Hello from SE PA! Some cam/software questions

[JimR1998]

Hi All,

I'm glad I found this forum. Lots of great info here. I spent a few hours reading-- still a total newbie-- but I can at least spell PoE! Here's a quick overview of what I'm looking to achieve.

1. break-in deterrent. Low crime area and no passerbys but something we still worry about.

2. if something goes bump in the night, I want to check if perimeter is secure. I've seen some setups with tripwire alerts, not sure if this is a function of the camera or software, but I like that feature. Motion detecting is nice too but I don't want dogs and birds giving false alarms.

3. keep an eye on the kids, getting off the bus, who's with them, etc.

4. SIMPLE and LOW EFFORT. If spending a little more gets me closer to those goals then I'll do it. Luckily I have easy PoE access to the cam locations. I'm somewhat techy and can handle the networking, security, etc.

My house is a big rectangle and I was thinking to start with 4 cams:
- approach to back door
- approach to front door
- driveway entrance
- on outbuilding, looking AT house from about 75 ft away

The door situation is pretty simple but for the other two...

Both the driveway and the outbuilding cameras would be looking AT the house, from about 50-80 feet away. They should have enough detail to see kids playing in the yard (daytime) and verify that the windows/doors are intact. Not too concerned about trying to face recognize some unknown criminal. That's the cops job if it ever happens.

I might have to mount the driveway cam on a post light, so preferably not something too conspicuous or too expensive, just in case something happens to it. The cam on the outbuilding is in a more private location. Suggestions?

Two other questions:

How easy is Blue Iris to use? I built a home TV PC a few years back and it sucked. Wife views this as a similar effort and would prefer a turnkey product. WHATEVER IT IS, IT NEEDS TO BE SIMPLE. Open an app on her Android and swipe-swipe-swipe between cameras for live motion. Maybe an overview of the last 24 hours with a graph of when there was movement. If we could bring up similar on a smart TV, even better.

Is a varifocal camera something I manually zoom on-demand? There is always activity out back and I wouldn't want a camera to continually auto-focus, but I'd like to go to an app and zoom in if there's an alert.

Any suggestions / pitfalls to avoid appreciated. Thank you!

 

[SouthernYankee]

Cameras are for surveillance not security. They do not do much for prevention, Put on a hoodie, baseball cap and sunglasses and you are good to go.
If you want prevention get two big well trained dogs and a shotgun.

Blue Iris is easy to use out of the box. Setting up motion detection on any devices (BI,NVR,Camera) is more an art, skill and time.
Kits from big box stores are a compromise, they need to cut something to keep the cost down. Also one size does not fit all.

Read, study, plan before spending money.
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My standard welcome to the forum message.

Please read the IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes and other items in the IP Cam Talk Wiki. (read on a real computer, not a phone). The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Read How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) in the wiki also.

Quick start
1) If you do not have a wired monitored alarm system, get that first
2) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras if you need good low light cameras.
3) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
4) Do not use wifi cameras.
5) Do not use cloud storage
6) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
7) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
8) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
9) Do not use reolink, ring, nest, Arlo cameras (they are junk), no cloud cameras
10) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
11) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
12) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
13) (Looney2ns)If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 8ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
14) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)
15) camera placement use the calculator... IPVM Camera Calculator V3
16) POE list PoE Switch Suggestion List


Cameras to look at
IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+) - 4MP starlight
IPC-T5442TM-AS Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ - 4MP starlight+
IPC-T2347G-LU Review of the Hikvision OEM model IPC-T2347G-LU 'ColorVu' IP CCTV camera. (DS-2CD2347G1-LU)
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
IPC-HDW2231T-ZS-S2 Review-OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS 2mp Varifocal Starlight Camera
IPC-HDW5231R-ZE Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
IPC-HFW4239T-ASE IPC-HFW4239T-ASE
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I Review - IP Cam Talk 4 MP IR Fixed Turret Network Camera
DS-2CD2325FWD-I
N22AL12 New Dahua N22AL12 Budget Cam w/Starlight -- low cost entry

Other dahua 4MP starlight Dahua 4MP Starlight Lineup

My preferred indoor cameras
DS-2CD2442FWD-IW
IPC-K35A Review-Dahua IPC-K35A 3mp Cube Camera

If interested in Blue Iris and other setup items see the following post

Newbie Starter Guide to IP Cam System – VPN setup – Computer Hardware – Blue Iris – Dahua Cameras

This is an intermediate / newbie guide for people just starting out looking for a surveillance setup. I know this setup might not be for everyone and there are many options. You can find a lot of this information in the Wiki: IP Cam Talk Wiki | IP Cam Talk A great place to start in the Wiki...

ipcamtalk.com

Camera Sensor size info Sensor Size Chart Generally bigger is better

Before asking a question search the forum first...
The best way to search the forum is to use Google Advance search

Google Advanced Search

set site or domain to ipcamtalk.com

Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess

 

[aristobrat]

Once you have everything setup, your wife using Blue Iris on her phone should be as easy as swipe-swipe-swipe. Nobody in my house has any problems using BI via the mobile app or via the built-in web server (which is called "UI3"). I personally don't think that the BI smartphone app has as much of the visual "wow" factor that many of the consumer apps have, but what it lacks there it makes up for in terms of being responsive, ease of use, and the advanced options it gives you to help manage your system remotely.

Is a varifocal camera something I manually zoom on-demand?

Technically you could but IMO that's not what they're designed for (and per your comment, they are slow to auto-focus). PTZ models auto-focus much more quickly.

When designing your system, one thing you'll need to take into account is the PPF value. A PPF value of 100+ is recommended on cameras where you want to be able to ID someone that you're not familiar with. To get a higher PPF value, you often have to get a camera with a longer focal length. Fixed-lens cameras (i.e. non varifocal models) usually come with one of the follow lenses: 2.8mm, 3.6mm, or 6mm. When you buy the camera you have to select a lens and the focal length is what it is ... if the focal length results in an image that's too wide and not giving you the PPF you need to ID someone, there's not much you can do about it. With a varifocal model, you can zoom the lens to any focal length between the min/max values, which for many of the popular models are 2.7mm-13.5mm.

If you need a focal length greater than 6mm, a varifocal camera is probably your only option. But even if you need it for something smaller (say 5.3mm), sometimes being able to use a varifocal and set it precisely to 5.3mm is a better choice than buying a 3.6mm fixed-lens model and "settling" for the wider image/lower PPF that it will give you.

The IPVM Camera Calculator V3 tool makes it pretty easy to "see" the differences between focal lengths. Plop in your address, let it pull up a Google Map image of your house, add some cameras <you can choose your lens options>, position the cameras around your house, then drag the little digital dude to various locations in your yard and see what the PPF value is (as well as how wide the image will be). It's a great tool, IMO ... does have a little bit of a learning curve, but nothing huge IMO.