Hi everyone!

ekuest

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Thanks for running such a great forum!

I'm looking to smart up my house and the main component for me is gonna be cameras. I'm not in a super great neighborhood. I would like to be able to make out faces and license plates, so good cameras are a must. I would also like to store everything locally, so no cloud-based anything. Lastly, I'd like to be able to view any cam instantly on an echo show or nest hub max (or other if you have suggestions for a display device) at home or my phone instantly when I'm not home. I don't want a 30s delay getting to the feed, that seems to defeat the purpose for me.

Secondarily, I'd like to be able to see a doorbell like ring etc, unlock doors with august or similar, control lights/other smart things from the same device I use to view the camera streams, etc. I also plan to set everything up myself, so if paying for Blue Iris, or a NAS, or whatever is going to be much more simple and reliable than building/programming myself then I don't mind the extra expense. I own my house so I can run wires, but having to drill holes in my walls as little as possible would be great. I figure I'll at least have to do some of that since I want reliability and high resolution so wifi is probably out.

If anyone has any suggestions for one ecosystem over another that will help me achieve these things, that would be great! Thank you!
 

SouthernYankee

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:iloveipct:
--------------------------
I do not recommend any camera based door bells, they are a gimmick.
The more stuff you try to lump into a single system the less likely it will work reliably. Surveillance camera systems need to run 24/7/365.

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

Please read the IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes and other items in the IP Cam Talk Wiki. 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 or ICPT Night eye cameras (Store | IP Cam Talk) 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 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

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

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

mat200

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Thanks for running such a great forum!

I'm looking to smart up my house and the main component for me is gonna be cameras. I'm not in a super great neighborhood. I would like to be able to make out faces and license plates, so good cameras are a must. I would also like to store everything locally, so no cloud-based anything. Lastly, I'd like to be able to view any cam instantly on an echo show or nest hub max (or other if you have suggestions for a display device) at home or my phone instantly when I'm not home. I don't want a 30s delay getting to the feed, that seems to defeat the purpose for me.

Secondarily, I'd like to be able to see a doorbell like ring etc, unlock doors with august or similar, control lights/other smart things from the same device I use to view the camera streams, etc. I also plan to set everything up myself, so if paying for Blue Iris, or a NAS, or whatever is going to be much more simple and reliable than building/programming myself then I don't mind the extra expense. I own my house so I can run wires, but having to drill holes in my walls as little as possible would be great. I figure I'll at least have to do some of that since I want reliability and high resolution so wifi is probably out.

If anyone has any suggestions for one ecosystem over another that will help me achieve these things, that would be great! Thank you!
Welcome @ekuest

Suggest picking up a good varifocal Dahua OEM starlight / starlight+ and a PoE switch and playing with it. ( see SouthernYankee's list of reviews and models to consider ).

With a good camera it will give you an idea of what is possible. Often a lot of this new "smarthome" stuff is not yet perfected and some of it is a bit fragmented.
 

ekuest

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Thanks for the replies! I agree completely that i need to do a lot of research before buying anything, so that's what brought me here. Thanks for the doorbell opinion, I was really just planning to get one because my doorbell never worked when I got the house and I thought it would be nice to have the chime, but it's not totally necessary so i'll skip that.

Can you recommend where to start for a "wired monitored alarm system"? I would like to avoid monthly fees if possible. I'm looking for cameras mostly because I'm more worried about catching someone messing with my tools and cars and boat and other outside belongings than breaking into my house. I have 4 roommates with all different schedules as well as 2 dogs who live on the first and basement floors so only an idiot would try actually breaking into my house, as someone is almost always home and/or barking at intruders!

I'm definitely more interested in a camera system with 3 or maybe 4 cameras than in getting a ton of smart home products. I would like to be able to view the feeds in real time on my phone easily though. I'll look into a POE switch and try to get one or two cameras in the meantime to start playing around. Thanks again!
 

SouthernYankee

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If you have that much house traffic and two dogs, you can let the monitored alarm system go for now. Dogs are good at keeping the B&E people away. Please think of the camera system as surveillance not security. Cameras are mostly for after the fact, what happened and who did it.

My honeywell home alarm system is hardwired with window open, door open sensors, break glass sensors and internal motion detectors. I installed the alarm wiring along time ago, it was relativity easy as it was a single story house. When my wife and I were working and did not have dogs, I used a local monitoring service for about $10 per month. I have not tried a wireless system
 

ekuest

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Exactly! I am looking for surveillance more than security. It's a big house with lots of toys outside, and I travel a lot. So I want to be able to monitor things for peace of mind, not necessarily make my house into a fortress. I am trying to figure out what PEO switch and camera to get, but it's a daunting task! I will hopefully find some deals on black friday and cyber monday. :)
 

ekuest

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I've been reading and am ready to get a switch (probably only need 4 ports because i'll have 2, maybe 3 cameras) and went to get a single camera just to start playing around. Can someone tell me the difference in a nutshell between the two below? Is the second one so much more expensive because it's a "Starlight" even though the first also says night vision? Is the cheaper one a cheap knockoff and not a real dahua? They seem pretty similar spec-wise, so I'm wondering why I shouldn't get the much cheaper one. Also, if there's a clear winner in the current market for a camera, can you just tell me what it is and a link to buy? This one maybe: US $139.09 16% OFF|Dahua IP camera IPC HDW5541H AS PV 5MP WDR IR Eyeball AI Network Camera starlight support POE Built in MIC&Speaker-in Surveillance Cameras from Security & Protection on AliExpress I'm fine with it costing as much as $200 since my time in researching and installing is more expensive than the minute differences in price for slightly different features. Thank you.

 

looney2ns

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I've been reading and am ready to get a switch (probably only need 4 ports because i'll have 2, maybe 3 cameras) and went to get a single camera just to start playing around. Can someone tell me the difference in a nutshell between the two below? Is the second one so much more expensive because it's a "Starlight" even though the first also says night vision? Is the cheaper one a cheap knockoff and not a real dahua? They seem pretty similar spec-wise, so I'm wondering why I shouldn't get the much cheaper one. Also, if there's a clear winner in the current market for a camera, can you just tell me what it is and a link to buy? This one maybe: US $139.09 16% OFF|Dahua IP camera IPC HDW5541H AS PV 5MP WDR IR Eyeball AI Network Camera starlight support POE Built in MIC&Speaker-in Surveillance Cameras from Security & Protection on AliExpress I'm fine with it costing as much as $200 since my time in researching and installing is more expensive than the minute differences in price for slightly different features. Thank you.

You've got a lot to learn still. On a real computer, STUDY this: Cliff Notes.
The first cam you list is a Chinese market hacked to english cam. Non-upgrade-able, avoid.
The second is not an IP cam.
Re-read @SouthernYankee post above, he provided a lot good info.
 

ekuest

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I am on a real computer but I have like a job and hobbies. I have skimmed a few threads during breaks but even with an hour or two or solid research I haven't gotten anywhere. I don't want to major in IP cams, I just want to build a system that works, with a big HDD and 2-3 cameras. Is there a simple how-to for technologically able people who don't have 20+ hours to spend reading dozens of threads and comparing minutiae of slightly different iterations of the same camera?
 
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ekuest

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Ok since it seems clear i don't want to spend hours doing research (time is money) how would I do with these?



Easy to set up, holds a day or two rolling video, and able to monitor in real-time from my phone, and able to make out faces and license plates from ~50ft? What if I want to add more HDD space?
 
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