Rural Home Design

[elevatedthinking 0]

This is my first post on these boards, and I am excited to do so for many reasons. One that I will return to shortly is that I hope to find an outlet for my interest in IT and specifically hardware/software relationships involved in these sort of projects. I am a developer on the side but work 60 hours a week at two jobs that don't quite spark my interest in the same way. I only stumbled onto this site a half hour ago and instantly realized this is what I have been scouring the internet for this evening. The boards allow for interaction with people who put my knowledge on home security systems to shame. But I hope to learn.

 

That being said, the events that drove me to seek out this board were less than ideal. Needless to say I hold myself fully accountable for putting off the fact that I need some sort of home security implementation on my land. I am doing my best to adjust by tightening up a bit, well much more then a bit. One of the main components will be a powerful video surveillance system. My house is located in a rural area, set back from the road. My driveway is a quarter mile long, with a 90 degree elbow to the left half way up it. So from the main road you turn left onto my driveway, drive an eighth of a mile up hill to the 90deg left elblow. At the top of the hill, right at the elbow, is a shop. You turn left at the elbow and drive another ~250ft to reach my house. The 2 buildings are within direct eye contact of one another.

 

I have attached a paint jpg so you can visualize this.

 

I tried to document the dimensions, these are just rough estimates and I will have to get more concrete numbers. The red "X"s mean these are locations I would like to have covered at first, ideally the shop would be covered too, what frustrates me is that would be a perfect location to get a sightline DOWN the driveway potentially all the way to the road front which would be perfect.

 

This leads me to trying to pin down exactly what I want this video system to do. I would like it to help warn me ahead of time when intruders are on the property, dangerously close to my home. This could also include animals but this will help offer protection from home intruders primarily That being said its a fine balance between protecting the house, and getting a sightline on areas of the property not easily watched over from the house, the shop. Eventually both areas will be covered, but any thoughts on that topic would be much apprecited.

 

I don't have a large sum of money to invest into this at this exact time. But I hope to get a recording system setup with 2-3 quality cameras so I can start to feel a little better about things.

 

I like many others I am sure, nearly clicked the "Buy" button in my haste off of an online vendor site this evening. I was looking @ the DEFENDER 21031 SENTINEL 8-Channel/4-Cam. system. (ranging between 450-600$ ish) It felt hasty so I wanted to do research. This gets me to hardware, which I know very little about. I know not all video will be crystal clear, and to be honest I don't even have an accurate estimation as to how far a mid-shelf camera will reach while still being able to make out what you are seeing relatively well. I would like to be able to see movement at the shop from the house cams that are facing that direction. I don't know if that is realistic or possible. Night vision is important as well, I also understand this is difficult at distance, but I am going to employ motion detection floor lights on the barn and shop walls as well. Would this help the night vision? To a lesser extend I would like to stream to my android, this would be very nice the more that I think about it...I would like a quality, or at least a dvr that is better then the one included in the package on amazon for the name I listed above. Seemed like there was a lot of negative attention towards the dvr unit included. Not sure if I can post direct link? I would like to be able to watch the cams in realtime in full resolution, without downscaling as well as record in a high resolution.

 

I live in new england and the winters are cold and long here, are there outdoor cameras made for this sort of climate?

 

I feel like I am rambling, and this is at least a start of my thoughts. I don't mean to come busting in here demanding information but the more I think about it, the more peace of mind it will bring me having this setup. Like I said, it's my own fault for postponing it too long. I hope to get the system up and running soon, but I want to take my time and make sure to invest in a quality system. I really appreciate anyone who took the time to read this and would love to hear feedback. Like I said, I am very IT driven and these topics interest me very much. Hopefully in the future I can continue to learn about things I haven't invested as much time as I would like to ( linux, networking, etc ).

 

Many thanks.

[elevatedthinking 0]

I really need to go to sleep! Work in a few hours, but like I mentioned would like to get this taken care of just so I can sleep a little easier now...

 

Realized that my post is all too familiar to many of you, so did a little more research, these cameras were recommended in a similar thread further down I noticed: CNB VCM-24VF

 

These are a little pricey, but I am looking for quality. Are there any cameras that you would recommend that would be comparable to this? So that leaves a dvr/wiring and what else should I make room in the budget for?

