Angelfire 0 Posted April 16, 2013 Hiya Folks, Been scanning the web and in particular these forums. Great information and very helpful members! My situation: I am putting the final touches on an addition to my home. As part of this work, I also added a detached garage that will ultimately be used for woodworking/automotive. I ran CAT6 throughout the addition before closing up the walls in the addition. The garage is exposed studs so I can run the ethernet there anytime. I should also mention that this is a flat roofed house so it's a pain in the neck to run new stuff once all the drywall/ceilings are up. Additionally, the family has a small cabin in the mountains (temp range of -40F - 90F although the -40 occurs once or twice during the winter) and have always considered putting cameras there. I still have lots to do on the addition as well as a few projects so was really planning to get started on this later this year doing my homework etc... Well I just found out my employer is sending me overseas soon (Aug)! What I'm after: I think I'd like the ability to look in and check on the house from afar just to make sure things are ok. I plan to install WiFi cabable thermostats etc... so I can keep an eye on that aspect of things as well. Overall, and based on what I've read to date, I want to go with IP cameras (hence the Cat6!). I'd like to be able to view the cameras output on both PC's and smartphones. What I know: Not much! I know I ran enough ethernet to handle about 7 cameras outdoors on the house and could install another 8 on the garage. Additionally, I'd probably want to set up a few cameras indoors although they probably wouldn't be permanently installed just due to time constraints etc... So my thoughts were to probably go with 2 NVR's and 2 POE switches, one for the addition and one for the garage. I've seen a lot of comments regarding Dahua, Axis, Acti, etc... and at this point, I think I'm just more confused over which equipment I should get. I do know that I want good resolution and will need good night performance. I'm thinking 2MP as a minimum but am open to the 1.3MP cameras as well....can always upgrade later. Budget: I haven't put together a formal budget just yet but will. I'm inclined to think maybe $2-3k for both systems and if that means adding fewer cameras to meet this, that's ok as long as they are highly reliable (and I realize that budget is low...still need to look closer at that). Given I won't physically be present, I really need something that I can turn on and not worry about from 6500 miles away. Other concerns: Without eaves, the cameras will be exposed to the sun and it's brutal here (NM....skin cancer of the world!). So again, need something that's going to hold up. I'd prefer not to have big ole bullets hanging off the side of the house and would prefer domes as they would appear less obtrusive. Recommendations: So all in all, I'm requesting help with a plan of action that I can put into place to get this done in the next couple of months. The system doesn't have to be perfect by any means but I would really rather not put something in only to find out that in a year or two when I return, that I need to completely upgrade things. So far, I'm leaning towards Dahua's NVR's (but am by no means married to them!), either Zyxel or Cisco switches, and dahua, axis, or acti cameras. Seems the latter two are producing some cheaper costing versions to compete with the Dahua folks. So thank you for reading through my novella! I appreciate any inputs you may have. Thank you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kawboy12R 0 Posted April 19, 2013 I wouldn't mix Dahua NVRs with other brands of cameras. Either go for a bargain basement all Dahua system or pick a different NVR solution that supports motion detection on the cameras you want to use. If you want to use a computer as NVR, that makes mixing and matching camera brands easier because even if the software doesn't support the in-camera motion detection you can make the computer's CPU do the heavy lifting. Not great for tons of cameras (the CPU can only do so much) but it'll work in a home system. The next price point step up your Dahua/ACTi/Axis ladder is ACTi. They've got their own NVR solutions or free NVR software that'll run only ACTi cams on a low-end PC (supports in-cam motion detection). Their cams aren't as great in low light as Axis cams are but they ARE cheaper. I'm not terribly impressed with the night quality of their newer domes (or most of their older cameras for that matter) but buellwinkle says that they have new firmware on the way to help fix that. 8 cheaper cams are better than 4 expensive ones because even Axis hasn't made cams that'll see around corners. I'm waiting for video samples of the ACTi E44 (their newest low-light darling) to come out. The price is pretty good for a 2mp varifocal if it really is good at night. I've got a couple of Axis P3364VE 1.3mp domes with Lightfinder. Excellent in picking up colour information in low-light without long motion-blurring exposure times. They'll even read plates at night with no special tweaking in colour mode against headlights with my two no-so-bright deck lights shining outwards on out to about maybe 40 feet. The only two things I don't recommend about them are the free software and the price. Mix and match them with cheaper cams in other locations using 3rd party NVR software though and they're money well spent if you want plate numbers of folks who pull into your driveway at night. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
