mattaggie

I personally wouldnt go to the trouble of installing a system unless it were IP and at least 1080. You get what you pay for. $333 for 8 cameras and a DVR is really cheap. Wait and save up your money and get an IP system.

Im not sure Im following you, but the second NIC card needs to have a different subnet as someone above mentioned. So if you network is 192.168.0.X, then second NIC in your DVR needs to be 192.168.1.X. If everything is 192.168.0 then everything is still on the same network. Your second NIC card can be anything, as long as its not 192.168.0. And of course your cameras would then need to match the second NIC subnet. When you do this, you will only be able to access the cameras direclty using their IP address from the DVR, nothing else. Everything else (other PCs, phones, tablets, etc) are on a different network. These other devices would only be able to view the cameras through the DVR.

There is really no way to answer this. It all depends on your needs, software requirements, IP or non-IP, level of skills for installation. Personally, I use Geovision.

I'm not a professional but do camera stuff for my business and the occassional side job. No you dont need a college degree. Its pretty easy to learn. It helps if you are comfortable with electronics and computers. Not afraid to get dirty or get on ladders. Basically, you learn by doing. So get to doing.

No big deal to do. You just need to connect your POE switch directly the the second NIC Card. Give the 2nd NIC card a different IP address. So if your main network is 192.168.1.x, make 2nd 192.168.0.x. You will then have to change your IP cameras to 192.168.0.x. This is really the way IP systems should be set up, segregating camera traffic to its own network.

Can you give me details on exactly what you are trying to capture? Are thefts occuring during day or night? How far is it from house to area? My concern with that camera is that while it does zoom a great distance, its such a low quality imagine you might not get much out of it. You already know people are stealing. What if camera just shows people ,who you cant identify, stealing? Will anyone be monitoring the camera?

If you are happy with what you already have, get another BCS. "Better" is too broad a catagory. It all depends on the exactly what you want out of the camera. Zoom? Digital zoom? dome vs bullet? Wide angle? Narrow angle?

If footage at night is important, I'd recommend installing lighting that keeps the area well lit. Then you dont have to worry about IR on cameras. Any IR is still only going to give you a black and white image. With sufficient lighting, the camera will stay in color. I use Geovision cameras and software and am satisfied. I buy the cameras on Amazon and use PCs as an NVR. If security is a concern, Id recommend dome cameras.

and on your app, you are entering your true IP address? Meaning your public IP address. http://whatismyipaddress.com/

You never mention if you actually did the port forwarding in your modem. And did you forward the correct ports on the IP address of the NVR?

recording on motion and high definition is pretty standard these days for any system. I'd advise against having an alarm sound. Too many things move outdoors. Dogs, cats, squirrels, wind blows leaves, tree branches, grass blowing in the wind, etc.

If you plug a non POE device into a POE port, it works just fine. It just doesnt use the POE function. Nothing to turn on or off. The device just needs POE or it doesnt. If the NVR is advertised as 16 channel, that would be the max number of cameras, regaurdless of how many ports you use on the NVR.

Consider using Geovision. They make quality stuff. Excellent support. Look at their "target" series cameras. You can buy off Amazon. The camera comes with the NVR software. Only drawback, is you can only use Geovision cameras with the software. Other brands of camera require you to purchase a license to use camera on Geovision software. Not a big deal if you just stick with Geovision. You can either use a PC as your NVR or buy a linux Geovision NVR. http://www.geovision.com.tw https://www.123securityproducts.com/gv-snvr1600.html I am in Texas too by the way, 70 miles NW of Houston. Bandwitdth shouldnt be a big deal for 16 cameras. What you can do is isolate your cameras on their own network so that traffic isnt affecting general web browsing.

buy game cameras and hid them in important places. They take high quality pictures and store on SD card. Also, if the police are corrupt in his favor, then it doesnt really matter if you have evidence or not. If you think he is hacking into your network, take the DVR/NVR off the network.

