New Home

[reckless67 0]

Hi, we moved into a new home early this year and it was pre-wired for 4 camera positions. The builder used cat5 to run from the media room to the 4 positions. I have no idea what type of system to get but I was looking at what Costco.ca has on their site. The camera positions are; 1-at the front door on the wall about 5' or a bit more off the step, 1 up in the soffit at the front corner of the house, 1 on the side of the house up about 15' or so (I aaume to point towards the man door into the garage, and one on the back of the house up about 15' also. Can anyone tell me what a good system to get to start with? The brands that Costco sells are Lorex, Q-See, Swann, and some Samsung.

Thanks for your help.

I should aslo note that I do have a HTPC in my media room so if is easy to get a dvr card for my computer that could be an option.

 

Steve

[prd 0]

you can use ip cameras and use your existing pc to record and monitor them...

[daveshoot 0]

Of the Costco brands, right now the hot tickets are the Swann and the Lorex. They both provide equipment from the same manufacturer, in their own respective packages. At the moment the Lorex is the better deal for the amount of equipment at the price. The Swann NVR has more features, and better tech support. My guess is you are going to end up talking with tech support no matter which system you buy, and you might factor this into the decision.

 

The Costco Concierge service was surprisingly well-informed and helpful, also, if you get the right person on the phone.

 

Since you have the CAT5 already, you might avoid the SDI system packages, and just look at the network IP systems. I went with the Swann and while I am bitter about the Lorex offering two more cameras at a lower price now, I am really pretty happy with this system and the support provided.