My neighborhood wants to watch the street together.

[fixingstill]

My neighborhood wants to watch the street together. I need to find a solution so that:

We can install varifocal cameras at each (or most) house looking out the street.
We will share all camera accesses (same login ID and password).
The cameras needs to be for Outdoor and POE support so that only one ethernet cable is needed to run into the house and connected to a POE wall adapter, then to homeowner's router.
We will install SD card (maximum GB) into the cameras for recording motion detected videos.
Some sort of playback software will be installed in each homeowner's PC for playback ALL cameras when needed.
IP Cam viewer (Android and IPhone app) will be used for homeowners to watch the street REAL TIME.
We do not want any hardware DVR/NVR.
We want minimum bandwidth usage.
We need at least one camera that will capture license plate number (meaning telescopic lens) at the entrance of the street.
We can also use a very high resolution (4K?) camera at the entrance of the street to capture some faces.
We want good hardware installation support so that we can install the cameras anywhere we want (wall, roof, street pole, etc.)
Two streams off each camera - Low-Res for real time watching on IP CAM Viewer. Hi-Res for playback.
Port opening on router should not be too complicated. Ideally only one port needed and configurable.

Can Hikvision do all that? What Hikvision software is needed for PC video playback?
SD Card support, Motion detect, H.265, POE, varifocal, 3MP at least, Night Vision, motion detection....
Am I missing any criteria? Or is there such a solution if HikVision can't do?

 

[klasipca]

A few comments to save you time. Premium Hikvision (4 series) cams can, but it will cost a pretty penny, their budget stuff (2 series) is rubbish for night time monitoring of the street unless you consider adding plenty of external light source. IP Cam viewer sucks in comparison to Tiny Cam Viewer or even a free Hikvision app IVMS4500

Frankly, I would suggest you to consider Dahua options as well, they have better firmware support and no crap with region locks.

 

[fixingstill]

Thank you for the info. The more the better.
Extra note:
Every homeowner has different ways to connect to Internet so how fast we can access each camera from the playback software will vary. The software has to be able to accommodate that.
Ideally we want microphone on the cameras so that we can record audio too.

Hope to hear more recommendations. Thanks.

 

[pozzello]

recording audio (without all party's consent) may or may not be legal, depending on where you live...

 

[fixingstill]

recording audio (without all party's consent) may or may not be legal, depending on where you live...

I understand that. We voted to record audio. Everyone agrees it will be helpful.
We have had a few of break-ins, bike theft, vandalism, mail theft, etc. We all want to catch the bad guys.

 

[Q™]

IMO: If you guys want to do this well then hire a qualified professional systems designer and installer, otherwise your going to end up with a half-baked system.

 

[fixingstill]

IMO: If you guys want to do this well then hire a qualified professional systems designer and installer, otherwise your going to end up with a half-baked system.

I am a DIYer and I have been in IT for over 25 yrs. If it is technology, I can handle it. The issue here is to sort out what we need (and HikVision and Dahua sites are not as intuitive as I would like). Than you for the suggestion thou.

 

[fenderman]

I understand that. We voted to record audio. Everyone agrees it will be helpful.
We have had a few of break-ins, bike theft, vandalism, mail theft, etc. We all want to catch the bad guys.

You may not be able to use the footage in court or be subject to a criminal cross complaint by the thief.

 

[Q™]

I am a DIYer and I have been in IT for over 25 yrs. If it is technology, I can handle it. The issue here is to sort out what we need (and HikVision and Dahua sites are not as intuitive as I would like). Than you for the suggestion thou.

Good deal. I've been in IT since 1984; I guess that's 32 years and if my neighbors came to me with this project I'd suggest that we hire a qualified professional systems designer and installer and get ready to spend a boatload of money. But in your case I would imagine that you've got some time to spare. If you want to get serious about this project then, IMO, you need to start by qualifying what your "neighborhood" consists of, the distances involved and how many houses are involved in this project. An good satellite view of the neighborhood would be helpful with each house involved in the project marked and the areas you want to surveil shaded/marked. You can't begin to choose cameras with appropritate focal lengths, resolutions and features until you've done this IMO.

