fjoseph76

wow lots of info for me to go over...thanks for the diagram too...i'll definitely revisit these areas and see what options i have. I'm pretty handy with tools....working on cars and also getting comfortable with house wiring etc. Sure i would love to run new POE wires to these locations...will have to see how/whats the best way to do it...the only thing is i dont want to start cutting walls etc (this is where the wife will kill me) Getting power to the camera is much easier (have a bunch of outlets all over the house/outside) wish i found this forum much earlier, would have had the builder prewire more locations. Thanks again!!! Franklin

Thanks for the info. - i will look into building my own desktop computer. Didnt know if 1-2 TB would be enough storage on the PC so thought about a NAS. PC will be in the study downstairs and NAS would probably be in the wire room upstairs. But that's probably a addon later on. Will also add sd cards if possible. Here's the layout of my house. Yellow spots are the prewired camera locations. http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd13/max_pwr/20150614_092918.jpg The porch, porte cochere and covered patio are all lit up during the nite. The spot outside of the garage gets some light but not much. Added a few solar spot lights pointed to the fence gate. As for the AC cam, i really dont want to run wires, so i will look into maybe a wifi outdoor cam. This side is dark. noted on the bathroom and bedroom cams...will nix it. Forgot about the UPS...will add it to the list. I am trying to avoid using one of the monitored alarm systems. i'm still looking into a self monitored system to integrate with the existing home alarm system. I am also waiting for SmartThings ver2 to come out, and will add more sensors then. I will look into the cctv free trial... thanks again franklin

Hi Folks been doing some research and still abit confused on some stuff and just want to get some confirmation/advice if i'm going in the right direction. Initially i was going to get the Swann 8 camera kit from costco for $1300....but found out i can get more control and usability with with blue iris software....albeit more expensive. House is cat5 prewired for the outdoor camera locations, and whole house is prewired with cat5. Software - Blue Iris - $50.00 - Blue Iris Hardware - New desktop - I7 4th gen spec, 8gb ram. 1-2 tb hd - $700.00 - Dell Hardware - 8 channel POE switch x2 - $100.00 - Amazon Hardware NAS? How many tb? Camera Location Front Door - Outdoor - Lighted - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - $93.00 - Amazon Side Door - Outdoor - Lighted - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - $93.00 - Amazon Back Door - Outdoor - Lighted - Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 2.8mm Turret - $106.00 - Amazon Garage - Outdoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 2.8mm Turret - $106.00 - Amazon - prefer a wide view if possible. Gets some light from side door. Living Room - Indoor - directly opposite kitchen cam. Prefer this to be wide angle.(or redundant) Kitchen - Indoor - Need wifi - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - Stand - $133.00 - Amazon - can do without this if living room cam is sufficient. Master Bath - Indoor - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - wait - pointed to a big window Study - Indoor - need 90 degree view (sitting on a shelf) Gameroom - Indoor - need a wide angle and good detail. 2nd floor looking down at front lawn/driveway AC area - Outdoor - dummy bullet cam Master Room - Indoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - wait - to cover windows 2nd Room - Indoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - wait - to cover windows am i missing some equipment? overkill? suggestions? Plan is to get the 4 outdoor cameras and 1 indoor camera first, then add the others slowly so the wife doesnt kill me. Thanks Franklin

Hi Folks, i'm a noob to home security...so please bear with me. Did some research and am more confused now. House is prewired for cameras at 4 outdoor locations (entry points and garage), wired both cat5 and coax. Guess i wasnt really thinking right when i decided on the prewires, wish i had them prewire a few more locations indoors. Plan is to get a NVR system with 8 channels, 4 wired cameras and 4 wireless. I called Lorex yesterday asking about this and they said i cant do this with HD or with the NVR. I could possibly do it with a dvr system with lower resolution. They also suggested going with 2 separate systems, one for the 4 wired cameras, and another wireless system. I could get away with 8 wired cameras, but the 4 indoor cameras wont be at the ideal locations, i'll just have to connect them to one of my data/phone cat5 outlets. Is it possible to design a custom nvr system to make it all work? Now comes my second question. All the prewires feed into a wire box closet upstairs. I am mostly in my study and want the option of having a dedicated monitor to view the cameras. Without running new wires, what are my options? I have a free cat5 and a free coax outlet in my study. Is it possible to use either the hdmi or vga output from the NVR, connect a adapter to either a cat5 or coax (in the wire closet), and then connect the respective receiver in the study to the monitor? (backup plan will be to buy a cheap tablet and use that as the dedicated screen in my study) any advice/suggestions etc? Thanks for any help Franklin