OneAntelopeWay

Hello all, I'm designing a small system for a co-worker, and I'm struggling to pick good cameras. I've tentatively decided on a Dahua NVR, NVR1104-P https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016XAGPZY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1L4LS2KNDBWYV From my research, it seems Hikvision cameras are a bit better than the Dahua, regardless, I would like to know what cameras are supported by the Dahua NVR. Dahua cameras seem to be difficult to find, and there are so many other options available that I don't want to unnecessarily restrict my search. Where do you go for that type of data? Dahua's website (which seems to be having issues lately) doesn't seem to list, unless I'm missing something. I'm trying to keep the cost of the cams around $100 or less, both will be outside (Wisconsin winters are brutal), IR would be nice, at least 1 MP...any recommendations are welcome, as long as I know they will work with the NVR. Thanks for any info!

So I'm leaning towards this unit with a 4TB purple drive from WD. http://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-81-183-073 After considering my options in conjunction with my lack of experience, I think a package is probably wiser. This will only put me $100 over budget, and the reviews seem mostly positive.

Hi mirak, Thanks for the info. I started on Amazon, but the reviews are all over the place, and they have a bad habit of lumping reviews together for multiple units by the same manufacturer. I've had a difficult time parsing through the comments for reliable reviews. At this point I'm leaning towards the Dahua NVR that was suggested above, and a few 'decent' IP cams. I'm hopeful the cams don't push me too far over budget. For what it's worth, I am in IT, so once I know what to buy I should be ok...I just have zero experience with the brands, and very little idea of my options, and what pitfalls to avoid, etc.

Yeah, I know everything is vulnerable, I just don't want it to be too easy. Thanks for the comments, the experience you guys bring is invaluable.

I would buy from Newegg, CDW, or TD, regardless of what I decide on. I'm in SE Wisconsin. Here are a few snippets from Dahua reviews, of which I always take with a grain of salt, but with zero experience with any of these manufacturers, I'm basically stuck relying on them. Overall, this NVR works okay. Meh. I was able to hook up several Dahua IP cameras to it, and I was up and running fairly quickly. However, it has some nagging flaws. 1. The web UI does not work on any other device than Windows + Active X. You can't use it on an iPad. 2. Snapshots do not work. I'm very tech-saavy, tried many permutations, the feature is not functional. 3. You can't change the admin passwords. 4. The security on these cameras is laughable. You can easily bypass its authentication. Don't expose them on the Internet by port-forwarding. 5. There's no way to disable NAT; so, you can't expose the cameras on the same subnet; which means you can't address the cameras directly without putting them on a separate PoE switch and uplinking to the NVR. This is completely unnecessary. 6. Dahua's documentation is ridiculously inadequate. Want to use RTSP streams from the NVR? Good luck. You need to search online for the right URI (rtsp://user:password@nvr-ip-address/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0&unicast=0) 7. The motion sensor capabilities are dodgy. Sometimes, they just don't work. Or they kick in after someone has moved out of frame. Dahua DVR appliances do not properly restrict UPnP requests, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain access via vectors involving a replay attack against the TELNET port. Dahua DVR appliances have a hardcoded password for (1) the root account and (2) an unspecified "backdoor" account, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain administrative access via authorization requests involving (a) ActiveX, (b) a standalone client, or (c) unknown other vectors. The authorization implementation on Dahua DVR appliances accepts a hash string representing the current date for the role of a master password, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain administrative access and change the administrator password via requests involving (1) ActiveX, (2) a standalone client, or (3) unspecified other vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2013-3612. http://securityvulns.com/news/Dahua/DVR/1311.html Search "dahua" at shodan (dot) io yourself to see all the devices out there: https://www.shodan.io/search?query=dahua

Thanks, Tom. If it were my own purchase, I'd have no problem buying used, but in this situation I can't put them in a position of having no return options should something fail. I will do some homework on that Dahua model though. Any input on the security concerns I've read about regarding Dahua? Thanks for the recommendation!

The Lorex reviews, on Costco and elsewhere, are just brutal, especially for the software and support. Swann isn't much better...everyone says the cameras are great, but the software is terrible. I think I'll keep looking for solutions, but I thank you for your input.

Hello all...so as the subject states, I'm starting my first surveillance rodeo and need a bit of guidance. I do some volunteer IT work for a pet shelter and they have had a few break-in attempts recently and want some surveillance. Budgets are tight, and I've been asked to keep it under $1000. Four cams would probably get the job done, with at least one needing to be outdoors. By reading more reviews than I care to remember, I've reached the conclusion that the all-in-one packages you'll find at Costco/Sams/etc are junk, so I'm avoiding those brands. I'm not sure if I should just build a pc on the cheap with a decent HDD, buy something like BlueIris and piece it together that way, buy an actual NVR and build it out with an HDD and cams, or try and find a decent package that at least half the reviewers can agree doesn't suck. As for the cams, I've seen recommendations here for coax, and also for cat5...not sure which direction is best. Dahua and Hikvision seem to be recommended frequently here, are they rather similar, or does one excel in a certain area? I'm also most likely ignorant enough with the subject matter to not know what I don't know...if that makes sense in a meta-cognitive way...so if I've failed to mention important details, I'll be more than happy to elaborate. I'm not TOTALLY helpless, and once I have a better idea of what equipment to pursue I'll probably be ok. I just don't want to waste their money, they do great work on a paupers budget, and I'd feel terrible installing a garbage system. Thank you for any guidance, and sorry once again for another 'help the noob' post.