 

Many thanks, don't mean to sound desperate but my lack of knowledge is causing me some anxiety. The more I think about it I really would like to have some visibility to the shop, how far is too far to run cables connecting cameras -> dvrs?

[Kawboy12R 0]

Check out shockwave199's link at the bottom of his posts. Here's a link to a sample of his video quality. Scroll down until you see his Halloween video. IMHO, very good for an analog system. If I remember correctly he uses Gadspot cams that were under $100 each. $60 maybe? Some folks on here like the QVIS cams as well. Their vandal domes are under $100 and have a long 12mm "zoom" for outdoor distance work. With your setup it's going to be hard to cover it well with only 8 cams. I'd have probably 3 at the shop alone. One at the front at the top corner of your shop pic looking at an angle towards the road hoping to catch a face shot of someone entering the shop, one inside the shop at a wide angle showing everything that's going on, and one on the lower right corner of the shop zoomed close in on the road trying to catch the plate of everyone coming and going. Then I'd add a vandal dome cam over every door in the house. If you just want to start slow with a few cams, you might want to try and spend some extra money on a good cam with good zoom to hopefully at least catch plates and faces of people coming to "visit" up the driveway.

 

Look and see what he's using for a DVR. Good cams with a crappy dvr are useless because of the mangled saved video quality. I've owned a couple of analog dvrs. One's a cheapo card that goes in a computer for my work system and that's crap. The other is a Lorex ECO 8ch DVR and that's a slightly better but still awful piece of crap for saved video quality. It also loses saved video events that actually ARE on the DVR but won't show them depending on review speed and direction. I've got a CNB dvr on order and I'll see how much better that one is. I've switching some of my stuff over to IP network cameras which save MUCH more detail than analog does. Gives a good positive ID much farther from the camera.

 

As for max wire run distance, with analog cams it varies quite a bit on wire type, wire quality, and whether or not you're using passive or active baluns or other active video boosters. I've never done loooong runs but 500 feet is relatively easy using cat 5 and baluns of some kind, 1000' less so. If you decide to go network cameras with an NVR, you'll need an active repeater (probably just a switch) every 328 feet of wire because that's what the digital network requires. I'd recommend running cat 5e wire with baluns at every location though. The wire is cheap and it'll make it easy to upgrade to network cams in the future if you decide you need more from your system than analog can deliver. Spending money is quick and easy, but it's a real time consuming pain to run wires from building to building the first time. You probably won't want to do it a second time.

[elevatedthinking 0]

Hey thanks for your reply, I probably came off as every other desperate first time poster that just got robbed but I really appreciate the help. After only a few hours of sleep I woke up with a ton of questions, so I apologize at the barrage of them. Thanks for pointing me towards shockwave's posts, actually when I first found this site his post was one of the first I read that ultimately led me to register and post myself. Hopefully he will stumble upon this and offer some feedback as well.

 

A core question would be IP vs Analog? If I am even using the terms correctly. Can IP cams transmit a much higher quality video due to the connection type ( cat5 )? That, and their network capabilities are the two major differences? I am sure there are many more but those two seem to be the primary differences I have picked up on so far. Keeping it under $1k for all 8 cams seems like it's going to be tough, so maybe I start with 4 quality cams like you mentioned. I like the idea of the domes at all entrances to the house, but I also am looking to capture some of the background seeing as I have so much open space around my home.

 

A problem that I am encountering is that with such a wide array of products, it's hard to find product reviews from people that line up. I looked at a bunch of shockwave's videos on youtube and the gadspot cams he posted in mid 2011 seems pretty good actually. I am looking for a slightly clearer view at distances further away from the cam just because I have a lot of ground to cover.

 

An example of this would be

 

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=32322&start=0

 

The picture on the IP cams look great to me, the backyard picture makes me excited. I would be open to discussing analog too since I know very little about either. shockwave didn't seem as impressed with those cams as I am, probably because he has much more information/experience to compare it against.

 

IPC-HFW2100 - seems like a solid camera, I grabbed it from the link I posted above. How does this stack up as far as IP cameras are concerned? And what about against it's analog 'equivalent' ?

