New member, looking for advice for camera system

[steakbits 0]

hello cctv forum! I'm completely new to security camera's and looking for suggestions on a decent camera setup. I'd like to keep the budget around $400-600 and needing 3 camera's.

 

One camera to cover the front of my house, front door, garage door. A second camera to cover the shed in the back yard (shed faces house with no windows). The last camera I'd like to be able to pick up license plates of cars that drive by the house, the road is about 50-75 feet from the house.

 

I've briefly looked at the Samsung 720p 4 camera setup at Sams Club and have seen others recommend Hikvision DS-2CD3332-I cameras but I'm not sure what I need to build a complete system.

 

I really want at least 720, but a 1080p system would be preferred if I can do it within that price range. What do you guys suggest?

[SyconsciousAu 0]

What do you guys suggest?

 

I would start with revisiting your budget and requirements to ensure your expectations match the reality of what you are going to get.

 

One camera to cover the front of my house, front door, garage door.

 

One camera in your price range will give you an overview of an area that size but that is all it is going to do. Forget trying to identify anyone from the footage. If all you want is to know when someone is there and provide some deterrence that's fine, but if you actually want footage that can be used as evidence you will need to rethink your budget and layout.

 

A second camera to cover the shed in the back yard (shed faces house with no windows).

 

Again do you just want to be able to see if someone is near the shed or ID them if there is a break in? Will the camera be on the house or the shed? How far is the shed from the house?

 

The last camera I'd like to be able to pick up license plates of cars that drive by the house, the road is about 50-75 feet from the house.

 

Again that's not impossible to do but assuming you are 18m (60 feet) from the road, and your angle is 45 degrees, which is about the most extreme angle you want for a licence plate capture shot, your distance from the camera to the near side of the road is 25.5m so in excess of 30m (100 feet) to the far side of your shot. Camera's in your price range come with up to a 12mm lens but for enough pixels per meter (200ppm is about the minimum) you will need at least a 25mm lens at that range, and forget using the on board ir to capture readable plates at night. In short a solution mounted on the house that is capable of capturing plates on moving cars passing the house day and night is beyond your budget.

 

It is possible to do number plate capture on a budget for around $300 (cameras and illuminator only) but you need to get closer to the road.

 

Also what are you recording this on? Does your budget include the cost of a stand alone NVR. Are you running separate power or going POE. If you get a POE NVR you are sorted but if you are going pc based you will need a poe switch as well. Have you included the cost of cables, conduit etc in the budget?

[eadysamual 0]

If you want Samsung 720p 4 camera setup at Sams Club then you do not need the heavy system to work behind, you can also install this with easy setups.