 

[fixingstill]

Good deal. I've been in IT since 1984; I guess that's 32 years and if my neighbors came to me with this project I'd suggest that we hire a qualified professional systems designer and installer and get ready to spend a boatload of money. But in your case I would imagine that you've got some time to spare. If you want to get serious about this project then, IMO, you need to start by qualifying what your "neighborhood" consists of, the distances involved and how many houses are involved in this project. An good satellite view of the neighborhood would be helpful with each house involved in the project marked and the areas you want to surveil shaded/marked. You can't begin to choose cameras with appropritate focal lengths, resolutions and features until you've done this IMO.

Noted. Thanks, pro.

Now back to seeking for help to choose the right cameras. Hope some other pros can help out. Thank you.

 

[fixingstill]

Looks like Dahua is a better choice. I am learning about their software SMART PSS. Any comment about that would be appreciated.

 

[hook3m]

@fixingstill What state or country are you in?

 

[PSPCommOp]

I understand that. We voted to record audio. Everyone agrees it will be helpful.
We have had a few of break-ins, bike theft, vandalism, mail theft, etc. We all want to catch the bad guys.

A consensus among residents doesn't exempt you from privacy laws. Unless its a privately owned and maintained roadway, you need to post signs at a minimum. Roads are for public use (as are sidewalks) so you can't prohibit someone else from using them and most places require postings. And even then you may be required to relinquish footage to others who don't reside on the street for investigative reasons. I'd strongly advise you to speak with an attorney about local and state laws about this before you consider it. I don't have a few decades in IT, but I have a few in law enforcement.

 

[fixingstill]

Texas USA.
Ok. No mic. Any suggestions on the cameras and the software?

 

[Q™]

Noted. Thanks, pro.

Now back to seeking for help to choose the right cameras. Hope some other pros can help out. Thank you.

You're welcome. But I'm not a pro, I only pretend to be one on this forum. Furthermore, if you're looking to "choose the right cameras" before you've defined your goals and requirements then you've going about this ass backwards; maybe you need another 25 years, eh?

 

[fixingstill]

You're welcome. But I'm not a pro, I only pretend to be one on this forum. Furthermore, if you're looking to "choose the right cameras" before you've defined your goals and requirements then you've going about this ass backwards; maybe you need another 25 years, eh?

Go away if you are just pretend to be a pro. Your helpful help is not welcome. I have been as specific as I could - varifocal, outdoor, 3MP, telescopic lens, one 4K. If you can't make suggestions (family, specific models, or just features needed), then don't waste your time. This forum here is for people sharing knowledge, less for "professionals" seeking customers, isn't it?

 

[Q™]

It appears I've offended you and I apologize for that. IP cameras come with different capabilities; some cameras do a decent job without any ambient lighting whereas other do a better job if an additional light source is added. Some cameras do a bad job at night, but a very good job during the day. Cameras come with many different size lenses and the smaller the lens the wider the field of view (FOV). Other cameras have manual varifocal (not "telescopic") lenses and they can manually zoomed in or out. Other cameras are pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) which are controlled by internal motors. So here is the third time I've told you this: in order to get the "right cameras" you need to first determine which areas you want to surveil and what you want to capture/accomplish when you surveil those specific areas; if you don't define your requirements first it simply isn't possible to choose "the right cameras" because the right cameras are chosen to give you the images you need to realize the results you have defined in your requirements.

An example: a homeowner wants to stop crime and chooses a good camera with a 2.8mm lens, and then mounts it 20 feet up on the 2nd floor under the roof. When the bad guy comes this camera provides excellent images of the thief, but because it is mounted so high with a very wide FOV the BG's face can't be discerned. Now, had the homeowner created requirements such as "I want to monitor all activity in front of my house but I also want facial recognition for anyone who traverses the path on the right side of my house" then he may have added a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] camera mounted only 6-feet high on the side of his house with a 12 mm lens which would provide him with the evidentiary facial recognition images he had specified in his requirements.


This is why I say you’re going about this ass backwards. You have to first decide the results you want to achieve and then you can choose the right cameras to give you those results.

