Newbie Help request for new house

[normalnix]

Hi
We're in the process of building a new house in the countryside (in Estonia), and we've been having conversations about external cameras etc with a local security company. They've recommended the following system to us and I would greatly appreciate your feedback. (They will only fit Dahua)

6 x Dahua IPC - HFW5842 S3 E/H (What's the difference betwen E and H?)
6 x DAHUA PFA121-V2
Dahua NVR4108HS
8TB Seagate Seahawk HDD

We're also thinking of adding motion sensitive floodlights.

The house is in the countryside, but there are other nearby houses approximately 50-100m away on different sides. It will be our main home, but we might be away from 2-4 weeks from time to time. The aim is to pick up clearly identifiable images of possible intruders, and a bonus would be of the local wildlife.

I've done a bit of reading on here (although most of this goes above my head), and noticed that there's some discussion that 4MP cameras actually pick up a better image at times.

Many thanks for your help

 

[VorlonFrog]

IPC-HFW5842 S3 - What advantages do you expect from an 8-megapixel camera? Would not a 4-megapixel camera suffice? Seems quite expensive for that 8MP camera. IPC-HFW5442 is typically about 100 Euro less expensive. Most important is obtaining clear, sharp, low-noise images from critical access areas ("choke points") around your home. In this respect, 4MP on the same 1/1.8 sensor size is typically better.

 

[wittaj]

Unless you have a ton of light, the 5842 won't do you any good as it is on the same sensor as the 4MP version and as such the 8MP would require double the light to produce the same image brightness as the 4MP.

If you do not have light, you need a camera with the MP/sensor ratio in the green:

 

[normalnix]

Many thanks for the responses. It looks like an 8mp camera would be in the yellow zone. Which would be better to be able to see an intruder's face? 4MP or 8MP?

I should say budget is less of a concern than effectiveness in capturing useful images

 

[VorlonFrog]

Many thanks for the responses. It looks like an 8mp camera would be in the yellow zone. Which would be better to be able to see an intruder's face? 4MP or 8MP?

I should say budget is less of a concern than effectiveness in capturing useful images

4MP would definitely be the better choice, based on illumination requirements and clarity of images captured.

 

[normalnix]

4MP would definitely be the better choice, based on illumination requirements and clarity of images captured.

But if we also have motion activated flood lights?

 

[steve1225]

6 x Dahua IPC - HFW5842 S3 E/H (What's the difference betwen E and H?)
6 x DAHUA PFA121-V2
Dahua NVR4108HS

1. 5842 is very good cam... but 5442 (4mpx version) is much better at night - 2x bigger pixel size - 2x more light sensitive at night... plus they are cheaper..

2. E version is 5xxx series classic one.. smaller chassis, only one mic, with standard lens and smaller (darker) aperture which starts at F1.8.
H version is premium one, where bigger chassis, double mics and much bigger/better optics (with aperture which starts at F1.2) are taken from ultra 7xxx series...

Difference between F1.2 and F1.8 aperture is about 2x more light...

3. You choose cams from PRO line (one line under max Ultra line) and matched with some very low power and shitty NVR from Lite series. Limited to 80 mbit/s of incoming bandwidth and with decoding capability of one 8Mpx camera at once (or three 4mpx).. check spec sheet

Choose proper one - like something from 5xxx-EI series..

And never buy 1 disk / 8 Channels version. Any upgrade (a few cameras more, some intercom etc) and You will need to buy another bigger one.

NVR are very power limited and should always be bought at 2x capability of first / prognosed system.

 

[wittaj]

Many posts here that show don't chase MP.

Motion activated lights tend to cause the exposure to washout for a brief second and that could be the difference between getting their face or not.

Either keep the lights on all night or not at all to ensure the best chance of capture.

Here is usually what happens when a motion activated floodlight comes on - it just about completely blinds the camera right at the moment of optimal opportunity to get the picture. There are 3 deer in this picture and two of them are lost in the blinded white while the camera's exposure adjusts to the rapid change in available light:




Or this example that completely missed the perp:

The Typical picture of a Perp on Nextdoor-type Apps with Consumer Grade Cameras like Ring, Nest, Arlo, Canary, Wyze, etc.

