cah027

I was reading someone else s post today and they were saying that Dahua has some new and improved cams coming out next month. I might wait for those. Can someone point me to a reliable source to purchase them? I see some people talking about getting them straight from China for a lot less money. Is there a reliable Chinese dealer online? Thanks

ok..My house is 38" wide and my driveway is 43' to the street. according the the pelco tool, I would need about a 6mm lens on a 1/3" sensor. I used the IPC-HFW2100 as an example for my driveway cam. I am not sure this little camera would even be a possibility but it looks pretty good on paper. Here is a view from the street up my drive Here is the view holding the camera just above the garage door as high as I could reach. From the back of my house to the barn its 21' Here is a view from the barn: I have a couple of different mounting locations in the back I would consider. One right about the door. (held camera about the door and took a picture) The other option is to mount it on the far corner of the house opposite of the barn. ( I held the camera out the the window closest to the corner of the house to simulate the view.) Here is what I entered into the tool for the IPC-HDBW3300P. Maybe I could put it on the front western most corner of my house looking across my front yard over to my driveway

Thanks for the suggestions kawboy I don't have windows on either side of my house. Just on the front and back. That is my red truck so I will want something to cover it but its not that important if its too much trouble. Its just an old truck with no radio I was thinking about using the Dahua IPC-HDB3200C 1080P Mini Dome for the driveway (if you think it would be good enough) not sure it has the FOV or zoom settings you mentioned. The street lamp just in front of my truck gives some light at night so if the dome has good low light performance I could make due. I don't have much use for watching the side lots although I might add another cam for that later. I really would like good facial recognition for my shed. I will measure the distance from the back corner of my house to the shed but I think its about 15' . I marked up the pic of my lot. The blue on the west side is were my AC coil is. I would like some coverage in that general area in case someone steals it I could at least get footage of them carrying it off. The red line on the back is where my sliding door is. I might be able to put a cam to the west of it to cover the door and shed ? Maybe I could get a couple of the 720P cams you can get for $299 and use 1 for the front door and use the other elsewhere?

Before I get a drawing created I thought I would post the sat pic of my small property/house. As you can see the back side of my lot is where my mini barn backs up to.. Any suggestions on camera type and placement would be appreciated. I am thinking about going with the Dahua camera hooked up to my PC. The lots to the right will remain empty and undeveloped. There are houses on the other side of my street.

Sounds like you have a well thought out system. I think I will produce a detailed drawing with dimensions and post it here for recommendation. I will need to measure everything so it will probably be within the next few days. I will probably focus on the outside first , then the inside. Thanks

Thanks for the reply Rick. I will look into the Vivotek cams. I am certainly leaning towards the MP IP cams now. There just so many to choose from. I am working on a drawing of my house to plan out my cam needs. I need to figure minimum coverage needed. Thanks again

Ah.. very good point on keeping it all one brand and getting free software. Thanks again for the replies. I really appreciate it. Now I have some home work..

What budget would you recommend for a mid-grade ip system? I have all of the network cabling I need. I also have a PC I could use instead of a DVR if it would fit better cams into the budget. I would do all of the install myself. I may need to find a good place to order the Dahua stuff if we have to double the budget to get a better brand.

Thanks for the reply.. I just had a $140 dlink and a cheap made in china foscam clone. So thats how cheap I've been so far. I am a super novice when it comes to this stuff So are you saying my $2000 budget is too low to get something decent ? I don't necessarily need 8 cams but would like 8 ch dvr for future expansion if need be. I could probably make due with 5 or 6 cams to start. If I have to go over budget some I could. Thanks again.