Comprehensive Camera System

[dcartier]

I am new to the forum and am in the planning stages for a camera system for my home. I have been lurking for awhile (even before I created an account) and thought that it might be sensible to get inputs from the camera junkies (forum members)!

First background on me. I live in Canada, near Toronto. I have worked in IT for my whole career and will be retiring within 5 years or so. The system will mainly be to keep an eye on the wildlife that passes by our back fence and keep an eye out for human explorers. Crime is pretty low here compared to other large cities, but there are lots of new sub divisions going in nearby so taking precautions for expected visitors to the woods near my house. We have a pool and want to keep an eye out for unauthorized access

My neighbourhood is about 20 years old, and the houses are on largish lots compared to the ones they are building today where you can step from roof to roof. About 1/2 the houses have the typical small domed security cameras around their perimeters. This neighbourhood was previously an enclave surrounded by countryside, so I guess the fact it was more remote in the past prompted many to have camera systems installed.

To provide an idea of my house and lot, I have created a shared folder with some photos. https://goo.gl/photos/wcqu58hKyV2CzCMu7

I will be using Andy for my cameras and NVR equipment.

My plans so far include the following.

Backside of the house.

1. A PTZ mounted on the soffit between the 2 long windows (about equal with the end of the cabana). I am thinking either a SD6AE240V-HNI or SD6AL230F-HNI. Moving it further down to the far corner would provide better sightlines, but my neighbours deck is right beside there, and I don't want to infringe on his privacy more than the spot I have selected already would. This will also give me a good line of sight to the golf course behind me. Last year I got nailed with a golf ball (boy did that hurt), so next time I hope to have video footage.

2. A PTZ mounted on the corner of the house on the soffit above the walkway coming down from the driveway. Again the same 2 models of PTZ under consideration.

3. 3 x IPC-HDW5231R-Z over view cams would be used to cover the garden behind the cabana, the walkway below the corner PTZ, and pool/side yard/back gates.

Side of house above path from driveway.

1. A PTZ mounted on soffit near the gate from the driveway. Thinking of using the same 2 types of PTZ as this location has a good vantage point of vehicles entering the cul de sac. I am just not sure if I want o hang such a pricey camera within reach of a step ladder! Otherwise I will use a SD52C225U-HNI.

2. 2 x IPC-HDW5231R-Z mounted back to back for overview 1 pointed to the front of the yard and 1 towards the back corner.

Side of the house (backside of garage).

1. A PTZ mounted on soffit (SD52C225U-HNI) above the electrical meter. It would have been a great place for one of the ultra PTZ's, but again really obvious that it is there, and not too hard to reach from the ground.

2. 2 x IPC-HDW5231R-Z mounted back to back to back. One pointed to the front of the yard, and one pointed towards the back corner.

Front of house, driveway, garages.

1. A PTZ mounted on soffit (SD52C225U-HNI) on the corner of the garage.

2. 2 x IPC-HDW5231R-Z mounted on sofit for people exiting the main door, and 1 pointed down the driveway.

Inside cameras.

Planning to use IPC-HDBW4231F-AS cameras to cover all entry doors, and IPC-EBW8600E in the foyer to cover front doors and stairs from the basement. Probably have 1 or 2 more fisheyes in other rooms to keep track of the dogs. I will also have a couple of cameras in the garage.

Any advice or feedback appreciated.

 

[aristobrat]

That's a big build, and looks well thought-out. I don't have any experience with the PTZs, so hopefully folks that do can give you some feedback on their placement.

 

[cryptelli]

. The system will mainly be to keep an eye on the wildlife that passes by our back fence and keep an eye out for human explorers.

With 9 x PTZs and 5 2MP Starlights you should have absolutely no issue accomplishing your goal. I am a bit taken back actually that is a whole bunch of cash about to be dropped, but awesome at the same time!

Go big or go home mate.

 

[dcartier]

With 9 x PTZs and 5 2MP Starlights you should have absolutely no issue accomplishing your goal. I am a bit taken back actually that is a whole bunch of cash about to be dropped, but awesome at the same time!

Go big or go home mate.

Oops, I was scratching my head for a sec there. I was not sure where you came up with 9 PTZ's, but then I noticed I had copied the wrong model number in for the over view cameras on the sides of the house. There is only going to be 5 PTZ cams. With 2 or 3 being in the Ultra series (depending on feedback about placing 1 at the front of the house near the gate).

 

[cryptelli]

There is only going to be 5 PTZ cams.

That is still nothing to sneeze about. Best of luck with your install, sure others here will be able to chime in and advise you on the best locations.

 

[dcartier]

I have a question about mounting PTZ cameras. I am wanting to try to hang them from the soffit, both to minimize the alterations required to my house and for ease of installation while 25 ft up a ladder (at the back of the house). Do the PTZ cameras work better when attached directly to brick? I am thinking that the plan to attach them to the soffit might not be stable enough, especially in wind, or when zooming, or for that matter when the camera is re-positioning. I do have a small strip of flashing at the top of my walls that I assume covers a wood strip laid over the brick. I expect that strip was changed to aluminum to remove the need for the wood to be periodically painted. Perhaps that flashing would be a better attachment point than the soffit?

 

[aristobrat]

If you don't get any replies here quick enough, search the forum for the model of PTZ that you're talking about -- there's probably a big review thread where owners are sharing their experiences and answering questions about that particular model. Sometimes folks don't venture far out of those threads, and will miss threads like this.

 

[cryptelli]

Do the PTZ cameras work better when attached directly to brick?

I know our eaves wouldn't take the weight of the PTZ, and since it was already fairly crowded it was decided a corner mount off the brick would be much better.

