perrin

I just got this in at 7pm, so i dont have any external installation feedback yet. Hooked up the NVR (quiet, low fan hum, not loud like previous comments) and all 6 cameras and ran it through a gamut. The IR cutoff switches over fairly easily, and night vision mode is decent out to 10-15 feet for clear facial recognition. Overall the live view playback seems grainy however, but I have yet to pull any footage off the NVR itself yet, and im operating in very poor conditions (floor of my office with all the cameras stacked on top of boxes. Looking through the feature set, this NVR has signal/power loss alarm state triggering which is really nice. Someone goes to smash a camera, itll trigger an alarm and sent you a couple jpgs in an email and pull the last 5-10 second video stream before power loss if you want it. Thats a very beneficial feature. I had a brief setup hickup where one camera would not recognize, but after switching out cables, and switching out cameras, it appears it may actually be a software glitch. You can manually select the stream from the camera and it works fine, but was showing no signal in live view 1+5. However, after cycling a bit and messing around, this resolved itself and all 6 cameras record cleanly at 1080p, 25fps in this NVR. This has some decent processing power to it.

The noise comments were greatly exaggerated. This thing isnt any noiser than most 17 inch laptops. Its not by any means hairblower loud, and not even close to cisco switch loud. In fact, I would call it quiet. Not silent, but quiet. You lose the sound when you're more than 15 feet away from it.

Well, at least a number of productive posts came in before the elitism. Yes, there are far better products, which cost far more. I would be glad to install a better system, if you would be glad to send me another 2-4k dollars

Not all email/picture attachment alerts are created equal from unit to unit. It's best to get an eyeball on the user manual for your chosen nvr system when you're deciding. You want to make sure it sends video loss emails with picture attachment. A lot of units only attach a picture with motion events- probably the worst of the choices for outdoor cameras because of email flooding. I do email notification with picture attachment for two types of events for outdoor cameras- video loss and power loss. That way, if someone takes out a camera I get a picture of them right before they do it. It's also a good idea to install a camera right by the nvr and aim it for a mug shot. That way if the suspect decides to walk away with the nvr thinking he stole all the evidence too, you'll have an email picture of the video loss & power loss as well- a nice mug shot right at the nvr. I also wish EVERY dvr/nvr manufacturer would make email/picture attachment for video/power loss standard. For a vaction or remote residence I wasn't always at, this would be SOP for me and the install. The Swann System I ended up with (which just came in today, im doing a full writeup) has both video loss, and power loss alarm conditions, which is nice. You can send the last X amount of footage, or snapshots thereof on any alarm condition.

Have you included a "remote" store/backup soution? Also what happens if the power goes down? Or one of your cameras gets cut? do you want to alert anyone/you? battery backed alarm will let me know if the power goes out. If someone is motivated to start knocking down cameras, im pretty much screwed anyway. This isnt to deter/capture hardened criminals with an agenda. Its to provide evidence (if they smash a camera, theyre already on video) and to warn me.

poor lighting all around, so looks like i may have made the right choice. Im there often enough to keep the bugs off, ill have to make a point to do that though and i appreciate the advice

Just ordered this with 6 cameras (4+2) Will provide night video and observations as soon as i set up.

Yep, guess thats the benefit of costco. Went with the swanns, with two additional bullets for a total of 6. Bullets arent ideal for the enclosed porch space, but ill see if i can position them someplace thatll work. Will provide full feedback and videos from the bullets in the thread, including night videos once they arrive.

I wish we knew more about the Swann's. The likelyhood that at least the bullets are hikvision raptors seems pretty high, ultimately it would be nice to find a software NVR solution that supported those.

unfortunately the 8 channel qsee nvr is only POE on 4 channels. Leaves me with a 4 POE camera limit, and id like to stick with POE cameras as best possible. I looked at that, seemed a good option until i saw that. Hmm, as to the Qsee domes, you are right... i assumed they were the equivalent dahua IR model, theyre not, theyre the lesser day only model. Wonder if i can tie a dahua IR dome into the Qsee NVR. Hadnt heard of IPScam or Aote, looking into those now, recommendations on models? Looks like theyre heavily chinese only so not a lot of resources available unless oyu have the right terms.

I have three options on the table (and am certainly open to suggestions as to others). Opinions on the best choice? Environment: Isolated home site, several attempted breakins, burglaries. Woods on three sides. Three doors, wraparound porch, two door under the porch. Desired coverage: View of ingress on all sides of the home with bullet cams, coverage of two main doors under wraparound porch with enough resolution for face recog Conditions: Acceptable resolution and clarity day and night. Option 1: a) Order individual dahua cameras from aliexpress: 4x IPC-HFW2100 for the ingress areas around the home, 2 IPC-HDW2100 for each wing of the wraparound porch b) Buy an 8 port POE switch c) Run Blueiris on existing i5 home server which runs 24/7 already with 8tb dedicated to camera array Price: roughly 1100 after buying the cabling and the switch and shipping Option 2: a) Buy the 4 channel, 4 bullet camera Qsee 720P NVR from Costco: http://www.costco.com/Q-See-4-Channel-HD-Digital-NVR-with-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-4-HD-720p-IP-Cameras.product.100003211.html b) buy single dome camera to try to cover both wings of the porch c) buy new 3.6mm lenses for all bullet cams to expand FOV Price: 850 Limitations: limited coverage on porch due to single dome camera, inability to ever use more than 4 cameras due to NVR limitation Option 3: a) Buy Swann 1080P 8 channel, 4 camera setup from costco: http://www.costco.com/Swann-8-Channel-HD-NVR-Security-System-with-2TB-Hard-Drive-and-4-1080p-IP-Cameras.product.100027599.html b) Install 4 bullets at first, wait for Swann to come out with dome cameras, expand? Price: 899 Limitations: 8 true POE ports on NVR for expansion, limited reviews of system thus far, unknown future camera availibility

yep yep, i read that thread with the m12 lenses, the image was really nice in the screenshots. And yeah, NVR is a good choice if you're not already running a server, ive got a whole rack running already with spare computing power, might as well put some of that power to use if i have it if it can save me some cash. I wouldnt get all the "ooh shiney" q-see software features, but theres enough 3rd party software out there thats nice enough of its own right that I could run it on the server and get similar functionality.

6mm lens on those cameras is a bit restrictive though, wonder if its swappable.

ok, i can work with that, gives me one more camera than i need externally, but thats no big deal, a little extra coverage wont hurt, I can find someplace for it. Catch is im at 200 dollars over budget without cameras for the porch. Now, i dont technically need the DVR and POE switch, but as you said, its pretty much a freebie anyway

http://www.costco.com/Q-See-High-Resolution-600TVL-2-Pack-Cameras.product.11738170.html ok, i see those. I would need to get a bnc card for my server to input them, but that doesnt seem too bad. Those seem like viable options for the ingress cameras. How about a camera for the porch, which is 25 on each wing, and L shaped. I assume I need a different type of camera there as opposed to the unidirectional bullet cams