Newbie looking for feedback

[salsaverde]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a newbie on the forum. I've begin reading the documents in the "resources" section. There's a lot of great info there. Thank you!


My Goal: Monitor my property (outdoors) to keep it secure. In particular, to catch a bad neighbor dumping, vendalizing, etc my property so that it can be used in court.

My plan is to setup a DIY camera setup that will grow in phases, and would like to get some feedback my camera choices and the plan in general.

Phase 1 - There will be 2-3 outdoor POE dome cameras going to a PC running either a linux solution or perhaps Blue Iris. I'm looking at the amcrest, dahua, and hikvision. Does anyone have experience with them, especially under linux.

Future phases will add cameras to capture the remaining property and perhaps run a dedicated device instead of using my PC.

Thanks,
SV

 

[SouthernYankee]

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do not know much about linux, have not seen much about camera applications on Linus.
Do not think of Blue Iris as Windows think of it as a standalone tool, just like an NVR.
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My standard welcome to the forum message.

Please read the cliff notes and other items in the wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Read How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) | IP Cam Talk in the wiki also.

Quick start
1) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras or ICPT Night eye cameras (https://store.ipcamtalk.com/) if you need good low light cameras.
2) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
3) Do not use wifi cameras.
4) Do not use cloud storage
5) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
6) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
7) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
8) Do not use reolink, ring, nest cameras (they are junk)
9) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
10) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
11) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
12) (Looney2ns)If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 8ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
13) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)

Cameras to look at
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
IPC-HDW5231-ZE Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
IPC-HFW4239T-ASE IPC-HFW4239T-ASE
IPC-T5442TM-AS Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+)
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I Review - IP Cam Talk 4 MP IR Fixed Turret Network Camera
DS-2CD2325FWD-I

My preferred indoor cameras
DS-2CD2442FWD-IW
IPC-K35A https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/review-dahua-ipc-k35a-3mp-cube-camera.37581/

Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess

 

[mat200]

Hello Everyone,
..

Welcome @salsaverde

Start by considering this model: IPC-HDW2231R-ZS ( see southern yankee's post )

In general I would start with either the Dahua OEM smartpss software or Blue Iris. Yes windows OS is probably what you're looking at.

 

[salsaverde]

Thanks SouthernYankee,

Those items you mentioned confirmed I'm on the right track, but there were some items I was unaware of or need more info on:

7) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
Aside from people calling them out on reviews, "no firmware updates", or no logos, how does one identify these? Do you have trusted vendors on amazon?

9) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR).
This is surprising. I figured the turrets would be more likely to collect bugs or be misdirected due to it being exposed. Is there a big difference dome and turret results?
Also, is snow a real problem for IP cameras? I live in the northeast. I'm wondering if wet snow will stick to the camera / LEDs.

10) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
What will happen if I use my existing cat5 wire (which is probably CCA) for initial testing?

 

[SouthernYankee]

7) The trusted supplier for Dahua is Andy a forum member. @EMPIRETECANDY , read his reviews and support by other forum members.
9) Yes. dome has glass, plastic cover on them it reflects light and collects dirt. Do not known about snow left New York 48 years ago and never been back.
10) it may work but the wire break, and the single quality is not as good, when adding the connectors, the connection is not as good. The recommendation is for new installs, do not try to save a few dollars for the headaches later.

 

[salsaverde]

I don't think I need the ePOE functionality as my house is a ranch an only 45 ft long and 802.3af is supposed to get you 300ft. If anyone thinks this is not wise, please respond.

For my initial testing I'll go with the following parts:

POE switch:
BV-Tech 9 Port PoE+ Switch (8 PoE+ Ports | 1 Uplink Port) – 120W – 802.3af/at

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

I was also looking at the ZE model. Is the face detection feature worth the extra money? @looney2ns I assume the ZE model has all the events that the ZS model does, correct?
Is the lack of sound with the ZS a major loss? In MA you cannot record sound unless the other party is aware. Since the camera would be targeted at open land between my neighbor and I, I think this could get me into some trouble should sound inadvertently be recorded.

 

[SouthernYankee]

I have used BV-Tech poe switches. Check the posts, there as been a high number of failure with these switches. Look at Netgear GS108PP.

I use cameras to record, i do not use any of the detection features provided by the cameras

 

[mat200]

..
10) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
What will happen if I use my existing cat5 wire (which is probably CCA) for initial testing?

FYI - note we've covered the problems with CCA wire numerous times here on IPCT, do remember to look up and see if it is also covered in the cliff notes.

one item not referred to is that CCA has more resistance in the wire and thus unable to carry as much power over the line for a given distance compared to copper.

 

[VorlonFrog]

Is the lack of sound with the ZS a major loss? In MA you cannot record sound unless the other party is aware. Since the camera would be targeted at open land between my neighbor and I, I think this could get me into some trouble should sound inadvertently be recorded.

I replaced two older cameras with the 2231 and no sound is not any kind of problem or concern, for me.