I F###ed up... the hook up...

[Teshiburu]

So, after spending a good few hours here over the last day or so I realize I made an error.

I like, many others it would seem found the videos from "The Hook Up" and jumped straight onto his review and purchased the ReoLink 820a to replace my horrendous Ring cameras.

This was also my first foray into the world of Blue Iris, I also found the video from the Hook Up along with the link to the Ai Tools software which I believe was created by a user here?

I got excited, and regret my lack of proper research, otherwise, I would have found myself on this forum already!

My long term goal is to integrate my IP cams with my home assistant setup, so the features from Ai Tools and the BI ability to send to MQTT is definitely something I need.

BUT onto the issue at hand, that damnable 820a... as others have noted here on the forums the camera goes to c### when I attempt to have both a substream and mainstream setup as cameras (this may or may not be the right way to do things, i need to have a read of the ai tools forum post instead of going off of what The Hook Up said) as I do not wish to record in "4k" at all times, but only my motion events.

So, I'm here, cap in hand humbled, and pleased to have found a forum like this, it will definitely help me at home and at work.

I am now looking for a replacement for the 820a, its field of view for the area I wished to cover was spot on, I am currently leaning towards the Annke c800? could I please get some thoughts?

The area i wish to cover with this replacement is this, please don't lynch me for the ring cam (its a rental property and couldn't do any drilling our first 2 years)

 

[wittaj]

Nice overview camera view LOL but you will get tops of heads and hoodies as that camera is too high for identification purposes.

What is your end goal for the camera - to be an overview to see something happened (but not be able to identify someone) or for identification purposes? We cannot recommend a camera until we know your end goal. A great camera being used for the wrong location results in not getting what you want.

And don't chase MP - there is not a 4k (8MP) camera on the market with the right sensor combination. At most go to 4MP on the 1/1.8" sensor and you are looking at an 8MP on a 1/2.5" sensor - nope not going to be good at night. A 2MP at night will kick the snot out of an 8MP at night in almost every situation....I am sure @sebastiantombs or @SouthernYankee will chime in soon with their standard camera posts, so I will let that speak for itself...

Many have been burned by the hookup....I was helping another member here who bought 10 reos and couldn't get it to work with Blue Iris and AI tools...um yeah...

Deconstruction of a dangerous misleading youtube review "Finding the BEST 4K Security Camera NVR Package (Reolink vs Amcrest vs Swann)"

 

[sebastiantombs]

It's unfortunate you found IPCT after the fact.

Welcome to the enchanted land of video surveillance lunatics, good guys, nut jobs and miscreants (yes, I fit into at least three categories). There are a lot of knowledgeable people on here and knowledge and experience are shared constantly. That's how I got to be a lunatic (already a nut job and miscreant).

Start out by looking in the WiKi in the blue bar at the top of the page. There's a ton of very useful information in there and it needs to be viewed on a computer, not a phone or tablet. The Cliff Notes will be of particular interest although the camera models listed there are a generation old at this point. The best way to determine what kind of camera you need in each location and where each location should really be is to buy one varifocal camera first and set up a test stand for it that can be easily moved around. Test using that, viewing using the web interface of the camera, during the day and at night. Have someone walk around behaving like a miscreant and see if you can identify them. There is also information for choosing hardware and securing the system along with a whole bunch of other good stuff.

Don't chase megapixels unless you have a really BIG budget. General rule of thumb is that a 4MP camera will easily outperform an 8MP camera when they both have the same sensor size. Reason being that there are twice as many pixels in the 8MP versus the 4MP. This results in only half the available light getting to each pixel in an 8MP that a pixel in the 4MP "sees".

A dedicated PC doesn't need to be either expensive to purchase or to run. A used business class machine can be had from eBay and various other sources. The advances made in Blue Iris make it easily possible to run a fairly large system on relatively inexpensive hardware which also makes power consumption low, as in under 50 watts in many cases. The biggest expenses turn out to be hard drives for storing video and a PoE switch to power the cameras and, of course, the cameras themselves.

