What do you mean by "D or K stuff?" As far as the wiring goes, I have an electrician who will run the wires and put the cameras where I want them. As much as I'd like to save money by installing myself, I definitely have no skills in that area.
Please help! I have no idea what I’m doing!
- Thread starter EricaU
- Start date
Welcome to the forum Erica. Ensure that your electrician uses Cat 6 copper solid core cable and not Copper Clad Aluminium (CCA). I would also suggest that you test everything before it is installed.
Thank you for the warm welcome. I plan to buy everything that will be needed to install the system myself, but thanks bunch for telling me about the best cable to use. Oh, and thanks for reminding me to test before installing. That is something I could potentially forget.
EricaU, Lorex rebrand Dahua products. So to save some money and get something more useful go for Dahua.
And as others can and will say, higher resolution doesn't necessarily make for a better camera. Astrophotography buffs know this, it's pixel size that is paramount for low light performance.
And as others can and will say, higher resolution doesn't necessarily make for a better camera. Astrophotography buffs know this, it's pixel size that is paramount for low light performance.
Thank you so much for this information. It’s been very helpful. Yes, a lot to read and learn, but it’s given me a starting point. I’m leaning toward the LED cameras for the added light. If low light were not an issued, which cameras would you recommend? Also, I’ve seen sets of Dahua cameras which come with the NVR. Do you recommend any of them?
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There are NO 4K color night cameras that you can afford.
If you do not want to use a PC then I recommend an NVR, it has less function than an PC but is simpler to start. With an NVR i recommed have the NVR and the cameras from the same vendor.
Reolink is pure junk.
read study plan before spending money.
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My standard welcome to the forum message.
Please read the IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes and other items in the IP Cam Talk Wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.
Read How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) in the wiki also.
Quick start
1) If you do not have a wired monitored alarm system, get that first
2) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras or ICPT Night eye cameras (Store | IP Cam Talk) if you need good low light cameras.
3) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
4) Do not use wifi cameras.
5) Do not use cloud storage
6) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
7) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
8) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
9) Do not use reolink, ring, nest cameras (they are junk), no cloud cameras
10) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
11) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
12) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
13) (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.
14) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)
15) camera placement use the calculator... IPVM Camera Calculator V3
Cameras to look at
IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+)
IPC-T5442TM-AS Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ - 4MP starlight+
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
IPC-HDW2231T-ZS-S2 Review-OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS 2mp Varifocal Starlight Camera
IPC-HDW5231R-ZE Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
IPC-HFW4239T-ASE IPC-HFW4239T-ASE
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I Review - IP Cam Talk 4 MP IR Fixed Turret Network Camera
DS-2CD2325FWD-I
IPC-T2347G-LU Review of the Hikvision OEM model IPC-T2347G-LU 'ColorVu' IP CCTV camera. (DS-2CD2347G1-LU)
N22AL12 New Dahua N22AL12 Budget Cam w/Starlight -- low cost entry
Other dahua 4MP starlight Dahua 4MP Starlight Lineup
My preferred indoor cameras
DS-2CD2442FWD-IW
IPC-K35A Review-Dahua IPC-K35A 3mp Cube Camera
If interested in Blue Iris and other setup items see the following post
Newbie Starter Guide to IP Cam System – VPN setup – Computer Hardware – Blue Iris – Dahua Cameras
This is an intermediate / newbie guide for people just starting out looking for a surveillance setup. I know this setup might not be for everyone and there are many options. You can find a lot of this information in the Wiki: IP Cam Talk Wiki | IP Cam Talk A great place to start in the Wiki...ipcamtalk.com
Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess
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if you are interested in International Dahua cameras, a forum member sells dahua (and some Hikvision) and ships world wide. You can read some of the members recommendations on his service. He also provides cameras to other forum member for evaluation and reviews.
you can email him for a quote, or purchase from his Aliexpress store or his Amazon store. The cameras are fully upgradable, he posts upgarde software when available.
Andy
@EMPIRETECANDY
kingsecurity2014@163.com
Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: EmpireTech Andy
Andy's AliExpress store: Andy's Amazon store: [URL ]EmpireTech-Andy @ Amazon.com:
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Thanks again!
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.
You want a camera that curses at random ⃰? Each to their own I guess
⃰ Yes I know that that is a gross simplification of Tourette's syndrome
Absolutely! Especially if the cameras’ random outbursts drive home the primary reason for installing them. Could you imagine the looks on my neighbors’ faces when my Dahua shouts, “get the f*ck off of my lawn?” Or better yet, “hey, don’t let your dog $hit here!” Not only would it be effective, but highly entertaining as well.You want a camera that curses at random ⃰? Each to their own I guess
⃰ Yes I know that that is a gross simplification of Tourette's syndrome
SouthernYankee
IPCT Contributor
I recommend only dahua Starlight 4MP cameras look at either of the IPC-T5442TM cameras.
