I thought I knew what I needed, then I saw this forum... Help!

[PorkRind]

Ok, so I thought I knew what I was going to get for my home security system... it was a toss up between a 4 Camera system from Lorex, and a 4 Camera system from GW Security. Then I stumbled across this forum and saw so many posts that say those types of systems are garbage, and now I don't know what I should be looking for. If I post what I'm hoping to achieve, could someone kindly recommend a system that would do what I needed? I travel a lot for work, and my wife would really like the peace of mind while I'm away.
What I have - Zmodo garbage 4 camera system
What I need:
At least 4 cameras, but an nvr that's at least 8 ch in case I want to add more
At least 1 camera should be clear enough to catch a license plate of a vehicle driving at night. I could hide the camera in my mailbox post right on the st, or I would mount it to the house about 40 ft away from the st. (we recently began having problems with drive by paintball attacks)
The other cameras I just want to monitor the doors to my home, so I don't think they need to be super high res, but clear enough where if someone were to be prowling, I could get a clear image of facial features to turn over to the police.
I'd like to keep the price between $700-800 (preferring to stay closer to 7)

Any help is greatly appreciated because I don't want a replay of my current security system where the cameras all shit the bed in less than a year and I can rarely access them from my app. Thanks so much!

 

[nayr]

Cameras: Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)
NVR: Dahua NVR 5216-16P-4KS2

Just get a 16ch NVR, its only a couple bux more than an 8ch, and that 9th camera comes faster than youd think.

LPR Requires a dedicated camera, mailbox mount should be a good location but just beware at night it wont read anything but plates.. foot traffic will be basically invisible to it.

 

[PorkRind]

Thank you nayr. My property isn't all that big to use more than 8 cameras. Right now, 4 almost covers all visible areas of my property (though I do want to eventually place one inside my garage). Do you have any recommendations on brands that I should look at that could give me what I need in my budget?

 

[nayr]

maybe 4 wide angle cameras and you want results right? well your gonna have to zoom and add more cameras.. Start off slow and build up if your budget dont allow it right now.. its not about covering every inch of your property with video coverage, its about focusing all the pixels you can on target areas, like cars in the driveway, gates, doors, etc.. then if you want some overview cameras that can see everything you can add some wide angles up high after you have your ID capabilities covered.

Start off slow, you can get 4 Varifocals within your budget.. record to local SD cards and start saving up for a recorder.

I started off with 4 cameras, now I have 10 of em 3 years later..

 

[looney2ns]

@nayr gave you the best advice in the above post as far as camera and nvr.

Use this to test out field of view: Camera Calculator / Design Software keep PPF above 100.

You want to know who did it, not just what happened. Keep cams no higher than 8ft.
Again, the suggestions nayr gave above will get you an outstanding system.

Search here for nayrs dedicated license plate cam thread.