Camera recommendations

C

cornholio

Young grasshopper
Jan 24, 2017
71
16
Bay Area, California
Hi,

I'm new to surveillance systems and I'm trying to setup IP cameras for my home. I've run PoE cat5 cables all over the home (6 locations including door and garage) and now I'm searching for cameras + nvr. Past posts suggest Hikvision and Dahua are best. Only Dahua seem to be available on amazon. I am considering installing XProtect/Blue Iris on a powerful PC. I'm also considering doorbell cam (which is in addition to the outdoor door camera).

I want to use this camera inside and outside IPC-HDBW5431R-Z | Dahua Technology

I also currently own 2 wifi IP cams (a Foscam and an Amcrest. Yes, I did. Sorry)

This for the door cam https://www.doorbird.com/downloads/datasheet_d101s_en.pdf over wifi.

This PC running XProtect or Blue Iris 24X7 Costco Wholesale. I may have to go with Blue Iris because I'm passing the free limit on XProtect.

My biggest concern right now is that this setup will take a while to configure all from scratch. I need this to be reliable and so I'm wondering if I should just go with an NVR instead. That perhaps 9 cameras is an overkill for a 1800sqft townhouse (5 on first, 2 each on second and third). I also wonder if Dahua IR will be ineffective outdoors because of the dome glass. Other concern is the impact of that PC on my power bill.

What do yo think?
 
Don't use dome's outdoors, cause's too many issue's with the dome reflecting light, and the dome becoming foggy over time from UV.

Look for a factory refurbished Optiplex or HP Elite desktop with an I7-6700 skylake. They will come with 3 yr warranty.
Either Ebay or the factory websites sell these. You don't want a seperate video card in the machine.

You've done the hard part, pulling the wire. Blueiris and a pc I mentioned above really isn't complicated. Anything new to you has a learning curve.

My Optiplex is pulling roughly 25 watts recording 7 cams.
My POE switch is pulling another 20 Watts.

You don't need 4mp outdoors, they have less low light ability then the 2mp's.

Purchase this cam for outdoors: Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

That cam works fine indoor as well, but you may want something different for aesthetics. See this: Dahua 2MP Starlight Lineup

Doorbell cam: Yeah, no. Properly mount a real cam above your door.
 
cornholio,
Welcome to the forum! Some comments:

That cam doesn't have IVS (trip wire, intrusion zone, etc). Personally, I rely on IVS quite a bit, and receive push notifications to my phone when someone approaches my home. Instead of after-the-fact reviewing footage of what happened.

You chose a varifocal. Wise.

You might consider buying 2 cams to start. Then experiment, get up the learning curve. The buy more cams.

Looney2ns is right about domes outdoors. I mistakenly mounted a dome outside, it's inferior to my bullets.

You'll have a learning curve whether you with NVR or BI. Other factors should weigh heavier in your choice. Search this forum for a past thread on BI vs NVR, where nayr and fendermam compare and contrast the two approaches. Very informative

Fastb

this thread might help
Stand alone NVR or PC Based NVR - What are your favs?
 
@looney2ns thanks for that advice. I'm looking at small form factor PCs without graphics cards now. Great point about the domes. I just discovered a 25x optical zoom auto tracking dahua IP cam. Quite pricey but tempting :)

@Fastb thanks for the tip on IVS and for the links. I'm sold on a DIY PC based solution.
 
I'm on the fence for the doorbell cam right now.
My plan is to put a camera in the corner above my front door, and then see if my wife still wants a doorbell camera. They do give you some features that would be nice to have. But don't expect real time speed if you're not home, I've read you will get a noticeable delay, so people can tell that you're not really home.

Another option for doorbell cams that is cheaper than doorbird
GBF PL960M WiFi IP Doorbell with Remote Access by iOS and Android Smart Devices | GBF electronics Inc

As suggested, I'd start with one or two cameras, in the critical locations first, and after that see how many you really want.
I bought one, mounted it on a long ethernet wire on the end of a 2x4, and tested locations. Its different when you see how things really look through the camera. And at night, with IR.
 
looney2ns said:
Welcome, I know some folks that have "had" door bell cams. And almost all of them were disappointed after owning them for a while. Good luck.
Click to expand...
So hopefully not hijacking the thread, but can you elaborate a little on why they were disappointed?

