SECURITY CAMERA SYSTEM QUEST

Stanley71

Getting the hang of it
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I started my quest trying to find a camera system that suited my needs. I was looking for something simple and easy to setup. Store bought systems such as thoughs from box stores were very intriguing but lacked many of the options I was looking for. I assumed the box store systems would be fairly simple and use an NVR for recordings. After hours upon hours of research mostly on this forum I decided on using Blue Iris vs a system from a box store using an NVR. I purchased a computer, POE switch, BI software, and a few cameras. Being naive I thought the setup would be straight forward and somewhat simile. My first misconception. After getting my new computer, not with out its problems I installed BI without a issue. I even emailed support and got a very quick response, impressive. My next step was installing a POE managed switch. Very simple instructions were included with the switch. From here everything went downhill. The instructions were useless and I couldn’t get the switch installed correctly. Support for the product proved not to be much help. I posted my problem to this site and as usual Mr. F came to the rescue. With his help I was able to get the switch installed properly, still with great difficulty and hours of trial and error. I’m kind of disguised at this point with the difficulty getting an IP camera system up and running. Next is setting up BI and installing cameras. I hope this is a little less exsaperating than setting up the POE switch. Granted I have zero experience with computers and camera systems but it shouldn’t be this difficult. I’m still not convince a store bought system would be any better. What I do know without the assistance of Mr. F and others I would just give up at this point.

If I knew what I know now I would never have started this venture. I would have hired someone to install a system. It’s only because of people like Mr F and others that I continue this project. Anyone trying to decide upon a camera system should think twice about proceeding unless you are at least computer and network proficient. If you have the time, money aside, it’s an interesting experience.

Thank you Mr. Fenderman and others for your assistance in my project. I’ll have many more questions I’m sure as I continue. Tomorrow I install cameras to switch, I quess. Should be interesting. Amazon
 

fenderman

Staff member
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I started my quest trying to find a camera system that suited my needs. I was looking for something simple and easy to setup. Store bought systems such as thoughs from box stores were very intriguing but lacked many of the options I was looking for. I assumed the box store systems would be fairly simple and use an NVR for recordings. After hours upon hours of research mostly on this forum I decided on using Blue Iris vs a system from a box store using an NVR. I purchased a computer, POE switch, BI software, and a few cameras. Being naive I thought the setup would be straight forward and somewhat simile. My first misconception. After getting my new computer, not with out its problems I installed BI without a issue. I even emailed support and got a very quick response, impressive. My next step was installing a POE managed switch. Very simple instructions were included with the switch. From here everything went downhill. The instructions were useless and I couldn’t get the switch installed correctly. Support for the product proved not to be much help. I posted my problem to this site and as usual Mr. F came to the rescue. With his help I was able to get the switch installed properly, still with great difficulty and hours of trial and error. I’m kind of disguised at this point with the difficulty getting an IP camera system up and running. Next is setting up BI and installing cameras. I hope this is a little less exsaperating than setting up the POE switch. Granted I have zero experience with computers and camera systems but it shouldn’t be this difficult. I’m still not convince a store bought system would be any better. What I do know without the assistance of Mr. F and others I would just give up at this point.

If I knew what I know now I would never have started this venture. I would have hired someone to install a system. It’s only because of people like Mr F and others that I continue this project. Anyone trying to decide upon a camera system should think twice about proceeding unless you are at least computer and network proficient. If you have the time, money aside, it’s an interesting experience.

Thank you Mr. Fenderman and others for your assistance in my project. I’ll have many more questions I’m sure as I continue. Tomorrow I install cameras to switch, I quess. Should be interesting. Amazon
Hiring someone would result in them installing a shitting plug and play NVR that you could have done yourself...
There is no more difficulty in installing that kind of system than an analog system.
You also could have avoided much of your trouble by installing an unmanaged switch...no installer would have installed a managed switch for you..
you dont have to be network proficient to install these systems..your average installers knows not much more than you do...
Over the years I have seen school teachers and accountants install BI systems with no problem...
 

mat200

IPCT Contributor
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Hi Stanley,

Thanks for sharing your experience, it's good to remember that some aspects of setting up a security camera can take more patience than we at first imagine. Great to hear Fenderman was able to assist.

With regards to a obtaining a quick and easy setup:

1) Buy NVR with PoE ports
2) Buy HDD
3) Buy Cameras
4) Connect to cameras via cat5e pre-made cables to NVR
5) Attach monitor and mouse to NVR
6) Power on - recording works.

Getting the basics work does not take too much work. ( cabling the home of course is a different story ) - this is the typical goal for many security installers, get the customer to this point, basic functionality.

Now, the tuning and motion detection / IVS rules are extra work - security installers may or may not help much here.

Internet connection options - additional complexity - again the security installers may not provide the best help beyond the basics here - and unless you have a monthly service / monitoring contract have little incentive to keep it secure from attackers - so they may not even bother with setting up a VPN.

In the end once you have invested time to learn your system you will have a much better and robust setup than what a typical installer would have provided without a monthly service contract.
 
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