New guy, new house and new system...

ThomasPI

ThomasPI

Pulling my weight
May 9, 2017
304
212
Reaching out for some general advice on a new system. We are in the planning stages of building a new house so the idea is to get a new surveillance system installed as we build since it'll be very easy to run wiring etc.

As for the system, I definitely want to go POE and skip the wifi cameras.
Software wise, it seems Blue Iris is a solid bet. I run a house full of Macs but have no issues
in buying a good laptop dedicated to the system. The house will be about 3,000 sq ft with
2 stories and the garage under the house. I am thinking that a camera at the front entry
and a second at ground level at the rear. I would want to install 4 additional cameras,
1 at each corner of the house for a total of 6, and have the option to expand to 8 if the
need arises. The first floor level is going to be about 17' up and off the ground so that
may well play into camera selection as we'd probably place them up and about even with
the "floor" level on the first floor. Motion activated is important since I don't see these
cameras recording 24/7. The ability to capture video in either very limited light or
no light during the hours of darkness is important. Hardware wise, I am thinking of using
a good NVR and backing up to a cloud.

Current setup with our system at the house is all Apple product and we use an Airport Extreme for everything and it works very well. I'd also want the ability to monitor the system from either our
iPhones or iPads while we are away. For starters, that's where we are at. I don't know squat about the systems on the market or options on cameras and or mounting. For hard wiring, Cat 5 or Cat 6?

And last but not least, budget. Not including buy a dedicated laptop I want to stay under $2K for the
complete system if it's possible. This site seems to be great and folks here a wealth of knowledge.
I've done some digging here and there using Google but I'm fairly convinced that this site should
be my "go to resource"

Thanks !
 
No laptops for BI, they don't have the umph.
Dell Optiplex such as this: Dell Optiplex 3040 SFF - i7-6700 Quad - 8GB RAM - 128GB SSD- Win 10 PRO | eBay
With a Western Digital Purple HD.

With BI, you can view from anywhere.

If you don't record 24/7, murphy will bite you and you will miss important details just prior to the motion event. Do both.

You want the cams to see who did it, not just what happened. Keep them no higher than 8ft from the ground.
Dome cams suck outdoors, 2.8mm lens suck outdoors.

The Dahua Starlight Varifocal is currently the best cam choice at this point.

Cat 5e for cams is fine. If in a lightning prone area, use shielded Cat5e. Be sure to get pure copper cat 5, not CCA.
Use this: Camera Calculator / Design Software keeping PPF>100 to help with cam location selection.
 
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Thanks looney. I've got 3 WD Black drives on my system now and great drives. We are absolutely in a lightning prone area. Actually waterfront property on a salt water bay. Should have noted that. Another concern is how well these will hold up to the environment, salt spray etc. Yep, me and that damn Irishman Murphy are best of buds!
 
Question on file sizes. If I am running say 6 of the Dahua cameras (read a quick review the larger 35mm version) and they're going 24/7, what kind of file sizes am I looking at? Does BI compress the data that's written to the drives or? What size hard drives are you suggesting for externals on the desktop? Those cameras are flat out BAD ASS for the money, great quality video for a 2MP camera. Pretty surprised to be honest.
 
Ok figured out the file sizes. Can anyone recommend a plug and play NVR? I'll be using WD Purple drives and BI.
 
I'm referencing the actual Network Video Recorder as in the hardware, I'll add the WD Purple to that. Hopefully there's a good plug and play. I'll buy a dedicated PC to run BI on.
 
Thanks, so am I better off with a computer with BI and a WD Purple or an actual NVR as in piece of hardware with ED drives in it ?
 
ThomasPI said:
Thanks, so am I better off with a computer with BI and a WD Purple or an actual NVR as in piece of hardware with ED drives in it ?
Click to expand...
Personal preference to some degree. I run BI and am happy, I think its more flexible. NVR is probably more plug and play and easier to implement.
I have a PC with a small SSD for the OS and other programs, a 4tb purple for recording, running BI and recording 24/7.

As looney already pointed out, people tend to install cameras where they want them to go (too high on corners) instead of where they will be more effective.
For you cameras, consider where people will break in. Front door is obvious, but back doors, side gates and ground level windows should also be considered.

I'd also consider where you are going to install the POE switch that will connect to the cams. My switch has a somewhat noisy fan, so it lives in the garage where it doesn't bother anyone. I think some switches are quieter though.

Randy
 
Thanks. I'm going to run all the cables to one hidden closet and use a Murphy Door. All of the equipment will be completely out of view. The yet to be released new Z12 camera looks very interesting from Duaha. That would give me more options on mounting locations in both height and distance or, at least I would think that would be the case. I'll have a "door camera" front and rear and then one camera in the middle of the house front and rear and probably 1 camera on each of the 4 corners. Between the cameras, 4 Glocks and 3 Remington 870 Police 12 gauges, I'll be covered. If someone gets in, they're not leaving.
 
ThomasPI said:
Thanks. I'm going to run all the cables to one hidden closet and use a Murphy Door. All of the equipment will be completely out of view. The yet to be released new Z12 camera looks very interesting from Duaha. That would give me more options on mounting locations in both height and distance or, at least I would think that would be the case. I'll have a "door camera" front and rear and then one camera in the middle of the house front and rear and probably 1 camera on each of the 4 corners. Between the cameras, 4 Glocks and 3 Remington 870 Police 12 gauges, I'll be covered. If someone gets in, they're not leaving.
Click to expand...

Don't forget heat management of that closet.
 
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