cctvnewbiie

Ive been thinking about what cameras to use for my front door surveillance but there isn't a place to put a camera without being extremely visible or in reach for vandalism. I've been looking at little mini 1inchx1inch cameras that can be hard to notice and at face level for identifying who is at the front door or porch area. Any experience with these and if so, how is their performance?

I recently purchased an 8channel Qsee IP camera system that came with 4 cameras and a QC818 NVR. I put the motion detection settings at the lowest possible sensitivity but trees moving back and forth (and the shadows of the trees moving) kept triggering my motion detector even after clearing out the red areas which pick up detection as stated in supplied manual. Problem persisted so I called Qsee and they sent me another manual which stated that the "clear" areas pick up motion, not the red areas. Problem still persisted so they told me to reset cameras and NVR and to try changing my sensitivity from 1 to 6 because in some models 1 is least and others it is highest sensitivity, in which I did but it still kept on detecting. Last thing I did was change setting so that all motion squares were clear and it picked up motion and then I set it to where all motion squares were red, and it still picked up motion. So no matter if the motion squares are all cleared out or all red, motion detection at highest or lowest number, and everything in between, they still pick up motion and it shows up as motion in playback as well. Any ideas on how to fix this? EDIT*** When I change the motion detection settings the NVR constantly says "channel 1 (or 2,3,4) failed to get configration"...yes configuration is spelled wrong on NVR lol. Maybe the failure to get configuration is the root of the problem.

Have it hooked up to a DVR? Are these fairly simple to connect to a DVR and what mm lens do you have on it? Saw some that go up to 16mm.

I've been reading about cctv setups for the past few days but I am still clueless as what to get. I was initially looking at a setup up from Lorex that comes with 8 cameras that have 90ft night vision, 500gb dvr, and a 21.5 inch touch screen monitor. I think this is the perfect setup because of the touch screen interface such as switching only recording foot traffic on driveway but not background traffic, or alerting when there's movement, recording only if there movement, etc (heres a vid that shows the interface ), but I've been reading on this forum that Lorex is pretty low quality stuff. I'm looking for a 4-8 camera setup that has quality picture which will show good enough video to identify someone from about 30ft away or show license plates as well (quite a few car break around here and people driving around checking cars at night and our cars have been vandalized before). I also prefer a setup such as the Lorex setup which does not rely on a computer or online storage. So basically I want my setup to have 1 camera facing the driveway which can operate at night and has the quality to identify someone on the driveway or identify license plates from a car parking right in front of my house which would be around 30-40ft out from the camera. 1 camera which can identify a person walking up to the door. Walkway is about 20ft from driveway to front door. Night vision would be plus but the porch light might be enough. Several other cameras to cover backyard and maybe 1 or 2 for inside the house which can be activated when I leave the house. Some sort of way to hook up to tv, pc screen, or monitor so whatever is going on can be seen easily And did I mention quality? Don't want to spend money if the camera is worthless and can't identify who is ringing my door bell or if the dvr recordings are of low quality. Budget is around 1,500. Might have to compromise the 8 cameras I would like but better to have 3 or 4 awesome cameras than 8 low quality ones. Thanks

Yeah that why I said I "was initially" thinking of the Lorex but read that it is cheapy so that why I came here for advice. I also said that I'm going to compromise an 8 camera set up for an awesome 3-4 camera set up. Sorry if I came off as a know it all or something because well, I really know nothing about CCTV, I just want the right set up from the get go lol I think I would prefer a good PTZ camera on my driveway because I could always use it as a regular camera but could zoom in and out to get the sweet spot and use it as a PTZ if needed. I have read quite a few good CNB 24vf reviews on this forum. I was on their website but noticed I couldn't buy directly from them. Any good site suggestions for picking these up? As far as a dedicated dvr and good software, which can do the same as the Lorex such as set to record only during activity and alerts and such, but without, well getting a Lorex. lol

Read the thread and it seems like the set up is ok at best. I'm looking for something a little better. I would want to add cameras such as PZT cameras and I'm not sure how that would go with that costco set up. So from what I understand, there can be a good set up as far as cameras go, but if the dvr is low quality, it will make that whole system low quality?