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Flintstone61

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Good evening. John in Minnesota. Ok here we go. I just discovered from a Google hit on your site that some Amcrest products hardware data sheets, match some Dahua products data sheets. This is what made me register for a membership. I learned something new and useful!
This is what I've got going on.... and learned myself thru hardknocks......I got hired to be a maintenance mgr at a Condominium in 2017. For security, they had a Windows 7 Home 32bit PC covered in dust with a burnt out case fan, wailing away inside a locked cabinet. It had a 16 dongles hanging out the back from a PCI card, with 12 cameras in black and white @ 960TVL or less. To it's credit it was spinning an early WD purple 1TB GB drive that was dated 2014 or older, I think. it was taking some serious heat. The "office" had 4" boiler pipes and 2" hot water pipes running across the ceiling. it was 83F, in the room and musta been 100F in the cabinet. So i took a Sawzall and ripped a couple cross ventilation holes in the side of the cabinet :).

Needless to say, when asked to review 2 "incidents", a felony Mail theft, and a car keying incident inside the undergound parking, they asked me to review footage. The images were so muddy, and the camera locations so inadequate, the " filmed with a potato" YouTube comment came true. I could not make out an ID of either perpetrator. The only thing I could tell the detective is, "he was wearing shorts, and mighta had white legs."
Knowing Jack$hit about the industry. I updated the system at work with a refurbished Nightowl 16 Ch 2Mp DVR supporting the 960 TVl but also CVI and AHD 1080P 2MP.
So I upgraded most of the Cameras. I have 1 Zosi bullet 1080P, 1 Amcrest 1080P 1920TVL Bullet, 1 Honic 2MP dome, and 5 Amcrest 1080P 2Mp domes. AND 1 off brand weird thing ( 1stPV 1080P 4in1 (TVI, AHD, CVI, CVBS) CCTV Dome Camera 2.8-12mm Varifocal Lens Sony 2.4 Megapixel STARVIS WDR. ) I've been adding a few cameras at work using Cat5e with Video Baluns, so that if/when we upgrade to NVR/IP cams I will have some infrastructure in place. In some cases I've reused the existing long runs of rg-59 (close to 300 ft.) that had good old Bell Telephone wire strung alongside it for the 12VDC power.
The other DVR I manage at work is the Amcrest 4k (AMDV8M8-H5) Ultra HD DVR with IP support for 2 IP cams, (no internet). And at Home I have a Nightowl 8ch THD501-88P device with 7 Camera's. Works ok. It's taken 2 App updates and 18 months to get finally get a reliable connection via 4g LTE or Wifi on the iOS App from Nightowl. Their first offering was buggy and largely unavailable unless you drove home and rebooted the system. And then well, your home. :) So whats the point of the mobile App.
I initially bought my first DVR ( Night Owl THd501-88p) 2 years ago at a Costco over a Lorex because I knew Jack$hit. My housemate was buying, and we balked at the cost of the Lorex. Looks like I shoulda gone Lorex in hindsight maybe? they have been acquired by Dahua. But as I am learning, It appears both DAHUA and HIKvision products have had security holes ( surprise surprise, is China spying?)
It looks like my Nightowl hardware might be made by Hikvision. The giveaway was the motherboard starts out in HIK-blahblahblah.
I recently bought a 4MP ultra HD Amcrest dome cam with resolution over 1080P . like 2560 x 1520 or something. It wouldn't work on the 2MP system so I brought it out to the remote Garage and connected it to the Amcrest. Wow what a nice picture.
So that's what I know at this point.
Thinking about replacing the Nightowl 16ch 2MP with an Amcrest Ultra HD 16 channel like the one out in the remote garage because that 2560 x1520ish camera is impressive. It can read some of the license plates in the parking lot at 40 or so feet. Thanks for reading my windy intro.....
 
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looney2ns

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Welcome, start your journey here: On a real computer, study this: Cliff Notes.
Don't chase megapixels, most all in one "kit's" are lacking in one form or another.
Avoid dome and bullet cams. Stick with turrets where possible.
You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
Study here for reading plates: LPR | IP Cam Talk
 

sebastiantombs

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:welcome:

Welcome to the land of video surveillance lunatics. Be sure to check the WiKI, in the blue bar at the top of the page. Study, carefully on a real computer, the Cliff Notes in there. There is also a lot of other good information for sizing a system and keeping it safe on the internet, foil the "phone home" features. Read, study plan, ask questions, revise plans and test before spending money. It'll save you time, frustration and money in the end. There's tons of reviews here on cameras, and NVRs to help confuse you even more when trying to make a decision.
 

SouthernYankee

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:welcome:
My standard welcome to the forum message.

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) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
4) Do not use wifi cameras.
5) Do not use cloud storage
6) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
7) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
8) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
9) Do not use reolink, ring, nest, Arlo cameras (they are junk), no cloud cameras
10) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
11) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
12) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
13) (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.
14) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)
15) camera placement use the calculator... IPVM Camera Calculator V3
16) POE list PoE Switch Suggestion List


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-B5442E-ZE Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+
IPC-T2347G-LU Review of the Hikvision OEM model IPC-T2347G-LU 'ColorVu' IP CCTV camera. (DS-2CD2347G1-LU)
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
IPC-HDW2231T-ZS-S2 Review-OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS 2mp Varifocal Starlight Camera
IPC-HDW5231R-ZE Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
IPC-HFW4239T-ASE IPC-HFW4239T-ASE
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I Review - IP Cam Talk 4 MP IR Fixed Turret Network Camera
DS-2CD2325FWD-I
N22AL12 New Dahua N22AL12 Budget Cam w/Starlight -- low cost entry

Other dahua 4MP starlight Dahua 4MP Starlight Lineup

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

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

Camera Sensor size info Sensor Size Chart Generally bigger is better

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

Flintstone61

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Allright. Thanks for the responding with the good tips and info. Looks like a lot research this wknd...gotta run... off to work. How did my pontoon boat showup as an avatar, and why is it sideways? :)
 
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Flintstone61

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Re: domes. Ok my vernacular/jargo/cam speak was wrong. The Amcrest 2MP are not true Domes... with a glass/plastic shell. maybe they are considered turrets. Cuz if they were machine guns on a Battle cruiser then yes they'd probably be Turrets,
 
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