Looking to replace an aging system

[Impact-vector]

Hi folks
I am in Atlanta and had a Zmodo 720p nvr and camera setup for the last 7 years. Recently the nvr died and so I am looking for a replacement.

my installation is fairly simple. I have 4 (but would like to go to 8) cameras mounted under my eves. Most of the cameras are 20-30 ft of the ground. The old setup wasgood during the day but eh at night due to the IR limitations. At one point I bought a separate IR Illuminator but never installed it.

For my next system my goals are:
Better resolution
Decent night activity- doesn’t have to be great on most but would like my driveway ones to be badass at night.
2 TB HD
Around $1k- I can start with less cameras and add as I know you have to pay to play (would be cool if old cameras worked but I believe the Zmodo stuff was all proprietary

nice to haves:
Not made in China (I think this one I have to be flexible on. I couldn’t find almost anything under $3k that was NDAA approved.
Alarm ports on the nvr so I can use my smart home to turn on lights etc


Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
-J

 

[mat200]

Hi folks
I am in Atlanta and had a Zmodo 720p nvr and camera setup for the last 7 years. Recently the nvr died and so I am looking for a replacement.

my installation is fairly simple. I have 4 (but would like to go to 8) cameras mounted under my eves. Most of the cameras are 20-30 ft of the ground. The old setup wasgood during the day but eh at night due to the IR limitations. At one point I bought a separate IR Illuminator but never installed it.

For my next system my goals are:
Better resolution
Decent night activity- doesn’t have to be great on most but would like my driveway ones to be badass at night.
2 TB HD
Around $1k- I can start with less cameras and add as I know you have to pay to play (would be cool if old cameras worked but I believe the Zmodo stuff was all proprietary

nice to haves:
Not made in China (I think this one I have to be flexible on. I couldn’t find almost anything under $3k that was NDAA approved.
Alarm ports on the nvr so I can use my smart home to turn on lights etc


Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
-J

Welcome @Impact-vector

"Most of the cameras are 20-30 ft of the ground "

You may have already read this .. most of us believe 20-30 feet high does not work well for a security camera .. good for scenic cameras .. but not so for what most of us are looking for.

$1k .. plan to spend more .. good cameras cost more ..

Zmodo .. you'll need to replace all of that kit if you want a real IP camera setup .. or even a coax CCTV setup
( search the threads for Zmodo .. Zmodo systems are not real IP PoE systems, that is they do not meet standard PoE specs .. )

 

[Flintstone61]

@EMPIRETECANDY
is our Hong Kong based reseller of Dahua NVR's with english firmware, and support after the sale. Consider this from the Ipcamtalk store.

NVR 5-EI Series Smart H.265+ AI 8 Channels 1U 8PoE 2HDDs Network Video Recorder NVR8CH-8P-2AI - IP Cam Talk Store

Smart H.265+/H.265/Smart H.264+/H.264/MJPEG decoding format. Max. decoding capability: 32 × 1080p@30 fps or 8 × 8MP@30 fps. Max. 384 Mbps incoming/recording/outgoing bandwidth. Support AcuPick with Max. 16-Channel. Support N+M cluster. AI by recorder: 2-channel face detection and...

store.ipcamtalk.com

Also he has an Amazon store front.
This is where you can find some bad ass night cameras for your driveway.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C77TNY9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

but with your budget, you can get a couple of these to use in less critical areas, like the Garage, or a porch that has a little bit of light. They have audio.
it's also Dahua guts, not sure about the plastic housing. it does however display in a 4/3 aspect ratio vs. a 16/9 ratio. Some OCD people find this horrifying.
Time to go wash my hands and check the organization of the eggs in the refrigerator.

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-5-Megapixel-NightVision-Weatherproof-2PACK-IP5M-T1179EW-28MM/dp/B084NXRL55/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3B5T429OAS5P0&keywords=amcrest+1179ew&qid=1661675050&s=electronics&sprefix=amcrest+1179ew%2Celectronics%2C93&sr=1-7

 

[Flintstone61]

if you look at the 5208 NVR series in Amcrest, you'll find they're not in stock. Probably supply chain issues. they are still pushing their 4 series NVR at their site as well as on Amazon.
you coud get a similar NVR as Andy's ( empiretech) from them with a HDD already installed, but you can't find them in stock.

