Hi from Florida!

[leepoffaith]

I'm brand new to this board so I thought I'd say hello. I originally installed a camera system on my home about a year ago because we were having issue with a neighbor and would not put it past her to try to do something to our home. It turns out that she never tried anything, but they did come in handy! Some neighborhood kids started looking for unlocked cars, smashing pumpkins and even taking garden decorations (benches, ect). Our cameras caught them walking past our house many times, but each time they would literally RUN by the house because they knew we had cameras and didn't want to be seen. The first time they even shined a flashlight up into one to verify it was there. Not only was it a great feeling to not have any of our stuff messed with and to feel a little more "safe," but it was neat to be able to give the cops the videos and help them with the case. Here is a link to the video video where the guy sees the camera and walks right by the house.

The downfall to our current system is that the quality is quite low and because of this we could not identify the people in the videos. It's an 8 camera 600 TVL system (Only have 5 cameras running) made by defender. I purchased it from SAMs for $350 and it was a great starter system. Now I'm looking to upgrade to a much better system which is why I signed up for this forum. I have several questions regarding lens size, camera quality and night vision. I've decided on a PoE system (1080p) and already have purchased the $99 NVR from Nelly's (got good reviews here), but I have not yet purchased any cameras. I'm trying to read all the posts before posting new questions and I look forward to learning a lot from all the members here!

 

[hmjgriffon]

I'm brand new to this board so I thought I'd say hello. I originally installed a camera system on my home about a year ago because we were having issue with a neighbor and would not put it past her to try to do something to our home. It turns out that she never tried anything, but they did come in handy! Some neighborhood kids started looking for unlocked cars, smashing pumpkins and even taking garden decorations (benches, ect). Our cameras caught them walking past our house many times, but each time they would literally RUN by the house because they knew we had cameras and didn't want to be seen. The first time they even shined a flashlight up into one to verify it was there. Not only was it a great feeling to not have any of our stuff messed with and to feel a little more "safe," but it was neat to be able to give the cops the videos and help them with the case. Here is a link to the video video where the guy sees the camera and walks right by the house.

The downfall to our current system is that the quality is quite low and because of this we could not identify the people in the videos. It's an 8 camera 600 TVL system (Only have 5 cameras running) made by defender. I purchased it from SAMs for $350 and it was a great starter system. Now I'm looking to upgrade to a much better system which is why I signed up for this forum. I have several questions regarding lens size, camera quality and night vision. I've decided on a PoE system (1080p) and already have purchased the $99 NVR from Nelly's (got good reviews here), but I have not yet purchased any cameras. I'm trying to read all the posts before posting new questions and I look forward to learning a lot from all the members here!

Hikvision, 3mp, preferably varifocal but the fixed focal length are cheaper, buy them from china, save tons of money.

 

[leepoffaith]

Thanks! Those were what I was looking into purchasing. I think I'm going to buy 1 Dahua for my front door camera since I use the motion activation feature on that (emails me a picture) and the NVR states that this feature is only currently supported with Dahua and Eyesurv. Other then that Hikvision was the route I was leaning. I like the idea of varifocal because I'm not 100% sure what lens size I need at the moment. How much more is a varifocal in comparison to a fixed?

 

[hmjgriffon]

Thanks! Those were what I was looking into purchasing. I think I'm going to buy 1 Dahua for my front door camera since I use the motion activation feature on that (emails me a picture) and the NVR states that this feature is only currently supported with Dahua and Eyesurv. Other then that Hikvision was the route I was leaning. I like the idea of varifocal because I'm not 100% sure what lens size I need at the moment. How much more is a varifocal in comparison to a fixed?