I am thinking that the plan to attach them to the soffit might not be stable enough, especially in wind, or when zooming, or for that matter when the camera is re-positioning.

If your worry is with the optics not being stable enough I think just about every camera you listed has image stabilisation.

 

[bp2008]

Quality PTZs can be big and heavy, and soffits are not always capable of holding that much weight 24/7. Depends on your home's particular construction I suppose. Probably it will be fine if you can get compatible mounting hardware. I think your chosen cameras should be compatible right out of the box.

 

[dcartier]

Quality PTZs can be big and heavy, and soffits are not always capable of holding that much weight 24/7. Depends on your home's particular construction I suppose. Probably it will be fine if you can get compatible mounting hardware. I think your chosen cameras should be compatible right out of the box.

I know our eaves wouldn't take the weight of the PTZ, and since it was already fairly crowded it was decided a corner mount off the brick would be much better.



If your worry is with the optics not being stable enough I think just about every camera you listed has image stabilisation.

My previous house had plywood under the flashing on the soffits, but I have a feeling that the current house just has flashing and then open air to promote air circulation. If that is the case, then I will toggle to using the top trim at the top of the brick wall directly below the eaves if my assumption is correct and the flashing is encasing a wood strip.

Reading back through some more threads, and the wiki, I think I will include some of the 180 degree starlights that @nayr was mentioning in one of the PTZ threads. Those in combination with some triggers to pan the PTZ cameras for auto tracking should be pretty awesome. Good thing I have a 32 channel NVR already picked out! I was expecting I might have 16 channels spare, but now it is not looking likely.

 

[dcartier]

This build finally happened over the last couple of weeks. Well mostly done, still have 1 PTZ to mount. I ended up going with 4 x SD6AL245U-HNI and 14 x HDW5231R-ZE. My installer was surprised to see how many cams I was putting up. The PTZ's were a bit of a chore to get mounted. They are big, awkward, heavy and the corner mounts we used made it hard to fish the cable out, while holding the cam near the bracket. I think I worked out an OK technique during he mounting of the 3rd PTZ. Rather than fishing the cam wire through the bracket, just leave the big bundle of wires in the aluminum arm mount, and fish the CAT6 cable through the corner mount and connect before mounting the arm to the corner bracket.

I saw mention of the Cliff Notes, so I hunted it down and read through it. The only thing that I got wrong was not mounting any cams at eye level. Oh well, on a brick house, soffit mounting is a lot easier.

Now I am just trying to get IVS setup and working. The auto tracking in the PTZ's tends to get distracted with trees as @nayr said it would in one of his posts. I have never used IVS before, so it is going to take some learning/tinkering to get right. Any helpful pointers welcomed.

For the NVR, I went with a NVR608-32-4KS2.

I still have to source a couple of interior cams (the 18 were just for the outside). I was thinking of some of the multi lense panoramic cams. Again if anyone has advice on what makes a good interior cam. I was hoping to find a small hi megapixel PTZ, but that does not look like it is going to happen, at least nothing that I would like to see on the ceiling everyday.

 

[bp2008]

http://a.co/hAO39ey These are decent for indoors. They've got PIR (passive infrared) motion detectors built in which not a lot of cameras do.

There's also a rebranded 2mp version "annke i61dr" that can be found for $50 making it a great value but it has had stock issues lately. 1080P HD High Definition Video Resolution IP Camera Online Shopping| annkesecurity.com

Otherwise basically just any cam you would use outdoors will work fine indoors too. You don't need to care about starlight capability quite so much since in a typical home the distances are short and IR bounces all over. If you're just looking for something cheap there are some low end Dahuas. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=dahua+6mp&rh=n:172282,k:dahua+6mp https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=dahua+4mp

I can't speak for the multi-lens panoramic cams since they cost an arm and a leg and most situations don't justify them.

 

[dcartier]

Lol. I was trying to see if adding an intrusion zone would help the Auto Tracking so I added a zone to my front PTZ. Awhile later I pulled up the live view to see if I could see it in action. I am watching the stream and 5 teenagers get out of a small compact car parked across the street. Eventually one of them crosses into the intrusion zone and the PTZ zooms right in on them. They proceed to hang out by the car, for about 15 minutes. At one point the driver goes back into the drivers seat and retrieves what looks like some pills from a baggy and gives them to one of the other teens. They proceed to hang out, but it appeared that they eventually became aware of the red glowing light on the PTZ that was tracking them. They got back into the car and pulled it out of camera range (behind some trees).

I was thinking that I went overkill on the 45x optical zoom of the PTZ's I installed, but considering the quality of the capture, I am quite happy with my decision.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Lol. I was trying to see if adding an intrusion zone would help the Auto Tracking so I added a zone to my front PTZ. Awhile later I pulled up the live view to see if I could see it in action. I am watching the stream and 5 teenagers get out of a small compact car parked across the street. Eventually one of them crosses into the intrusion zone and the PTZ zooms right in on them. They proceed to hang out by the car, for about 15 minutes. At one point the driver goes back into the drivers seat and retrieves what looks like some pills from a baggy and gives them to one of the other teens. They proceed to hang out, but it appeared that they eventually became aware of the red glowing light on the PTZ that was tracking them. They got back into the car and pulled it out of camera range (behind some trees).

I was thinking that I went overkill on the 45x optical zoom of the PTZ's I installed, but considering the quality of the capture, I am quite happy with my decision.

Wooo, that is great, maybe can share us some videos about the 45X PTZ

 

[Slider]

Wooo, that is great, maybe can share us some videos about the 45X PTZ

And share pictures of the installation!