 

http://www.ubnt.com/airvision - I grabbed this off of a topic in the IP cam section as well, any experience with this brand?

 

I really don't have much experience with this so I am probably coming across as a complete newbins, which I am. My apologies again.

 

A couple random questions as well:

Can you mix IP and analog cams on the same system?

 

Thoughts on getting a couple nicer cams to start with, a shop cam that can see down the driveway, and maybe another on the front of the house pointing towards the space in between shop / barn...pointing towards the driveway about halfway in between the elbow and the barn. This would give me accurate, high quality picture from the shop and house, and then I could fill in the gaps with some other cams? Ideally I would have been planning this for the last six months, unfortunately that's not an option for me. This is starting to piece together and I really appreciate your feedback, I encourage others too as well as I am trying to absorb a large amount of information in a very short time frame. Hoping to have made final decisions by end of week/install next week and even that seems like a long way off!

[Kawboy12R 0]

I've been reading for quite a while and wanted to do what's called a hybrid system (analog and network cams running on the same box). I'm a bit of an experimenter though and it seemed like finding a reasonably priced quality hybrid system that worked with the cams I'd been researching and liking wasn't going to happen. Not saying that it's not possible, but I'd either have to run with cams I hadn't researched or didn't like or pay too much for licensing fees or whatever. I was going to totally give up on them for home use but ordered a better DVR to blend two systems instead of going hybrid. Seems like that's what the local CCTV shops are doing locally if they have both types of cameras on a site. Something like an Aver Nano hybrid might work for you though if you can pick network cams with motion detection support from their supported camera list. It's not a long list and the stuff I wanted to run wasn't on it. Tom says that Aver 1.3mp network cams are available from England (not apparently for sale in North America) for $130 each. I've never looked into them and they might be indoor only and/or crappy in the dark. I think he was recommending them for indoor use in a store at the time.

 

Lots of people are Dahua-Dahua-Dahua on here. Network cams available cheaply that actually work well in the dark? Tempting, right? They've got limitations, bugs, and support problems but if you don't expect heirloom-quality cams then they're a good value. You can get the 2100 bullets for about $135 shipped from China with your choice of lenses or $300/pair from Costco if you don't mind the 6mm lenses. Limited field of view compared to 3.6mm but better detail on objects at a distance, plus the awesome Costco warranty and QSee's support (hit or miss). They're also available on EBay for $170/pop with 3.6mm lenses (or maybe others on special order). Very basic cams with not many features or flexibility, but their detail is much better than my $135 VCM-24VF when live and you don't have to worry about finding a great DVR for equal quality saved video like with analog so they're light-years ahead of most analog stuff when reviewing footage for evidence. Their 3200C and 3300C bullets are more flexible and higher resolution and still good in the dark. Not perfect but good value for a $350ish dollar cam. If you've already got a decent modern computer laying around (preferably one you can dedicate for surveillance though), add a 16ch POE switch (most have just 8 POE ports) like a ZyXel for a bit over a hundred bucks or an 8ch with 4 POE ports to keep inital costs down (you can add a 2nd switch later or upgrade that one), $50 bucks for Blue Iris (or Zoneminder for free if you speak Linux), plus some cams and you're good to go. If you do decide on Dahuas despite their warts, the Costco/QSee 4ch network camera kit is hard to fault as a quick and dirty starter. Gets you decent cams up and running quickly and you can add/expand easily later with either another Dahua NVR or the switch/computer/software route.

 

I sunk some money into a Lorex analog system for my home because that was all that was available locally at the spur of the moment. I wish I hadn't but felt I had to at the time. Throwing more time/money into better analog cams, rewiring for cat 5 (major pain as it turns out- wish I'd done it with cat 5 and baluns the first time), and I really regret taking the quick way out. I love it for knowing what's going on all around the house though. Great for keeping an eye out for the kids out playing, deer, the popular "WHAT WAS THAT BANG?" question in the middle of the night, etc.

