Hello from Philly

[scotchmark]

I'm new and just wanted to say hello and give a big thank you for creating this site. Wow, what I've learned. And so glad I found it before I purchased anything.

Will be dipping my toe into the pool with the purchase of a Dahua 5231 and installing Blue Iris on a spare PC. This is for home security, btw. I am a data networking/security professional so that part is no sweat. Also, Blue Iris integrates with SmartThings so I may do some fun things there. I'm looking to move to either OpenHAB or Home Assistant in time and will look at integrating Blue Iris with whatever I go with. The camera project is first. If all goes well, I'll be installing several more cameras once I get my feet wet.

 

[mat200]

I'm new and just wanted to say hello and give a big thank you for creating this site. Wow, what I've learned. And so glad I found it before I purchased anything.

Will be dipping my toe into the pool with the purchase of a Dahua 5231 and installing Blue Iris on a spare PC. This is for home security, btw. I am a data networking/security professional so that part is no sweat. Also, Blue Iris integrates with SmartThings so I may do some fun things there. I'm looking to move to either OpenHAB or Home Assistant in time and will look at integrating Blue Iris with whatever I go with. The camera project is first. If all goes well, I'll be installing several more cameras once I get my feet wet.

Welcome Scotchmark,

It's easy to get swamped with information here, so I wanted to share some notes with you

Please check out @giomania 's notes:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I have also made notes which are a summary of a lot of the reading I've been doing here,:
Looking for some advice and direction!

Have fun joining us here.

 

[gwminor48]

Hello, welcome to the forum.

 

[scotchmark]

mat200, thanks for those threads, I hadn't seen those. Great info in there. I ordered the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE model, which has a better 5x zoom, and for the same price as the Z model. I also ordered a junction box with it. Both from Andy. Just starting with the one camera to learn the ropes. Now just waiting for it to arrive!

I think the idea of putting two network interfaces into the BI box makes sense, to keep the video traffic off my home network. I'll be doing that. And then I appreciate the listing of POE injectors and POE switches. I was just sitting down to look into those. I think I'll just buy a $20 injector for now to get started. Then upgrade to a POE switch once I get to adding more cameras. Running cables for that will be a project.

Thanks for all the help!