Outdoor Security Camera For Home

SouthernYankee

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It is easy to jam any wifi system,
I started with WIFI and after very liitle work and way less than $50 I was able to disable mu IOT and cameras. WIFI is not for security.
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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 https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/review-ip-cam-talk-4-mp-ir-fixed-turret-network-camera.36011/
DS-2CD2325FWD-I

My preferred indoor cameras
DS-2CD2442FWD-IW
IPC-K35A https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/review-dahua-ipc-k35a-3mp-cube-camera.37581/#post-373517


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

J Sigmo

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Based on my experience and the recommendations from many folks on this forum, I would never again buy any bullet style cameras for outdoor mounting. Spiderwebs will force you to clean the cameras several times per day. Seriously. Not kidding at all.

The only style of camera I would recommend for outdoor use is the turret style, sometimes referred to as eyeball style.

Also, unless you have no need for low light use, I have to recommend only 2 megapixel Dahua starlight or Hikvision dark fighter cameras.

The higher megapixel cameras are not good in darker situations.

For daylight or very brightly illuminated areas, you can go with more pixels, but for dim light, stay with the 2 megapixel units.

Also: Very seriously consider using a dedicated PC running Blue Iris instead of an NVR.
 

SouthernYankee

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The empiretech has good Dahua cameras. Andy is the goto person for Dahua cameras. But, there is alway a BUT. It is 8mp and is a bullet. Please read the information provided in my previous post and in the WIKI.

Do not use bullet cameras they collect spider webs.
8MP cameras are not good at night, unless you have a lot of external light.
 

J Sigmo

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Yes. I have a couple of those, and they are the best low light cameras in my system. I also have never once cleaned them. The bullets I have mounted within a few feet of them need to be cleaned several times per day due to spiderwebs.

The only thing that model lacks is microphone. But they have a similar model with a mic if you want sound.

Oh, and I got mine from Andy. Fast shipping, I had them within 3 or 4 days! Excellent price and service.
 
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You say you have all of your cables run. I hope you gave considerable thought to just what you expect from each viewing position. If not, then you will be most disappointed once all is installed. Too many folks install a few cameras with a wide angle view (called overview cameras) and expect them to yield facial ID of perps, or did not really think about it until they have a problem. Usually, even in good daylight, these give a great view of 'what happened' but lack the detail to provide the 'who did it'.

Most folks that I have talked to here have a few overview cameras. But they have placed narrow view cameras (usually varifocal cameras zoomed in to the appropriate position) at choke points that perps would most likely pass through. These cameras are placed at the appropriate heights with appropriate lighting to give good detail on a person's face for ID.

Example: driveway views. I park my jeep on the driveway at night. I have two Dahua Starlite turret cameras, one on each side of the door pointed at crossing views. They are zoomed and pointed to a position at the door of my jeep yet cover the entire width of my driveway. If someone was to attempt to enter the jeep, they must be seen by both cameras. I have a street light pole at the end of my driveway. I have incandescent lights on both sides of the garage door. The driveway is fairly well lit. A few weeks ago I had a door checker captured by both cameras and my driveway overview camera. The overview camera showed where he came from, where he went after my house, and that he had an accomplice. It gave me clothing colors but not enough detail for an ID. However, both driveway cameras gave good shots of the guy's face, hair, clothing details and limp that he was easily identified by the local police - "Oh yeah, I know this guy". Him and his friend got into a few unlocked vehicles that night.

Also consider using a dedicated WIN 10 PC and BlueIris (known here as BI) in stead of a DVR. The BI route is much more flexible and expandable than a dedicated DVR. It also has it's own iPhone app.
 
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alex8828

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Thanks for the reply samplenhold so I understand what you mean about having the cameras wire already run. I had 4 various 4 camera over the last 8 years there were just crummy systems. So instead of spending 300 every 2 years I'll spend around 1,000 for real cameras that will hopefully last much longer. So I have for wire runs so to the existing place I had my wifi cameras. So this is what I'm looking to do as far as camera placement. My to main points of interest is my driveway leading into my backyard and where I live houses are very close together so I also want another camera looking down the drive way of the house next me that would be another access to my back yard. The drive ways are like 20 feet wide and about 35-40 to the street. At night is very dark so I am looking for a camera that would give me great detail of a person walking up either driveway at night and day. My next camera would monitor my backdoor and deck just incase someone made it in the yard once again dark at night but not a big area to cover maybe 15-20 feet. My 4th camera would be mounted to the corner of my house this will look out to my backyard where my patio, outside kitchen, and shed is. This is a distance from the camera of maybe 40 feet and 25-30 wide and dark at night as well. So I'm looking to add 2 addition cameras to the front of my house on an angle one on the right side and one on the left side to give me access to see front lawn and each sidewalk coming in either direction we have kids that walk by at night and knock over garbage/recycle I would love to identify them and hand video over to police. This is also a dark area but a slightly busy street cars headlights can prevent getting clear images. Also, I would like to keep these cameras more unnoticeable. Plus my front door has doorbell camera provided by my alarm company which provides good image if someone went onto my porch. So these are my ideas for 6 camera just confused about what camera specs I would need for each area. Also, I would like to add couple more camera in the future to my outdoor area to view and listen when teenagers are back there handing out at night to make sure nothing bad going on...lol

Thanks for any advice,

Alex
 

alex8828

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The empiretech has good Dahua cameras. Andy is the goto person for Dahua cameras. But, there is alway a BUT. It is 8mp and is a bullet. Please read the information provided in my previous post and in the WIKI.

Do not use bullet cameras they collect spider webs.
8MP cameras are not good at night, unless you have a lot of external light.
I have been using bullet cameras for about eight years I never had problem with spider webs in my area.
 

J Sigmo

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I have been using bullet cameras for about eight years I never had problem with spider webs in my area.
Do they have built-in infra-red illuminators? And do you run them at night?

What seems to happen with bullets is that the IR attracts the spiders, and/or they're just in spider-prone locations (up under eaves), and the spiders cannot resist stringing webs from the overhanging sun shades of the bullets down across the lens/IR illuminator windows.

The IR then brightly illuminates the web strands which are a half an inch out from both the lens and IR LEDs. So the webs show up big and bright in the image, and as they waft in the breezes, they trigger endless alerts.

I have thousands of hours of such footage stored on my system at any given time. Such a waste! And, of course, I can't use any alerts from any of these bullets or they'd drive me nuts with the thousands of alerts every night.

The two bullets I still have in my system will be replaced as soon as I have the time to do it. I'll never buy another bullet style camera. I have considered just cutting off their shades, but they're not that great of cameras to begin with.

Instead, they will probably be replaced with the very Dahua units you linked to above. :)

If you do not use the built-in IR illuminators, you may never see the spiderwebs. Or maybe you just don't have the pesky spiders in your area.

Several folks have recommended certain pesticides, but again, I want the Dahua starlights for these locations, anyhow, so before I start spraying these areas with nasty stuff, I'll just replace the cameras with better ones.
 

alex8828

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There’s just so many cameras I just don’t want to put all the work in spend the money and get wrong cameras. So I assuming for home security we are more worried about our homes at night so it better to get lower resolution because they work better at night?
 

J Sigmo

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That's been my experience. The higher pixel count cameras are nice in good daylight, but far worse at night, in low-light.

Right now, the best low light performance seems to be with the 2 megapixel Dahua starlights, and Hikvision Darkfighters.

There are some new 4 megapixel units that have larger sensors, and thus the individual image sensor elements should be of a similar size to the 2 megapixel units. But initial reports seem to complain that the more aggressive image compression required to send the larger amount of data, is making them the same or worse at night even though they should provide more detail in good light.

Another consideration is that as you increase the pixel count, you have to transmit, process, and store that larger volume of data. And that increases the load on the whole system, including the computer.

For me, I'd rather have more cameras, aimed and zoomed to get good detail where it's needed rather than fewer high megapixel units.

The unit you linked to is good because you can adjust the zoom of the lens and figure out what works well at any given location.

Installing mor cameras is more work. But I think you get better results.
 
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@alex8828 be cautioned about trying to build your entire system at once. Most of us (that are not professional installers) have gone at this in phases. Our designs have evolved over time. Start with one or two cameras and run them for a while. See what works for you. Get a good idea of what the camera is capable of.

The Starlites and Darkfighters are good cameras for night in color mode. If you can, install lights in the area that stay on all night. Not only will you get better video, but the added light is somewhat of a deterrent. If you really can't or won't install light, then getting a good camera with good IR is something to consider. I personally have gone the route of using light and Dahua Starlite cameras rather than IR. I really do not have experience on using only IR light and what cameras would be good for that.
 
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