I do not recommend NVR kits. They need to save money some place. Each camera location may require a different type of camera, that is why we recommend that you use a test rig, a bucket, gravel and a 2x4 to test the mount and location of your camera. When test a camera location test it at night, with people walking by.
I do not recommend NVR kits. They need to save money some place. Each camera location may require a different type of camera, that is why we recommend that you use a test rig, a bucket, gravel and a 2x4 to test the mount and location of your camera. When test a camera location test it at night, with people walking by.
I will be controversial and say 8MP/4K Cameras are the way of the future (also as TV resolution is moving to 4K it is not likely to become an orphan/odd resolution that will need scaling to fit on every viewing screen - but you can view 4K images on a regular non 4K screen) - it is incredible how much you can zoom in on recordings.
I have Dahua IPC-HFW5831E-ZE which has the ability to see in full colour at night just with the neighbourhood streetlights - when there was a power cut the UPS supplied power and the IR led's on the cameras came on and the image went to black and white - power came back - cameras back to colour IR led's went out and UPS started recharging its batteries.
Choice of camera body - the model I listed is a bullet camera that probably offers the best image quality as the lens is looking through a straight piece of plastic and the 4 IR led's cannot reflect into the lens HOWEVER you want to mount the cameras as low to the ground as you dare to get shots of peoples faces under hats etc. BUT those people will take flying leaps at the cameras to try and swivel them away from looking at what you are protecting - it takes them about 5 minutes of flying leaps before the camera is finally looking somewhere else - they can only move them very slowly with a lot of perseverance - then they realise the cameras are installed in pairs at opposite ends of the building looking at each other - then they run off!
Having said that you may want a dome camera instead so it is impossible to adjust which way the camera is looking/pointing - change the HFW part of the model number to get the same camera specification in a different dome style case HOWEVER there might be a slight compromise in image quality as the lens is now effectively looking out through a fishbowl and there might be slight IR reflections as IR led's and lens are now looking through the same piece of fishbowl BUT nobody can move your camera so camera security protection will be maintained - probably use a bracket with the dome camera so dome hangs down re rain and IR reflections at dome edge.
The varifocal (power zoom) lenses are higher quality optically so give a better image than the fixed lens cameras - worth having even if you never zoom them in.
Get out your mobile phone go up a ladder and take pictures from where you are thinking of putting the cameras - it will make you think.
Think that YouTube video is the South African Ecological time - his heart is in the right place but for some reason he has bought 4+ NVRs none of which are in the higher Dahua 5000 model range - which matters otherwise you will not have IVS on the timeline which he complains about but continues to still buy NVR's below the 5000 range - having said that Dahua used to support IVS on a handful of the sub 5000 series NVRs and removed that NVR IVS support with a firmware update for those NVR's (from what I have been told) so maybe Phil from SA got it right originally before Dahua nailed him?!
Run it over PoE using either a PoE network switch or a NVR with built in PoE - use a UPS to power it all - otherwise a 10 second power cut means around 2 minutes for everything to power up reboot and get back to recording.
Did I mention eyeball cameras? Trouble is (this is a couple of years before I had any cameras) hoodlums seem rather good at popping them out of their bracket and leaving them hanging by their cable - personally I would stick to Bullet or Dome style.
You will need a hard disk - if you have hard disks lying around you can use those up - or you can buy - consider that Hard disks (and RAM and CPU's) are all manufactured and then graded according to quality because they will all come out of the manufacturing process at a different level of quality/tolerance so a hard disk that doesn't make the best grade will be sold as a lower grade - so for Western Digital from lowest to highest is Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Black, Gold and then Ultrastar - pick something with a 5 year warranty and 7200RPM spin speed considering that what does not make the grade as Black drops through the ranks until it becomes a Green 5,000rpm 2 year(awful) warranty (used to be 3 year warranty that generation of WD Greens were quite good) Green - me? I am a fanatic who was going to get a Gold 10TB then instead bought a WD Ultrastar 10TB - both of those are full of Helium instead of air and are then sealed shut by being welded shut using a laser (no kidding - Helium is one of the smallest molecules there is) so no dust or moisture can ever enter the drive which eliminates 2 major Hard Disk failure points - leaving only physical shock and electrical surge.
The irony being that at the time Dahua NVR's and also the free Dahua Smart PSS program that can turn any PC into an NVR will not recognise any 10TB HDD's from anybody because they cannot comprehend such an enormous amount of disk space - anyway decided that a 10TB Ultrastar is simply too good just for recording appalling human riff-raff, derelicts and degenerates so am instead using it for bulk storage for my files and using up other disks instead - have to say the speed of a 10TB Ultrastar is mind blowing for a single spinning disk - can run Virtual Machines on it that are recording CCTV onto another portion of the same disk all virtaulised - wow.
