The HookUp ranks the Empiretech T5842 (Dahua IPC-HDW5842T-ZE) as the best affordable camera if night time performance is the main concern

It would be nice, if one of our experts would make some tutorials on Youtube. The Youtubers would loose their viewers.
I would stay away from cameras(brands), that don't advertise their sensor size.
 
It would be nice, if one of our experts would make some tutorials on Youtube. The Youtubers would loose their viewers.
I would stay away from cameras(brands), that don't advertise their sensor size.

A number of us try to guide here on the forum for the wider audience and also in many dedicated 1:1 sessions remotely. This forum then offers a phenomenal (as it already is) resource and thriving community for all. Personally on top of the above assistance offered I also try and feature tips, tricks, configuration assistance in the videos that I put together and share here (hosted on YT as a media platform of course) but as I say all the time, happy to look at feedback for what people want to see next with regards to reviews, comparisons, guides etc and see what I can put together.

Others here have asked if I would consider a GoFundMe (or similar) for things like multi cam comparison shootouts across vendors or categories etc so something else that may or may not be of internet to all of us here. Certainly open to what we all feel collectively may assist and benefit the wider forum.

Another area people may find useful is NVR configs and bringing the best out of an NVR or NVR platform etc. just kicking around some ideas.

The key is to guide people in a way that scales for the deployment or need they have. For example things I might share for global deployments I do with seamless site to site requirements, integrated multi cam setups and high levels of AI would be interesting and useful to some but not to all so I try and share some of the best practices in each potential situation (such as importance of dialing in, PTZ activation and scenarios based demos) to try and help people achieve success regardless of budget, need or deployment targets.

If interested take a look at some of the videos we all share and feel free to DM with some ideas and I’ll take a look
 
After reading through this thread I gather two things. All youtubers are considered a joke and we shouldn't watch the hook up. Other than IPCT forums (Video Tutorials are all outdated), are there any video resources that will help us set up the system the "correct" way? I'm just curious Only because I've set up 6 systems in the last 2 years from the hook up's videos and all are working as expected. I get his videos are limited, but so are a lot of people's surveillance needs. From what I learned most people just want SOMETHING, and when I tell them "how about 24/7 recording for up to a month or more with remote access and zero recurring fees?", the answer is usually a sound YES. I always declare I'm not a "Pro" and that they'll get exactly what I am offering. Is there something other than the hook up we should check out?

Hi @ipcamtalking

I wanted to take some time to address more fully some of the issues you are talking about.

1) "I get his videos are limited ( TheHookUp ), but so are a lot of people's surveillance needs"

So, the truth is .. that people's surveillance needs are far more complex than they imagine, as what most new to surveillance / security cameras have impressions shaped by Hollywood TV / Movies and unrealistic ads they believe surveillance and security cameras are far more capable and easy to setup than what they really are.

Dunning-Kruger effect .. plays into this ..

"The Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are. Essentially, low ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence."

So, I would modify this a bit .. basically Those NEW to a subject area, underestimate the complexity.

I've personally done this many times, under estimating how long a new house hold project takes .. under estimating the chances of failures not shown in Youtube videos for example .. ( oh, it looks super easy to tile a shower .. lol .. not .. many custom showers end up leaking .. even those done by professionals. )


2) From what I learned most people just want SOMETHING, ( for surveillance cameras )

Yes absolutely .. however, few really want to spend the money or time they need to setup a good wired solution ..


3) when I tell them "how about 24/7 recording for up to a month or more with remote access and zero recurring fees?", the answer is usually a sound YES ..

and then the follow up question .. HOW much would you be willing to pay for this?


4) ".. with remote access.. "

Need to do this one right .. VPN and all .. not just open ports into your home internet ..


5) Other than IPCT forums (Video Tutorials are all outdated), are there any video resources that will help us set up the system the "correct" way?

Technology is constantly changing .. hard to keep up with that, so the best resources are actually a more general set of resources, similar to what we have in the wiki and are covered in the various Threads.

