Home network planning / camera system

[m4gnum]

Hi. I am planning to upgrade my house a little bit, I want to add security alarm/camera system and few smart devices. Still considering cloud vs PoE camera system. Either way I need a stable network. Would appreciate if you could help me plan everything upfront.

The house isn't big, around 1500sq ft. It's made of concrete block and the living/kitchen area has vaulted ceiling so unfortunately no attic. There is also no crawl space or flooring underlayment, just concrete slab and hardwood floor.

Which route should I go with the networking?

• Cat6 wiring
  
  
• Access points
  
  
• High end standard router
  
  
• OnHub router
  
  
• Mesh Wifi

What is the best way of placing everything? How would you do it if I'd go with the PoE camera sytsem?

Now, I was considering Ring Camera system as I am buying the Ring Alarm system but I heard that NVR or PC (Blue Iris) is much cheaper and better option. What camera system would you recommend?

Here is the building plan:

 

[mat200]

Hi. I am planning to upgrade my house a little bit, I want to add security alarm/camera system and few smart devices. Still considering cloud vs PoE camera system. Either way I need a stable network. Would appreciate if you could help me plan everything upfront.

The house isn't big, around 1500sq ft. It's made of concrete block and the living/kitchen area has vaulted ceiling so unfortunately no attic. There is also no crawl space or flooring underlayment, just concrete slab and hardwood floor.

Which route should I go with the networking?

• Cat6 wiring
  
  
• Access points
  
  
• High end standard router
  
  
• OnHub router
  
  
• Mesh Wifi

What is the best way of placing everything? How would you do it if I'd go with the PoE camera sytsem?

Now, I was considering Ring Camera system as I am buying the Ring Alarm system but I heard that NVR or PC (Blue Iris) is much cheaper and better option. What camera system would you recommend?

Here is the building plan:

Welcome @m4gnum

Check out the cliff notes... go wired.. over wire.. see numerous threads here covering this topic.

See @SouthernYankee welcome greeting for new members, follow it as best as possible.

If you want a reliable setup - skip the consumer cloud cameras as your core setup and go wired IP PoE

 

[SouthernYankee]

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!) 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)

Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan


Under no circumstance use wifi for a security system. It is extremely easy to jam or disable a wifi system. The more components in a security system the more liky it is to fail just when you need it.

 

[Alan Carter]

Hi. I am planning to upgrade my house a little bit, I want to add security alarm/camera system and few smart devices. Still considering cloud vs PoE camera system. Either way I need a stable network. Would appreciate if you could help me plan everything upfront.

The house isn't big, around 1500sq ft. It's made of concrete block and the living/kitchen area has vaulted ceiling so unfortunately no attic. There is also no crawl space or flooring underlayment, just concrete slab and hardwood floor.

Which route should I go with the networking?

• Cat6 wiring
  
  
• Access points
  
  
• High end standard router
  
  
• OnHub router
  
  
• Mesh Wifi

What is the best way of placing everything? How would you do it if I'd go with the PoE camera sytsem?

Now, I was considering Ring Camera system as I am buying the Ring Alarm system but I heard that NVR or PC (Blue Iris) is much cheaper and better option. What camera system would you recommend?

Here is the building plan:

Hi there and welcome to this forum

1. Take time to read read read, watch videos (the talk here can be quite technical when you haven't touched a device yet so can be hard to grasp depending on your acumen) FIRST
2. Everyone here will say wired - this is primarily a POE camera place - power over ethernet = wired.
Advantages are increased stability and not needing to upload things to a third party cloud (CAVEAT: you sitll need to learn how to "secure your network" or there are security problems as well
You won't find any or much support for cloud based here
3. A lot depends on your house layout and configuration - which you already know. Plan the wiring route and see what's feasible for you. Adding extra switches or even POE adapters can help depending on total # etc.
4. Think about YOUR OWN SECURITY NEEDS and wants. Many folks here are hardcore and experienced - but go with what feels right for you too.
5. The wiring stuff is great but note that there is a lot of cost involved in addition to the cameras, (tools for install, switch, NVR or Blue Iris license, dedicated computer, wires, wall plates, oil, the list goes on)
6. Many people buy here from a seller in HK called @EMPIRETECANDY - ask for quotes before purchasing and ask on the forum if you have questions on the cameras.
For Hikvision, ask on that forum or ask the moderators here who recommended sellers are. I know a few friends who all use Hikvision (or the cheaper labelled brands but same hardware) and are very happy with them
7. The favored cameras on the Dahua section of the forum are called Starlight turrets - there is fixed and vari-focal. Most peeps seem to like the latter, but once you know what you're doing, fixed can work too (again it's all personal)

Good luck

 

[sneakycyber]

The house is concrete block, are the interior walls studded? Do you have baseboards? In this instance the best solution would be to pull your baseboards, remove the drywall/plaster behind the baseboards and run the Cat 6 through the walls to your camera mounting locations. You shouldn't run into many power lines for outlets (they should be higher up in the wall). When you are done routing cable, put the baseboards back up.