outkastboss

Well since I am leaving town I got a cheap outdoor PT Ip camera from Foscam to get us by while we are searching for a setup worth buying. We have some new neighbors across the street that have already brought friends over that snuck over and attempted to break in to my car. Seems like the cctv industry pretty well has it locked down with a pretty standard response of anything under $1,000 is going to be junk. It also seems the tech has come a long way and is on the verge of breaking out from what appears to be an industry stranglehold, where decent equipment wont be so grossly overvalued. It will be interesting to see whats out there in 5 years. I realize that a canned answer of everything in your price range is junk feeds the industry and protects interests of installers, but on a forum I would think those that know would at least be able to recommend a NVR and some cameras that are not cheap consumer grade but are on the lower end of professional quality equipments cost scales. Idk just seems rather unhelpful to simply state that everything in ones price range is "Junk" without offering up any constructive input such as a system that isn't even if it is out of that persons current range. Now that I have a cam coming to get me by I can spend more time looking and saving to bring us up to a higher level of cctv awesomeness. I will post up my experiences so that other newbies can have some input for a demographic that seems largely ignored in this industry. Meanwhile I will post up with my experiences and pray the CCTV gods take pity on a non idustry peasant and guide me to a setup worth buying that isn't priced like I own a mall or mansion.

Thanks that is good to know and seems kind of obvious now lol. If anyone wants to weigh in on which of these you would run if you were stuck in that range or recommend one a bit more that would be a better value. Like maybe a pieced together setup? I would be very grateful. http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-Stratus-HD-NVR-Security-System-with-2TB-HDD-and-4-1080p-Cameras.product.100087431.html you get a 2TB HDD too. Very interesting, from that article I posted it actually looked like the 1080P didn't have as clear of lines and contrast as the 720p . Almost like it wasn't as clear of a picture because it was tryingto show to much detail? I wonder if that article is not a good representation of the differences in cam and dvr/nvr quality

I thought I would share this article I found That I thought was interesting. http://ipvm.com/report/hd_analog_shootout We still haven't picked what setup we will use but when we do I will post up for others that are curious.

Thanks that is good to know and seems kind of obvious now lol. If anyone wants to weigh in on which of these you would run if you were stuck in that range or recommend one a bit more that would be a better value. Like maybe a pieced together setup? I would be very grateful.

So after about a month of searching around and learning a few things it seems that anything in my original price range is going to be junk. That being said, I will have to live with that. I tried to find one from Q-see since people said they were related to the dahua's that people seemed to approve of. In the end though I found a Qsee and a couple of the Swann ones I liked that I wanted to ask about. I am also kind of torn between a Nvr and a DVR and I know its supposed to be obvious that the Nvr is superior with the I.P. cameras quality and less wiring. However our internet goes out from time to time and I would be worried they would leave us unprotected during an outage. Also I am worried about network traffic and am not that great at Ip conflict resolution. The Power over Ethernet feature of some Nvr setups seems great to eliminate some wiring. Does that mean the Ethernet supplies power to the NVR, the cameras, or both? After some reading I want to use 4 for larger area shots each with one additional camera focused on a choke point to try and get a close shot of a person or plate. I could live with 4 for starters and move up to the 8 but I will need 8 channels. It would be cool not to run any cables but I don't have a problem running them if I have to and I wonder if the DVR wouldn't be more fool proof and be able to run without internet as a stand alone setup and or be plugged in and have the notification features and remote connectivity that I see advertised in most units. Anyway while being uncertain about those things here is what I have narrowed down to from my searching, feel free to voice your opinion or recommend a setup that may cost a bit more without taking it into a much higher price point . On the NVR side I narrowed it down to this setup and I think it is the nicest of the selections I came up with. When I add the 4 cameras later I could maybe get nicer ones and use them for the choke point closeups. http://www.ebay.com/itm/321410596485?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 On the DVR side I think this may be the best option I narrowed down to. http://www.ebay.com/itm/281352326173?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 And then this one to just knock it out all at once, or it comes in a 4 camera package too. http://www.ebay.com/itm/251558004186?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 If you want to recommend nicer equipment that is a value I would only be able to spend a couple hundred more at most and need at least a 4-cam 8 channel to start off. (all outdoor cams). Thanks for any input you have to offer.