Newbie, looking for basic system to watch my house

[jm91rs 0]

I don't know much about CCTV systems, but I'll try to quickly summarize what I think I need.

 

I'd like a system that would record video that I could look back on in case there was vandalism or theft on my house/property. I think I want a DVR system as I don't want to hook this up to a computer.

 

There are 3 ways to get into my house through a door. I want a camera on my front door, on my driveway/garage area, and one on the back door. So I need 3 cameras (I'm assuming I need 4 channel system then).

 

I could just go on amazon and buy some system with 4 night vision cameras, but I can't find good information on picture quality. I plan on crawling through the attic to install this myself. If I get a system that can't even read a license plate of a car parked on my 40 foot long driveway it would do me no good. If I watch some blurry figure vandalize my truck it would just make me mad that we didn't have an image of the face!

 

So I'm looking for opinions on brand or what kind of image quality I need to be looking out for on the camera. (I assume image quality is decided by camera quality rather than the dvr model?) Price is a factor, I'm not looking for fancy. If I could watch the video on my phone or work computer that would be cool, but it's not a necessity. Thank you for any basic help you can provide. I'm hoping to buy something and not be mad that the quality stinks.

[Kawboy12R 0]

What's your budget? Do you want something that'll read plates in the daytime 40 feet away or give you a recording that you can read the plates from later? Nighttime plates are a different kettle of fish, especially with the vehicle lights on. Are you fussy about domes vs flimsy bullet cams (easy to knock out of position from the side)? You'll be MUCH happier with a $700-$1000 budget for a 4 cam system than $500 as long as you aren't fussy about reading plates at night with lights on. Well, *I* haven't found a good inexpensive cam for reading plates like that yet anyway but I haven't tried any of the cheap dedicated LPR or NPR cameras yet. LPR = license plate recognition, NPR = number plate recognition.

[shockwave199 0]

Price is a factor, I'm not looking for fancy.

You better get comfortable starting with 1k for not fancy. There are too many variables for a particular installation to consider. I can gaurantee one camera alone will not cover your 40' driveway properly, so you need at least two there. Now you're up to an eight channel system. And that's just good FOV's- not taking into consideration the lighting you have or lack thereof for the whole span, which will dicate what you need in a camera, which will dicate price as well. And I'm only talking one location here- the driveway. It's involved. You are right to say what you expect and need, and to ask before you kill yourself installing. But you gotta check the low budget 'not fancy' expectations at the door. You want useable results you'll have to spend more bucks than you think, and fully understand what each location needs in terms of the proper camera type. Many will say to install an NVR with MP cameras- bucks. I still believe analog can provide perfectly useable evidentiary results if good gear is chosen and installed well. And both an analog and MP system, well installed, will do remarkably well if the criminal or vandal is dumb enough to make it easy for ID. That one is a crap shoot.

[jm91rs 0]

I understand that reading plates at night is tough, I'd imagine the flare from the headlights will make it hard to see much of anything else. Luckily my bedroom is right over the driveway and unless the thief is in a hybrid I'm probably going to wake up to anyone pulling in the driveway. We've had a run of day time break ins in our area, so catching the plate will be for that purpose (of course if the guy is smart the plates aren't actually his).

 

I'm assuming most of you guys are professionals here and you won't be buying kits out of a box to throw in someone's house, so what I'm asking for here is 1) is it important which DVR system I go with or will any of the basic 4-8 channel 1TB systems work fine? and 2) what am I looking for with a camera? Are they rated in pixels, do some zoom better than others on play back?

 

I'm lucky (except on my energy bill) that the previous owners of my house went absolutely nuts with automatic outdoor lighting. We can play a basketball game in my driveway at midnight without flipping a light switch. There is a good amount of lighting all over the front, not much in the back.

 

*my budget is the lowest amount it takes to get it done correctly.

[Kawboy12R 0]

I'm not a pro, just a guy with a bit of a hobby. I've done up a couple of my own analog systems (one for work a while ago and one for home fairly recently) and bought a fair number of different cameras for different jobs.

 

For daytime use with a decent analog camera, I've found that a 6mm lens will read a stationary plate under good conditions at 30-35 feet. Shorten this distance depending on how badly the dvr mangles the saved image. I've currently got a CNB VCM-24VF in my driveway for that job and it works quite well. Adjustable for zoom, vandal proof, reacts quickly to light changes, and decent in low light. It also sees IR and works well with outboard IR units, including 940nm. Available for $135ish with a bit of looking.

 

Check out shockwave's videos and see what he uses for a dvr and cams. His pics look decent to me. I'm giving up on analog myself. Good ID pics are possible but IP makes ID easier and saved image quality isn't a crapshoot. Any old computer can save images as good as the camera can produce while analog DVRs in the budget range all lose quality, some of them lose a LOT of the original quality.

 

With some reservations, if I had a $1000 budget for a 4 cam home IP system, I'd probably either get one of the $700 Costco QSee 4 cam Dahua clone IP systems and maybe add a different cam or customize the lenses if 4 6mm cameras didn't fit what I needed or get a Dahua NVR, POE switch, and add the cams I needed depending on distance and view angle required.