2 Camera Residential setup?

[rx7racer 0]

Hello all, I'm 100% new to this so forgive me and bear with me. I am looking to gain insight and some opinions on what equipment to buy and use on a rural residential address.

 

Only want/need 2 points covered which will be a front door and then a rear door. The front door is in a porch environment which is 8'x24' and located approximately in the middle so about 10' on either side of door. The rear door is somewhat on a corner and over looking where the driveway turns into the rear of the house and in front of a building. If possible I would ideally want to see a generally decent-good IQ for at least around 20"-30" in low light to very low light conditions.

 

Would like to cover both at an approximate optimum viewing angle. What camera's are best?

 

Camera's will be used with a standalone DVR which preferably can be essentially a setup and leave with no monitor and record a length of 48-76hrs. Simplest ability to retrieve video when/if ever needed is a plus. So I will not be needing to view 24/7 live or interact on a daily basis, weekly would be ok at most though for interaction.

 

So essentially I just need a 2 camera DVR kit that has good night vision and record minimum 48hrs. I would like good IQ but am not really sure what options I should be looking for to optimize this feature.

 

Now the biggest catch here is I have at a somewhat possibly forgiving budget, $500 for this setup. That budget will have to include cabling, power sources, etc. for the build/setup. Please feel free to ask any questions if I have not covered needed information to help in an informed opinion for my setup.

 

The other catch is I would prefer them to be dome style as to not attract attention.

 

Thank you for any and all help.

 

~Racer

[bpzle 0]

For low budget residential, a lot of guys on here would recomend AVTech...

 

I've used them but just don't really care for them. The software/ user interface is a little quirky to say the least. Support can be can be hard to come by (unless you PM Scorpion hehe). They are 100 percent rebranded and support is entirely dependent on the supplier. It can be hard finding a supplier that really knows the product...

 

I'd spend a little more and get a brand better known, with a much easier user interface and software. Avermedia makes a neat 4 channel unit. EB1304sata I believe.

 

As far as cameras, I don't know any decent dome cameras that could fit the remaining budget... I know lots of great ones, but not in that price range... Maybe other guys on the forum will?

 

However I can recomend the bullet camera ECL-599 from Eclipse CCTV. Excellent for the price...

 

PM me and I can send you demos of the camera and/or DVR.

[rx7racer 0]

Thanks for the input man. I'm slowly trying to get everything figured out. Devils in the details as always.

 

 

Ok, so for the DVR I think I am looking at these ones. And like I said before, looks like the budget limit is going to be a bit forgiving.

 

So I was looking at these 4 and the Avermedia already recommended so 5 in total. Bolide SVR9000S/T4, Lorex LH314321, Swann SWA41-D1, AverMedia EB1304NET SATA+ DVR, and EverFocus ECOR4D/250.

 

Trying to get the most features for the cheapest price but yet maintain quality control with the product and not chop my own head off by buying too low end and getting disappointed with my investment.

 

I've looked over them with the tid bit of knowledge I have and want to lean towards the Lorex with the H.264 encoding and 320GB hd. But I also really like the ability the EverFocus gives me with the built-in DVD-RW, but it is Mpeg4 for compression and only a 250GB hd.

 

Just curious if anyone has some opinions or actual experiences with any of these that could help inform my decision. I really appreciate your guys's help on this.

[bpzle 0]

Everfocus? no! Lorex? NO! Swann? HELL NO!

 

I'm an authorized Digmerge (AKA Lorex) dealer too. But there's a reason it's not in my signature...

Edited April 4, 2010 by Guest

[bpzle 0]

And the "Bolide"?

 

I've never heard of that brand, but it doesn't matter. It's rebranded. I know because I've got exact same one sitting in my garage with a different brand on it. I bought it brand new for testing and evaluation and it did nothing but crash 2-3 times a day.

 

Honestly, if cheap is the game then AV Tech is your name.

 

OK, so some of the Swann DVRs are rebranded AVTechs... couldn't tell you which ones though. Swann rebrands too much junk to keep up with...

 

 

I wouldn't be too "wowed" by a built in DVD RW. If it's connected to your LAN, then it's really not needed. Most people find that after their DVR is on the network, they rarely walk over to it and physically mash buttons. Only time a built in DVD RW is actually worth the added expense is if you have a true standalone DVR, not connected to a LAN.

[rx7racer 0]

Well that is one of the reasons I looked at the Everfocus since as of now I do not plan on having it on a network so no LAN. But most I see/saw have at least USB2.0 so I could always just throw whatever on a flash drive.

 

 

What about ARM Electronics, or Clover?

 

Or I guess the better way to ask then maybe is what would be a recommended one for around $400. This is just the DVR.

[bpzle 0]

Hit or miss with Arm. Mostly miss... We have a few sites still running time lapse VCRs (I know) and the only ones we can still find are Arm Electronics. We replace them frequently.

 

My rep for one of the largest CCTV suppliers in North America tells me they get a LOT of RMAs for Arm. I do know that I buy some of the same products Arm slaps their logo on and resells for 4 times the price. This isn't uncommon in the CCTV world though... Just to give you an example: Arm's dealer price on a video balun is $25. I get the EXACT same one through another supplier, different logo for $4.50.

 

A while back I went through and tested all the "consumer" cctv brands so I could say from personal experience why NOT to buy them. Clover was one of the poorest performers, Swann and SecurityMan being the lowest.

[bpzle 0]

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