves if you plan on using IR cameras. Any hint of them in the field of view will make for a nasty night picture, and they're all white to boot, which makes the blow back even worse. Are you and/or your wife demanding the cameras be discreet up in those eaves so you don't see them? That all has to be taken into consideration with IR cameras. Tucking them up in there will force you to aim lower to keep white eaves out of the picture, which can change everything. You should start considering and getting comfortable with cameras less tucked up in there, possibly mounting on the walls or even those support beams I see. Also, if a camera is at that end of the house shooting the mailbox, does it really have a direct line of sight to it? I see a bush that can be an obstruction, or it may just be the angle of the picture. Take a ladder up there and with your eyes, see what the camera will see to determine if for all the work and cost, monitoring that mailbox is properly doable. If you're comfortable with it, you could even consider a PTZ on that corner. Not only can you shoot the mailbox at will with the perfect zoom, but you can redirect it as needed to other areas. It's best to buy one camera and try it all over, temporarily mounting it in some fashion, to get a sense of a starting point. It may be that one camera is so darn good you'll just get a bunch of only them.