Help me replace my QSee NVR System from Costco

[Jamesboy360]

Hi there, I currently have a QSee System from Costco that I bought in 2016. It is similar tothis, but came with 2 Domes and 4 bullets. The cameras are 3MP and it is POE. The cabling was installed during our recent whole home reno. As a result, it will not be possible to rerun the cabling as it is buried behind a lot of drywall, with cathedral ceilings.

However, I am looking to replace parts or all of it as it has a few problems:

1. It never seems to actually record whenever anything occurs - it seems to need a weekly restart to keep it functioning.
2. It has 2TB of storage, but this seems to only last about 10 days. I need more room for storage.
   
3. I have to use IE10 to access content, and stops responding constantly. It literally takes me half an hour to grab a few screen captures.

I am therefore looking to update my NVR to something with 10+ TB of data, and hopefully reuse my existing cabling/cameras; however, if that is not possible, then I want to reuse the cabling. I would like to spend the least amount possible to fix #1-3 above. If it ends up being $2k, then it would still be worth it to me, but I suspect there is a cheaper option out there.

If you were in my shoes...what equipment would you buy?

 

[mat200]

Hi there, I currently have a QSee System from Costco that I bought in 2016. It is similar tothis, but came with 2 Domes and 4 bullets. The cameras are 3MP and it is POE. The cabling was installed during our recent whole home reno. As a result, it will not be possible to rerun the cabling as it is buried behind a lot of drywall, with cathedral ceilings.

However, I am looking to replace parts or all of it as it has a few problems:

1. It never seems to actually record whenever anything occurs - it seems to need a weekly restart to keep it functioning.
2. It has 2TB of storage, but this seems to only last about 10 days. I need more room for storage.
   
3. I have to use IE10 to access content, and stops responding constantly. It literally takes me half an hour to grab a few screen captures.

I am therefore looking to update my NVR to something with 10+ TB of data, and hopefully reuse my existing cabling/cameras; however, if that is not possible, then I want to reuse the cabling. I would like to spend the least amount possible to fix #1-3 above. If it ends up being $2k, then it would still be worth it to me, but I suspect there is a cheaper option out there.

If you were in my shoes...what equipment would you buy?

Welcome @Jamesboy360

If you have a PC around I would pick up a PoE switch and see if you can get those cameras to work with Blue Iris ( a very popular VMS for a windows PC ). You can download the demo version to test it out. See the Blue Iris section for more info on it.

If it works that will be a great option with a minimal cost difference to getting you going, and you can buy a used i5/i7 PC to run it.

 

[SouthernYankee]

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I would go with a Blue Iris setup on a dedicated standalone PC. I would use continuous recording on all cameras. I would use a dedicated 4TB WD purple drive or two 4TB drives in the PC for video recording, a SSD (120 GB minimum) for the Operating system and Blue Iris. Your Six (6) cameras can store two weeks worth of data on a 4TB drive.
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My standard welcome to the forum message.

Please read the cliff notes and other items in the wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

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

Quick start
1) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras or ICPT Night eye cameras (https://store.ipcamtalk.com/) if you need good low light cameras.
2) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
3) Do not use wifi cameras.
4) Do not use cloud storage
5) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
6) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
7) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
8) Do not use reolink, ring, nest cameras (they are junk)
9) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
10) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
11) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
12) (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.
13) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)

Cameras to look at
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS
IPC-HDW5231-ZE
IPC-T5442TM-AS
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I
DS-2CD2325FWD-I


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

 

[Jamesboy360]

After a few months of considering, I am going to order a new NVR and see if the existing QSee IP Cameras will work - they are 3MP and I am satisfied with their performance, specifically low light. We are fortunate that our back yard is very hard to access except through the two side walkways so it will be easy to get good coverage.

So, I am looking at ~7 cameras, and want to do constant video. I am looking at getting the NVR5416-16P-4KS2E from Andy with 4x 8TB WD Purple's from NewEgg. If the camera's do not work, then I will look into new camera's as well. I saw some YouTube vids on SmartPSS and it looks so much better than the IE12 version for remote viewing I am currently using.

One question: Unforunately it will be very difficult to retrofit new CAT 5/6 cables in. I want to add one new camera close to an existing existing camera. Can I just add a hub with POE and add in a new camera? I assume it doesn't have to run back to the POE NVR?