Had a theft, going hog on cameras. Need your advice.

[curious_juan]

Hi everyone,

I recently moved into a new home and had a theft from my vehicle (parked along the grass a little bit left of the white vehicle in the below image). A couple days later, suspicious vehicle took a photo of my home. In short, I want full camera coverage of my home and license plate recognition (I'm on a cul de sac...there's little reason for late night traffic here).

I've purchased (6) Hikvision 4MP 2.8 mm turret cameras and (1) Hikvision 4MP 4mm bullet(for LPR or the right side of the house if no go on LPR) and was planning on installing today.

After reading your amazing cliff notes document, I have the following concerns:

• This forum is heavy on Dahua. Is there a forum more focused on Hik?
• All cameras are 4MP. Am I at a huge disadvantage for night time (not having 2MP)? I do illuminate most the exterior continuously with LED lighting.
• I believe that the thieves will come back and I want to make sure I get better details this time.
• The LPR project probably needs to be it's own conversation. Considering that I can get the camera very close to the road (view here), is there a recommended camera. Also, concerns about the fire hydrant reflecting IR?

With the help of a friend, I created the below IPVM layout:

 

[trucams]

IP Camera section -Hikvision subsection

 

[mat200]

Hi everyone,

I recently moved into a new home and had a theft from my vehicle (parked along the grass a little bit left of the white vehicle in the below image). A couple days later, suspicious vehicle took a photo of my home. In short, I want full camera coverage of my home and license plate recognition (I'm on a cul de sac...there's little reason for late night traffic here).

I've purchased (6) Hikvision 4MP 2.8 mm turret cameras and (1) Hikvision 4MP 4mm bullet(for LPR or the right side of the house if no go on LPR) and was planning on installing today.

Welcome Curious_juan,

I highly recommend redoing the IPVM calculator using 100 pff - as that will show you a better idea of your coverage for potential ID purposes.

You will quickly note that 2.8mm lens cameras which have wide FOVs will have very short ranges for ID purposes.

This may effect your planned setup.

 

[randytsuch]

What Matt said lol.

Also, you don't have to cover everywhere, you just need to cover where things will happen that you want to see, entry points and your cars.

I use a combination of variable and fixed lens, depending on where and purpose of cam. Variables are more expensive, but the flexibility is really nice.

I would also recommend trying one of the cameras, mount it on a 2x4 and put it where you were planning to put it. Hook it up, and see what things look like, during the day and at night, and see if it does what you want. You may find the 2.8mm cams won't do what you would like, especially at night.

Randy

 

[looney2ns]

First off, do you have a good alarm system for the home?
That's the first order of business if you don't.
4mp cams require more light than a 2mp at night.
2.8mm lense will require a perp to be roughly 10ft or closer for a good ID, especially at night.
You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
Always test camera locations, with a 2x4, 5gal bucket, and rocks or sand for at least 24hrs.
Read the LPR and Hik subject areas on this site.
Clean out the garage and use it for it's intended purpose.

 

[MikeJoe]

Cameras are only one part of a Security Plan. If seen they can provide a deterrent and capture an event. They will not stop someone however. An Alarm System with a lawn sign is a part of a deterrent and can summon help. Parking cars in a garage keeps them from being broken into. Consider a dog that barks. Understand Home Security from the point of High Security Locks, Doors that are Kick Resistant, Windows that are Smash Resistant, Screens that are Cut Proof. All these things help prevent a Bad Person from gaining access to you. Buying yourself time to respond to a situation allows you to take shelter in a safe room, retrieve a firearm, baseball bat, pepper spray etc. and call for help. Take time to understand the camera system setup you need before jumping in. There is a lot of expertise and help on this site.

 

[bababouy]

I'm a firm believer in Hikvision cameras and I think most of the guys here will agree, their cameras are top notch. Their vms is a little tricky and downloading and playing videos can be a challenge the first couple of times. The most important part of the installation is going over your views at night frequently. Make sure that once your cameras are up and running that your times are correct and there is nothing obstructing your views or causing your infrared to be bright. Also ,make sure that you are recording properly. I would recommend adding as many hard drives as possible and set your recording on motion and continuous, this way you never miss anything. Do playback on your cameras at night frequently to look for any changes in the above settings. You will need to tweak the video settings like WDR and shutter speeds to get the most out of those cameras. Hikvision cams are very adjustable to the environment that they are installed in. Log into each camera at night and play with all of the settings to get them just right. Then pull video from a car driving by or someone walking by and look at the video in avi format through a media player. This will help you adjust things.

 

[Frankenscript]

Just to pile on here, I'm six months into the "IP camera lifestyle" and still on the learning curve. To summarize some key points I have picked up:

1. Everyone has different needs; read a lot and focus on scenarios that are similar to your own.
2. Your idea of the right system WILL evolve as you learn. Ease your way into it.
3. For many folks that would bother to come to an IP camera forum, a PC with Blue Iris is much better than an embedded NVR. I just made the switch myself and couldn't be happier. I got a cheap PC from eBay and packed in 6 TB storage. Works great. See the Choosing Hardware for Blue Iris thread.
4. Start with a few cams with different specs and get to know them. Then buy more to suit your needs putting right cam to the right location.
5. I have seven cams at the moment, mostly Hik, two wonderful motorized zoom Dahua, and one cheap thing that works fine for where it is. All give good pictures, all have their good and bad points. If I were doing it over I would lean more to Dahua than Hik but I have no regrets.

6. The best thing I did --which you have already done-- is come here and start learning. This place rocks.


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