I'm lost and need some direction

[b3st0fth3w0rst]

I'm new to the forums, but i've been reading and reading and reading and it just seems like i can never make up my mind as to what cameras to get.

I finally picked up a PC yesterday i5-8400 HP Pavillion for $150 new in the box (Thank you Offer up).
Specs were...
8th Generation Intel i5+ 8400
8 GB DDR4 2666 MHZ RAM
16 GB M.2 2280 NVMe Intel Optane Drive
1 TB 7200 HDD
Realtek ALC3601 7.1 Surround Sound
Wireless Lan 802.11 ac with Bluetooth 4.2 M.2
1000 Mb/s Lan port
DVD writer
3 in 1 Memory Card Reader
3x USB 3.1 Type A ports
1x USB 3.1 Type C port
5x USB 2.0 Type A ports
1x VGA port
1x HDMI 1.4/HDCP 2.2

Originally this was going to only run BI with 4-6 cameras at most, but i decided to move my current home server, amd phenom 955 (i know, old), to this new HP as well. Mainly because it is much faster. Plus it uses far less energy to run. From the Killawat reading old was using about 170watts, the HP is using <34-40watts. Even less after sitting for some time idling. went from $14/mo to $1/mo. Energy saving isn't a primary concern for me, but it is a nice added bonus.

My home server doesn't do much but hold files, media server, and run 2 web servers for my owncloud and website.
From the BI statistic utility i figure 6 cams 4K @20fps should put the CPU around 40-50%. I could be wrong on this. And i dont plan on running all 6 cams at 4K. Probably only the 2 in the front of the house, the other 4 2K or less.

What i'm having issues with is selecting the cameras. I keep picking one, then switching to another, and another.

1. Is 4K worth it NOW? I ask because i've been reading some threads that are a few years old showing the 4K cams at that time were not particularly better than the 2K cams in low light. How does that compare to today?

2. Can an i5-8400 handle 4 (or even 6) 4K cams @20fps AND still server up 2 webservers (dont get much traffic), media server for my LAN, remote access, etc...?

3. This is one of the cams i was considering...thoughts?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C7W91YR/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=AM1AKWRN957PC&psc=1
I dont need the best camera in the world, but something that gets the job done and performs well in night and day conditions. about $100 is what i'm looking to spend on a camera, if there are better suggestions for a little more, i'm open to it.

I'm still learning and reading, so thank you for your time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[catcamstar]

For the cams, have a look at the cliff notes and the associated tips. Hopping from one cam to another gives me the impression that you already don't know WHAT you exactly want.

So the basics:
- what is the scene you want to record: indoor? outdoor? ambient light? street light? pitch dark? Tip of the day: starlights (2MP) are hyper excellent in darkish environments.
- what are your DORI expectations? The answer on this question defines your lens requirement. Which on the other hand defines the camera specifications. Tip of the day: with a varifocal you can "mess" around and adapt if the position is so-so.
- what are the dimensions of the scene? With the previous answers (eg lens type/dori etc) you can actually place a camera on your property and verify the FOV & DORI. Try it out! It's free! Tip of the day: IPVM Camera Calculator V3
- what is present at the installation spots? If you only have UTP cable: POE or POE+ is your only shot. If you have spare wires, you can transmit power too, but that's 1990 calling.

In any case: plan plan try-it-out plan again ...

Good luck!
CC

 

[b3st0fth3w0rst]

For the cams, have a look at the cliff notes and the associated tips. Hopping from one cam to another gives me the impression that you already don't know WHAT you exactly want.

So the basics:
- what is the scene you want to record: indoor? outdoor? ambient light? street light? pitch dark? Tip of the day: starlights (2MP) are hyper excellent in darkish environments.
- what are your DORI expectations? The answer on this question defines your lens requirement. Which on the other hand defines the camera specifications. Tip of the day: with a varifocal you can "mess" around and adapt if the position is so-so.
- what are the dimensions of the scene? With the previous answers (eg lens type/dori etc) you can actually place a camera on your property and verify the FOV & DORI. Try it out! It's free! Tip of the day: IPVM Camera Calculator V3
- what is present at the installation spots? If you only have UTP cable: POE or POE+ is your only shot. If you have spare wires, you can transmit power too, but that's 1990 calling.

In any case: plan plan try-it-out plan again ...

Good luck!
CC

Wow, i didn't know about (or haven't gotten to yet) IPVM Camera Calculator V3 great tool.
I'll try to answer some of the questions.

Scene is my home. Outdoor camera covering the front driveway from both corners of the house. I have a circular driveway, so i'd like to capture from 2 angles. I plan to 24/7 record.
My home has perimeter lighting under the overhang all the way around the house. This would be the only ambient lighting at night, until about 2am when it automatically turns off.
I'd still like good night vision for the times after 2am. There is also 1 street light at the end of one side of my driveway. I'd say at night there is a fair amount of ambient lighting up until 2am.

DORI expectations...I want to be able to detect withing my property lines and identify within 15ft or so of the structure both day and night.

Dimensions...2600sqft house on a 9500sqft property. Not the you've lead me to IPVM Calc, i'm going to play around with the FOVs. Briefly playing with it at work, i'm not seeing that instead of getting 4/6 of the same cams, i'll probably have2-3 different types with varying FOVs depending on placement. I have to play with it some more.

In place now is nothing. I have the PC, and a PoE switch with 8 ports. I plan to run cat6 in the attic to all cams.

Thanks for you help. I have more homework to do lol.

 

[looney2ns]

Study this Cliff Notes.
In general either of these cams will serve you well.
One has audio, the other does not.
Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE | IP Cam Talk
No audio:Review-dahua-ipc-hdw2231rp-zs-starlight-camera-varifocal

 

[SouthernYankee]

-------------------------------------
If this system is meant as a security system, then DO NOT LOAD that other crap on your machine. It will fail when you need it the most.
------------------------------------

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!) | IP Cam Talk 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)
11) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
12) (Looney2ns)If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 8ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.

Cameras to look at
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS
IPC-HDW5231-ZE
IPC-T5442TM-AS
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I
DS-2CD2325FWD-I


Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess

 

[b3st0fth3w0rst]

Thanks a lot everyone. I'm still reading up and researching!