New(b) Home Setup - Thoughts/Recommendations?

[freshjs_23]

Hello All,

I'm new to the Security Camera scene but I've been reading through this forum (cliff notes included) for the past 3 or 4 days learning and figuring out what specs fit my needs. I have an IT background so the networking portion should be fairly simple but I'm new to the camera software and all the options/terminology associated with the cameras. I made my decision on what cameras to purchase and which NVR to purchase based on all the reviews and knowledge given solely in this forum alone.

To start, I'm only monitoring the front porch, driveway, back patio, and back yard. I have a really small yard and small 2 car driveway so i'm hoping to get away with only using 4 cameras but I have room to expand if need be. My setup will be Fios > NVR > POE switch > cameras.

This is what I purchased (from Andy) so far:

1 NVR5208-4KS2 w/ 2 WD Purple 4TB drives
1 Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-ZE (this one will be for the front porch for facial recognition)
1 Dahua IPC-HDW4231EM-AS (this will be for the back patio for decent facial recognition)
2 IPC-HDW1320S (one of these will be for the driveway which is very short and the other one will be for the backyard which is very small. These are more for just seeing what is going on and not to see faces)

I do have a question about which POE switch to purchase between the two I have narrowed it down to. My only real question (which will essentially give me my answer on which to purchase) is if there is enough traffic being generated from the 4 cameras to need a gig POE switch or should I be fine withe 10/100 POE switch?

The two POE switches I'm looking at are:

BV-Tech SW800G
BV-Tech SW801

Any advice on video throughput and which switch is recommended is greatly appreciated! Please give me your feedback/advice on anything you see fit as I am learning as I go and I've seen quite a few members have setups that I will be totally satisfied with if the cameras come out as crisp as what I've seen you guys posting.

*** I will have some more questions regarding software/functionality and steps to harden the security a bit but for now I want to keep the initial questions advice to the hardware. I will get to the separate VLAN's after I get the hardware taken care of and the CAT5 runs in place.

 

[mat200]

Welcome freshjs,

If you park your cars on the driveway, I highly recommend getting a Dahua OEM 2MP starlight camera to cover your car(s), as that will be a popular night time target.

ps - and skip the cat5! - go with at least cat5e! ;-)

 

[freshjs_23]

Welcome freshjs,

If you park your cars on the driveway, I highly recommend getting a Dahua OEM 2MP starlight camera to cover your car(s), as that will be a popular night time target.

ps - and skip the cat5! - go with at least cat5e! ;-)

Thanks for the input Mat. We do park both cars in the driveway. I guess maybe I should've bought a 2nd Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-ZE and held off on the two IPC-HDW1320S? My plan is to get more of the Dahua OEM 2MP starlight cameras in the future for sure but cost restraints are present at the moment

haha of course ... CAT5e has been around for 15+ years now so I just assume everyone knows to use cat5e or cat6 when dealing with network cable(s). But thank you for looking out

 

[Aengus4h]

always best to go with the best tech available in your price range. For the switch I'd get the GBe, it'll handle the bandwidth requirements better and allow you to add other devices without having to worry if you'd hit the capacity limits. Worth checking if it can handle vLAN's too if you intend to go that route, not all do support this feature.

 

[mat200]

Thanks for the input Mat. We do park both cars in the driveway. I guess maybe I should've bought a 2nd Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-ZE and held off on the two IPC-HDW1320S? My plan is to get more of the Dahua OEM 2MP starlight cameras in the future for sure but cost restraints are present at the moment

Hi Freshjs,

Plan to upgrade to 2 starlights to cover those cars at night. One on each side of the parking spaces and pointed inwards with the FOV crossing each other, and low enough.

See the numerous captures of door checkers here in the capture section.

haha of course ... CAT5e has been around for 15+ years now so I just assume everyone knows to use cat5e or cat6 when dealing with network cable(s). But thank you for looking out

LOL never know, older IT / cabling folks may have a box of cat5 or cat3 laying about just waiting to be used.

 

[freshjs_23]

@mat200

That sounds like a good goal to set and move towards in the near future. I will get two more Starlights and have them crossing each other like you recommend. Do you personally recommend 2 more IPC-HDW5231R-ZE or is there a cheaper alternative that you have experience with for a little less that are close to as good as these?

Haha you are totally right about older folks wanting to grab that stash of old cables and use them to just say they got use out of them.

 

[mat200]

@mat200

That sounds like a good goal to set and move towards in the near future. I will get two more Starlights and have them crossing each other like you recommend. Do you personally recommend 2 more IPC-HDW5231R-ZE or is there a cheaper alternative that you have experience with for a little less that are close to as good as these?

Haha you are totally right about older folks wanting to grab that stash of old cables and use them to just say they got use out of them.

Hi freshjs,

You can get that, or the IPC-HDW4231xx version in 3.6mm, or the more affordable IPC-HDW22xx version ( see looney2ns review on it, sorry I have not memorized the exact models numbers )

 

[looney2ns]

Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal

 

[freshjs_23]

@mat200 and anybody else that would like to jump in with advice...

I took a couple pics when I got home yesterday to show where I am planning to put the cameras and to get your thoughts. I'm wondering if where I plan to put the one on the front porch is going to be too far away for facial recognition. Please let me know your thoughts on distances.