The three basic rules of video surveillance cameras-

Rule #1 - Cameras multiply like rabbits.
Rule #2 - Cameras are more addictive than drugs.
Rule #3 - You never have enough cameras.

Quick guide -

The smaller the lux number the better the low light performance. 0.002 is better than 0.02
The smaller the "F" of the lens the better the low light performance. F1.4 is better than F1.8
The larger the sensor the better the low light performance. 1/1.8" is better (bigger) than 1/2.7"
The higher the megapixels for the same size sensor the worse the low light performance. A 4MP camera with a 1/1.8" sensor will perform better than a 8MP camera with that same 1/1.8" sensor.

Don't believe all the marketing hype no matter who makes the camera. Don't believe those nice night time captures they all use. Look for videos, with motion, to determine low light performance. Any camera can be made to "see" color at night if the exposure time is long enough, as in half a second or longer. Rule of thumb, the shutter speed needs to be at 1/60 or higher to get night video without blurring.

Read the reviews here, most include both still shots and video.

Lens size, focal length, is another critical factor. Many people like the wide, sweeping, views of a 2.8mm lens but be aware that identification is problematic with a lens that wide. Watch this video to learn how to analyze each location for appropriate lens size and keep in mind that it may take two cameras to provide the coverage you need or desire. Another factor that effects view angles is the sensor size. Typically larger sensors will have a larger field of view in any given lens size.

The 5442 series of cameras by Dahua is the current "king of the hill". They are 4MP and capable of color with some ambient light at night. The 2231 series is a less expensive alternative in 2MP and does not have audio capabilities, no built in microphone, but is easier on the budget. The 3241T-ZAS has similar spcs as the 2231 and has audio. There are also cameras available from the IPCT Store right here on the forum and from Nelly's Security who has a thread in the vendors section.

5442 Reviews

Review - Loryata (Dahua OEM) IPC-T5442T-ZE varifocal Turret

Review-OEM Loryta IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal 4mp camera (Dahua)

IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal from @EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret Varifocal Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk store: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price Approximately US $200.00...

ipcamtalk.com

Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+

Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+

All, thanks to Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY ) we have a new 4MP AI camera for testing. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This camera is using the OEM model number of IPC-B5442-ZE which is the equivalent of the Dahua IPC-HFW5442-ZE for reference. The IPC-B...

ipcamtalk.com

Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ Turret

Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+

Dahua OEM IPC-T5442TM-AS from EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk store: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price Approximately US $160 Link to camera...

ipcamtalk.com

Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Turret, Full Color, Starlight+)

Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+)

Dahua OEM IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED from EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Andy's Email: kingsecurity2014...

ipcamtalk.com

Review: IPC-HDBW5442R-ASE-NI - Dahua Technology Pro AI Bullet Network Camera

Review: OEM IPC-B5442T-ASE-NI 4MP Pro AI Starlight Full-color Fixed Bullet

Many thanks once again to Andy @EMPIRETECANDY we have for testing the OEM IPC-B5442T-ASE-NI 4MP Starlight+ Full Color bullet. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is a fixed 3.6mm bullet (Pro AI) series with the 1/1.8” sensor. It has no built in...

ipcamtalk.com

2231 Review
Review-OEM IPC-T2231RP-ZS 2mp Varifocal Turret Starlight Camera

Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal

Again courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY EmpireTech Andy we have a new cam to look over. Its a new model in Dahua's new Lite H265 Series of cam's. Available for purchase here: Aliexpress.com - Online Shopping for Electronics, Fashion, Home & Garden, Toys & Sports, Automobiles and more Price is approx...

ipcamtalk.com

3241T-ZAS Review

Review-OEM IPC-T3241-ZAS 2mp AI Lite series Varifocal

IPC-T3241-ZAS from EMPIRETECANDY 2MP WDR Turret Varifocal AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Purchase in the IPCT Store Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price...

ipcamtalk.com

Less expensive models -

Budget Dahua Cams or china alternatives under $100?

Well here we go. I dont see anywhere more approriate to discuss this. Ive been messing around with putting together a cctv system for close to 3 years now. Ive bought everything i needed and also bought 2 cheap cams from a third party seller on walmart. Those cams cost me a grand total of $50...

ipcamtalk.com

VPN Information Thread

VPN Primer for Noobs

The internet is a force of nature; no video surveillance system made was designed to be exposed to those forces.. NEVER FORWARD PORTS to your NVR or Cameras, doing such things not only exposes you to severe security problems, but everyone else on the internet too.. Hackers dont want your video...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Teshiburu]

This is the post i read that kinda made me realize id f###ed up! lol

Many have been burned by the hookup....I was helping another member here who bought 10 reos and couldn't get it to work with Blue Iris and AI tools...um yeah...

Deconstruction of a dangerous misleading youtube review "Finding the BEST 4K Security Camera NVR Package (Reolink vs Amcrest vs Swann)"

Yeah, the angle on the ring isn't great, but it works to notify me when the missus drives onto the drive lol, also figured it put the cam out of reach of some helpful soul wanting to steal the batteries lol!

But ideally, I would like a better view of that area, that would allow me to identify people in the complete area, currently that cam is a little over 8ft above ground, and from when I read the cliff notes it suggests that lower is better?

 

[sebastiantombs]

When locating a camera it is best to set up a test rig. Place the camera where you think it should be and test it out by having someone walk by it wearing a hoodie or hat, both day and night. See if you can actually identify that person and not just from knowing who it is before the fact. Generally, above 7 feet will be too high unless it's a long focal length camera, more than a 6mm lens. With a 2.8mm lens, for example, the subject needs to be within about 10 feet of the camera to get a useable identification video. Higher than 7 feet makes the angles wrong, you get the tops of the head when they're that close, and the physics of the situation makes the distance to get an identification too far. That's the Pythagorean Theorem at work.

 

[Teshiburu]

When locating a camera it is best to set up a test rig. Place the camera where you think it should be and test it out by having someone walk by it wearing a hoodie or hat, both day and night. See if you can actually identify that person and not just from knowing who it is before the fact. Generally, above 7 feet will be too high unless it's a long focal length camera, more than a 6mm lens. With a 2.8mm lens, for example, the subject needs to be within about 10 feet of the camera to get a useable identification video. Higher than 7 feet makes the angles wrong, you get the tops of the head when they're that close, and the physics of the situation makes the distance to get an identification too far. That's the Pythagorean Theorem at work.

Don't you got quoting pythagoras to me! Lol

So do you think a 2.8mm lens will work ok for the area I wish to cover?

Ignoring the 4k now, I've looked at the annke 5mp? Which has these specs

Technical Details

Image Sensor: 1/2.7" Progressive Scan CMOS

Video Compression: H.265+/H.265/H.264+/H.264

Night Vision Distance: Up to 100ft/30m Day and Night Function: Support IR-CUT

Operating Power: DC12V;PoE(802.3af) DNR: 3D DNR

Video Resolution: 5MP (2560*1920@15/12.5 fps)

 

[sebastiantombs]

Don't chase megapixels! DON'T CHASE MEGAPIXELS!! Chase sensor size. 5MP on a 1/2.7" sensor will not work well at night at all no matter what lens is in use. The shortest lens I'd use is a 3.6mm looking at your screen grab and more likely a 6mm just to be sure. The best choice would be a varifocal and the choice there is the 5442T-ZE, a 4MP on a 1/1.8" sensor.

Here's a chart showing lenses and resolution for recognition -



Incidentally, if you're using Blue Iris H265+ and H264+ are not compatible.

 

[Teshiburu]

Don't chase megapixels! DON'T CHASE MEGAPIXELS!! Chase sensor size. 5MP on a 1/2.7" sensor will not work well at night at all no matter what lens is in use. The shortest lens I'd use is a 3.6mm looking at your screen grab and more likely a 6mm just to be sure. The best choice would be a varifocal and the choice there is the 5442T-ZE, a 4MP on a 1/1.8" sensor.

