New IP residential system

[beardog 0]

Greetings! I've been lurking for a while and found a *wealth* of information on this forum. I would greatly appreciate some feedback regarding my system design.

 

I'm looking to get a system for my house, for piece of mind while I'm at work (many neighborhood burglaries recently during the day) and when I'm away on vacation. My primary goal is deterrence, but I'd like to back that up with some decent resolution for evidence, so I'm leaning toward the Q-See NVR with 720p cameras (http://www.q-see.com/products/product_description.php?cId=96&pId=290&id=96&pid=0). There's a streetlight just across the street, but I can consider IR floods as necessary later.

 

My house is shaped like a horseshoe, with the main entry recessed from the street down the middle.

 

My questions are:

1) Do the camera positions look good? Should the side cams be behind the gate or looking down from the top of the gate?

2) Can the lenses on these cameras be changed to accommodate a larger field of few? I believe they come with a 6mm Lens (40° to 45° Field of View).

 

Thanks

[Kawboy12R 0]

Day burglaries? I'm guessing there's a good chance that they'll be using the back door or rear windows if they're doing it during the day. You're probably looking for an 8 cam system or better. Cam 2 might be better moved away from the corner a bit and sweeping the front side of the house completely. Cam 3 IS providing coverage of cam 2 if someone wanted to whack it from behind, but nothing is covering cam 3. The other 3 look good, but what about the back yard??

 

You CAN swap lenses out, but you'd probably be better off waiting for the 8ch system (or buying a non QSee 8ch system now) and mixing and matching some 6mm, 3.6mm, and maybe a varifocal or two.

 

I'd put up signs as well if you want deterrence. Intruders on my property haven't ever even noticed my cameras yet. You might hide the DVR too, and have an alarm system so that they've got sirens or something speeding them up so they can't look for it. You have woods in back of your house or more houses? Trees might be a good travel lane for them. Signs on your back fence wouldn't hurt either.

[beardog 0]

Thanks for the response. You're correct, the burglaries have involved breaking in through the backside of the target house, usually through a dog door or other easy opening. Unfortunately, I also live very near a high school and we get lots of foot traffic after school. I suppose the front-of-the-house deterrence is only part of the solution, but I can't really afford a full 8 camera system now, so I was hoping to piece it together. In the long run, I kinda wanted 3-6 cameras out front a few inside as well.

 

Any suggestions on an 8ch system other than Q-see? Or, when is the Q-see 8ch expected to come out?

 

Thanks again

[Kawboy12R 0]

I'd guess the 8ch QSee will be out at Costco sometime in the next couple of months based on what I've read on here. It's a rebranded Dahua system, so the following link shows some places to get them.

 

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=31620

 

QVis rebrands something other than Dahuas now, so scratch them off the list. Not sure what they ARE selling (their policy is not to divulge their supplier or why they changed- I asked), but I was told in an email that they definitely aren't Dahuas any more.

 

Not sure what their warranty and support is like, but I've read here that Kyle at Empire Security Cameras on EBay does some after-sale updating and support. Might ask him his policy on flashing updated firmware to add new features instead of fixing problems. Some places won't flash unless something's not working. His NVRs and IP cameras are rebranded Dahuas like QSee. Ask him what lens options he can get you on his 2100 bullets so you can maybe mix and match and see what fits your different locations the best. The 3200 bullet is varifocal but twice the money.

[dorough 0]

I have the new Q-See NVR system with two cameras. The resolution is indeed outstanding. You're right about the field of vision being rather narrow, so that's definitely something to keep in mind. If you decide to keep your current design, I recommend you keep the cameras' height in mind, especially on cams 1 and 4. With the current design, it looks like you stand a big chance of seeing more tops of heads instead of faces. You may consider moving camera 1 to the front right corner facing back to the left. That way, cameras 2 and 1 cover the front yard in two directions without too much of a birdseye view. Camera 4 may benefit from moving back so it can cover both the gate and the door. Good luck!