Amcrest 4K NV5208E-4TB (8CH 1080P/3MP/4MP/5MP/6MP/4K/12MP) Network Video Recorder (8-Port PoE) - Supports up to 8 x 4K IP Cameras, Pre-Installed 4TB Hard Drive, (Supports up to 2 x 10TB Hard Drives)

AMCREST MODEL: NV5208E-4TB NVR FEATURES: Extraordinary Quality: Supports 8-Channel 1080p/3MP/4MP/5MP/6MP/4K/12MP Resolution. Records 8-Channels @ 1080p/3MP/4MP/5MP/6MP/4K/12MP View up to 4CH @ 4K @ 30fps simultaneously and the NVR will dial the remaining channels to 1080P @ 30fps. Record...

amcrest.com

I have the 4 series from them, and I find it adequate for my needs. Plus it can stream it's images to my Blue iris setup. which has the better user interface.
the 4108 series seem readily available on the web. all the stuff i linked, play well with mixing and matching hardware.
I initally got started with a Nightowl DVR from Costco, but as a newbie, you don't know what you don't know. SO you get sucked into believing their bullshit.
and as such, we bought the additional 4 cameras, at $100/ pair.
After i found this site, and learned a bit, I'm almost ashamed to admit I even own it.
The saving grace has been getting amcrest dvr's and Nvr's and porting thier video into blue Iris.

 

[Flintstone61]

Other people may stop by to offer their ideas or 2 cents.

 

[DesertRat]

I think Andy may have a typo in the IPC-T5442T-ZE initail description. Wireless??? Or is it?

 

[sebastiantombs]

None of the 5442 cameras are wireless unless you add a dedicated RF link yourself.



20-30 feet off the ground is nice for overall views but will be totally useless for identifying anyone unless you can get top of the head prints from everyone. Maximum height for good identification is under eight feet unless you're using a lot of zoom and the target is further away. It's simple geometry. Think about the angels involved.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

I think Andy may have a typo in the IPC-T5442T-ZE initail description. Wireless??? Or is it?

That is wired POE, amazon is crazy, they put on the wifi on it and we can't revise it, even ask them to change it also not work, so that is why we put this on the page.

 

[wittaj]

EVERY camera has security issues. It is why most of us here isolate cameras from the internet. If you don't use P2P and UPnP, no reason for worry.

Hacking vulnerabilities are the same regardless of who makes the cameras...or any IoT for that matter...and that is why most of us here isolate our cameras from the internet...it's just irony that they are surveillance cameras...it flows better saying security cameras are not very secure but many here do not consider them security cameras as they are for surveillance!

And our wonderful government decided to "ban" Hikvision and Dahua from government installations due to being partly owned by the Chinese government and the potential to be hacked...yet fail to recognize the real problem are the cameras can be breached and then they get exploited with other manufacturer cameras because they failed to isolate them from the internet. End result is people/governments that shouldn't see the camera feeds are now seeing them...

Keep in mind this proposed ban is for government installations....not your home, private business, etc...and even at that the ban is just words at this point with no official document for agencies to go upon. The bill requires new rules for FCC approval and authorizations be established. Those new rules must be published before 11/22 - a lot can happen between now and then...

Yep, instead of our government forbidding public agencies from using Chinese brand cameras like Dahua and Hikvision because they could be used to be spied on by the Chinese government, they should have been looking at what the real issue is, and it is this issue that will be same regardless of who makes a camera. You need to get the cameras off the internet period.

We have already seen countless examples where governments facilities that installed expensive AXIS cameras that are NDAA compliant were hacked into...

And of course other camera companies are now going to try to use this ban to their advantage, but as a consumer, you need to decide what marketing nonsense to believe and which one to pass on.

Regardless of who makes the camera, it should be limited in its ability to reach the internet. So at that point, go with the camera that is going to give you the best chance of a good capture.

TL : DR - isolate the cams from the internet and they will not phone home.

 

[DanDenver]

Can you post the link to the 3K NDAA approved camera? Does it have really good specs? I am interested (Not due to the approval, couldn’t care less, but because the specs must be amazing)

 

[wittaj]

As others have said, cameras 20-30 feet up, especially the 2.8 or 3.6mm fixed lens cameras, are great overview cameras, but will do poor at IDENTIFY as the entire distance that the camera can IDENTIFY is lost vertically. You will get a great picture of the top of their head though!

I started with the four 2.8mm camera box kit system and I was like "I can place one on each corner of the house and see my whole property and the whole neighborhood." A newbie loves the wide angle "I can see the whole neighborhood" of the 2.8mm fixed wide angle lens. I LOVED IT WHEN I PUT IT UP. I could see everything that would be blocked looking out the windows.

It is easy to get lured in to thinking the wide angle "see the whole neighborhood" because you are watching it and you see a neighbor go by and you are like "Look at that I can tell that is Heather out walking." and "Yeah I can tell our neighbor 4 down just passed by". Or you watch back the video of you walking around and are like "yeah I can tell that is me".

Little do we realize how much WE can identify a known person just by hair style, clothing, walking pace, gait, etc.

Then one day the door checker comes by. Total stranger. Totally useless video other than what time the door checking happened.

Then you realize that this wide-angle see the whole neighborhood comes at a cost and that cost is not being able to IDENTIFY who did it. These 2.8mm wide angle cameras are great overview cameras or to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet of the camera. At 40 feet out you need a different camera.

So you need to decide the purpose of the cams - to OBSERVE or IDENTIFY and then get the correct camera for that purpose.

For IDENTIFY, the proper focal length is more important than MP.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[looney2ns]

Sebastiantombs Cam Tips