Cameras are a wonderful asset for all sorts of reasons. But I'd like to comment on the preventing crime part. I use cameras in my retail store and this is my experience. Cameras record what has already taken place. By the time Im viewing the footage, the merchandise has already been stolen, its gone. I'd say half the time the theif is not identified. Even though we have a great picture of their face, if no one knows who they are, then they got away with it. Handing the police a picture with no name is pretty much useless. And these are incidents that happen during the day with perfect lighting and perfect pictures of faces (camera on door when they exit). A crime happening on your property at night will make identifying the people very difficult. Often times theives cover themselves so completely that you cant even make out what race they are. The other half of the time when we can identify the theif, our merchandise is very rarely recovered. Its already been pawned, sold, traded, used. Ok maybe police charge them with theft. Thats nice but we still lost money. So my point is that cameras do not deter crime the way steel, locks, doors, gates, barries, etc do. Again, cameras are wonderful for many reasons and Im not telling you to not do cameras, but if crime is your concern, consider upgrading your gate, fence, lighting, etc first. You can spend thousands on cameras and still not capture the suspects. Watch this video that perfectly captures the theives on camera. However, the failure of the store owner was in the barriers to entry, not cameras The DVR/NVR and camera dont really have anything to do with distance. There are numerous ways to get cameras to work at great distances. A POE IP camera has a max distance of 330 ft. Thats without adding any special devices. To add to that distance, there are repeaters, ethernet over coax, fiber optics. If you had electricity at your gate, that makes things easier. All you have to do is get data back to DVR/NVR not data and power. Also with electricity at your gate, you can add lighting. IR is ok, but nothing beats real lights. With enough light, the camera can stay on color at night rather than going to black and white. A fiber optic cable can then run the data (you have to get a fiber optic to ethernet converter). Basically, you have alot of research ahead of you. Maybe consider hiring a company that doesnt this sort of stuff.

This is a pretty complicated situation. Would you consider having an electrician run power and fiber optic cable to your gate? With power at the gate, then you can put up lights. What are you trying to accomplish with the cameras? Are you having crime issues?

I dont know the answer to your question, but the best part about Geovision is their support. Call them and they will help you out USA Vision Systems Inc. 9235 Research Drive. Irvine, CA 92618 USA Tel: +1-949-583-1519 Fax: +1-949-583-1522 Email: sales@usavisionsys.com Map: Map Location Hours: Mon. – Fri. 7:00 am to 5:30 pm PST

I run 32 Geovision IP cameras using an i7 PC. I have 4 hard drives in it for video storage. This setup has worked perfectly for 4 years now. Minimum requirements: GV-VMS (Up to 32 Channels) GV-VMS Pro (Up to 64 Channels) CPU 4th Generation i3-4130 4th Generation i7-4770 Memory 8 GB RAM 16 GB RAM Note: To use the fisheye dewarping function, the graphic card must support DirectX 10.1 or above. http://www.geovision.com.tw/english/Prod_GVVMS.asp

Only thing I can think of to meet your needs is a camera that uses cell phone networks. That means you'll have to pay a monthly fee. Thats just to view a camera's live view. I cant think of any way to have the camera recording so that you can view past footage remotely. http://elinetechnology.com/technology/4g-wireless-security-camera/ you might also look at hunter's game cameras. They take pictures on movement and can connect to a cell network.

Computers need AC and fresh air to cool. Anything you put the NVR in to make it fireproof means the NVR is not going to get fresh air to circulate. How far is your house from the barn?

a PC is running Windows and can do anything a computer does, like surf the web, play music, etc. A linux based camera system is a computer whose sole function is security software. If you used a remote control program like TeamViewer, you are seeing whats on the screen, the same as plugging a monitor in. You control the computer just like if you were sitting in front of it using the mouse/keyboard. Its the exact same thing. But these programs are for PCs. Not sure if they exist for stand alone NVRs.

If there is wifi, use a remote control program like TeamViewer. If no wifi, you can use your smart phone to view/control the PC. I guess thats the next question, is it a PC or a linux type NVR?

what is the distance from camera to target? Are you recording or do you just want a camera connected directly to a TV?

really small cameras that are "hidden" really limit your choices and functionality. Consider not hiding the camera at all. You want people to know there is a camera there as a deterant to theft. Realize that cameras only capture what has already happened. Your stuff is gone. You may or may not know who the theif was. Even if police catch the theif, your stuff may have already been pawned, sold, traded, etc.

I would caution against recording 24/7. The problem is, when you have an incident you want to watch, its incredibly difficult and time consuming. You have to watch possibly days and days of footage. If nothing is moving, no need to record. For license plate viewing, you have to get a license plate camera. Regular cameras, no matter how wonderful, cant get a plate at night. The headlights drown out the plate.