Been quietly lurking and looking for recommendations

[congee]

Hi everyone!

I've been passively reading all the awesome threads and information as I figure out what I need for my security camera. We just moved in and I pre-wired the house with some CAT6 cables with the intention of running a PoE setup. The problem I am running to now is that there doesn't seem to be any "perfect" solution for what I need so I'm hoping I can get some help here. I have approximately 5 exterior and 2 interior cameras that I want setup and I know that I do not want wireless. I want to use PoE for both power and data. In looking at some of the mainstream products (i.e. Nest Cam, Arlo Q), they offer a beautiful app that me and wife can easily configure and view the cameras, and cloud backup storage. But, they do not offer a PoE option (Arlo Q Plus does, but it is an indoor camera only).

It looks like Dahua and Hikvision are the recommended brands here for DIY, and they do offer plenty of PoE cameras, but I have not seen much discussion on how well their mobile app works. Will I be able to easily connect to the cameras when I am out? It also seems that I will need an NVR for any recording (which I do not mind setting up), but I would like the option to backup and access in the cloud as well.

Perhaps I'm dreaming or on the wish list, but is facial / license plate recognition and notification readily available for consumers? or will it cost a fortune with considerable setup. Integrations with other IoT would be nice too.

I would appreciate any recommendations you may have for my setup (would prefer to stick with one ecosystem) and where I can go to purchase the products. This is going to be my summer project.

Thank you!

 

[Mr_D]

I have just deployed my first two cameras and recorder after lots of research. I am using Blue Iris on a PC to record 24/7. It alerts me of motion via the mobile app and emails me stills of that motion. BI can also upload to an FTP server.

I have a VPN connection to my home network and can connect to it from my phone. At that point, the Blue Iris app can talk to the PC and view live images or clips captured via motion detection. I also use TinyCam Pro on my phone to view the cameras directly.

The quickest way for the BI app to reach your PC is via a service called ngrok.com. I found it on the BI web site, they have a free version, but it really becomes useful if you pay $5/mo. This creates a web proxy to reach your BI PC from outside of your network without a VPN or port forwarding which is dangerous.

 

[mat200]

Hi everyone!

I've been passively reading all the awesome threads and information as I figure out what I need for my security camera. We just moved in and I pre-wired the house with some CAT6 cables with the intention of running a PoE setup. The problem I am running to now is that there doesn't seem to be any "perfect" solution for what I need so I'm hoping I can get some help here. I have approximately 5 exterior and 2 interior cameras that I want setup and I know that I do not want wireless. I want to use PoE for both power and data. In looking at some of the mainstream products (i.e. Nest Cam, Arlo Q), they offer a beautiful app that me and wife can easily configure and view the cameras, and cloud backup storage. But, they do not offer a PoE option (Arlo Q Plus does, but it is an indoor camera only).

It looks like Dahua and Hikvision are the recommended brands here for DIY, and they do offer plenty of PoE cameras, but I have not seen much discussion on how well their mobile app works. Will I be able to easily connect to the cameras when I am out? It also seems that I will need an NVR for any recording (which I do not mind setting up), but I would like the option to backup and access in the cloud as well.

Perhaps I'm dreaming or on the wish list, but is facial / license plate recognition and notification readily available for consumers? or will it cost a fortune with considerable setup. Integrations with other IoT would be nice too.

I would appreciate any recommendations you may have for my setup (would prefer to stick with one ecosystem) and where I can go to purchase the products. This is going to be my summer project.

Thank you!

Welcome Congee,

I highly recommend avoiding all the cloud dependent cameras out there, they fail in a number of ways to provide a reliable solution.

As you suspect - there simply is not a solution which provides all the bells and whistles everyone has on their check list, as our expectations vastly is out of touch with reality of physics thanks to Hollywood and TV crime/CSI shows.

Determine your most critical needs and address those.

For me a security camera system must have the following minimal viable product requirements:
1) It must be reliable.
2) It must be able to capture a good ID image of any suspects.
3) It must be useful for evidence, that is it must have embedded time stamps in the video/images it captures.

Most consumer cloud cameras fail with #1 and #3. Most also have very short ID distance due to wide FOV and overly compressed images and poor low light performance. ( thus are poor for #2 )

The cliff notes in the wiki are your friend. Check them out as they will help a LOT, then check out the other notes there - especially the how to secure your network.
IPCamTalk WiKi | IP Cam Talk