Home setup?

[Erik Parra]

Just bought a new home, street gets pretty dark. I've read the cliff notes and I've seen the great review about the Dahua 2MP Starlight Varifocal Turret IPC-HDW5231R-Z camera.

Can I just put these on the corners of the house? or am I seeting myself up for failure?

The house has a 25 feet setback, according to the DORI for the camera, it should be able to Recognize anyone on the sidewalk, and identify anyone as they approach the house.

I'll be setting up more cameras than just the 4 on the corners, but is this a good start?
Am I going in the right direction with this? Should I be considering another camera for my purposes?

 

[mat200]

Just bought a new home, street gets pretty dark. I've read the cliff notes and I've seen the great review about the Dahua 2MP Starlight Varifocal Turret IPC-HDW5231R-Z camera.

Can I just put these on the corners of the house? or am I seeting myself up for failure?

The house has a 25 feet setback, according to the DORI for the camera, it should be able to Recognize anyone on the sidewalk, and identify anyone as they approach the house.

I'll be setting up more cameras than just the 4 on the corners, but is this a good start?
Am I going in the right direction with this? Should I be considering another camera for my purposes?

Hi Erik,

I like 2 cameras covering where I park the cars - one on each side of the garage.

You may want to pick up one camera and start testing possible locations.

 

[ThomasPI]

You’re headed in right direction. Be sure to cover all access points and mount no higher than 8’. Set up a test rig as well.

 

[smithb]

I agree. Get one or two varifocal cameras and use bucket rigs to get the hang of things. You don’t even need a VMS for this part unless you have a specific threat that needs immediate attention. You’ll learn a lot in just one or two days of hands-on fiddling.

 

[crw030]

Definitely test! I am happy with my Starlight (dome so different than yours), the night total-black pictures are better than the 4MP I have on another house. However, I would say at night you want to test with or without IR illumination (or supplemental light/IR) to decide what works for your situation, because using the built-in IR on mine I would say sidewalk = recognize only if I know them already, and walking up to the house ID is tough because the IR washes out the face so some tweaking would be necessary (some other users here have always-on lighting and running color). I cant tell from the 1st screenshot, but trees and bushes might be a factor for you as well.

 

[aristobrat]

The house has a 25 feet setback, according to the DORI for the camera, it should be able to Recognize anyone on the sidewalk, and identify anyone as they approach the house.

I think you probably already got this, but just wanted to mention that as you zoom these varifocals in to get a DORI that allows for facial recognition, the width of the image decreases. Looks like you're already using the IPVM Camera Calculator V3, so just make sure you get enough coverage from your zoomed in cameras. Some folks will add an extra "overview" camera that stays zoomed out... can't be used to identify folks more than a few feet from the camera (which is ok -- you've got other cameras dedicated cameras for that), but gives a useful overview of the entire front (or back) yard.

On a normal basis, I usually spend more time watching my zoomed-out overview cameras (just seeing what's going on around my house) than I do with the cameras I have zoomed in to ID folks, but I know everyone's usage varies.

 

[mat200]

I think you probably already got this, but just wanted to mention that as you zoom these varifocals in to get a DORI that allows for facial recognition, the width of the image decreases. Looks like you're already using the IPVM Camera Calculator V3, so just make sure you get enough coverage from your zoomed in cameras. Some folks will add an extra "overview" camera that stays zoomed out... can't be used to identify folks more than a few feet from the camera (which is ok -- you've got other cameras dedicated cameras for that), but gives a useful overview of the entire front (or back) yard.

On a normal basis, I usually spend more time watching my zoomed-out overview cameras (just seeing what's going on around my house) than I do with the cameras I have zoomed in to ID folks, but I know everyone's usage varies.

@Erik Parra aristobrat brings up some good points - when watching what is going on a general overview camera is nice - however once you've noticed that your car got broken into, getting that potential ID image is priceless!

So do not be shy about putting in more cameras than you had originally planned to do.

 

[Erik Parra]

Thanks for all the info/suggestions. I think I'm going to start with 2 of IPC-HDW5231R-Z, and test them out. I did like @aristobrat suggestions of the overview camera. Do you think for the overview I should get a higher MP camera?

 

[mat200]

Thanks for all the info/suggestions. I think I'm going to start with 2 of IPC-HDW5231R-Z, and test them out. I did like @aristobrat suggestions of the overview camera. Do you think for the overview I should get a higher MP camera?

Hi Erik,

Just start playing with these 2 cameras first to get a better understanding of what is possible, don't worry it will take a little time to understand the use better.