 

I ended up with a pair of Axis P3364VE network domes for a great price but they were still about a grand for the two of them after shipping. Muuuuch better quality video than my analog stuff and still good in the dark. I'm going to blend them with a couple of cheaper Dahuas in a little while and use a computer for an NVR but they're using edge storage at the moment (saving video to SD as well as a standalone harddrive so they're computer independent but I can view them at anytime from any computer in the house- a nice Axis feature). At the moment my analog system is my door monitor and covers less critical areas of the house. My wife thinks two domes over the front door is a little overkill though. I'll change it in a bit with a full-time network cam front door monitor (probably a cheap Android tablet) and ditch the analog there completely.

 

I have no experience with the Ubiquiti stuff. What I remember hearing of it was pretty good though.

 

edit- as far as cams freezing up goes, I'm north of you and haven't had any problems with my stuff freezing up. There was a recent thread on here about how cold cams can go and still function and it seems like many can work quite a bit colder than they're rated for and if they do freeze up then they usually thaw out later without damage. Most of mine don't have heaters and mounting them in sheltered locations works nicely. Literally had icicles hanging from one CNB and then the temp dropped to -20C and it still worked fine. -22C at another time (no icicles though) and still worked fine. Heaters and fans help in more exposed locations and for good vision when everything gets covered in snow/ice or driving rain. Good for getting humidity out of cams as well, but I've had good luck vision-wise with semi-sheltered cams, no onboard IR, and no heaters. Depends on if you need 100% 24/7 perfect visibility I guess.

[shockwave199 0]

Well I've seen my name dropped in this thread a bit so I figured I'd say hello! There are SO many more qualified people here to help you other than me. Kawboy has you well covered so rock on. I do agree on planning ahead- consider running cat5 even if you're gonna go analog. At the very least, you can upgrade down the line much easier if you choose to do so. I will always concur- MP cams provide much better detail. There are a few reasons why I didn't and haven't switched over yet. Two years out I'm still not over the pain of analog child birth- I have no interest in redoing everything yet. I installed, I tweaked, I learned, and I spent about 1,600 bucks. I wanted to take a complete break from tweaking and spending, and just let the system do it's thing for as long as it remains problem free now. Some of that 1,600 bucks was wasteful double-spending because I didn't know any better, before I found this place. Anyone could argue I wasted the full budget on analog itself. But so be it- you make a decision and run with it. I'm also not unhappy with my results, so I'm not motivated to switch over to MP cams yet.

 

I'm of the mind that if you install your key cameras well, they'll work for you- even analog. Mega pixel cameras with all their clarity still cannot change human behavior- masking yourself to hide identity or simply not truly looking in the direction of the camera for an ID mug shot. At that point you're looking at approx height, skin color, and clothes color- simple as that. Analog will deliver that if the install is well thought out. Where MP kicks serious ass is LPR on the move. That is really what I'd like to have, more than just clear fixed images. I can grab a plate any time of day very well, but put the vehicle in motion and it's all but impossible. That's where MP shines the most, imo. I also hate networking and I have everything and every user humming along now, so I HATE the thought of rocking that boat yet again with MP/IP networking concerns. I love the thought of plug & play NVR's but I need them to mature more, handling POE for all cam channels in the box, and being more open to third party camera choices. It'll likely be a couple more years before I really consider changing over from analog- due to the install, gear capabilities for what I want, and budget. I also don't need still-camera holiday picture quality out of my cctv system, in general. Plus, I'm a curmudgeon!

 

No matter what you choose, as far as gear, I can't really say. I only demo what I get at the time. Gear choices are a personal thing, in the end. Best of luck. If I can, I'll chime in about your install particulars. Gotta run for now.

[elevatedthinking 0]

Such great feedback, thanks again to the both of you. I really appreciate it. I don't blame you at all shockwave, if I had an established setup that I was comfortable with I wouldn't be looking to upgrade anytime soon. That is something I am taking into account, just like all technology, as soon as you become comfortable with it new leaps are made. The appeal of some of the MP cameras are that they seem to have crisper details at distances outside of 10 feet. I still am going to install some close up cameras covering the entrances to the house/shop, but I am thinking that the MP cams that I mount on the shop front and house front will be able to give me a little more range to the yard area in the 50ft region. I am not looking for a perfect face recognition shot, but being able to make out variables at that distance seems valuable to me. Maybe there are analogs that can offer that, so feel free to correct me please. Also, the shop front camera will have a visual on the driveway/roadfront so movement capture will be essential there.

