Need suggestions for camera placement and equipment

[basatum]

I'm a newb but able to grasp / research technical equipment and applications. I've owned BI for several years now but my experience is setting it up with a couple cheap wifi Foscams for baby monitors. That worked great but now I'm interested in adding surveillance to my property.

I bought an Amcrest UltraHD 4K POE Camera, 8MP Outdoor Security Turret PoE IP Camera for the front door. I also bought a YuanLey 10 Port PoE Switch. I am running BI on my laptop which I keep on all the time. I plan on using this laptop for the time being.

I read some forum posts and the newb guide. I understand that the number of cameras to adequately monitor my property is more than I'm willing to buy all at once. I plan to add on over time. I also read that continuous recording is best. I may do that eventually but I don't plan on doing that yet.

I am considering a Loryta SD49225XA-HNR 2MP 25x Starlight + IR PTZ AI Network Camera. Is that a suitable camera for one of the locations I have marked? My house is 500 feet from the main road and I have a long paved driveway. I don't have a picture of the back of the house but it is adjacent to a 100 foot cliff that terminates in a stream.

I read that ideally the camera is mounted no higher than 8 feet from the ground unless it's for a specialized purpose like reading license plates or counting people. I don't intend on doing either of those. The main purpose is peace of mind. I live in a rural area. I don't have many neighbors. I do get a lot of deliveries from random people.

I'd be interested in any suggestions or comments. Thanks in advance!

 

[samplenhold]

The Amcrest cam you bought is a 4mm lens on a 1/2.5" 8MP sensor. It will not have very good night color. That's a lot of pixels on a small sensor. Before you mount it anywhere, use a test rig as described in the Cliff Notes to decide if it has the FOV you desire. It probably would do ok at your front door if you have light at night.

I am considering a Loryta SD49225XA-HNR 2MP 25x Starlight + IR PTZ AI Network Camera. Is that a suitable camera for one of the locations I have marked

This is a very nice PTZ cam. You need to define what you are looking to accomplish at each location to determine what cam is best for that job. Realize that this cam will not have enough power from the POE switch that you bought. See the review of that cam below:

Review - Dahua SD49225XA-HNR 2MP 25x Starlight + IR PTZ AI Camera with Deep IVS & SMD Plus

Ok, so whats better than 1 review…….2 reviews……in tandem :) Read on to find out more. All, thanks to Andy (@empiretecandy ) we have a new 2MP AI camera for testing. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is a new PTZ with 4.8mm to 120mm focal...

ipcamtalk.com

Generally you would want two cams at your garage, one beside each door in a crossing pattern.

It is smart to first make a plan then get a single (preferably varifocal) cam to test out ideas. You will find that as you build the system slowly and your experience/knowledge grows, your plan will evolve.

A laptop for BI is fine if you do not have many cams and they are not recording 24/7. But not recording 24/7 can be a problem sometimes. When something happens, many time the motion recording did not get it or did not get everything. Sometimes it is nice to see what the other cams caught outside of their motion trigger range during that time.

 

[samplenhold]

Oh, welcome to the forum.

Read the Cliff Notes. Check out the WIKI in the blue bar at the top of the page.

 

[basatum]

The Amcrest cam you bought is a 4mm lens on a 1/2.5" 8MP sensor. It will not have very good night color. That's a lot of pixels on a small sensor. Before you mount it anywhere, use a test rig as described in the Cliff Notes to decide if it has the FOV you desire. It probably would do ok at your front door if you have light at night.


This is a very nice PTZ cam. You need to define what you are looking to accomplish at each location to determine what cam is best for that job. Realize that this cam will not have enough power from the POE switch that you bought. See the review of that cam below:

Review - Dahua SD49225XA-HNR 2MP 25x Starlight + IR PTZ AI Camera with Deep IVS & SMD Plus

Ok, so whats better than 1 review…….2 reviews……in tandem :) Read on to find out more. All, thanks to Andy (@empiretecandy ) we have a new 2MP AI camera for testing. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is a new PTZ with 4.8mm to 120mm focal...

ipcamtalk.com

Generally you would want two cams at your garage, one beside each door in a crossing pattern.

