New Home PoE Setup

[Virge 0]

Greetings,

 

Long-time tech aficionado and am for the first time venturing into home security. I'm finding that I'm being presented with far too much information in this emerging area and don't know the good from the bad first-hand.

 

Needs:

- PoE 8-channel system (HDDs not required, I've got a few dozen 3TB AV-GP's sitting around)

- Good recommendations for 4 outdoor PoE IR cameras

- Good recommendations for 2 indoor PTZ domes

 

I'm looking for mid-range. 1080 is not a requirement, bare minimum of 720 preferred. PLEASE feel free to educate me since even with a good knowledge of A/V I'm sure stating resolution requirements for security cameras sounds pretty ignorant as it's become clear they're rated very differently.

 

Camera budget is flexible. DVR system (including a PoE switch if the unit is not nativly PoE capable) is between $300-$600.

 

Thanks,

Virge

 

Edit, supplementary: I currently run a full-tower media server with 20TB of Raid6 storage. If intelligent enough, I would be open to the idea of adding an 8-channel capture card to accomplish my needs, if I would be getting the same degree of flexibility and reliability as a standalone DVR. If anyone has experience with exactly this type of configuration, I would also appreciate insight here as well.

[Kawboy12R 0]

No capture card required for IP cameras, just a switch and software. "DVR" is a term used for the box capturing analog CCTV video and converting them to digital format for storage and/or retransmission. Coined back when VHS storage was common so the use of "digital" for analog video was considered a step up. IP or network cameras use an NVR (network video recorder) to view and record the digital network-transmitted video data. It's either a standalone box or NVR software running on a computer or from a NAS like a Synology.

 

As far as mid-range goes, what's the budget per camera? The Hikvision variants are dominating talk on here for low end stuff (under $200/cam for fixed mini bullets) but aren't that good at night. My Axis P3364VE (there's an LVE version with built-in IR) domes I consider the high end of "midrange" stuff at $600-$1100 each, depending on the budget and the importance of night over day quality. In some situations the cheap Hik bullets beat the Axis in daytime image detail, but the 720P Axis knocks the socks off the 1080P Hiks at night.

[Virge 0]

Okay, fantastic. This makes things easier for me.

 

My current media server utilizes a hardware RAID card with a 256GB SSD cache. The entire thing is running on Raid6 over SATA-III, so I get roughly 900mb/s read, 600mb/s write. It's primarily used as a media server streaming video/audio over the network to TV's and the projector in the theater room, and really never caps out over 100mb/s so I've got a lot of extra I/O overhead to utilize it as the DVR. This changes my needs a bit. I really just need a PoE switch, the software, and the cameras.

 

Budget-wise, I don't think I need $500+ cameras. Low-medium is fine, especially since three of the outdoor cameras really only need a range of 5-10 feet maximum. Ideally I'd like some cameras with strong IR, as 3 of he outdoor cameras won't be commonly exposed to lights, just the front door which has a motion-activated 100w LED, which the camera will be mounted directly above (and out of the direct LOS of the bulb itself). I suppose a silver bullet would be the following:

 

- 4 Outdoor cameras with IR. 2 cameras with very strong IR because they will be in areas without motion-detecting lights, but only need to see 5-10 feet. 1 camera with very strong IR that will be positioned 20 feet up that needs a strong IR for about 30 feet. 1 camera which will be mounted directly on-top of the entry-way light (outside of direct LOS of a 100w motion-detecting bulb) which does not need to be IR at all, though it would be a nice perk.

- 2 indoor cameras. Preferably dome, 1 being PTZ with IR up to 20 feet (main living room), the other being fixed (garage) with IR up to 30 feet.

- Software to run the setup

 

If I was to do this, however, I would need a small bit of customization that I'm not entirely sure the best way to configure. I was initially going to get a DVR and rack-mount it in my basement server room, and then run the video out to a TV mounted in the kitchen on the main level so you could see all six cameras displayed (marqueed with only the front door being the main large image for relevance). If I install the software on my existing media server I still need a good way to get the camera feeds to display to said TV on a different level. As it stands my media server had no need for video and only has the on-board IB video.. is there another way to get the visible display upstairs without using the media servers vga out extended 80 feet?

[Virge 0]

..or, if I just decided to go with three DS-2CD2032-I's and three DS-2CD2132-I, what NVR should I pair them with?