Coverage and Camera Noob Question

[Ashinobio 0]

Hello all,

 

I'm semi-tech savvy, but this is my first venture into home surveillance and I'm kind of at a loss. About a week ago, two tires were stolen from my car parked directly in front of my house in the middle of the night. Needless to say it was a bummer and I was hopping mad.

 

My mindset at this point is to have outdoor coverage for my entire home including the street/sidewalks in front of my house. If possible I'd like a dvr or pc based system and high quality (hopefully hd) cameras with enough range for adequate coverage. My yard, including house and driveway, is roughly 60ft side to side and 100ft front to back.

 

I have attached a rough sketch to give you an understanding of what I'm working with. Two entrances, one in front, and one in back. Windows take up 3 out of 4 sides of the house. I'm thinking I'd need at least 6 cameras to cover the entire house, but I'm not sure. I also have attached an even rougher sketch showing camera placements.

 

As far as nighttime coverage, the front of the house is pretty well lit, but the sides and backyard are not. I plan on installing a floodlight for the driveway (where I will be parking from now on) and on the garage to light up the backyard.

 

Any help/suggestions on systems, cameras, camera placement, etc. would really be appreciated. Look forward to your expert input.

 

My budget is around $1400. Not a lot I know, but all I have to devote right now. Also, being inconspicuous is not important, I want people to know I'm watching.

[Kawboy12R 0]

Download the Pelco camera tool and plug in the specs of the cameras you want to try out. At the very least, get the field of view specs right so you know what the cameras will cover before you buy and install them. Sensor size and lens length will give you that and then you can stick 'em on your property to see what you can cover. Just remember that while you can see lots (wide FOV) with, say, 2.8mm or 3.6mm lenses, you can't identify someone from far away with them. Recognition (if you already know them) yes, but identification of a stranger is a different story. They're best for entranceways because you can identify strangers up close coming through the door while still giving you wide situational awareness. For distance ID (folks touching a car parked more than 10 or maybe 20 or so feet from the camera at night) you'll need a longer lens. Personally, I like one wideangle cam per entrance plus additional cams to cover all sides of my house plus specialty cams for other jobs like license plates of cars entering my driveway, parked cars, outbuildings/garages with valuables, spots where my kids play, etc if the doorway and other cams covering the house won't do those jobs. Play with the Pelco tool with common lens sizes (2.8, 3,6, 4mm with 1/3 sensors), decide on a budget (sure on the $1400?), then pick cameras and recorder (standalone DVR/NVR/computer with software) based on your budget. Make sure you've got room for expansion afterwards too in case $1400 doesn't cut it. Hard to decide whether to skimp on quality or the number of cameras when starting out. If you skimp on quality you may end up redoing the whole thing.

[Ashinobio 0]

Thanks! Will download and see what I come up with.

[SB_Jim 1]

May I please jump onto this topic as well? I am replacing 7 analog cams w/ 4 1080P IP cams (Swann) to begin. As I've been reading on CCTV, some persons have suggested that obtaining a really good view of someone is perhaps better than having the cams more on the covert side. I'll likely purchase a 2-pack to make it six cams total, but I'll begin w/ four.

 

My question is - how do I make best use of this 4MM cam (or maybe it’s a little wider thx to MaxIcon’s recent analysis) on the back of my house. I have two entry doors, and I have one existing analog cam facing the first door a person would approach coming thru the driveway gate(see red arrow in pic). All analog will be replaced. My limitation seems to be that my eaves and rain gutter block much of the view - not to mention the possibility of an IR wash-out from reflection from gutter and/or rafter-tails.

 

Here are a couple of misc pics of the area I wish to cover. At the far end of the house is a gate (out of view). What I’m considering doing is moving my new 1080P cam further away from that first door / gate area such that I could actually use a single cam to view both doors (and perhaps the side door to the detached garage). I did temporarily hold the new cam against the stucco - as if it were flush-mounted - just about at the level of the rain gutter - and I was able to see the area along both doors - plus a view of my garage side door.

 

Here’s the current view w/an approx. 6mm cheap analog. Next is the area I'm trying to cover. Lastly, here's the view from the new cam if it were mounted up near the existing - not making the best use of it's wide angle.

 

I realize that this location would be pretty obvious to any intruder (who chose to jump the fence from a neighbor's yard) and could be vandalized. Another new cam will be installed in a similar location under the eave facing the front door. That cam could be used for so much more than just the front door - such that I'm also considering mounting it flush to the house (under the eave) where it'd provide a view of the front door and the walkway approaching it - along w/ a bit of the front yard - yet is still not highly visible from the sidewalk and certainly not a car on the street. And another cam will be much higher and viewing my gate from "outside" the gate along the narrow driveway. It'll be a nice upgrade from the current 660 TVL analog that's there now. And, if I buy a 2-pck, I could also replace the existing cam looking out the driveway - although I don't park there. It's just a good view of anyone approaching my rear gate (7 ft tall, powered, no handle). The fourth new 1080P could be installed on the opposite side of the house from the driveway - from fairly high up like the driveway cams - to view the only other likely entry point into my back yard.