Thanks
 
they are low resolution ultrawide angle pinhole wifi cameras; the daytime capabilities are pretty horrible, and at night just forgettabout it.

they are entirely a gimmick and serve almost no usefulness.. your more likely to let the person at the door know your far far away from the house than you are to make them think you just cant be bothered to come to the door.. plus not everyone bothers with a doorbell, half of the time ppl just knock.. except when a package gets delivered, then they drop the package, ring the bell and run.. so when you open your app nobody is there and u cant see the package on the ground.
 
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nayr said:
they are low resolution ultrawide angle pinhole wifi cameras; the daytime capabilities are pretty horrible, and at night just forgettabout it.
Click to expand...
good point. i didn't think of that.

nayr said:
they are entirely a gimmick and serve almost no usefulness..
Click to expand...
I'm not sure they are entirely useless to a person not looking for an extensive surveillance setup like you and I

randytsuch said:
They do give you some features that would be nice to have. But don't expect real time speed if you're not home, I've read you will get a noticeable delay, so people can tell that you're not really home.
Click to expand...
That lag however should be a deal breaker for anyone IMO.

This doorbell camera https://www.doorbird.com/downloads/datasheet_d101s_en.pdf also claimed it integrated with August which is also on my must do list. I'm guessing the folks here have an opinion about that too seeing that the domains are slightly related. Not going to hazard asking the question though :)
 
put a real camera in place lol, hell even a hikvision cube camera would be great, get one of those letterbox things that goes on the front door and integrate it into that, run one POE cable, or run it wifi, the picture should be pretty good, forget about 2 way audio though. :P
 
Like @nayr said, it's too wide of angle for IDing purposes. Most can't handle anything beyond perfect lighting conditions.
My daughter had one, was all excited about it.....for about 6 months. She replaced it with another brand, and same issue. Too many shots of people that were either washed out completely, too dark, not standing close enough to it, the delay, etc. Audio sucked, unless everything had a perfect connection, then it was just slightly better then sucked.
Put up a real camera, and use the door bell to trigger snapshots or vid with BI.
 
looney2ns said:
Put up a real camera, and use the door bell to trigger snapshots or vid with BI.
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Great idea! That's what I'm going to do. Don't need to trigger anything because hopefully the camera's IVS has already taken care of it. Just send me a notification. So the doorbird doorbell cam but without the cam :p

now I have to find a "smart" doorbell without a camera.
 
Holy cr**! That was so cool. I'll have to read this to see if this will fit my use case. I'm at work and amazon delivery guy rings the bell and I open the door remotely, he leaves the package at the entrance and leaves.
 
cornholio said:
Holy cr**! That was so cool. I'll have to read this to see if this will fit my use case. I'm at work and amazon delivery guy rings the bell and I open the door remotely, he leaves the package at the entrance and leaves.
Click to expand...

what is to stop him from running into the house one day? I mean yeah you might have his face, doesn't stop him from setting the place on fire though because he's insane. :P
 
hmjgriffon said:
what is to stop him from running into the house one day? I mean yeah you might have his face, doesn't stop him from setting the place on fire though because he's insane. :p
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Yea, I think my wife too is resisting that idea. I don't know if the risk of his being insane out weighs the risk that my package may be stolen from the door step. So yea I am on the fence about that.
 
put a trunk on your patio; I opened the door right as he was about to open my parcel box and toss it inside.. the camera woulda looked down and caught that too.
 
cornholio said:
Yea, I think my wife too is resisting that idea. I don't know if the risk of his being insane out weighs the risk that my package may be stolen from the door step. So yea I am on the fence about that.
Click to expand...

This is why I have everything delivered to my wife's work, I know, not an option for everyone, I've been thinking about looking into a PO box but I am not sure what they do if you order a package that doesn't fit into the box?
 
nayr said:
I opened the door right as he was about to open my parcel box and toss it inside.. the camera woulda looked down and caught that too.
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Not sure what you meant there.. You would always open the door only when the delivery guy was about to put it in the trunk/parcel box? Why would you do that? Either let him leave it in the trunk or let him in. RIght?

hmjgriffon said:
I've been thinking about looking into a PO box but I am not sure what they do if you order a package that doesn't fit into the box?
Click to expand...
Yea, I'm in the same place.
 
sigh, I have a parcel box on my front patio.. he didnt see it and was just about to put it in the parcel box when I physically opened the door and took it out of his hands.. had I not answered the door when I did, he'd of left it inside a box on my porch.. and from the street it looks like a wooden box thats too big to steal and likely empty.. alot better than an amazon package sitting on your welcome mat.

outta sight, outta mind.
 
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