Another IT guy looking for advise on Security Systems

[R. Rod]

Hello,

IT guy here (mainly software) trying to add a security cameras to his house.
I have been reading for a long time and I finally decided to post here so I can validate my assumptions. If you see I'm down a painful path please let me know

Context
I'm planning to add 4 cameras initially, all outdoor, and I don't see this system growing past 8 cameras.
I want at least 1 varifocal camera for my driveway and the rest probably just regular cameras (more on this later).
These are the expectations I have for this system:

• Good quality image both at daylight or nighttime.
• Recording 24/7 is not a requirement (unless I'm making a big mistake here). Recording on motion detection should probably be enough.
• I would like some degree of integration with HomeAssistant (my home automation controller) so I can turn on lights on certain circumstances, etc.
• Push notifications on certain cameras under certain conditions.
• Snapshots for alerts are sent to email or pushed to an external resource (cloud, ftp, etc).
• Camera firmware can be updated
• NVR can be updated

Things I have decided

• 4MP cameras.
• Almost sold on Reolink. I'm checking Dahua too, it looks like it is the favorite on this forum.
• POE - House is wired

NVR Appliance vs PC Running BlueIris
This is my main struggle at the moment. I was almost sold on BlueIris until I realized how much resources it requires. Now I'm seriously considering a NVR appliance. I have read of people going one way or the other. In my case, going with a hardware NVR:

• It would require less power to run. (I don't have a basement, so low power, low noise is important).
• Noise. Even when some NVR units are loud, I'm willing to replace the fans with Noctua fans for a silent operation. The rest of my network equipment is fanless.
• It wouldn't require buying a POE switch.
• On power failure the NVR will be up for longer than the pc under the same conditions.

The main con of going NVR will be the lack of flexibility on the software and the fact that I will be locked to that particular vendor. Is this a big deal? Reolink seems to have everything I need, in terms of cameras. So I might never need to mix and match different brands.

Any comments or feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
R. Rod

 

[aristobrat]

If you want cameras that produce useful images with low light, you want one that’s only 2MP/3MP and has a Sony STARVIS image sensor inside. Dahua cameras with this config are called Starlights (and have been the forum favorite for hundreds of folks since they came out in late ‘16). Hikvision makes similar cameras called Ultra-Low Light. I think Dahua is favored here because there is a vendor here who is very active on the forum (@EMPIRETECANDY) who makes ordering these cameras easy, and also because Dahua has more Starlight models than Hikvision does Ultra-Low Light. If you go with a higher MP camera, the nighttime image quality will go down, even if the camera has a Sony STARVIS image sensor.

In regards to interacting with your home automation system, I think Blue Iris’s ability to make a HTTP call as part of how it alerts is going to be a lot easier for you than buying a NVR that has digital alarm input/outputs, wiring those to multiple zwave sensors, and signaling that way. I now have 8 cameras. I haven’t seen an affordable NVR with that many alarm outputs (so I can be precise when I signal my home automation system about which camera was activated). With Blue Iris alerts (and my home automation system), I have BI make a rest call with a parameter that indicates which camera. Blue Iris also “listens” on HTTP, so you can probably have your home automation system fairly easy tell Blue Iris to do things.

Nobody’s Motion Detection is 100% perfect, so unless you’re OK with the fact that your cameras are likely to sometimes miss detecting motion (and you’ll have nothing recorded for that event if you only record on motion), you’ll want to record 24/7 on important cameras.

I have an old 2012 Alienware desktop that runs BI with the cameras in my signature (all 15 FPS, VBR). BI only uses about 10-15% CPU usage and 3GB of RAM. To me, that’s not a lot of requirements for BI. And this PC runs virtually silent. PoE NVRs create a separate isolated subnet for the cameras. This means if you ever need to HTTP into a camera to set/check something, you’re probably going to have to plug your computer into an unused port on the NVR to do that. For that reason, plus flexibility in moving my BI around, I use a PoE switch that’s not built into anything.

@giomania consolidated a ton of forum into this Cliff Notes-type guide:
IPCamTalk Cliff Notes 2018-03.docx

 

[looney2ns]

Avoid Reolink like the plague.