£400 to spend - Recommendations Needed

[bkz187 0]

Sorry for being the millionth person to ask this

 

I am in the market for a DIY CCTV for home use and after 2 weeks of reading reviews and searching I still have not pulled the trigger

 

My budget is £300 to £400 including shipping (UK)

 

I would like a decent setup with 4 cameras being able to record for 1 month

 

1 camera covering the drive and road outside my house

1 covering visitors on the front door

1 covering the side rear/entrance

1 covering the back yard

 

I understand I need a good varifocal camera to be able to zoom in and cover the drive and the road. I would like it to pick up reg plates if possible.

 

IR Night vision must be good. 20m or 30m both acceptable.

 

OK So my dilemma is the vast amount of cctv kits on the market. And having ZERO experience with them not knowing which brand to go for or how much I should be spending.

 

I was expecting to pay around £350 for a kit so £450 is a little over budget. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.

Which brand is better?

Are there other brands I should be looking at? I have heard of Dahua and Xvision but I am not sure whats best for residential.

 

I have had a couple of recommendations:

 

1) The first is an IQ CCTV system for approximately £450 which will come with an 8 ch DVR (IQR8D) 1 TB HDD and 4 cameras 30m IR IQC649V-G or 20m IR IQC600V

 

2) The second is a Swann D1 CCTV system for similar money but has 500GB HDD and 20M IR Cameras.

 

Being a complete novice I could do with knowing if this is the correct price range and type of equipment

 

Any recommendations?

[Neutech 0]

Honestly £400 will not get you what you are asking for

 

Everyone seems to think Infra Red is a must have.....personally i havnt used a camera with IR onboard in over 6 years and never will unless you want to spend every couple of days cleaning the spiders off the front of them. Look at the lighting structure in your enviroment, use of security lights in correct locations and positions mean your camera will give you a full colour true image not a IR image in B&W that looks like a pile of glare.

You want to catch numberplates......£400 wouldnt even come close for a camera to do that never worry about the rest of the system, Im not saying you cant build a system on a budget but you need to increase what you want to spend

 

Where in UK are you located?

[fertilebert 0]

True

[bkz187 0]

im based near manchester

 

hmm.. so IR is not so important! I have motion security lights fitted but I didn't think they would be good enough

 

what sort of cameras should I be looking at?

 

so far I am convinced the IQ CCTV is the best out the bunch.. someone help!

[clairelstead 0]

Hi,

 

Honestly, you won't get everything you are looking for at that price.

 

Why not try www.cctvkitsdirect.co.uk or www.cctvdirect.co.uk - they both sell the same kits but think there are some price differences across the two.

 

They sell a Samsung kit which is easily within your budget which you could buy extra cameras for - the kit comes with 2 cameras as standard then you can buy additionally. The cameras both have 20m IR night vision and there is an internal and external camera included.

 

I know several people who have used the more expensive kits and have recommended highly, but these are getting out of your price range but towards the quality you require.

 

Hope this helps.

[henrybeet 0]

With just £400, you can’t get what you expect to. Try finding deals on EBay or Amazon. I got a good deal with a brand called Symetrix but that’s all the way here in Oz and I’m not sure they ship to Manchester (though I think they do).

[bkz187 0]

to my dismay I am still hunting for the right CCTV kit

 

so many brands, so many prices!

 

I have increased my budget to £500 but hope to have 4 good cameras with atleast a 1TB HD

 

I hold my hands up - I need help!

[tomcctv 189]

to my dismay I am still hunting for the right CCTV kit

 

so many brands, so many prices!

 

I have increased my budget to £500 but hope to have 4 good cameras with atleast a 1TB HD

 

I hold my hands up - I need help!

 

 

 

 

hi. just under your budget you can get 4 cameras ... 4 way dahua DVR roll or RG59 all BNCs power supply and crimp tools.

[Numb-nuts 1]

TO pick up reg plates reliably you have about the right budget for one ANPR camera and nothing else.

 

You can get some plates in good conditions but I would expect to get three reasonably high resolution IR cameras and a fourth Varifocal for that Budget,

[bkz187 0]

Thanks lads

 

any links to any kits?

 

I know the Dahua is good but where to purchase from?

[bkz187 0]

ANPR would be nice but how much is the camera? and what system does it need to run? does it work with a standard DVR?

[tomcctv 189]

Thanks lads

 

any links to any kits?

 

I know the Dahua is good but where to purchase from?

 

 

 

 

hi take a look at your PMs

[Numb-nuts 1]

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Edited July 30, 2013 by Guest

[Numb-nuts 1]

to my dismay I am still hunting for the right CCTV kit

 

so many brands, so many prices!

 

I have increased my budget to £500 but hope to have 4 good cameras with atleast a 1TB HD

 

I hold my hands up - I need help!

 

Stick em up

[bkz187 0]

OK peeps

 

after some very good advice I have decided to stick to the QVIS brand

 

I understand I will have to go down the Cat5 / Balun route -

 

is this the only real method of connecting cams to a DVR? Seems quite over-complicated to me

[Kawboy12R 0]

It's not the only way to connect analog cams to a DVR, but it's the right way (cheap with good video) for longer runs and to future-proof your installation to easily allow you to upgrade to networked IP cameras in the future. For just hooking up analog cams? Pre-made RG59 CCTV cables or rolling your own with shotgun cable works fine.

[bkz187 0]

thanks buddy

 

makes sense

 

I want the best kit available for £500

 

Any HD kits I can squeeze in that price? I am looking at the iZeus or the iCloud with good varifocal cameras

 

these ones to be precise:

 

http://www.qvissecurity.com/files/93d21f19-53bd-4200-943b-a0450100ec1b/P400-E37-V2G40-N.pdf

[Kawboy12R 0]

I don't know what's available to you in Britain and I've got no experience with the gear you're looking at. That camera seems decent looking at that link, but lots of cams look good on paper but get crippled by something as dumb as the manufacturer saving 50 cents per camera on cheap lenses. QVIS seems to be a decent name from what I remember reading about them though.

[Numb-nuts 1]

If you find that complicated, then stick to what you know and employ an installer!

 

There is always the use of Siamese cable or shotgun cable but you'll need to learn to crimp BNCs and have the appropriate crimp tool and the cable is heavy and hard to work with so Cat5 isn't the ONLY way but it is the preferred way for most professionals.