3-5 Camera setup for 500 dollars? Already have server

[perrin 0]

Good morning all. Im looking to spend about 500 dollars on a basic system. I understand this is a comparatively small amount, and I could spend that on one camera. I had a breakin last night when i was sleeping, and it is time for me to invest in some security, my cash flow is relatively low right now and my budget is about 500 though, I do apologize for this in advance, i know this will bother a lot of people on here from reading previous threads.

 

Here is what im looking for:

 

3 exterior cameras (one for each ingress of my property, mounted horizontally to the side of my house)

one (or two?) sheltered cameras on my porch to monitor two sides of an L-shaped porch approximately 30 feet on each L

ability to recognize faces, in day and night, at up to 20-30 feet (flexible on this)

motion detection

remote access (this is more a function of the software running on the server as I understand it, lets consider the software purchase a separate expenditure above and beyond the hardware, not included in the 500)

POE or mains power is fine, both are available in the mounting location

 

So people understand what I say when i say I have a server, I am not referencing some desktop pc with limited power. Its a rackmount, quadcore Q6600 with 16gb's of ram and 16TB of hard drive space in a raid6 array. It should have the power, and storage space, to process any video needed.

 

 

As a reference, I was looking at this kit from Costco: http://www.costco.com/Q-See-16-Channel-Security-System-with-1TB-Hard-Drive%2c-2-Dome-Cameras-and-10-Bullet-Cameras.product.100017411.html

 

I realize that it is a very different beast, but reviews of the Q-see QM6006B cameras included are fairly good. However, the catch is, I dont need that many cameras. So im wondering if with my 500 dollar budget, and a pre-existing server, if i could invest in better cameras for that price.

[buellwinkle 0]

Costco has the Q-See 720P cameras for $299 for 2. If you buy directly from China, the same cameras (IPC-HFW2100) will be a little cheaper and it may be possible that you can get 4 for $500 like from K&D in Shenzhen. You can use their free CMS software called PSS and their iPhone apps. If you don't like that software, there's the free Zoneminder software for Linux. For $50 you can get BlueIris, sometimes cheaper on eBay.

[perrin 0]

Costco has the Q-See 720P cameras for $299 for 2. If you buy directly from China, the same cameras (IPC-HFW2100) will be a little cheaper and it may be possible that you can get 4 for $500 like from K&D in Shenzhen. You can use their free CMS software called PSS and their iPhone apps. If you don't like that software, there's the free Zoneminder software for Linux. For $50 you can get BlueIris, sometimes cheaper on eBay.

 

http://www.costco.com/Q-See-High-Resolution-600TVL-2-Pack-Cameras.product.11738170.html

 

ok, i see those. I would need to get a bnc card for my server to input them, but that doesnt seem too bad. Those seem like viable options for the ingress cameras. How about a camera for the porch, which is 25 on each wing, and L shaped. I assume I need a different type of camera there as opposed to the unidirectional bullet cams

[buellwinkle 0]

Nope, wrong ones. Looks like they ran out of them but they'll be back. They have the 4 pack with the NVR for $699 which isn't bad either as it comes with 4 camera (normally $600 by itself), 1 TB hard drive and the NVR which has the 4 port PoE switch required to power the cameras built in.

 

http://www.costco.com/Q-See-4-Channel-HD-Digital-NVR-with-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-4-HD-720p-IP-Cameras.product.100003211.html?catalogId=10701&langId=-1&keyword=q-see+720p&storeId=10301

[perrin 0]

ok, i can work with that, gives me one more camera than i need externally, but thats no big deal, a little extra coverage wont hurt, I can find someplace for it.

 

Catch is im at 200 dollars over budget without cameras for the porch. Now, i dont technically need the DVR and POE switch, but as you said, its pretty much a freebie anyway

[perrin 0]

6mm lens on those cameras is a bit restrictive though, wonder if its swappable.

[buellwinkle 0]

People here have been able to put a 3.6mm lens from m12lenses.com for about $14 and there's other places that sell board lenses for less, dx.com for example has them for $2-3 but not as sharp as the lenses above. Check the post about Dahua Cameras now at Costco, that has more details on lens swapping. You can get the same camera for about the same price individually with lens of your choice from K&D as I've mentioned if you don't care about the NVR. This is a 4 camera NVR which you may quickly outgrow anyway.

 

The advantage of the NVR is it's cheap, it's low power consumption compared to a PC, it's quiet, plugs into your TV via HDMI.

[perrin 0]

yep yep, i read that thread with the m12 lenses, the image was really nice in the screenshots.

 

And yeah, NVR is a good choice if you're not already running a server, ive got a whole rack running already with spare computing power, might as well put some of that power to use if i have it if it can save me some cash. I wouldnt get all the "ooh shiney" q-see software features, but theres enough 3rd party software out there thats nice enough of its own right that I could run it on the server and get similar functionality.