First off, they shouldn't buy crap NVRs. Dahua NVRs' can easily export video to a thumb drive in MP4 as can Hik's. Most of the time it is simply a matter of them not taking the time to figure it out, until they need the video NOW. I've seen BI user's be guilty of doing the same. Couldn't be...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[mat200]

Hi
We're in the process of building a new house in the countryside (in Estonia), and we've been having conversations about external cameras etc with a local security company. They've recommended the following system to us and I would greatly appreciate your feedback. (They will only fit Dahua)

6 x Dahua IPC - HFW5842 S3 E/H (What's the difference betwen E and H?)
6 x DAHUA PFA121-V2
Dahua NVR4108HS
8TB Seagate Seahawk HDD

We're also thinking of adding motion sensitive floodlights.

The house is in the countryside, but there are other nearby houses approximately 50-100m away on different sides. It will be our main home, but we might be away from 2-4 weeks from time to time. The aim is to pick up clearly identifiable images of possible intruders, and a bonus would be of the local wildlife.

I've done a bit of reading on here (although most of this goes above my head), and noticed that there's some discussion that 4MP cameras actually pick up a better image at times.

Many thanks for your help

Welcome @normalnix

The most important part now I'd getting the placement locations well during the design and build process .. run more cables to each location while it is affordable ..

 

[normalnix]

1. 5842 is very good cam... but 5442 (4mpx version) is much better at night - 2x bigger pixel size - 2x more light sensitive at night... plus they are cheaper..

2. E version is 5xxx series classic one.. smaller chassis, only one mic, with standard lens and smaller (darker) aperture which starts at F1.8.
H version is premium one, where bigger chassis, double mics and much bigger/better optics (with aperture which starts at F1.2) are taken from ultra 7xxx series...

Difference between F1.2 and F1.8 aperture is about 2x more light...

3. You choose cams from PRO line (one line under max Ultra line) and matched with some very low power and shitty NVR from Lite series. Limited to 80 mbit/s of incoming bandwidth and with decoding capability of one 8Mpx camera at once (or three 4mpx).. check spec sheet

Choose proper one - like something from 5xxx-EI series..

And never buy 1 disk / 8 Channels version. Any upgrade (a few cameras more, some intercom etc) and You will need to buy another bigger one.

NVR are very power limited and should always be bought at 2x capability of first / prognosed system.

Many thanks for your thoughts.

Which of the NVR's would you recommend with this system? I am guessing a 5216 based on your comments, but there also appear to be two versions.

I presume I'd need two large HDDs in Raid.

 

[mat200]

Many thanks for your thoughts.

Which of the NVR's would you recommend with this system? I am guessing a 5216 based on your comments, but there also appear to be two versions.

I presume I'd need two large HDDs in Raid.

Hi @normalnix

I got the 5216 version and now there are newer versions of what I got, the 5xxx and xx16 is what I would look for.

HDDs .. do not really want to RAID them, as video takes a lot of space

There are ways to save your clips also onto a NAS if you like iirc. That seems to make more sense for video you need to save.

RAID while great in many ways, you still have the NVR failure possible .. and as long as you keep the NVR temp and environment within normal comfortable range the HDDs will be robust enough until they get older ( watch the SMART data for them )

Get a UPS for the NVR and PoE switch .. will help

 

[steve1225]

Many thanks for your thoughts.
Which of the NVR's would you recommend with this system? I am guessing a 5216 based on your comments, but there also appear to be two versions.
I presume I'd need two large HDDs in Raid.

there are 5216-EI versions without POE switch and with internal POE switch (8P and 16P) - depending of Your needs and where NVR and cams CAT5 cables will be located...

in 2 disk configuration almost no one is using RAID.. You can put 2 disk into separate disk groups, and put half cams into first one, half into second one..
so if the 1 disk will totally fail - you will lost recordings from half of cams...

I put cheap SD cards into cams (only from endurance series which are for cctv 24/7 recordings - like Samsung Endurance SD) as second level of backup...

You can also use external NAS and automatic copy function from NVR..

HDDs should be from CCTV lines (so Seagate Skyhawk or WD Purple). Very important is to put NVR in low temp place...