Front Porch where I plan to put the camera pointing towards the door/steps:



Or would this be better for the front porch facing down?


Driveway cameras:


Back door/patio:


Backyard:


Here are two pics just to show how small the back yard so there isn't much coverage that needs to happen:

 

[freshjs_23]

@looney2ns Thanks for the link and I appreciate all the reviews, that is what I needed to see. The camera looks pretty darn good (nearly identical clarity to the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE) imo. I may just have to purchase these instead of the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE when it is time to buy more in a couple months.

 

[Q™]

...I took a couple pics when I got home yesterday to show where I am planning to put the cameras and to get your thoughts....

As @looney2ns says, do you want to see what happened or do you who did it? Or do you want to see both? For "who did it" mount your cameras at choke/transit point at eye level. For "what happened", mount your cameras high with wide lens.

 

[mat200]

@looney2ns Thanks for the link and I appreciate all the reviews, that is what I needed to see. The camera looks pretty darn good (nearly identical clarity to the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE) imo. I may just have to purchase these instead of the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE when it is time to buy more in a couple months.

Hi @freshjs

You're off to a good start, in general I would plan to mount the cameras a bit lower to get a better angle on any suspects.

Remember, test the possible positions with a friend who is wearing a hoodie and baseball cap acting the part of a prowler.

For the front and back doors I like to mount a camera at face level to maximize my chance of a good ID image capture.

Also I like to be certain anyone walking to the front door walks through at least 2 camera FOV zones which have a good chance to get an ID shot.

 

[TonyR]

Re: front porch, I'd go with BOTH!
At patio, can you add 1 to look toward low window at corner? You could still observe neighbor's privacy with good aim and masking.
At rear, you have no need to look down right side at all? Maybe from the front side?

 

[mat200]

Agree with @TonyR - more cameras will be better.

Plan to eventually want 8+ cameras as you have a good sized house and area to cover, so plan for a 16 port NVR/switch.

 

[looney2ns]

Be sure to study the Cliff Notes in the wiki.
On the porch, the cam by the door is too high, you want it at no higher than 8ft, preferably lower.

Again, at the garage doors, too high, you want them just above the coach lights on both sides of the garage say even with the trim over the door.

You have lots of hiding places in that back yard wooded area.
Camera's higher than 8ft, will almost be useless for id'ing purposes.

Test each location for at a min of 24hrs with a temp stand. What looks good on paper, doesn't always turn out.

 

[freshjs_23]

As @looney2ns says, do you want to see what happened or do you who did it? Or do you want to see both? For "who did it" mount your cameras at choke/transit point at eye level. For "what happened", mount your cameras high with wide lens.

I saw quite a few posts recommending mounting the cameras around 8ft but if I should do eye level that is more like 6ft which I'm fine with doing as well. I will test it from both heights but will make it 6ft if that gives the best footage.

 

[freshjs_23]

Hi @freshjs

You're off to a good start, in general I would plan to mount the cameras a bit lower to get a better angle on any suspects.

Remember, test the possible positions with a friend who is wearing a hoodie and baseball cap acting the part of a prowler.

For the front and back doors I like to mount a camera at face level to maximize my chance of a good ID image capture.

Also I like to be certain anyone walking to the front door walks through at least 2 camera FOV zones which have a good chance to get an ID shot.

After reading yours and @looney2ns posts regarding lowering the cameras a bit, I will be lowering them first for my tests to between 6 to 7 feet everywhere possible.

My buddy that is going to be helping run the CAT5e will also be helping with the testing as a suspect. I want to see just how good the cameras are close up. At first the test will be during the daylight which is when we will run the cables but I will also be testing at night probably by myself after the cameras are up and will adjust as needed.

 

[freshjs_23]

Re: front porch, I'd go with BOTH!
At patio, can you add 1 to look toward low window at corner? You could still observe neighbor's privacy with good aim and masking.
At rear, you have no need to look down right side at all? Maybe from the front side?


I hadn't thought about putting a camera at both places on the front porch but will def take that into consideration if the one camera doesn't seem to be enough. Right now I've maxed out my budget but will be getting more cameras in the next month or so.

When you say "At patio, can you add 1 to look toward low window at corner" are you thinking I should put a camera facing bask towards the house off the morning room? If so, that is actually a great idea. I've only got 4 cameras coming in for the first go around do you think I should face one back at the house first or where I had it originally first?

 

[freshjs_23]

Be sure to study the Cliff Notes in the wiki.
On the porch, the cam by the door is too high, you want it at no higher than 8ft, preferably lower.

Again, at the garage doors, too high, you want them just above the coach lights on both sides of the garage say even with the trim over the door.

You have lots of hiding places in that back yard wooded area.
Camera's higher than 8ft, will almost be useless for id'ing purposes.

Test each location for at a min of 24hrs with a temp stand. What looks good on paper, doesn't always turn out.

I'm on it. Def will be lowering the cameras after the recommendations you guys have made. I appreciate the input and will post up pics in a couple weeks after everything is setup. I appreciate the input and time to help out.

 

[TonyR]

When you say "At patio, can you add 1 to look toward low window at corner" are you thinking I should put a camera facing bask towards the house off the morning room? If so, that is actually a great idea. I've only got 4 cameras coming in for the first go around do you think I should face one back at the house first or where I had it originally first?

I mean to look towards corner of your house as below: