Hello from Eastern USA, looking to gain knowledge so I don't waste money.

[Coal_Cracker]

Hi, everyone!
This will be my first camera setup, I have gone as far to build out a dedicated PC and buy an IP switch and have stopped there until I can figure out exactly what cameras to purchase so I don't waste time and money on junk I won't be satisfied with. So far just browsing around here I haven't been disappointed. Lots of good information! I'm just going to take my time and buy good gear even if it means just buying one or two cameras at a time. I plan on having probably 4 or so outdoor cams and at least the same indoors. I have a newborn and a three year old so I need reliable cams to be able to watch them at night and just to catch those candid moments. The Nest shit is just that. They drop out all the time and just don't provide a good image. Some were hand me downs and my wife purchased two more just because we already had a couple given to us.

I look forward to chatting with everyone and hopefully as my knowledge grows I will be able to give good info to others.

 

[Mike A.]

That's the better approach for most - start slow and learn what's what and what you really need upfront. Will save money and frustration in the long run.

Hopefully you mean a POE switch if it's intended for the cams.

 

[Coal_Cracker]

Hopefully you mean a POE switch if it's intended for the cams.

Yes, I did mean POE.
I bought a TP Link TL-SL1218MP. Grabbed it on Ebay for $95 BNIB

 

[wittaj]

Check out this thread I created that shows the importance of focal length over MP, along with camera recommendations based on distance to IDENTIFY:

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[sebastiantombs]

 

[whoami ™]

Lessons I learned which I believe were important. Spend the money up front or you'll end up spend more later replacing the junk you thought was good.

For switches or access points go Unifi. Unifi is easy to configure with VLANS ect.

Get your cams from Andy. I went full circle from thinking he was just connected with this forum and was able to take advantage of forum members that are less knowledgeable like the way most forums work, to realizing he actually provides us with the best hardware on the market at a good price.

Build your PC out to high spec. i7-8700 or comparable i5, 64GB of fast memory, nvidia GPU like a P400 and a case that can hold two 3.5" drives and a mother board that will allow you to run the OS off a M.2 ssd so you have plenty of head room for future expansion.

Do not buy dome cams.

Make your cable runs using solid CAT6, do not buy stranded cable.

I bought all my cams twice and some three times. I wish I had just went with all 5442's from the start. Everything else I tried was trash in comparison.

Plan your build out location with USP or multiple UPS in mind. Need something to keep power to your network and BI server to push through power failures.

 

[Coal_Cracker]

Lessons I learned which I believe were important. Spend the money up front or you'll end up spend more later replacing the junk you thought was good.

For switches or access points go Unifi. Unifi is easy to configure with VLANS ect.

Get your cams from Andy. I went full circle from thinking he was just connected with this forum and was able to take advantage of forum members that are less knowledgeable like the way most forums work, to realizing he actually provides us with the best hardware on the market at a good price.

Build your PC out to high spec. i7-8700 or comparable i5, 64GB of fast memory, nvidia GPU like a P400 and a case that can hold two 3.5" drives and a mother board that will allow you to run the OS off a M.2 ssd so you have plenty of head room for future expansion.

Do not buy dome cams.

Make your cable runs using solid CAT6, do not buy stranded cable.

I bought all my cams twice and some three times. I wish I had just went with all 5442's from the start. Everything else I tried was trash in comparison.

Plan your build out location with USP or multiple UPS in mind. Need something to keep power to your network and BI server to push through power failures.

Well I didn't get the Unifi Switch I got the TP Link TL-SL1218MP. BNIB for $95 I thought the extra money savings could be spent on cameras instead of a POE switch. I hope I wasn't wrong.

I have all cat 6 solid core from when I re cabled my house when we moved in 2 years ago.

But I think I am doing okay with the PC build. I got a Dell Precision 3420 with a I7 7700 and 16 GB with the P400 then added a 120 GB SSD, 1TB M.2 and a 16TB Seagate SkyHawk factory refurbished. The 120GB drive I repurposed from another machine I haven't used in years and the rest of the build I have a total of $526 including SATA splitter OS and shipping. If you think it's necessary I'll check out some more memory.

I always try and do as much research as possible before I spend money. I too learned the hard way when I was younger, nothing worse than having to buy things two or three times over.

 

[looney2ns]

Well I didn't get the Unifi Switch I got the TP Link TL-SL1218MP. BNIB for $95 I thought the extra money savings could be spent on cameras instead of a POE switch. I hope I wasn't wrong.

I have all cat 6 solid core from when I re cabled my house when we moved in 2 years ago.

But I think I am doing okay with the PC build. I got a Dell Precision 3420 with a I7 7700 and 16 GB with the P400 then added a 120 GB SSD, 1TB M.2 and a 16TB Seagate SkyHawk factory refurbished. The 120GB drive I repurposed from another machine I haven't used in years and the rest of the build I have a total of $526 including SATA splitter OS and shipping. If you think it's necessary I'll check out some more memory.

I always try and do as much research as possible before I spend money. I too learned the hard way when I was younger, nothing worse than having to buy things two or three times over.

That machine will do fine, as well as the the Poe switch you picked up.
See this: SebastianTombs Cam Tips

 

[DanDenver]

Awesome post. You indicate what you are trying to monitor, why and your goals.
I think reading the various posts on this forum will help you get up and running with a system you will feel is rewarding.
Protecting family is #1 in my book

Hopefully you can avoid wireless cameras, but I know that is not always possible.
There are many posts in this forum with camera recommendations that I suggest you check out.

