New to Site Looking for information...

[Joe Black 0]

Hello Everyone,

Moved from a very secured community with gated security and very low crime rate to a new house in a residential neighborhood, the area is very nice and the crime rate is not high but there is a middle school a few yards away and there is a lot of activity around with teenagers walking around in the afternoons and young people driving their fast cars at night.

 

The wife has been driving me crazy about the security of the house; the house has more French doors that I care for and it’s kind on the open.

 

I have been thinking about purchasing an Alarm system and a CCTV surveillance system.

 

I have a background in engineering, even do I haven’t worked on the field in many years technical learning is very easy to me..

 

I will research this website and learn as much as possible before I make my decision..

 

I will have a budget of approx. 1,000.00 for the Surveillance system and a few hundred for the Alarm system.

All in all I will like to keep everything under 2k

 

Any help is welcome and appreciated...

Thanks

Joe

[Kawboy12R 0]

I can't make a specific recommendation beyond the standard "get a Dahua" that's popular around here. I picked up an 8ch Lorex ECO all-in-one system on short notice from Costco earlier this year. The cams weren't terrible for watching what was going on around the yard but had weaknesses at night and under difficult lighting conditions. The DVR sucks. It loses way too much quality so that watching recorded video is lousy for ID even with good cameras replacing the Lorex ones. This is a common problem with cheap DVRs, even "Full D1" ones like my Lorex. It also won't show some channels that HAVE recorded video when fast forwarding through recorded motion events. That's frustrating when you KNOW something happened during the night and searching through the records doesn't show it without a lot of time wasted either "rewinding" or watching through the whole night of false positives from wind, passing car headlights, etc. Add this to generally unsatisfactory detail level from analog cams in general made me start to put together an IP system to replace it.

 

Some of the QSee analog DVRs don't seem to be too terrible, so if you go with a cheap Costco 16ch all-in-one system it might be worth looking at them. I will recommend that you NOT use their wiring though. Nothing necessarily wrong with the wiring, but if you do a decent job of putting IN the wires, you won't want to rip them out to redo the whole job when (if?) you want to return the whole kit. Do the wiring with cat5 and baluns so you can replace the cams and DVR easily with whatever you want after you find out that cheap kits aren't much good for facial IDs. That way you can easily replace with either analog or IP.

 

Costco has a good cheap QSee IP kit. 4ch with IP cams for $700 commonly. Two DVRs, 8 cams, for $1400 with picture quality waay above your typical analog kit system. The 6mm lenses it comes with can be easily and cheaply replaced with 3.6mm for a broader view in the areas you need, or 12 to maybe 16mm for zooming in on cars in your driveway or far away gates or whatever. Search recent threads for m12lenses.com and dx.com for sample pics and opinions. I like placing a few wide angle cameras to cover most of the yard to know what is going on, then adding a few cams aimed at and zoomed into a few key areas (choke points) to hopefully get a nice clear face pic to go along with the video of what they're doing from the wideangle cams. Might want to add a couple of dome cameras inside if you're worried about people coming in the glass doors.

 

I'd add more but my typing is pretty slow at the moment (bandaged finger). Lots of reading here on Costco, QSee, or Dahua IP systems. There doesn't seem to be much competition in their price range, although you might be able to put together a system fairly reasonably with ACTi cams, their free software (works only with ACTi cams though so no mix-and-matching), and an existing computer, NAS or inboard SD card storage, depending on your need for regular live viewing (NVR or computer is best for regular reviewing of footage). Their outdoor cams are closer to $500 each or more though, depending on how good you want them to be with low light. Motion lighting and additional IR illuminators help cameras a lot at night.

[Joe Black 0]

Thank you so much for taking the time..

I will follow your advice and post my finding on the forum..

You are a top contributor...

Regards

 

Joe

 

 

I can't make a specific recommendation beyond the standard "get a Dahua" that's popular around here. I picked up an 8ch Lorex ECO all-in-one system on short notice from Costco earlier this year. The cams weren't terrible for watching what was going on around the yard but had weaknesses at night and under difficult lighting conditions. The DVR sucks. It loses way too much quality so that watching recorded video is lousy for ID even with good cameras replacing the Lorex ones. This is a common problem with cheap DVRs, even "Full D1" ones like my Lorex. It also won't show some channels that HAVE recorded video when fast forwarding through recorded motion events. That's frustrating when you KNOW something happened during the night and searching through the records doesn't show it without a lot of time wasted either "rewinding" or watching through the whole night of false positives from wind, passing car headlights, etc. Add this to generally unsatisfactory detail level from analog cams in general made me start to put together an IP system to replace it.

 

Some of the QSee analog DVRs don't seem to be too terrible, so if you go with a cheap Costco 16ch all-in-one system it might be worth looking at them. I will recommend that you NOT use their wiring though. Nothing necessarily wrong with the wiring, but if you do a decent job of putting IN the wires, you won't want to rip them out to redo the whole job when (if?) you want to return the whole kit. Do the wiring with cat5 and baluns so you can replace the cams and DVR easily with whatever you want after you find out that cheap kits aren't much good for facial IDs. That way you can easily replace with either analog or IP.

 

Costco has a good cheap QSee IP kit. 4ch with IP cams for $700 commonly. Two DVRs, 8 cams, for $1400 with picture quality waay above your typical analog kit system. The 6mm lenses it comes with can be easily and cheaply replaced with 3.6mm for a broader view in the areas you need, or 12 to maybe 16mm for zooming in on cars in your driveway or far away gates or whatever. Search recent threads for m12lenses.com and dx.com for sample pics and opinions. I like placing a few wide angle cameras to cover most of the yard to know what is going on, then adding a few cams aimed at and zoomed into a few key areas (choke points) to hopefully get a nice clear face pic to go along with the video of what they're doing from the wideangle cams. Might want to add a couple of dome cameras inside if you're worried about people coming in the glass doors.

 

I'd add more but my typing is pretty slow at the moment (bandaged finger). Lots of reading here on Costco, QSee, or Dahua IP systems. There doesn't seem to be much competition in their price range, although you might be able to put together a system fairly reasonably with ACTi cams, their free software (works only with ACTi cams though so no mix-and-matching), and an existing computer, NAS or inboard SD card storage, depending on your need for regular live viewing (NVR or computer is best for regular reviewing of footage). Their outdoor cams are closer to $500 each or more though, depending on how good you want them to be with low light. Motion lighting and additional IR illuminators help cameras a lot at night.