New, from Oregon

[Donahue]

Hello. I am new to security/surveillance, and I have recently found this forum. There seems like a lot of useful information here.

I am the IT manager for my company and I have been asked to look into our options for adding a system to cover our property. We recently have had some instances of theft and possible unauthorized access by current or former employees. I am currently just evaluating my options so that I can make informed recommendations, especially if I recommend that we deploy our own solution. I am not sure yet what my exact requirements will be as far as number of cameras or size of system. If this project goes forward, it could be anywhere from 2 to 50 cameras spread across two locations (depending on if we decide to pursue cameras inside for insurance/liability reasons). The first step I have taken so far is to buy two cameras.

I first purchased an UVC-G3 bullet from Ubiquiti. We use their AP's at work and I have seen these in the past and thought it would be a good starting point. I generally like the other unifi ecosystem products and thought this may be a good time to try their video products. I then started reading a lot more, especially from this forum, and I have seen a lot of criticism for their video products, but most of it was directed at the older equipment. I do understand the nature of a closed system, and how it can be beneficial but also limiting. Now that I have read a lot more, I wonder if they are hurting themselves by only offering two models of camera.

Today I also ordered a Dahua HDW5231R-Z based on reviews and how it's been talked about on this forum and other places.

My plan is to set these up side by side and also compare the unifi NVR software against either BI or Dahua software. One of my big concerns is about data retention and the size and speed of available storage. Originally, I was tasked with finding something that could store 45-60 days worth of recordings. However, if we end up with a lot of cameras, I don't think that I would want to have the same settings on all cameras (something unifi seems to force you into), nor do I know yet if 60 days is too ambitions or actually a requirement vs wishful thinking. Most likely, I will be using the NVR software on a VM on one of our hosts, one per location. I don't think I want to saturate my 100Mbps ethernet circuit connecting the two locations by trying to run just a single NVR. I

What I don't know yet (I suspect that I will find out through my testing), is how much storage I actually need per camera, and if motion recording would be of use to us to help reduce this number. My initial estimates of storage indicated that I would basically need another SAN per location for full time recording of 25 cameras at 6,000Kbps bitrate, which was what my research said the UVC's would do at full settings. I have since started to realize that there is a lot more to this than just bitrate or frame rate, and it will require me to just see what works in our situation by actually doing it.

I also don't know if audio is something we want or need.

 

[mat200]

Hello. I am new to security/surveillance, and I have recently found this forum. There seems like a lot of useful information here.

I am the IT manager for my company and I have been asked to look into our options for adding a system to cover our property. We recently have had some instances of theft and possible unauthorized access by current or former employees. I am currently just evaluating my options so that I can make informed recommendations, especially if I recommend that we deploy our own solution. I am not sure yet what my exact requirements will be as far as number of cameras or size of system. If this project goes forward, it could be anywhere from 2 to 50 cameras spread across two locations (depending on if we decide to pursue cameras inside for insurance/liability reasons). The first step I have taken so far is to buy two cameras.

I first purchased an UVC-G3 bullet from Ubiquiti. We use their AP's at work and I have seen these in the past and thought it would be a good starting point. I generally like the other unifi ecosystem products and thought this may be a good time to try their video products. I then started reading a lot more, especially from this forum, and I have seen a lot of criticism for their video products, but most of it was directed at the older equipment. I do understand the nature of a closed system, and how it can be beneficial but also limiting. Now that I have read a lot more, I wonder if they are hurting themselves by only offering two models of camera.

Today I also ordered a Dahua HDW5231R-Z based on reviews and how it's been talked about on this forum and other places.

My plan is to set these up side by side and also compare the unifi NVR software against either BI or Dahua software. One of my big concerns is about data retention and the size and speed of available storage. Originally, I was tasked with finding something that could store 45-60 days worth of recordings. However, if we end up with a lot of cameras, I don't think that I would want to have the same settings on all cameras (something unifi seems to force you into), nor do I know yet if 60 days is too ambitions or actually a requirement vs wishful thinking. Most likely, I will be using the NVR software on a VM on one of our hosts, one per location. I don't think I want to saturate my 100Mbps ethernet circuit connecting the two locations by trying to run just a single NVR. I

What I don't know yet (I suspect that I will find out through my testing), is how much storage I actually need per camera, and if motion recording would be of use to us to help reduce this number. My initial estimates of storage indicated that I would basically need another SAN per location for full time recording of 25 cameras at 6,000Kbps bitrate, which was what my research said the UVC's would do at full settings. I have since started to realize that there is a lot more to this than just bitrate or frame rate, and it will require me to just see what works in our situation by actually doing it.