Just doing the wiring runs, may require significant variations in instructions due to different home / building constructions as well as weather conditions.

Some of the newer homes are designed to be "sealed" "wrapped" and thus you want to run your cables without breaking the house wrap / insultation.

Older houses in some climate zones the walls are empty .. that is not insulated .. and thus less of an issue ..

This is btw why many installers want to install cameras on the soffits .. as they do not then risk breaking any wrap / seal on the wall ..

This is also why it is nice to have vinyl siding as you can easily slip a cat5e under it to the location you want ..
 
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I'm staying out of it.
The Hook up has some good info about getting started in surveilance stuff, and the Forum has more in depth info about surveillance stuff. and we dont have a tutorial on LED lighting for the Bar.
 
After reading through this thread I gather two things. All youtubers are considered a joke and we shouldn't watch the hook up. Other than IPCT forums (Video Tutorials are all outdated), are there any video resources that will help us set up the system the "correct" way? I'm just curious Only because I've set up 6 systems in the last 2 years from the hook up's videos and all are working as expected. I get his videos are limited, but so are a lot of people's surveillance needs. From what I learned most people just want SOMETHING, and when I tell them "how about 24/7 recording for up to a month or more with remote access and zero recurring fees?", the answer is usually a sound YES. I always declare I'm not a "Pro" and that they'll get exactly what I am offering. Is there something other than the hook up we should check out?

What cameras did you use for these 6 systems that are working as expected?
 
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What happened to the good old days of actually reading sH$t? This fourm is loaded with valuable information if you just read/search for days, months and years.

EXACTLY!!!!!

@ipcamtalking - Isn't everyone an expert on YouTube LOL...just remember many of those videos are by people being paid promotional dollars by a vendor and/or receiving revenue by YouTube based on number of hits they get and/or some affiliate discount. In the past few months we have seen many people come here after being burned by hookup...

Plus, when someone has 200,000+ subscribers, inevitably they will start to push consumer grade stuff that is "plug-n-play" because they do not want to take thousands of posts asking what does this setting do and what does that setting do...

I would suggest finding the reviews for the cameras here. You will find much better examples here than out on YouTube or Amazon. The members here put them through their paces. Most of the YouTube videos just use auto settings and many do not show motion, so the images look great. It is motion at night that we are interested in, and every review of cameras here have folks providing video clips of their camera in action at multiple settings and shutter speeds, etc. Auto settings results in blur and ghosts during motion at night and is useless. Most Amazon reviews if they include images are static images of no motion.

Regardless of the item, I have found most Amazon reviews to be useless LOL. Even more so when I know something about a product and see either great or poor reviews on it when I have first-hand experience of the product.

Plus the YouTube videos tend to be full productions for the likes and thus YouTube revenue, where the folks here post videos for the sole sake of letting others know how well or not the cameras perform. Now some here do an excellent job of post-production of the reviews of cameras with text narrative and overlays of the settings, etc., but most of us just put out raw video for you to see for yourself.

A great camera can be placed at the wrong spot, which then leads to bad reviews on an otherwise great camera. Likewise, a novice surveillance camera user goes by static images and boasts about how great a camera is when it really isn't very good with motion. So if someone calls it a security camera, then maybe do not put much stock in what they say :lmao:

This forum allows others to actually see videos of these cameras at locations and can then make a determination on if that is similar to their situation (lighting, distance, etc.) and would that camera be the right or wrong selection for what they are trying to achieve.

As you start searching here, you will see many here talk about Andy's or Nelly's cameras (two of many vendors on this site. We have a rep from Amcrest and others here as well), but lets face it, those cameras are OEMs of Dahua or Hikvision, so talking about them also covers Amcrest, Lorex, Annke, etc.

And occasionally someone does post here some video showing some great quality from a cheaper no name camera, but it is rare. Even rarer to see good nighttime performance from the consumer grade cameras one finds at the big box stores.