 

As far as the Q-See package you were mentioning, it seems pretty solid. I assume you mean this ( http://www.costco.com/Q-See-4-Channel-HD-Digital-NVR-with-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-4-HD-720p-IP-Cameras.product.100003211.html )? A few horror stories in the reviews but they always come up it seems like, lots of times I think it's related to them not understanding the product or what is involved. How do those cameras stack up? {{EDIT: Oh are these the 2100 series cam?" }} I am not going to be able to start with 8 cameras of any quality, but I think in the future 8 cameras will be the full setup if not more. I was having a hard time finding any sources to lookup prices for the 3200/3300C models, sounds like may I need one or two of those and fill in the gaps with some lesser ones for the time being. I have a semi older computer ( 5 years, core 2 duo etc ) that isn't being used, I don't know how much horse power is required to setup the computer as a dedicated NVR ( am I using the term correctly? ). What factors play into figuring out whether a certain camera will work with my setup? Still so many grey areas. Nearly all the camera locations will be somewhat close to power outlets, would PoE still be required in those cases? What are the benefits of PoE, less wiring is required if you are already running cat5? On that note, what would be the best way to run cat5 from the shop to the house, does it have to be subterranean ?

 

 

In regards to Dahua, I have heard the name thrown around a ton on these boards, is there any sort of financial affiliation connected to the message boards here? They seem like a decent middle shelf camera but I also don't want to short myself, from the videos I have seen online they aren't perfect but they seem like they would allow for what I am trying to do. What sort of limitations do the 2100 series ( and potentially the 3200/3300 series ) have..bugs? Support is big, I also don't want to invest a large amount of money just to have it brick or something in 6 months and not be able to use it. Is it really that bad? Please be honest with your opinions, I will take them as such from someone much more educated on the subject. I will always look up other reviews too to get a feel for their things.

 

Anyways, my break is done at work. Again, anyone who has any sort of insight into this sort of project and maybe some hardware thoughts I would be really happy to hear from. Thanks again. Will check in again tonight.

[shockwave199 0]

This blog from this member is a terrific resource for not only seeing gear and software first hand, but to gain a much better understanding of it all. Read and watch it all-

 

http://www.NetworkCameraCritic.com

 

This forum here is the place to go to fine tune your understanding-

 

viewforum.php?f=19

 

If you're gonna go with MP/IP, a good choice, you have to hit those places to get your arms around it all. Good luck to you.

[bigglebowski 0]

If you do plan on building the system up over time its hard not recommend heavily doing your research on IP based systems because of how you can scale them. You can find some decent priced NVR software like Blueiris that you can use at first to get experienced with recording IP but wont have invested too much if you decide you need the system to do more. If you can stick to a single camera brand then in most cases will be able to use their NVR software for free. It will be a lot easier to demo other software when you have a couple of cameras on site to use for the trial period. What you do want to look at right now in terms of NVR/VMS/CMS is look at the various vendors out there and see what cameras they support. The brands you see listed over and over may be the ones you want to consider for purchase. The brands you dont see over and over well...

 

A reverse take on the hybrid system is to take a well designed analog camera and put it on a video encoder so that your NVR can use it. A scenario for this might be where you find a really good low light, low priced analog camera that has a great zoom lens on it hooked to a server will cost much less than a similar low light IP camera.

[elevatedthinking 0]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the feedback.

 

Shockwave: I hope you didn't misinterpret any of my blubbering, your systems look great, I have spent a lot of time watching your videos and reading posts of yours since it was recommended last night. I appreciate all your input it's much appreciated. I have followed the blog link and am seeing dahua being thrown around a lot, with fairly good reviews. I will be doing heavy research on them this evening. I understand they are made in china and their customer support may be poor, but I am trying to think of what Kawboy mentioned as far as bugs/lacking features...I just don't know enough (yet ) to know about this. Any thoughts?