Here's a chart showing lenses and resolution for recognition -

View attachment 83487

Incidentally, if you're using Blue Iris H265+ and H264+ are not compatible.

Thankyou, now to find a UK stockist!!

 

[sebastiantombs]

Check with Andy. He's a forum member and sells Dahua, OEM, cameras. He can ship anywhere and is very "creative" in terms of shipping and keeping the costs low. If you contact him be sure to mention you're an IPCT member.

IPCT Thread

EmpireTech Andy

Dahua products

ipcamtalk.com

Andy's Store

Amazon.com

King Security/EmpireTech Store

Amazon.com

Email
Andy Wang kingsecurity2014@163.com

 

[wittaj]

Don't you got quoting pythagoras to me! Lol

So do you think a 2.8mm lens will work ok for the area I wish to cover?

Ignoring the 4k now, I've looked at the annke 5mp? Which has these specs

Technical Details

Image Sensor: 1/2.7" Progressive Scan CMOS

A 2MP at night will kick the snot out of this 5MP on a 1/2.7" sensor all night!!! The 2.8mm lens will be a great overview camera - again - what are you trying to get coverage of? To identify someone on this side of the wall within 10 feet is one type of lens; to be able to identify someone on the other side of the fence is a different lens.

Let us repeat...don't chase megapixels. Do not chase 4k or 5MP - at night the 1080 (2MP) cams will be your better bet. Just ask my neighbors with their 4k cameras that didn't provide the money shot to get their stolen belongings back from a thief in the middle of the night, yet my older 2MP camera did capture the money shot that ID'd the thief for the police to find and make an arrest and fortunately still had all the stolen stuff.. Meanwhile, the perp didn't come to my house but walked past on the sidewalk at 80 feet from my house and my 2MP varifocal zoomed in to a point at the sidewalk was the money shot for the police.

In fact my system was the only one that gave them useful information. Not even my other neighbors $1,300 4k Lorex system from Costco provided useful info - the cams just didn't cut it at night. His system wasn't even a year old and after that event he has started replacing with cameras purchased from @EMPIRETECANDY on this site based on my recommendation and seeing my results - fortunately those cams work with the Lorex NVR. He is still shocked a 2MP camera performs better than his 4k cameras... It is all about the amount of light needed and getting the right camera for the right location. I have 33,000 lumen radiating off my house and that isn't enough for the camera to stay in color because the sensors are so small in cameras - several of my cams I force into color at night just to get those details, but very few have enough light to truly run in color based on the optics of the camera deciding if it should run B/W or color.

It is also about taking the cameras off of auto settings like shutter. 4K can look great even at night with auto shutter - but that is a non-moving image that looks nice. Or maybe not - that static you see at night is probably really noise on that 8MP camera because there isn't enough light... Once you manual the shutter so that you do not get ghosting or blur, then folks see how difficult 4k really struggles at night.

You would be surprised how much light these cameras need to stay in color at night (for the cameras that can switch to B/W with IR).

I have 33,000 lumen radiating off my house and I have to force the camera in color as it is not enough light for the camera to automatically stay in color at night. The sensors are small in cameras and need a lot of light.

I have enough light at this location that the little LED white light on the camera didn’t make a difference. This is a 4MP camera on the 1/2.8" sensor with an LED white light as part of the camera. So with this 1/120 shutter speed, I wanted to see if the camera could perform with only the white light from the camera and the flood lights turned off. As you can see from this video, it never recognized me at these settings. You would need to run 1/80 shutter with just the white light to be able to start to make a person out, but the image is way too dark. But if I run a slower shutter to make the image brighter, then I get blur.

The average Joe will not spend the time to calibrate and will just leave the settings on auto and love the great still image they get and then just accept a blur/ghost motion at night. When do we need these to perform - at night!