Hikvision also does that, pretty much all IP cams have onboard motion detection and alerting, you shouldn't need a dahua specifically, unless you just really like it. I love varifocal, it takes the guess work out AND gives you a lot of flexibility, you can move the cam around, you can use it in a different place, and then adjust it to how zoomed in or out you want it not just be stuck with what you get. The 2032 fixed lenses are about 105 right now I think and the varifocal was about 205, so about $100, but I think it's well worth the investment. If you buy a fixed lens and don't like it, you have to buy another one and hope you like it, and then what if 4mm is too zoomed out and 6mm is too zoomed in, varifocal gives you everything from 2.8mm to 12mm, and you can fine tune it to exactly what you want. I know the @networkcameracritic would agree with me on varifocal and he's dealt with tons more cameras/installs then I have.

 

[Mike]

Welcome to the forum, glad to see that your cameras are deterring people from messing with your property. I agree with @hmjgriffon on Hikvision, I use them at my house and at friends / customers houses and have had great success with them.

 

[networkcameracritic]

Look for some good stuff coming from Dahua soon, better quality, lower price. The 2 companies, Hikvision and Dahua are next to each other in China, the largest two camera companies in the world and leapfrog each other. This year, Hikvision took the lead price-value, but I see some stuff coming from Dahua that's good and cheaper and some unique features.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Look for some good stuff coming from Dahua soon, better quality, lower price. The 2 companies, Hikvision and Dahua are next to each other in China, the largest two camera companies in the world and leapfrog each other. This year, Hikvision took the lead price-value, but I see some stuff coming from Dahua that's good and cheaper and some unique features.

From what I have seen their PTZ's are very nice, hikvision doesn't seem to have many options? Or maybe they are just insanely expensive? What are some of these unique features you speak of?

 

[networkcameracritic]

They are going to cloud enable their cameras is one feature I expect later this year. Also, their cameras seem to handle noise reduction better and their new cameras seem to have longer range IR illuminators, actually they always had better illuminators than Hikvision, wider, more even spread. Also, I know you love dealing with China, but they are opening a U.S. service center in L.A. soon, so I'm hoping they can handle warranty issues in the U.S. Also, Dahua has a more reseller U.S. friendly distribution channel than Hikvision USA which disallows resellers. This is ironic considering that Dahua refused to do business in the U.S. as Dahua just a year ago, so Hikvision filled the void, now Hikvision is getting weird and Dahua is filling the void. Hikvision USA's attempts to block China by providing Chinese only firmware in China is similar to the games Dahua played a year ago with selling only PAL cameras to distributors/resellers in China. I just don't get it because Chinese is not a language standard throughout China (bet you didn't know parts of China speak Portuguese).

 

[hmjgriffon]

They are going to cloud enable their cameras is one feature I expect later this year. Also, their cameras seem to handle noise reduction better and their new cameras seem to have longer range IR illuminators, actually they always had better illuminators than Hikvision, wider, more even spread. Also, I know you love dealing with China, but they are opening a U.S. service center in L.A. soon, so I'm hoping they can handle warranty issues in the U.S. Also, Dahua has a more reseller U.S. friendly distribution channel than Hikvision USA which disallows resellers. This is ironic considering that Dahua refused to do business in the U.S. as Dahua just a year ago, so Hikvision filled the void, now Hikvision is getting weird and Dahua is filling the void. Hikvision USA's attempts to block China by providing Chinese only firmware in China is similar to the games Dahua played a year ago with selling only PAL cameras to distributors/resellers in China. I just don't get it because Chinese is not a language standard throughout China (bet you didn't know parts of China speak Portuguese).

Don't take my owning of 3 hikvisions as be being beholden to them, I'm not beholden to anyone. I would drop them in a heartbeat. I had two foscam cameras first and hated them before I found tons of people loving the price/quality of hikvision. I only like buying them from China because I save so much money, I would much rather get the same prices and models from a US reseller on Amazon and get 2 day prime shipping. Having to hack the camera to think it's in America is also annoying but not a big deal. If I find a similar quality/price deal that compares to the hikvision, I have no problems switching to buying those. I am a right tool for the job kind of guy, at work it's windows, linux, or god help me OS X, for cameras it's Blue Iris and hikvision, tomorrow? Who knows. I love competition either way, the consumer wins in the end.