 

Like I said, under different circumstances I would be researching this project or months before I invested in the physical products. Unfortunately time is fairly limited, so I am trying to cram as much as I can in a short amount of time to make an educated decision that I won't regret ( too much ) a month from now.

 

Lebowski your suggestions are spot on , although still it's a fine balance between securing my home and taking the time to get educated fully on the subjects. The entire recording side of things is fairly unknown to me still, so I have that written down as things to research tonight. I will get back to you with more questions in a couple hours most likely. Again much appreciated, and feel free to chime in with any suggestions, names, points, anything constructive. Hoping by the end of the week to be able to have a somewhat solid idea of a base system to start with, even if its just 3 cameras to start like has been mentioned.

[Kawboy12R 0]

Dahua 2100 bullet bugs, problems, and lack of features that I'm aware of- white balance tends to be off, IRs won't shut off at night even if you put the camera in day mode when it's dark, cams don't always shift automatically to night mode if there's white light around (must put manual schedule in the camera), no alarm inputs so you can't record via external trigger (PIR sensors, driveway alarm, door bell, or whatever), no varifocal lens (you have to pick a lens when you buy it or order one aftermarket and swap it yourself, but that's a bit of a crap shoot for compatibility), some small percentage of units have the mechanical IR filter stick one way or the other (quality control issue) and won't change, IR glare on the lens at night unless the top white weather shield is coloured black with magic marker or something similar (some Dahua resellers like QSee do this for you). Mostly non-serious fixable or livable issues unless you get a defective one. There're others as well in the firmware from what I hear depending on what revision is installed. Just "things that make you go hhmmm..." from trying to crank 'em out cheaply/quickly but still have them work decently. They are also hackable if someone with computer skills, the proper knowledge, and access to your network (possibly from outside via internet if you leave network ports open) wants to fiddle around with your security cameras. It's not like they're the equal of a $1000 camera miraculously sold for $150. If they had competitors in the same price range with the same picture quality day AND night with fewer weaknesses and better support (try getting firmware updates/warranty from someone other than the person who sold it to you) then the budget buyers on here would be excited about them instead of Dahua, but they aren't. Pretty good for a budget home buyer getting into IP cameras but not without flaws, some of which could be solved by buying something else at maybe 2-3-4 times the price (or more). Heck, even my Axis cams that retail for about a grand each have issues though.

[shockwave199 0]

If they had competitors in the same price range with the same picture quality day AND night with fewer weaknesses and better support (try getting firmware updates/warranty from someone other than the person who sold it to you) then the budget buyers on here would be excited about them instead of Dahua, but they aren't.

I know nothing about these offerings from gadspot, but have a look I guess. Lots of them say they are onif and come with CMS software, but I have no idea if they would play nice with other software such as blue iris. Their analog cameras haven't let me down- maybe there's something to be said for their IP cameras.

 

http://www.gadspot.com/c-4-all-ip-cameras.aspx

[elevatedthinking 0]

ZX-12r I presume?

 

Dahua 2100 bullet bugs, problems, and lack of features that I'm aware of- white balance tends to be off

This isn't ideal for sure, but as far as functionality is concerned, is this a problem that would disrupt the cameras from doing their job? What variables seem to cause a stronger imbalance of white? These answers will help me place my cameras correctly to try to minimize it.

 

IRs won't shut off at night even if you put the camera in day mode when it's dark, cams don't always shift automatically to night mode if there's white light around (must put manual schedule in the camera)

 

These seem like they will have more of an impact on the ability for the camera to function. Regarding the IR shutoff failure, what would protocol be on something like that? If I purchased from what I can gather is a small group of reputable DAHUA vendors, and 6 months down the road the IR won't turn off? Is that where one of the downfalls of going this route is?

 

, no alarm inputs so you can't record via external trigger (PIR sensors, driveway alarm, door bell, or whatever), no varifocal lens (you have to pick a lens when you buy it or order one aftermarket and swap it yourself, but that's a bit of a crap shoot for compatibility)

 

This is lack of feature. What about the 3200 bullet?

 

Lots of them say they are onif and come with CMS software, but I have no idea if they would play nice with other software such as blue iris. Their analog cameras haven't let me down- maybe there's something to be said for their IP cameras.

