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davej

Getting the hang of it
Apr 25, 2014
279
69
Hi,

I'm pondering a 4-camera system here. My dog died a year ago and since then I don't seem to have a good sense of what happens around my house. I think the neighborhood kids are perhaps getting into stuff here that they shouldn't be. Maybe I should get another dog but the deer are a problem so for now a camera system might be more appropriate. I have been looking at the suggestions I have seen posted online and it seems that everyone likes the Hikvision cameras and the Blue Iris software, but I also wonder about the Logitech 700/750 or other cameras with onboard memory cards in case I have trouble getting my network set up. I don't know what the terminology is for cameras with onboard memory and intelligence. Also to me POE doesn't seem practical unless the camera is only a short distance from a POE hub. What is the POE voltage? Also what is the expected lifespan of these cameras? People recommend Aliexpress but I find it a very confusing website with widely varying shipping charges.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,

dave
 
Hi Dave,

First and foremost, welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about the loss of your dog :(

I'm a hikvision advocate and have a bunch of them installed at my house (see signature). They are high quality cameras and a lot of bang for your buck. I really like the 2032 bullet's and a lot of people on the forum do too. They are 48V and all of mine are powered over ethernet (POE). To me, the biggest advantage to POE is not having to plug every camera into a 110V power source / outlet. It's also less work and perhaps a little safer (but maybe not). I believe you can power the cameras via POE up to around 330'ish ft or so away.

Blue Iris is great but it means a computer must be on to record. An alternative to BI is an NVR. Depending on what you're looking for as far as recording there are a few options. I really like BI a lot. I like the fact that every morning I can check alerts from the app (or computer) and see visual motion detection snapshots and quickly browse through everything. What I don't like is that my windows box tends to restart itself every 4-5 days (not to the fault of BI), so I purchased a cheap iON NVR ( http://flark.it/ion ) as a backup that records 24/7. I still use BI as my 'primary' recording but have the ion as backup. I would not recommend the ion as your primary recording device though.

Check out Nelly's security as well http://www.nellyssecurity.com
 
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Hello Dave;

Sorry about your dog. Cameras are ok but the can't lick your face.
As a newbie myself, I really can't add a lot of technical information, but I too looked at Logitech and prepackaged systems. Camera systems are similar to most everything else, you get what you pay for. A very large percentage of people on this forum use Hikvision cameras and POE. I have only one camera running and its a Dahua, I just purchased two Hikvisions. POE is easier to run and safer than running a 110volt electrical circuit and a DC converter to every camera location. Also your pulling 1 wire instead of two. POE runs from 12 volts up to 60 volts and is good for power to 100 meters +/-. A friend had Blue Iris running and it's sister apps for Apple (also android). Using the sister apps, BI 3, with almost no configuration time, will send you a text message or e-mail when an event happens, so its kind of like a really loud dog in that its bark will alert you to trouble, but over a much longer distance.
I'm neck deep in trying to learn this technology so I'm getting the cameras and two more Dobermans!
Good Luck!

IPconfused
 
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Yep, I also like my Hikvision cameras and the Blue Iris software. Hik 2032's are a good way to start for outdoors. They are small, east to setup, great image and they just work. POE is easy, highly recommended even if you have to get POE injectors... (tip, power supplies normally don't come with cams, because POE is the preferred setup)


ALI china might be a little too frustrating to deal with for your first cams... I would go with http://www.nellyssecurity.com and get the instant support for at least your first setup.
BI works great, get it.

If you have a covered porch or wanting an indoors cam, you might look into a wider 2.8mm Hikvision ds-2cd2432f-iw It has sound and wifi and is very small... Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-I(W) 2.8mm can be hard to find in the US, so ALI may be your only choice... I got mine from Julie HERE

Here are some ds-2cd2432f-iw shots from front porch... and some more samples here

Tiger Guard
13990901676_5a051fa92b_b.jpg






 
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Thank you all for the welcome messages and the examples. So now I am wondering what my initial shopping list should be? I'm glad to hear that POE is not 12V because that is what I had read earlier and it didn't make any sense to me.

It could be difficult to justify the 60% price differential between Aliexpress and Nelly's, unless the cheaper ones have Chinese menus.

Thanks again,

Dave
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mike said:
Hi Dave,

First and foremost, welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about the loss of your dog :(

I'm a hikvision advocate and have a bunch of them installed at my house (see signature). They are high quality cameras and a lot of bang for your buck. I really like the 2032 bullet's and a lot of people on the forum do too. They are 48V and all of mine are powered over ethernet (POE). To me, the biggest advantage to POE is not having to plug every camera into a 110V power source / outlet. It's also less work and perhaps a little safer (but maybe not). I believe you can power the cameras via POE up to around 330'ish ft or so away.

Blue Iris is great but it means a computer must be on to record. An alternative to BI is an NVR. Depending on what you're looking for as far as recording there are a few options. I really like BI a lot. I like the fact that every morning I can check alerts from the app (or computer) and see visual motion detection snapshots and quickly browse through everything. What I don't like is that my windows box tends to restart itself every 4-5 days (not to the fault of BI), so I purchased a cheap iON NVR ( http://flark.it/ion ) as a backup that records 24/7. I still use BI as my 'primary' recording but have the ion as backup. I would not recommend the ion as your primary recording device though.

Check out Nelly's security as well http://www.nellyssecurity.com
Click to expand...

My BI box was doing that until I removed the second video card, you may have a simple hardware issue, power supply could also be going bad.
 
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