Keep in mind that with the shutter at auto, it is a nice bright image, but motion was a blur...once you dial the camera in to actually be usable, you see the limitations...

https://ipcamtalk.com/data/video/77/77700-cde61f6b1c11ec86c9d2aa035a02742b.mp4

 

[wittaj]

Oh yea, one more thing. If you purchase cameras with AI built in, then you do not need the AI Tools....

My experience, as well as others, show that the camera AI is superior to Deepstack. Deepstack needs BI to take a picture and send to Deepstack and analyze it and return a response to BI, whereas the camera AI uses the video stream and can trigger BI directly. Using camera AI does not involve any additional CPU usage on the computer and actually brings down the CPU usage by Blue Iris since Blue Iris motion detection is not being used. As always, YMMV...

From my own personal experience - the true test....I have found the AI of the Dahua cameras to work even in a freakin blizzard....imagine how much the CPU would be maxing out sending all the snow pictures for analysis to Deepstack LOL. My non-AI cams in BI were triggering all night. This picture was ran through Deepstack (without the IVS or red lines on it) and it failed to recognize a person in the picture, but the camera AI did. The only triggers my AI cameras have are from human or car triggers and is doing so with a lot less CPU than sending pics to Deepstack. This pic says it all and the video had the red box over it even in complete white out on the screen:

Who uses Dahua AI capable cameras? Reliable AI for triggering events? Pro's/con's?

It has come to my attention that certain Dahua cameras come with built in AI that distinguishes between human & cars. I was unaware of this. Well, always saw the AI word used in the reviews but never really thought about it because I thought it was a Dahua NVR integration only. I am currently...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[looney2ns]

Stick with legitimate Hikvision, Dahua. No China region cams hacked to English.
or IPCT cams here: Cameras | IP Cam Talk Store
On a real computer, study the cliff notes carefully, then study them again. Study @sebastiontombs post #3 above.
Avoid Annke, Foscam, Reolink garbage cameras. Any cam that depends on Wifi, also avoid. No no name cheap junk cams.
Do your home work, and Buy once, cry once.

 

[cyberwolf_uk]

So, after spending a good few hours here over the last day or so I realize I made an error.

At least you had the balls to admit it! Some come on here and say "A friend of mine...blah blah" Read the cliff notes on this forum and search before you ask questions and you will find folks on here will always help

 

[Old Timer]

Welcome to the forum. We were all in your boat at one time. Some of us had to learn the hard way too.
There is a ton of good information on here, and some great guys to help you out.

 

[mat200]

So, after spending a good few hours here over the last day or so I realize I made an error.

I like, many others it would seem found the videos from "The Hook Up" and jumped straight onto his review and purchased the ReoLink 820a to replace my horrendous Ring cameras.

This was also my first foray into the world of Blue Iris, I also found the video from the Hook Up along with the link to the Ai Tools software which I believe was created by a user here?

I got excited, and regret my lack of proper research, otherwise, I would have found myself on this forum already!

My long term goal is to integrate my IP cams with my home assistant setup, so the features from Ai Tools and the BI ability to send to MQTT is definitely something I need.

BUT onto the issue at hand, that damnable 820a... as others have noted here on the forums the camera goes to c### when I attempt to have both a substream and mainstream setup as cameras (this may or may not be the right way to do things, i need to have a read of the ai tools forum post instead of going off of what The Hook Up said) as I do not wish to record in "4k" at all times, but only my motion events.

So, I'm here, cap in hand humbled, and pleased to have found a forum like this, it will definitely help me at home and at work.

I am now looking for a replacement for the 820a, its field of view for the area I wished to cover was spot on, I am currently leaning towards the Annke c800? could I please get some thoughts?

The area i wish to cover with this replacement is this, please don't lynch me for the ring cam (its a rental property and couldn't do any drilling our first 2 years)

View attachment 83477

Welcome @Teshiburu

I do not think there's currently a perfect camera system for most people, everything will be a compromise of some sort.