 

They seem like solid cams, I need to pull both spec sheets up side by side and familiarize myself more with what distinctions there are between these two different models. ONVIF is interesting and I can see some strong arguments for both sides. The compliance is nice to see even without any experience as far as quality / function is concerned. And that's just it, there are so many different cams/nvr/cms setups. Maybe someone can offer up some key differences between the two. I would be more then happy to spend a little more over the DAHUA 2100 if something like this is deemed to be superior. I think what I am hearing overall is that the 2100s are the entry level IP cam, for a limited budget, and with any entry level device there are going to be plenty bugs. I don't mind dealing with bugs, what I am trying to avoid is dumping a good chunk of change and having bricks 8 months from now.

 

How long have thee 2100 series been out, has anyone been running these for > 1yr?

 

I still am having a hard time choosing between

 

-NVR setup like DAHUA 2308 , but again that is just because I have read about it the most here. Are there comparable NVRs for the same $$ or are we back to the above point?

 

-And a dedicated cpu recording setup. This is desirable because I want to have better control over the software that is recording/displaying as well as make sure it can scale well to different components down the line as I learn and expand.

 

Would a happy medium be some sort of NAS? This way when I get the computer setup I can just interface directly with the NAS from the computer and use it for storage? In the mean time could hopefully get a setup going and start placing cams/etc. What would your thoughts be on putting together an order for either a NVR/NAS/{Decent entry level cpu controller which I basically would need to dig hard for blueprints since I am so out of touch with what's required} , PoE switch, two entry level cams (2100 series unless there is another within +/- 50$ ), outdoor shielded cat5, baluns ( still investigating )? I sure I am missing a bunch of things, could use a hand filling in the gaps.

 

As always, the help is much appreciated. I enjoy learning about these things and enjoy hearing your input as well.

[Kawboy12R 0]

Yep, ZX-12R Ninja.

 

White balance variables? Not sure what lights they like or don't like. Might influence a perfectly accurate description of a vehicle colour that you didn't snag a plate off of. For the nuances and pictures and details my memory doesn't hold, check out buellwinkle's blog at networkcameracritic.com. He reviews a bunch of Dahua stuff on there. Also, don't forget to read the comments. Lots of additional information comes out in the comment section. Same goes for the review of the HFW-3200C. There's also a HUGE thread on here about them and tons of people speak up with their experiences with different lens vendors, problems, etc. There's also a bit of an ethical debate about firmware flashing failures and returning bricked cameras to Costco. Don't worry, it gets back on topic.

 

The IR-always-on-at-night is a "feature", not a failure. As far as I've read they all do it. Doesn't influence the way the cameras work, because if you force the cam into day mode at night then the infrared cutoff filter blocks the IR so it doesn't affect the picture. It'll just affect OTHER cameras without IR that can see IR that you don't WANT to see IR. Other than that it's not a problem, just kind of a bug that doesn't change the video quality. Not sure how long the 2100 series has been out or anybody that's been running Dahua IP cams of any flavour for a long time.

 

The HFW-3200C bullet has external alarm inputs and outputs. Most folks probably won't use these unless they want to almost completely eliminate false positive motion detection alerts. Critical feature at times but probably quite uncommon in homeowner situations.

 

Thx for pointing out the Gadspot cams shockwave. I'd looked at them before but they're unknowns. I've emailed them asking about whether or not their NVR software will work with my Axis cams or what other aftermarket software their cams work with. No sample video that I can find on their site or on Youtube either. The GS9405E would work nicely in my driveway. The 6mm max zoom on my P3364VE just isn't quite enough. I'm still looking for a good deal on a 12mm version of one of these.

[Kawboy12R 0]

11 days and still no reply from Gadspot on software compatibility for their network cameras. Not looking good...

[shockwave199 0]

Huh. If you're ever up late night, see if they're online for support chat. Mon-Fri they are pretty consistent, especially late night....when the other half of the world is awake.

[gadspotcris 0]

Gadspot offers 24hrs (M-F) online live-chat, that would be the fasted way to reach the support team, or please forward your question to techsupport@gadspot.com