But we have posts dedicated to Reolinks and others and we openly invite folks that come here and say how great those cams are to post examples of their excellent video quality. Have we seen that excellent video quality at night with motion....nope.

Just scroll through this thread where people that say their reo's provide great video and they provide an example and it is ghost/blur city at night.

Until someone can post a great night image or video of motion from the Rings, Reolinks, Nest, etc. of the world, you won't find many here to recommend them.
 
I have to concur with regards to the overall quality of security / surveillance camera reviews I have seen on most consumer websites as well as Amazon.

" .. I have found most Amazon reviews to be useless LOL. .. " - Wittaj

Unfortunately few know what to look for when evaluating security / surveillance cameras, especially if this is their first cheap kit.


EXACTLY!!!!!

@ipcamtalking - Isn't everyone an expert on YouTube LOL...just remember many of those videos are by people being paid promotional dollars by a vendor and/or receiving revenue by YouTube based on number of hits they get and/or some affiliate discount. In the past few months we have seen many people come here after being burned by hookup...

Plus, when someone has 200,000+ subscribers, inevitably they will start to push consumer grade stuff that is "plug-n-play" because they do not want to take thousands of posts asking what does this setting do and what does that setting do...

I would suggest finding the reviews for the cameras here. You will find much better examples here than out on YouTube or Amazon. The members here put them through their paces. Most of the YouTube videos just use auto settings and many do not show motion, so the images look great. It is motion at night that we are interested in, and every review of cameras here have folks providing video clips of their camera in action at multiple settings and shutter speeds, etc. Auto settings results in blur and ghosts during motion at night and is useless. Most Amazon reviews if they include images are static images of no motion.

Regardless of the item, I have found most Amazon reviews to be useless LOL. Even more so when I know something about a product and see either great or poor reviews on it when I have first-hand experience of the product.

Plus the YouTube videos tend to be full productions for the likes and thus YouTube revenue, where the folks here post videos for the sole sake of letting others know how well or not the cameras perform. Now some here do an excellent job of post-production of the reviews of cameras with text narrative and overlays of the settings, etc., but most of us just put out raw video for you to see for yourself.

A great camera can be placed at the wrong spot, which then leads to bad reviews on an otherwise great camera. Likewise, a novice surveillance camera user goes by static images and boasts about how great a camera is when it really isn't very good with motion. So if someone calls it a security camera, then maybe do not put much stock in what they say :lmao:

This forum allows others to actually see videos of these cameras at locations and can then make a determination on if that is similar to their situation (lighting, distance, etc.) and would that camera be the right or wrong selection for what they are trying to achieve.

As you start searching here, you will see many here talk about Andy's or Nelly's cameras (two of many vendors on this site. We have a rep from Amcrest and others here as well), but lets face it, those cameras are OEMs of Dahua or Hikvision, so talking about them also covers Amcrest, Lorex, Annke, etc.

And occasionally someone does post here some video showing some great quality from a cheaper no name camera, but it is rare. Even rarer to see good nighttime performance from the consumer grade cameras one finds at the big box stores.

But we have posts dedicated to Reolinks and others and we openly invite folks that come here and say how great those cams are to post examples of their excellent video quality. Have we seen that excellent video quality at night with motion....nope.

Just scroll through this thread where people that say their reo's provide great video and they provide an example and it is ghost/blur city at night.

Until someone can post a great night image or video of motion from the Rings, Reolinks, Nest, etc. of the world, you won't find many here to recommend them.
 
I have to concur with regards to the overall quality of security / surveillance camera reviews I have seen on most consumer websites as well as Amazon.

" .. I have found most Amazon reviews to be useless LOL. .. " - Wittaj

Unfortunately few know what to look for when evaluating security / surveillance cameras, especially if this is their first cheap kit.
As far as my opinion on YouTube cam videos being good, I really don't know. I watched a few before I found IPCAMTALK and really did not know anything about cams at that time.

Once I found IPCAMTALK, I have never looked at those reviews/videos/websites again.