Yes resolution is king for capturing which neighbour is misbehaving (you mention a neighbours Dog - ever seen the film "the 'Burbs"?) - before you know it you will be considering 12MP! For some reason (nobody will tell me why) "WDR" is only available up to 8MP all the 12MP have the supposedly inferior "DWDR" - you do want to be able to identify peoples faces and car number plates when they think they are out of range before they cover up as they approach.
Shielded Cat5e STP cable is cheap and plentiful solid copper core only and no patch cables re voltage drop - buy decent quality ends to crimp on for some reason people compete to buy the cheapest RJ45 connectors known to man and then are surprised they have to keep cutting them off and replacing them - the gold plating is thinner among other things.
Consider lens angle - the part number I list is about 120 degree horizontal coverage - the neighbours will not be safe where they think they cannot be seen - think about it - lens angle means you can cover a huge area with a high resolution to back it up everybody is in range even when they think they are not!
Hope you gain from my experience! Click "Like" if you want.
I have Dahua IPC-HFW5831E-ZE which has the ability to see in full colour at night just with the neighbourhood streetlights - when there was a power cut the UPS supplied power and the IR led's on the cameras came on and the image went to black and white - power came back - cameras back to colour IR led's went out and UPS started recharging its batteries.
Choice of camera body - the model I listed is a bullet camera that probably offers the best image quality as the lens is looking through a straight piece of plastic and the 4 IR led's cannot reflect into the lens HOWEVER you want to mount the cameras as low to the ground as you dare to get shots of peoples faces under hats etc. BUT those people will take flying leaps at the cameras to try and swivel them away from looking at what you are protecting - it takes them about 5 minutes of flying leaps before the camera is finally looking somewhere else - they can only move them very slowly with a lot of perseverance - then they realise the cameras are installed in pairs at opposite ends of the building looking at each other - then they run off!
Having said that you may want a dome camera instead so it is impossible to adjust which way the camera is looking/pointing - change the HFW part of the model number to get the same camera specification in a different dome style case HOWEVER there might be a slight compromise in image quality as the lens is now effectively looking out through a fishbowl and there might be slight IR reflections as IR led's and lens are now looking through the same piece of fishbowl BUT nobody can move your camera so camera security protection will be maintained - probably use a bracket with the dome camera so dome hangs down re rain and IR reflections at dome edge.
The varifocal (power zoom) lenses are higher quality optically so give a better image than the fixed lens cameras - worth having even if you never zoom them in.
Get out your mobile phone go up a ladder and take pictures from where you are thinking of putting the cameras - it will make you think.
Think that YouTube video is the South African Ecological time - his heart is in the right place but for some reason he has bought 4+ NVRs none of which are in the higher Dahua 5000 model range - which matters otherwise you will not have IVS on the timeline which he complains about but continues to still buy NVR's below the 5000 range - having said that Dahua used to support IVS on a handful of the sub 5000 series NVRs and removed that NVR IVS support with a firmware update for those NVR's (from what I have been told) so maybe Phil from SA got it right originally before Dahua nailed him?!
Run it over PoE using either a PoE network switch or a NVR with built in PoE - use a UPS to power it all - otherwise a 10 second power cut means around 2 minutes for everything to power up reboot and get back to recording.
Did I mention eyeball cameras? Trouble is (this is a couple of years before I had any cameras) hoodlums seem rather good at popping them out of their bracket and leaving them hanging by their cable - personally I would stick to Bullet or Dome style.
You will need a hard disk - if you have hard disks lying around you can use those up - or you can buy - consider that Hard disks (and RAM and CPU's) are all manufactured and then graded according to quality because they will all come out of the manufacturing process at a different level of quality/tolerance so a hard disk that doesn't make the best grade will be sold as a lower grade - so for Western Digital from lowest to highest is Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Black, Gold and then Ultrastar - pick something with a 5 year warranty and 7200RPM spin speed considering that what does not make the grade as Black drops through the ranks until it becomes a Green 5,000rpm 2 year(awful) warranty (used to be 3 year warranty that generation of WD Greens were quite good) Green - me? I am a fanatic who was going to get a Gold 10TB then instead bought a WD Ultrastar 10TB - both of those are full of Helium instead of air and are then sealed shut by being welded shut using a laser (no kidding - Helium is one of the smallest molecules there is) so no dust or moisture can ever enter the drive which eliminates 2 major Hard Disk failure points - leaving only physical shock and electrical surge.
