Installing up to 16 IP cameras across 30 acres

[Marshall]

Hi,

I am installing about 16 IP cameras across a youth camp. We are getting fiber runs to all the areas where cameras will be. I am completely clueless on an infrastructure with this amount of cameras. Can I get some advice on what to look at?

Here are some of the needs I would like to have:
1 - NVR with 24/7 recording (can be two separate NVRs since there are 8+ cameras?)
2 - high resolution with ability to digitally zoom in
3 - NO mechanical or Pan Tilt needed
4 - good IR for night time
5 - Most can be hardwired POE but would like a few to be able to connect via wifi
6 - ability to connect and view remotely
7 - a good user interface to control alarm push notifications

I have read a little bit about Onvif. Is that like where you can by mixed brands of onvif supported cameras and connect them an onvif supported NVR? I have seen a pacakge of a Camius Professional 16 channel NVR with 8 POE 5mp Bullet cameras for a pretty amazing price. But I want this equipment to be reliable and almost feel it's too cheap to be true!

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[tigerwillow1]

If you want to use any motion detection or IVS features, forget onvif and stick with a single brand of camera and nvr, OR use Blue Iris instead of an NVR, in which case you can mix camera brands. On a first reading I don't understand why you care about wifi if there are fiber runs to where the cameras are. The forum is filled with reports of unsatisfactory wifi operation with IP cameras. I assume that you realize that you need to have power available at all of the fiber terminations. For really good IR lighting you probably want to use external illuminators.

 

[Marshall]

If you want to use any motion detection or IVS features, forget onvif and stick with a single brand of camera and nvr, OR use Blue Iris instead of an NVR, in which case you can mix camera brands. On a first reading I don't understand why you care about wifi if there are fiber runs to where the cameras are. The forum is filled with reports of unsatisfactory wifi operation with IP cameras. I assume that you realize that you need to have power available at all of the fiber terminations. For really good IR lighting you probably want to use external illuminators.

Thanks for the quick answers. Hadn't heard of blue iris till now. I like the looks of it, although it makes me nervous with it being PC based and requires maintenance like if power goes out, windows decides to do a system update, etc. What is your opinion on this? Other than this, I am all about Blue iris so far. Let me comment cost is a factor but doing it RIGHT and spending a little more upfront is much more important.

Yup, power will be at all fiber terminations. it will run to a telephone pole being installed with a outdoor enclosure for hardware and a wireless AP for guests to connect to. We will probably install 3 cameras per pole, so something with a 120-130 degree viewing angle would be perfect. Love the idea of external illuminators!

What brand cameras do you suggest? Do they need to indicate Blue Iris compliant, or should I just go off the Blue Iris compatible camera list on their site? There are so many brands a starting point of a few brands would be awesome!

Also key things to check for such when browsing such what sensor size i should be looking for, minimum resolution, etc

 

[Marshall]

Oh also how much traffic will that many cameras consume? The fiber will all terminate to a switch with gigabit connections. I assume it takes more of a toll on the router than anything? On the network I imagine there will be 16 cameras, 12 access points. At times there may be up to 250 users on the wifi APs.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I don't run BI and will leave any further comments to those who know more about it than I do. For cameras, if you don't spend a small fortune on them you need to balance cost vs. daytime image quality vs. night image quality vs. zoom/fixed lens, etc. In my limited experience I think Dahua cameras give the best combination of price, features, and image quality. If you want the best night picture, the 2 mp starlight camera is the best bet right now. During the day, a higher pixel count will give a more detailed image if you run it at its maximum bitrate, which of course requires more storage space. There are a lot of tradeoffs and compromises to navigate.

 

[bctrainers]

Oh also how much traffic will that many cameras consume? The fiber will all terminate to a switch with gigabit connections. I assume it takes more of a toll on the router than anything? On the network I imagine there will be 16 cameras, 12 access points. At times there may be up to 250 users on the wifi APs.

Bandwidth per camera will depends on the settings you set per each camera. What sort of camera brand/models are you looking at exactly? I'm not getting much of a result on this "Camius Professional 16 NVR" with what you describe. I assume this? http://camius.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/03/IPvault4320-16ch-nvr-network-video-recorder-DS.pdf


For example (doing napkin math here), having 16 cameras at 1920x1080 in h264 high, at 30 FPS would generally accumulate around a total of 125 to 130Mbps of bandwidth at the switch. With each camera using around 7.8 to 8Mbps. If the FPS were to be halved at said resolution, you'd end up with 1/2 of the above bandwidth and storage requirement.

Storing video content locally would be most ideal in this situation... unless you can get an internet pipe able to push around 200Mbps upstream (shared for both AP users and CCTV) on a dedicated VLAN with traffic shaping and prioritization set for the CCTV net. I don't know your WAN situation, other than you're terminating switches with gigabit - doesn't really tell me much about the routing/WAN aspect of things. One thing to note, 250 users peak on Wifi Access Points will hammer your network hard, let alone have a security issue if you do not vlan tag ports to a dedicated CCTV network and another vlan for the AP users. But that's another can of worms.

 

[giomania]

You are getting a lot of great advice. Also, the Cliff Notes link in my signature may be useful.


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