 

Will throw a couple more pics in next thread for driveway / gate cam locations.

 

Thank you all for your valuable expertise and constructive comments.

 

Jim

[SB_Jim 1]

... and here are my last two pics. For sure one new cam will replace existing - looking towards garage & gate. Option for an add'l cam to look towards street.

 

J.

[Kawboy12R 0]

Jim, the garage and driveway cams look pretty good to me. Nice overview of the car/garage but shouldn't be too far from snoopers for a reasonable face pic. A bit tighter lens on the car and garage door wouldn't hurt but it's not too bad. If you can't easily relocate the cam with the closeup view of the eave maybe try turning off the built-in IR and using a separate illuminator mounted lower down or more white light that doesn't light up the underside there. You could also tilt it downward a bit, but then you'd probably lose the heads of people walking at the extremity of the shot near the fence. The "back doors" cam is pretty good for the nearer door when viewing people approaching from the fence side of the house and maybe a bit far from the farthest door. It will mostly get face pics from the side or quartering from the rear of anybody walking straight into the doors from farther back in the yard. Not sure what access is like back there or what the odds are that someone will approach that way without offering a straight face shot approaching from the fence that's visible. Might be better to place the cam in the corner to the right (looking out from the cam) to get a better facial of folks entering (but would worsen the shots of folks leaving the rear doors) and broaden the view of the back yard with the single cam. You might be better served with a cam over the big set of rear doors facing directly out as well as the existing cam.

[SB_Jim 1]

Thank you very much, K-12R. The garage & driveway pics shown are from existing analog cams. I'll be replacing the "garage/gate" cam w/ the new Swann (Hik). I have four to begin with. When I buy another two cams, I'll also replace the driveway cam. Not sure I've got lens options on these Swann / Hiks.. yet.

 

The somewhat grainy view of the two back doors is not from a security cam - it's just a picture to display the area I desire to cover - from a yet-to-be installed new Swann cam. I'll have to mount that camera on the house. The view i'm showing currently looking down at the back door landing is from my cheap analog. This is a scenario where I'm trying to decide whether or not it may be better to move the camera to a location under the eave that is (as you stand and view the back of the house) just to the right of the right hand door. This would give me a view of both doors - although not as close a shot of the first door that's nearer the driveway. If I went that scenario, I could also get a view of my side garage door. The house is just a rectangle, and the garage is detached behind the driveway gate.

 

In your comment "If you can't easily relocate the cam with the closeup view of the eave maybe try turning off the built-in IR and using a separate illuminator mounted lower down or more white light that doesn't light up the underside there. You could also tilt it downward a bit, but then you'd probably lose the heads of people walking at the extremity of the shot near the fence." I believe you're commenting on my existing cheap 420 TVL 9 yr cam shot. Yes, the eaves and rain gutter are my biggest hindrance to having a better view. I can easily mount a new cam in the same spot, or could mount one just below the gutter - but flush to the stucco such that the cam has a much better viewing angle.

 

Would that be your choice - if given this scenario, or would you simply purchase another camera and install one at each door - mounted to the eave, well-sheltered - and having a limited but a tight shot?

[Kawboy12R 0]

IMHO, there's no substitute for a mugshot quality face shot of the jerk that's screwing with my stuff. That's hard to get outdoors from overview cams (wide-angle) so I like a wide-angle at each entrance. That giveaway good face shot of people AT the door but not too much farther out, especially at night.. something low enough to not give me mugshot pics of their baldspot or hood. Those cams also give me wide-angle shots of my yard but not great pics of things entering my driveway or other areas of interest at adistance. So for me, doorcams first (prefer low and pointing out with good WDR so sun and shade don't screw up faces during certain times of the day), then a better driveway cam with some zoom for plates and faces of those touching my vehicles, then fill in blind spots in the yard (include coverage of all windows if possible ) for the whole picture of what is or was going on. Some folks have good luck with cheaper cams pointing at their doors to minimize major WDR problems when pointing out at the sun.

[SB_Jim 1]

Thank you. I'll place a cam at each door and will purchase a prev mentioned TrendNet switch that'll allow me to access the cam's own menu to enable WDR.

 

As options arise for other cams to be used w/ this NVR, I can look for a tighter lens. I guess the trick is having an adequate number of cams.

[Kawboy12R 0]

It takes a lot of.cams to give good coverage of even a small home. 6 is probably a bare minimum for outdoors unless large blind spots or some long distance coverage is acceptable.