Jon01

We are looking to install a surveillance system on one property with, ideally, remote viewing capability from another sites, getting notifications and being able to view footage manually if possible. Both sites have Internet access. Eventually, we need systems on multiple properties but for budget reasons, we are starting with the one. At a minimum, the site would have 3 cameras. Likely we would like to start with a basic system and add cameras when money becomes available or when we determine more coverage is needed. There is a separate garage about 20' from the main building on which we need to mount at least one camera. The minimum installation would be a camera on the garage covering the back of the main building and one on the main building covering the garage, and one on the porch covering the main building front entrance. A fourth camera might be warranted above the porch roof as we have heard of people going out on the porch roof to access apartments. The garage and fourth location would likely have around a 100' run to get to the recorder location. We are open to solutions, from a DIY NVR with turnkey cameras to a turnkey system. We need or want to have enough resolution to use pictures in court or with the Police if needed. Budget is a major concern, but the resolution and the ability to add cameras are very important. We have two other sites minimum we want to add systems to, so a turnkey system with more than 3 cameras would be fine as maybe we could split the cameras up using a second NVR. Unless advised otherwise, we are thinking of using POE based systems if possible using motion detection based storage. For the garage, we are thinking to run the cable along with the cable and Internet cables. Would we need to use a wire support cable? We are currently researching Lorex, Samsung, Hikvision, Dahua, ...

First time poster. I'm looking to quickly (in one or two weeks if possible) install a basic surveillance system on each of two properties. I first present my main question (which cameras to get), and follow this by more background details and a few related questions. I've been researching cameras and systems on and off for several months, but have no prior experience implementing such systems. Thus, I am posting these questions and any answers will be greatly appreciated. Main question: Each system will, at least initially, watch a single designated area during both day and night to monitor the presence of people and cars as well as to document the activities of any people in the area (these systems will document ongoing trespassing and vandalism). Each designated area is 20 to 40 feet from where the camera will be and, ideally, the camera will cover at least 20 feet in width at that distance. I would like video/images to be recorded only when motion is detected. The resolution of the images should be sufficient so: (1) that, if a printed image is shown to someone in the image, they won't reasonably be able to deny they are in the image; (2) that, if a printed image is shown to the police, the police cannot reasonably say that people in the image are unidentifiable; (3) the images can hold up in court as evidence if needed; and (4) that license plate numbers are readable (I understand this may be difficult to do at night). The question is, which camera(s) would be the best to get, given that I would want to keep cost down but not sacrifice reliability in the long run. (Typical images, both day and night, produced by any suggested cameras would greatly help.) Background detail: Ideally, the camera(s) will be mounted indoors looking outside, concealed as best as possible. At one property, the camera(s) will look down from a second story window to a street lit at night by a streetlight. At the other property, the camera(s) will look out from a first story house window to a garage and driveway. The side of the garage that will face the camera is open (no wall) with no lights inside and no lights shining into the garage at night. There is a streetlight beside the garage near the back, at the entrance to the driveway, that illuminates the driveway at night. I'm guessing that this may pose dynamic range problems for this camera, as I hope the camera will cover both the driveway and the garage. In both cases, the future plan is that the cameras can be mounted outside in enclosures once the current trespassing has been documented. Also, in the future, additional cameras will need to be added to survey other areas on at least one of the properties. I have been researching cameras such as Arecont AV3130 or AV5105DN; Axis P1336; Bosch NWC-0900; etc., but haven't researched high dynamic range cameras yet. The Areconts seem like they may be good for the job, but I understand that Arecont cameras can be difficult to interface with in Linux, which is my preferred operating system. As with most people, I would like to keep costs at a minimum, but would rather get a more expensive system than one that doesn't quite meet my requirements. I am hoping to implement the system on a custom built computer running Linux with, likely, Zoneminder. I would prefer to not have to pay a license fees or the MS Windows tax, but will if the best software for the job requires it. For example, I understand that some non-free MS Windows programs (e.g., Blue Iris) might be more reliable than Zoneminder. Once implemented, it is likely that I will not have Internet access to these systems and may not be able to check on them for one or two weeks at a time (they will be at rental properties), thus reliability of the software/system is a high priority. Followup questions: (1) Any advice on which software to use? (2) Any advice on a minimum fps to ensure that activity, people, and cars are adequately recorded, given the evidentiary requirements above? (3) Any advice or hints on how to conceal the cameras? (4) Any recommendations of enclosures to use given that they may become targets of thrown stones or such?