It is smart to first make a plan then get a single (preferably varifocal) cam to test out ideas. You will find that as you build the system slowly and your experience/knowledge grows, your plan will evolve.

A laptop for BI is fine if you do not have many cams and they are not recording 24/7. But not recording 24/7 can be a problem sometimes. When something happens, many time the motion recording did not get it or did not get everything. Sometimes it is nice to see what the other cams caught outside of their motion trigger range during that time.

We always keep the front door light on at night so hopefully the Amcrest cam will work. I'll repurpose it if not.

Thank you for the heads up on the PTZ power requirements. I'll read the review and find out what I need to power it.

The crossing pattern sounds like a good idea. I think I got a bit excited reading about the auto tracking feature of the PTZ but I may be getting ahead of myself. I've read about bullet cams and spider problems in the wiki. Maybe I'll look into some good turrent cams instead.

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[basatum]

This seems to be a good varifocal from Empiretech. I don't use paypal and prefer amazon so this seems to be comparable to the link in the store.

Amazon.com: Loryta IPC-T2231T-ZS 2MP Starlight WDR IR Eyeball Network Camera Motorized Vari-Focal 2.7mm–13.5mm Lens English Version: Home Improvement

Buy Loryta IPC-T2231T-ZS 2MP Starlight WDR IR Eyeball Network Camera Motorized Vari-Focal 2.7mm–13.5mm Lens English Version: Dome Cameras - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[samplenhold]

This seems to be a good varifocal from Empiretech

Yes that is a pretty good one. I actually have one covering part of my front porch. Realize it does not have audio. Not sure if that is important to you. I already have a few cams on the front porch with audio, so I did not need that here. Here are a few dusk shots at different zooms. Zoom 1400 = 9.2mm and 1860 = 11.3mm. The sun is getting low but the lights have yet to come on.



I never used Paypal until I started getting cams from @EMPIRETECANDY but have bought 20 cams from him using Paypal with no issues. I now use it for other things. I like ordering direct from him via email. You get the best price. He ships from Hong Kong. It does not deplete his Amazon stock and he gets it to me usually in a week, except for the last cam I bought...ordered it on 7/14 and received it on 7/16 via FedEx from Hong Kong.

 

[basatum]

Yes that is a pretty good one. I actually have one covering part of my front porch. Realize it does not have audio. Not sure if that is important to you. I already have a few cams on the front porch with audio, so I did not need that here. Here are a few dusk shots at different zooms. Zoom 1400 = 9.2mm and 1860 = 11.3mm. The sun is getting low but the lights have yet to come on.

View attachment 66621View attachment 66622

I never used Paypal until I started getting cams from @EMPIRETECANDY but have bought 20 cams from him using Paypal with no issues. I now use it for other things. I like ordering direct from him via email. You get the best price. He ships from Hong Kong. It does not deplete his Amazon stock and he gets it to me usually in a week, except for the last cam I bought...ordered it on 7/14 and received it on 7/16 via FedEx from Hong Kong.

Those images look nice and sharp. Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to grab that one.

 

[Snapper30]

One or two varifocal turrets and the test rig really enhances the ability to tweak a location to help dial in coverage and minimize/avoid issues like sun glare or street lights messing with your image quality.

 

[samplenhold]

I have a Logitech webcam laying around that is connected to my PC where I have installed the trial version of Blue Iris 5. It seems to recognize the camera, but when I add it, I don't get any feed. Does Blue Iris just not work with webcams? Functionally, I can't figure out why it would be any different than another type of USB camera?

Without more info, it is impossible to answer that question. If you want help with that, please start a separate thread.

 

[basatum]

Well so far so good. I'll try to post more pics with an actual person but this is all I have right now. It was a lot of work today running the 100' cable.