If you can afford it, I would recommend a good 4MP 1/1.8" varifocal model - Dahua OEM is preferred by many here, some do like Hikvision.

Play around with that and see what you can do with it.

If you are on a tighter budget, a number of people have gotten the newer 5MP Amcrest models which meet ONVIF specs well and works well with Blue Iris. ( in the USA can find it for $50-60 )

Most important thing now is getting a decent camera to learn with .. and if you need more cameras after you figure this out better, you'll know what to look for.

 

[SouthernYankee]

Start with on good variable focus camera preferably with a 1/1.8 sensor. Test the camera placement with a "Bad guy" at night moving wearing a hoodie. With the ID work for the police and will it stand up in court.

Test do not guess.
Do it right the first time will save you money.
=============================
My standard welcome to the forum message.

Read Study Plan before spending money
Cameras are for surveillance to get information for after the fact.

Please read the IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes and other items in the IP Cam Talk Wiki. (read on a real computer, not a phone). 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 if you need good low light cameras.
3) Start with a good variable focus camera, so you test for the correct lens,lighting, camera placement.
4) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
5) Do not use wifi cameras.
6) Do not use cloud storage
7) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
8) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
9) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
10) Do not use reolink, ring, nest, Arlo, Vivint cameras (they are junk), no cloud cameras
11) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
12) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
13) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
14) (Looney2ns)If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 7ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
15) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)
16) camera placement use the calculator... IPVM Camera Calculator V3
17) POE list PoE Switch Suggestion List
18) Camera Sensor size, bigger is general better Sensor Size Chart
19) Camera lens size, a bigger number give more range but less field of view. Which Security Camera Lens Size Should I Buy?
20) verify your camera placement, have a friend wearing a hoodie, ball cap and sunglasses looking down approach the house, can you identify them at night ?
21) DO NOT UPGRADE your NVR or camera unless you absolutely have a problem that needs to be fixed and known what you are doing, if you do you will turn it into a brick !!

Cameras to look at
IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED . Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+) - 4MP starlight
.................... Dahua IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED review
IPC-T5442TM-AS ..... Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ - 4MP starlight+
IPC-HDW5442t-ZE .... Dahua IPC-HDW5442T-ZE 4MP Varifocal Turret - Night Perfomance testing -- variable focus 2.7 mm-12mm 4 MP Starlight
IPC-B5442E-ZE ...... Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+ -- variable 2.7mm-12mm bullet
IPC-B5442E-Z4E .... bullet 8mm-32mm variable focus zoom 4MP
IPC-HFW7442H-Z ..... Review - Dahua IPC-HFW7442H-Z 4MP Ultra AI Varifocal Bullet Camera -- 4 MP variable focus AI

My preferred indoor cameras
DS-2CD2442FWD-IW
IPC-K35A Review-Dahua IPC-K35A 3mp Cube Camera
IPC-K42A

If interested in Blue Iris and other setup items see the following post

Newbie Starter Guide to IP Cam System – VPN setup – Computer Hardware – Blue Iris – Dahua Cameras

This is an intermediate / newbie guide for people just starting out looking for a surveillance setup. I know this setup might not be for everyone and there are many options. You can find a lot of this information in the Wiki: IP Cam Talk Wiki | IP Cam Talk A great place to start in the Wiki...

ipcamtalk.com

Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Doing it right the first time will save you money.
Test do not guess

 

[samplenhold]

This basically illustrates the issue of mounting a cam too high for face recognition. As far as the angle is concerned, you can get away with a high mount if you focus far enough away. But the further out you go, you run the risk of getting too few pixels to see facial details.

At night, light is your friend. Even if you do not have enough light to run in color, visible light does help with details while using a cam in IR mode.

 

[pianoman]

@Teshiburu, what did you end up getting? And were you able to return the Reolinks? I'm in the same boat as you but unfortunately I let the return period expire. Lesson learned here, but I'm still trying to decide what new cameras to get.