I just bought and installed 2 POE PTZ cams suggested by @sebastiantombs and I am SO impressed by their night time movement performance. I went from 4MP cameras to these 2MP and the night time movement quality went from “I guess it works” to “dang!!” (NOTE: they do require tuning. You cannot run default settings)

This is the thread where he lists out some PTZ options:

i need help on choosing a plz camera

So i want to put a PTZ in the front of my house, there is a street light that pretty bright. i dont want to break the bank but would like a dahua 4mp 4x zoom ptz that can see good at night...any model suggestions? i was looking at the 22204TNI...i think thats a 2mp....and maybe outdated by now?‍♂️

ipcamtalk.com

These are the two cameras that I ended up buying from that thread about 2 weeks ago:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S6ZC3NY?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R57BXRL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I placed the dome camera in the living room. The reason I prefer a dome in this location is that no one can tell where it is aimed (house cleaners/house sitter/repairmen/visitors/etc). Everyone says don't use a dome, but I think each location needs to be carefully considered.

Here is my installed camera. You can see the round IR light to the right. I prefer external IR lights as they are superior in performance:


In the following 2 pics nothing was changed but the camera. Same external IR light. NO on board IR light in either pic below.
You can see the improvement in detail and lighting. I think the improvement is dramatic.
I have been running the LaView in this location for 5 years. So for me the change is very notable!

I have an arrow pointing to the cat. He is roughly 19 foot 2 inches from the camera dome.
I think you can see him so much more clearly with the 2MP.
The fridge is 36 foot from the dome. The back wall around the fridge is so much more visible.
The Dahua PTZ is zoomed in just a tad to match the previous cameras FOV. But when you do fully zoom the PTZ, the clarity becomes sensational!

Sorry, I don't have any video with motion, only these static shots. But the night time motion capture with the 2MP far exceeds the 4MP.
There was no moon on either night.

Here is the 5 year old LaView fixed 4MP 1/3 sensor dome camera view:

Here is the new Dahua PTZ 2MP 2.8 sensor dome camera view:


If your eye catches the bright light under the center island, that is another camera aimed down the hallway that contains its own IR light. So it causes a little burnout in the image there.

EDIT: These are just screen shots off my ipad by the way

 

[DanDenver]

I wish I had just went with all 5442's from the start

I agree with this. I only have one of these, but it does very well outside in very dark areas where you can provide sufficient IR light.
I don't think there is a PTZ 5442 however.

 

[sebastiantombs]

I've got to update my list to reflect the latest and greatest. There are a couple of 1/1.8" PTZs coming out soon and I think there's a 1/1.2" as well. Just be ready with your credit card or checkbook

 

[DanDenver]

I'm ready! List them out. If they are a dome, I will replace this one and see if there is any improvement.

 

[sebastiantombs]

With sensors that size the dome would need to be the AstroDome! On top of that they're in the 25X to 45X zoom range. Not really indoor cameras unless you're living in a really large warehouse.

 

[DanDenver]

Oh, ok. Too big for my Install location

 

[looney2ns]

Domes indoors are fine.

 

[whoami ™]

Well I didn't get the Unifi Switch I got the TP Link TL-SL1218MP. BNIB for $95 I thought the extra money savings could be spent on cameras instead of a POE switch. I hope I wasn't wrong.

I don't know about TP Link switches, but I started out with a Netgear switch and it was a real PITA to set up VLANs. While searching VLANs on YouTube I realized there was an abundance of info on UniFi products paired with pfSense so that was the route I transitioned to.

If you think it's necessary I'll check out some more memory.

I think I started out with 16gb of RAM then upped it to 32 when DeepStack and AITool came out... A few times my system crashed while it was getting a lot of movement due to wind and running AI so I upped it to 64gb of the fastest RAM I could find at a half way decent price and haven't had an issue since. With 64GB I've seen my system use as much as 52% of it's memory on a windy day running pics from 9 cams through AI

 

[Coal_Cracker]

I don't know about TP Link switches, but I started out with a Netgate switch and it was a real PITA to set up VLANs. While searching VLANs on YouTube I realized there was an abundance of info on UniFi products paired with pfSense so that was the route I transitioned to.



I think I started out with 16gb of RAM then upped it to 32 when DeepStack and AITool came out... A few times my system crashed while it was getting alot of movement due to wind and running AI so I upped it to 64gb of the fastest RAM I could find at a half way decent price and haven't had an issue since. With 64GB Ive seen my system use 52% of it's memory on a windy day running pics from 9 cams through AI

I should be good for the time being. I'm going to start with four outdoor cams and two or three indoor. I'd like to have one or two more outside but houses close to each other and a rather large tree directly in the center of my house are going to make placement tricky. I'd love to have a plate reader but I don't think I can find a spot to put it where I could get cars coming from more than one direction. which sucks because I live right in an intersection.

 

[Holbs]

forget everything mentioned above.

I'm telling ya....get 30 of the Dahua 5442's and 10 of the SD9 Dahua PTZ's! All for your front side. Not including left/right/rear. That's next week.

 

[Coal_Cracker]

forget everything mentioned above.

I'm telling ya....get 30 of the Dahua 5442's and 10 of the SD9 Dahua PTZ's! All for your front side. Not including left/right/rear. That's next week.

Oddly enough I'm reading your tire slashing thread as you write this. The whole reason for me pulling the trigger on this system is because of people putting nails under my tires of my vehicles. I hate suburban life and can't wait to move to acreage.

 

[Holbs]

Oddly enough I'm reading your tire slashing thread as you write this. The whole reason for me pulling the trigger on this system is because of people putting nails under my tires of my vehicles. I hate suburban life and can't wait to move to acreage.

ahhh... if you have THAT issue, I can give advice. Depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.