The irony being that at the time Dahua NVR's and also the free Dahua Smart PSS program that can turn any PC into an NVR will not recognise any 10TB HDD's from anybody because they cannot comprehend such an enormous amount of disk space - anyway decided that a 10TB Ultrastar is simply too good just for recording appalling human riff-raff, derelicts and degenerates so am instead using it for bulk storage for my files and using up other disks instead - have to say the speed of a 10TB Ultrastar is mind blowing for a single spinning disk - can run Virtual Machines on it that are recording CCTV onto another portion of the same disk all virtaulised - wow.
Yes resolution is king for capturing which neighbour is misbehaving (you mention a neighbours Dog - ever seen the film "the 'Burbs"?) - before you know it you will be considering 12MP! For some reason (nobody will tell me why) "WDR" is only available up to 8MP all the 12MP have the supposedly inferior "DWDR" - you do want to be able to identify peoples faces and car number plates when they think they are out of range before they cover up as they approach.
Shielded Cat5e STP cable is cheap and plentiful solid copper core only and no patch cables re voltage drop - buy decent quality ends to crimp on for some reason people compete to buy the cheapest RJ45 connectors known to man and then are surprised they have to keep cutting them off and replacing them - the gold plating is thinner among other things.
Consider lens angle - the part number I list is about 120 degree horizontal coverage - the neighbours will not be safe where they think they cannot be seen - think about it - lens angle means you can cover a huge area with a high resolution to back it up everybody is in range even when they think they are not!
Hope you gain from my experience! Click "Like" if you want.
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
Lots of incorrect information spewed in that manifesto.
AP514
Pulling my weight
IAmATeaf
Known around here
According to that post my system is more wrong than right
Shielded cat cabling LOL.
Dahua eyeball style cameras with a full metal housing are definitely not easy to pop, as the housing is secured by a torx screw which will allow for some great face captures as it's on the front of the housing.
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
Cat 5e is just fine for security cameras. If you want to future proof, then Cat 6.
The main thing that I've learned looney2ns, is that as long as an ethernet cable is terminated with rj45 connectors it's all good.
CAT8 cable is only just hitting the market, but the improved shielding and lower resistance sounds interesting. But prices aren't good yet and it's going to be a while before they come down, then how many folks will mislabel cables to make more money.
Still got to learn how to terminate my own yet, but the field connectors sound great for the NVR/switch/hub end of the cables. As reusable and kind of click fit, but the only way to tell is to try them out.
So what connector manufacturers can folks recommend?
CAT8 cable is only just hitting the market, but the improved shielding and lower resistance sounds interesting. But prices aren't good yet and it's going to be a while before they come down, then how many folks will mislabel cables to make more money.
Still got to learn how to terminate my own yet, but the field connectors sound great for the NVR/switch/hub end of the cables. As reusable and kind of click fit, but the only way to tell is to try them out.
So what connector manufacturers can folks recommend?
SouthernYankee
IPCT Contributor
This statement is completely wrong.
The main thing that I've learned looney2ns, is that as long as an ethernet cable is terminated with rj45 connectors it's all good.
The cable must be terminated by the standard, and must have the correct order of the colors and twists. Building a cable correctly is a lot of detailed work.
There was a case just the past 9 days or so on the forum where a member had a cable that passed the continuity tester but would not work, he rebuilt the cable correctly and it work.
ipcamtalk.com
The main thing that I've learned looney2ns, is that as long as an ethernet cable is terminated with rj45 connectors it's all good.
The cable must be terminated by the standard, and must have the correct order of the colors and twists. Building a cable correctly is a lot of detailed work.
There was a case just the past 9 days or so on the forum where a member had a cable that passed the continuity tester but would not work, he rebuilt the cable correctly and it work.
Foscam PTZ connected via Ethernet cable... nothing showing.
Foscam Outdoor PTZ FI9928P, 170 feet away from my home, connected to router with 246 feet of burial cat-5 shielded cable. This is the second camera I have installed the exact same way, the other camera works flawlessly. I used a UbiGear Cable Tester and have verified that there are no breaks...
SouthernYankee, of course they have to be correctly wired. But that's covered by the rj45 standard, anything else is a deviation from that standard.
www.showmecables.com
RJ45 Pinout
The RJ45 connector is a modular 8 position, 8 pin connector used for terminating Cat5e or Cat6 twisted pair cable. See the RJ45 Pinout on this page!
area651
Getting comfortable
c
Ah! No kits make perfect sense. I never thought about certain cameras working best according to their placement and limitations. I think I’d like to just “start” with an NVR, and graduate to a PC loaded with Blue Iris once I’ve gotten my feet wet. Is that a difficult transition?
Thank you! I'm willing to learn and give it a try, but it's definitely a challenge.