 

[fixingstill]

Post#1 stated I need varifocal which normally means 2.8 to 12mm. I also stated it is for outdoor street viewing. Yes, some cameras do better at night and some worse, especially those older ones but my sun, my street, my houses here are not much different than yours, am I right? Outdoor is outdoor and we do not live in a skyscraper. Features like WDR, DWDR, Day/Night(ICR), 3DNR, AWB, AGC, BLC, etc would help theoretically but I could never see much differences or improvement. I also could never trust the focal length as every camera seems to have a different FOV even they are with same focal length. Yet, they NEVER tells you their FOV.

I have dealt with non varifocal ones years back and I understand the pain adjusting the zoom and the focus (you never know you have the best focus) and I am pretty good with the installation (eyeball can rotate in 3 pans while some other non-eyeball can only do 2, and some Wall mount doesn't allow rotation or hide the cabling for weatherproofing, etc, etc, etc).
I installed a system with 4 POE motorized varifocal cameras last week with POE switch, small router and record them using Geovision NVR, opening ports for outside access, etc. I also help installing and maintaining a 12 cam system for an apartment (capturing swimming pool, entrance, lobby, capturing license plate number which requires 40mm+ len and direct angle and they NEVER work well at night as I never want to invest in a so called specialized license capturing cameras - never seeing them worth the investment.)

I think fixed lens cameras are obsolete (or soon to be). And even with varifocal ones, no one should go up and down the ladder half a dozen times to aim and adjust (even you have a cell phone watching the camera.) I have been switching old analog cams to 2MP, 3MP, or 5MP ONVIF. I am familiar with Geovision, Synology, BlueIris, etc. I just have never tried to use the local storage features that some cameras offer. In this case that I am trying to address, it seems to make sense as none of the homeowners wants to host the NVR hardware and get their bandwidth drained and they want THEIR camera back if they move out of the street. If Dahua cameras have local storage (which family?) and their SMART PSS - non dedicated and allow many homeowners to access them (meaning each camera can belong to a group of cameras each homeowner defines), I would like to try and would like to hear from "pros" like you if there is a road block down the road (and why?) so that I can stop now before investing too much time.

I don't do this full time and I never call myself a pro because there is so much to learn and technologies keep changing. Maybe I have just wasted too much time here already. Like guys say, you want something done, do it yourself.

 

[Tolting Colt Acres]

A consensus among residents doesn't exempt you from privacy laws. Unless its a privately owned and maintained roadway, you need to post signs at a minimum.

Actually, no, you do not. Case law is pretty specific in this instance... that is, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy when you are in a public setting. There is no requirement for you to post a sign.

Depending on the state, there may be "hidden camera" statutes. These are usually geared to prevent perverts from putting cameras in women's dressing rooms. If your cameras are otherwise in "plain view", and you make no effort to disguise the camera, then generally these do not apply.

Audio recording may or may not be legal, and thus, the OP should investigate whether or not he lives in a single-party or two-party consent state. In my state, audio recording is not legal without all party's consent, thus, I do not record audio, only video.

And even then you may be required to relinquish footage to others who don't reside on the street for investigative reasons.

This is highly unlikely, without a court order. Video recordings in public settings are stored on private servers using private equipment. "Others" have no more right to your footage than they have the right to the pictures stored on your cell phone. Without a court order, of course.

That said, I find it is always a good policy to be cooperative with law enforcement. I have had officers visit my home on several occasions seeking footage for use in investigations of neighborhood crimes. I happily comply, as one less bad guy out there means one less perp who may break in to my home. Good relations with the local constabulary is usually a good thing, since for all intents and purposes we are on the same side.

I'd strongly advise you to speak with an attorney about local and state laws about this before you consider it.

I cannot argue with this advice.

 

[fenderman]

Audio recording may or may not be legal, and thus, the OP should investigate whether or not he lives in a single-party or two-party consent state. In my state, audio recording is not legal without all party's consent, thus, I do not record audio, only video.

Even in a one party consent state you cannot record audio. Two people both of which are not aware of the audio recording, or someone talking on a cell phone can be present at the camera. One party consent requires that one of the parties in the conversation consent to the recording.