Help with an NVR based system.

[inaninstant 0]

Hello everyone, I've been doing quite a bit of research and this forum has been extremely helpful but I'd like to just throw everything on the table and provide you with as much info as I can, the hope being that maybe you can steer me in the right direction. There have been about 4 times where I was dead positive which route I was taking and I keep getting jammed up with the bazillion choices out there.

 

1. I'd like to go with an NVR based system capable of 1080p.

2. The cameras need to be capable of operation down to -15° F, as we are up in the Pocono, PA area. < this is a big one, I've had a hard time finding cams that rate down to this low of a temp.

3. I believe I'd like to start out with 4 cameras. I could use 6 or even 8, but I'd rather allocate more funds into the quality of the cameras.

4. My total budget is $2,500. I'm a software engineer and have ran cat5 myself in every house we've owned. We've also built a handful of desktops and LAMP based file/app servers over the years. I mention all of this because I'd like to install & configure the system myself to once more allocate as much as possible into the quality of the components.

5. While I do consider myself fairly tech. savvy and subscribe to the DIY if you can without blowing yourself up mentality, being totally new to these technologies has me leaning towards more of a boxed kit that.

6. If possible, I'd like to run Blue Iris but I'm ok if the particular DVR unit must use proprietary software. Again, I'm not totally opposed to building maybe an micro-atx i5/i7 based machine and running blue iris if that truly is the best route given my goals.

7. I've got a 60" plasma that I hope to use as the primary monitoring screen. Having all streams viewable at all times is critical.

8. From an IR standpoint, I'd need about 100' of coverage at night, that said we do have motion sensing flood-lights on 3 of 4 sides of our home so I'm not sure how significantly, if at all, that would come into play. I also want to store a few weeks worth of footage in addition to having the system auto detect/record/notify motion.

9. From an initial coverage standpoint, I'd like to able to see nearly the entire home's perimeter with the initial 4 (or 5 if needed) cameras.

 

Ok, those are the high-level points that I can think of. I've also taken a few shots of our home and mocked up where I'm thinking of mounting either bullet or dome (preferred) style cameras. Again being new to this, please call me out if the positioning and intended coverage direction is crap or unrealistic.

 

Front Door

 

Front Left

 

Front Right

 

Back left (I know I'd be missing this side of the house, if it's just not possible to cover the perimeter of the home with 4, I might pick up a 5th camera)

 

Back Right

 

 

What would you recommend assuming I have a cap of $2,500. Thanks a TON in advance for any advice you can provide!

[MaxIcon 0]

I won't go into a lot of details, but here are a few big picture points.

 

It's hard to go wrong with a PC based system for flexibility and control. There's a wide variety of software out there. I'm partial to BI (which is CPU hungry), but many people like Xprotect, and others may chime in with their favorites.

 

If you get a mini-ITX box with a 4th gen i7, you can run 8 cams or more with BI (depending on frame rate and resolution), and other software like Xprotect will run without stressing it at all. You can get both as free or demo versions, run them on the same system, and see what you like. Likewise, running a big TV as a monitor is no problem with a PC.

 

Stand-alone NVRs are robust and reliable, but if there's something they won't do, a camera they won't support, or if support falls off, you're out of luck.

 

For cams and coverage, you'll be working with the trade-offs between coverage and detail, especially with some of them mounted way up high, so don't buy all your cams at once. I'd recommend getting a couple of solid basic cams like the Hik 2032 and a similar dome, or maybe get a vari-focal for one. You can then try them out in the various positions and will then have a much better idea of what you'll want, and you can always re-use a good cam somewhere else.

 

I have wide coverage cams to watch the area, then some detail cams to watch the driveway and door up close.

 

As for temp, most specs are conservative. There was lots of feedback on Hiks after the polar vortex last winter that they held up just fine in sub-zero temps.

 

Your budget should cover a capable PC, POE switch, and 6 basic cams, no problem. If you like BI, you'll have money left over; if you go with a per-cam license software, you'll be able to cover 6 cams as well.