I also don't know if audio is something we want or need.

Welcome Donahue,

Wow, that's a significant storage requirement.

Thanks for your first post, and I wanted to welcome you here.

It's easy to get swamped with information here, so I wanted to share some notes with you

Please check out @giomania 's notes:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I have also made notes which are a summary of a lot of the reading I've been doing here,:
Looking for some advice and direction!

Have fun joining us here.

 

[Donahue]

That's good to hear. One of the reasons that I am not 100% on motion is because of this being a business that operates at least 16+ hours a day. For some areas, motion may make sense if there is either not a lot of traffic in and out of those areas, or something like that. But in other areas, where we have people in the shot all day long, it may be simpler to just record full time. It feels like one of those things that you can only fully understand by jumping and finding out for yourself, and any research I do ahead of time will not mean as much as actual experience.

We are very likely NOT going to be regularly monitoring anything or needing any sort of remote access. This (at least for right now) is more of a way to figure out what happened with stuff comes up missing or random attempt are made to get into the building at weird hours.

 

[Gymratz]

I can't imagine a scenario of needing to look at something 60 days ago.

This is a fairly common requirement in some sectors. I often see a 6 month requirement, expanded to 12 months for server room cameras.

 

[Donahue]

Well, the existing scenario that caused all of this to come up was someone coming in after hours and using security codes for other people. Our existing security system was pretty old, and that was part of the problem. That is also being addressed, but with the way it currently is, we only get the audit logs from the security company once a month, so they are at least a month old right off the bat. Management wants to be able to see who actually was in the building then. We are also talking with our security company about what we can do to update things, and we may end up with something like a security panel with a built in camera that takes a picture or video anytime anyone does anything at the panel. Right now, I'm just doing my due diligence so that I can make an informed recommendation, especially if it is different from what the security company wants to sell us. I talked with the security rep yesterday and right off the bat he was trying to tell me about wifi cameras that take 10 second clips. I don't want to get stuck trying to support a mediocre system supplied by some random security vendor.

 

[mat200]

Well, the existing scenario that caused all of this to come up was someone coming in after hours and using security codes for other people. Our existing security system was pretty old, and that was part of the problem. That is also being addressed, but with the way it currently is, we only get the audit logs from the security company once a month, so they are at least a month old right off the bat. Management wants to be able to see who actually was in the building then. We are also talking with our security company about what we can do to update things, and we may end up with something like a security panel with a built in camera that takes a picture or video anytime anyone does anything at the panel. Right now, I'm just doing my due diligence so that I can make an informed recommendation, especially if it is different from what the security company wants to sell us. I talked with the security rep yesterday and right off the bat he was trying to tell me about wifi cameras that take 10 second clips. I don't want to get stuck trying to support a mediocre system supplied by some random security vendor.

Have to love security companies which encourage wifi cameras... I think you've got enough cyber security issues to worry about without throwing more wifi in...

 

[Donahue]

Wow, it looks like BI and virtualization are not a good match together. I'll have to factor that into my calculations.

 

[Donahue]

SSN's wouldn't help, and would probably make the problem worse. From what I was told, they were likely going through HR files to get the codes in the first place. The building has since been re-keyed, but the old key that unlocked the front door would also unlock all of the offices include HR.

 

[Donahue]

Have to love security companies which encourage wifi cameras... I think you've got enough cyber security issues to worry about without throwing more wifi in...

It would have been their wifi network, not ours. I would not allow that on my wifi. But the building has 6" thick concrete walls, it's a nightmare for wifi anyways.

 

[looney2ns]

Just say no to wifi cams, unless you need to span a long distance. But then use the Nano Stations or such to accomplish that.

Certain Dahua NVR's can be "chained" together to act as one big NVR.

8HDD - Dahua Technology

 

[Donahue]

I need to add more PoE AP's inside the building anyways, so this would sort of kill two birds with one stone.