Vote on best solution for my surveillance system

[Avgdude4321]

Hi all, I am a newbie here who has done some research on this site. I am finally ready to chime in and solicit advice. Here is what I think my needs are:

• Private U.S. residence in a high-density area, needing only 5/6 external PoE cameras (I already have a doorbell cam)
• I have very average residential security needs so Blue Iris is beyond my needs I think. However I am willing to pay for better quality and ease of use as I am not a “coder” level tech person but more tech savvy than the average consumer
• The biggest issue is that I am still confused about what products are considered safe from China. Is it a non-issue if I get a camera with US firmware? And if that’s the case is everything Dahua-made and I should just shop features and price? I will be using it with a NVR preferably of the same brand for convenience and ease.
• I think the turret style of camera housing works best for me. I do not need PTZ.
• I think it is amazing that this community has developed some product procurement avenues. Should I be going down this route as well or once I’ve selected a package should I just buy it on the Internet?
• Am I wrong in thinking that once installed the system should be fairly low maintenance? I’m willing to purchase a system from a retailer/etailer if they provide human support for their products.

No doubt I failed to mention a few details to complete the picture so feel free to ask any other bits of info I left out. Thanks again for any advice.

 

[ludshed]

I’d have to ask what kind of warranty and support are you expecting?

 

[Holbs]

1.) post a picture of your google map house and surrounding area. And place cameras where you think they fit your needs. Decide if you need closeup pix or distant pix. Are cams to identify faces or just to see if a HUMAN is in the area?
what outdoor lighting do you have?
by default, I would always say go Blue Iris route as the adjustment, fine tuning, manipulation, interaction, convenience, upward compatability, lots of bells and whistles, the community support, too much more to list...surely outweight any NVR. However, I also see the other side of the fence in that a NVR is plug & play friendly for the technically challenged.

2.) Today, you have a very average residential security need. What about after someone slices your tires? Breaks your car windows? Your kids get jumped outfront? Someone drives through your fence? Take it from me... TODAY you have an average need. TOMORROW could be different.

3.) Confused about a product? But everything from Empirecandy / Andy here. All those who have bought from him (hundreds hundreds of cameras and nvr's I assume) will stand by his side. If in doubt, purchase Dahua's/Loryta 5442 series to cover all bases.

4.) many do not need PTZ's. But everyone who has one says everyone should have one

5.) But from Andy. Contact him here. He also has Amazon store to purchase from.

6.) After installing any camera system, you have to fine-tune each individual camera 2x's: daytime and nighttime. Different lighting, different purposes, different angles.

 

[Avgdude4321]

I’d have to ask what kind of warranty and support are you expecting?

Industry standard warranty would be good enough for me. I failed to mention that I just returned a UniFi system of 5 G4 dome cameras and the cloud key as my NVR because they offer no human support. All I need is a human being to either answer a phone or an email and unify barely was able to email me back one answer every two days.

 

[fenderman]

Industry standard warranty would be good enough for me. I failed to mention that I just returned a UniFi system of 5 G4 dome cameras and the cloud key as my NVR because they offer no human support. All I need is a human being to either answer a phone or an email and unify barely was able to email me back one answer every two days.

If you want human support you will need to find an integrator who is willing to provide that upfront and offer you a package with X amount of hours. Do not buy blue iris do not buy cams from any resellers as call in support is simply not provided. You cannot expect various vendors to provide how to, usability, integration and network support simply because you purchased their product. Otherwise they would have to charge orders of magnitude more for the product.

 

[wittaj]

+1 on the integrator, but be prepared to pay for it.

Do a search here for Lorex or Amcrest (which are Dahua made but with lessor sensors and material) that do offer 1-800 customer call support services, but they are very basic and most that call them know more than the service rep you are calling. They go by a FAQ and if you fall outside of that, sorry for your luck. Many have come here after getting nowhere with the 1-800 customer support service of those providers.

Either lower your quality expectations and go with a consumer based system like a Ring or Arlo that is literally scan a QR code and be up and running in 10 minutes with basically no maintenance because they do not really allow for customization OR learn about this stuff OR pay someone to do it for you.

 

[mat200]

Hi all, I am a newbie here who has done some research on this site. I am finally ready to chime in and solicit advice. Here is what I think my needs are:

• Private U.S. residence in a high-density area, needing only 5/6 external PoE cameras (I already have a doorbell cam)
• I have very average residential security needs so Blue Iris is beyond my needs I think. However I am willing to pay for better quality and ease of use as I am not a “coder” level tech person but more tech savvy than the average consumer
• The biggest issue is that I am still confused about what products are considered safe from China. Is it a non-issue if I get a camera with US firmware? And if that’s the case is everything Dahua-made and I should just shop features and price? I will be using it with a NVR preferably of the same brand for convenience and ease.
• I think the turret style of camera housing works best for me. I do not need PTZ.
• I think it is amazing that this community has developed some product procurement avenues. Should I be going down this route as well or once I’ve selected a package should I just buy it on the Internet?
• Am I wrong in thinking that once installed the system should be fairly low maintenance? I’m willing to purchase a system from a retailer/etailer if they provide human support for their products.

No doubt I failed to mention a few details to complete the picture so feel free to ask any other bits of info I left out. Thanks again for any advice.

Welcome @Avgdude4321

imho best to get ONE decent varifocal IP PoE camera and a small PoE switch or other power source and start to play with it before jumping into a bigger setup.

 

[Avgdude4321]

1.) post a picture of your google map house and surrounding area. And place cameras where you think they fit your needs. Decide if you need closeup pix or distant pix. Are cams to identify faces or just to see if a HUMAN is in the area?
what outdoor lighting do you have?
by default, I would always say go Blue Iris route as the adjustment, fine tuning, manipulation, interaction, convenience, upward compatability, lots of bells and whistles, the community support, too much more to list...surely outweight any NVR. However, I also see the other side of the fence in that a NVR is plug & play friendly for the technically challenged.

2.) Today, you have a very average residential security need. What about after someone slices your tires? Breaks your car windows? Your kids get jumped outfront? Someone drives through your fence? Take it from me... TODAY you have an average need. TOMORROW could be different.

3.) Confused about a product? But everything from Empirecandy / Andy here. All those who have bought from him (hundreds hundreds of cameras and nvr's I assume) will stand by his side. If in doubt, purchase Dahua's/Loryta 5442 series to cover all bases.

4.) many do not need PTZ's. But everyone who has one says everyone should have one

5.) But from Andy. Contact him here. He also has Amazon store to purchase from.

6.) After installing any camera system, you have to fine-tune each individual camera 2x's: daytime and nighttime. Different lighting, different purposes, different angles.

Did you mean Empiretech? I couldn’t find Empirecandy Andy or his store on Amazon.

 

[wittaj]

Did you mean Empiretech? I couldn’t find Empirecandy Andy or his store on Amazon.

Yes that is who he meant. Here is the Amazon link.

 

[fenderman]

Did you mean Empiretech? I couldn’t find Empirecandy Andy or his store on Amazon.

Do not buy any empiretech cameras or for that matter cameras from any other reseller, you are wasting their time and money. They will NOT provide you with the phone support you demand. You will end up returning the cams at a cost to the sellers, why would you do this to small businesses?

 

[Holbs]

Did you mean Empiretech? I couldn’t find Empirecandy Andy or his store on Amazon.

Fenderman makes a good point. If you want phone support on demand, the only way is to hire a security company to come out and do the install and setup and training and support. But there goes 1/2 your mortgage.