[inaninstant 0]

I won't go into a lot of details, but here are a few big picture points.

 

It's hard to go wrong with a PC based system for flexibility and control. There's a wide variety of software out there. I'm partial to BI (which is CPU hungry), but many people like Xprotect, and others may chime in with their favorites.

 

If you get a mini-ITX box with a 4th gen i7, you can run 8 cams or more with BI (depending on frame rate and resolution), and other software like Xprotect will run without stressing it at all. You can get both as free or demo versions, run them on the same system, and see what you like. Likewise, running a big TV as a monitor is no problem with a PC.

 

Stand-alone NVRs are robust and reliable, but if there's something they won't do, a camera they won't support, or if support falls off, you're out of luck.

 

For cams and coverage, you'll be working with the trade-offs between coverage and detail, especially with some of them mounted way up high, so don't buy all your cams at once. I'd recommend getting a couple of solid basic cams like the Hik 2032 and a similar dome, or maybe get a vari-focal for one. You can then try them out in the various positions and will then have a much better idea of what you'll want, and you can always re-use a good cam somewhere else.

 

I have wide coverage cams to watch the area, then some detail cams to watch the driveway and door up close.

 

As for temp, most specs are conservative. There was lots of feedback on Hiks after the polar vortex last winter that they held up just fine in sub-zero temps.

 

Your budget should cover a capable PC, POE switch, and 6 basic cams, no problem. If you like BI, you'll have money left over; if you go with a per-cam license software, you'll be able to cover 6 cams as well.

 

Thanks a ton for all the advice. It looks like alexpress has the Hik 2032 for $87 and they do seem to cover all the priorities for me and are rated all the way down to -22 °F which rocks. Maybe these hik 2032s serve as my broad, general use cameras and I go with something else for the detailed door/driveway cams like you suggested. I think I'll build an i7 based box. For the encoding/decoding I can see it eating up the processor but would I need to worry about getting a high-end video card to handle displaying the grid of streams or would an onboard gpu cover it?

 

Thanks again!

[MaxIcon 0]

The onboard graphics on recent-gen i5 and i7 chips is fine, since there's no 3D required.

 

The 2032s are great cams for the money, and for the ones up high, you don't need domes to avoid tampering. The main downside is changing the lens is a big pain, so it's easier to get them with the right size. The 4mm is a good general starting point, though you won't have the resolution to ID someone too far away, especially at night. It would be good for the doorway, I bet.

[inaninstant 0]

The onboard graphics on recent-gen i5 and i7 chips is fine, since there's no 3D required.

 

The 2032s are great cams for the money, and for the ones up high, you don't need domes to avoid tampering. The main downside is changing the lens is a big pain, so it's easier to get them with the right size. The 4mm is a good general starting point, though you won't have the resolution to ID someone too far away, especially at night. It would be good for the doorway, I bet.

 

I noticed there are 4mm, 6mm, and 12mm optional lenses but I can't find a single instance where the camera is configurable for the initial lens upon purchase. Is this something that you must do after the fact and if so, is there somewhat of a lens portal out there where I can pick up a 6mm and 12mm to test out on one of the cams?

[MaxIcon 0]

I think you have to contact the seller to get different lenses. Aliexpress vendors sometimes ship the wrong thing even after requests, so you'd want to be clear in the email to avoid confusion. Check other posts for recommendations on which ali vendor to use.

 

You can buy decent quality lenses at m12lenses.com, but fit in the 2032 is tight, and it doesn't take much to cause problems. That along with how much trouble it is to change lenses (all adjustments have to be done with the camera completely disassembled) definitely makes it better to buy it configured.

 

Most people are happy with 4mm and 6mm. 12mm is pretty zoomed in for these cams, so if you wanted to see, say, out to the end of the driveway with good resolution, 12mm would work out.

 

Here are some lens size comparison threads from cam-it:

http://www.cam-it.org/index.php?topic=7988.msg47638

http://www.cam-it.org/index.php?topic=7860.msg46993