Need advice/comments on my possible new build (noob alert)

[fjoseph76 0]

Hi Folks

been doing some research and still abit confused on some stuff and just want to get some confirmation/advice if i'm going in the right direction.

Initially i was going to get the Swann 8 camera kit from costco for $1300....but found out i can get more control and usability with with blue iris software....albeit more expensive.

House is cat5 prewired for the outdoor camera locations, and whole house is prewired with cat5.

 

Software - Blue Iris - $50.00 - Blue Iris

Hardware - New desktop - I7 4th gen spec, 8gb ram. 1-2 tb hd - $700.00 - Dell

Hardware - 8 channel POE switch x2 - $100.00 - Amazon

Hardware NAS? How many tb?

 

 

Camera Location

Front Door - Outdoor - Lighted - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - $93.00 - Amazon

Side Door - Outdoor - Lighted - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - $93.00 - Amazon

Back Door - Outdoor - Lighted - Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 2.8mm Turret - $106.00 - Amazon

Garage - Outdoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 2.8mm Turret - $106.00 - Amazon - prefer a wide view if possible. Gets some light from side door.

Living Room - Indoor - directly opposite kitchen cam. Prefer this to be wide angle.(or redundant)

Kitchen - Indoor - Need wifi - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - Stand - $133.00 - Amazon - can do without this if living room cam is sufficient.

Master Bath - Indoor - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - wait - pointed to a big window

Study - Indoor - need 90 degree view (sitting on a shelf)

Gameroom - Indoor - need a wide angle and good detail. 2nd floor looking down at front lawn/driveway

AC area - Outdoor - dummy bullet cam

Master Room - Indoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - wait - to cover windows

2nd Room - Indoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - wait - to cover windows

 

am i missing some equipment? overkill? suggestions?

Plan is to get the 4 outdoor cameras and 1 indoor camera first, then add the others slowly so the wife doesnt kill me.

 

Thanks

Franklin

[Quantum` 0]

It depends on how low your standards are.

 

Myself, I have to have things crystal-clear and doing exactly as I want. So domes are out. (IR reflectance & focus issues)

 

I am happy with my current Hik DS-2CD2632F-IS's. SD cards in case the recording computer is stolen, alarms for IR sensors, audio recording (!), good clear 3mp video, and good night performance.

[SyconsciousAu 0]

Hi Folks

been doing some research and still abit confused on some stuff and just want to get some confirmation/advice if i'm going in the right direction.

Initially i was going to get the Swann 8 camera kit from costco for $1300....but found out i can get more control and usability with with blue iris software....albeit more expensive.

House is cat5 prewired for the outdoor camera locations, and whole house is prewired with cat5.

 

Software - Blue Iris - $50.00 - Blue Iris

 

I use blue iris 4 and I'm very happy with it. Has lots of features I want to play with in the future like geofencing and activating smart power points.

 

Hardware - New desktop - I7 4th gen spec, 8gb ram. 1-2 tb hd - $700.00 - Dell

 

Have you considered building your own? I have a 3rd gen I7 but I also have two 3tb drives in RAID 1 so I have 2TB of redundant storage. It saved my bacon after a lightning strike.

 

Hardware - 8 channel POE switch x2 - $100.00 - Amazon

Just make sure all 8 channels are POE some of those are only 4 channels POE

Hardware NAS? How many tb?

 

Is this for a redundant storage in a separate place or are you planning to archive to NAS?

 

 

Camera Location

Front Door - Outdoor - Lighted - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - $93.00 - Amazon

 

Consider a dome or turret. These are generally the camera's that will be lowest and most subject to interference. You can go to a 2.8mm lens here because generally people have to come up very close to the camera to go through the front door and you get plenty of pixels per metre for ID.

 

Side Door - Outdoor - Lighted - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - $93.00 - Amazon

 

How close is your side door to the boundary fence? If it is close using a 6mm lens will waste less of your field of view looking over the neighbours fence. Consider the 2332 here as well. Better IR than the 2032.

 

Back Door - Outdoor - Lighted - Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 2.8mm Turret - $106.00 - Amazon

Great camera though such a wide lens may not be worth your while. You can get a free trial of the CCTV Design tool to check your camera locations and angles.

Garage - Outdoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I 2.8mm Turret - $106.00 - Amazon - prefer a wide view if possible. Gets some light from side door.

 

Wide is fine as long as you are willing to accept that you sacrifice ID quality shots for overview.

Living Room - Indoor - directly opposite kitchen cam. Prefer this to be wide angle.(or redundant)

Kitchen - Indoor - Need wifi - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - Stand - $133.00 - Amazon - can do without this if living room cam is sufficient.

Master Bath - Indoor - HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I 4mm Bullet - wait - pointed to a big window

Study - Indoor - need 90 degree view (sitting on a shelf)

 

Why do you need indoor cams, especially in a bathroom? Remember that these will be open to the internet and there will be the possibility they will be viewed by persons other than you. An alarm system can let you know if the perimeter has been breached and your outdoor cams will show you someone has gone in. Then call the Police.

 

 

Video from outside of an offender climbing in a widow will convict them as much as one of them rummaging through your drawers.

 

If you really want an indoor camera consider one in the hallway instead of bedrooms and bathrooms, and maybe cover the front/back/side doors internally. Use wired not wifi. Have them on a stand alone network that is separate to the internet. Get domes that record to Internal SD storage so the only way to view those cameras is to physically plug into a separate network.

 

 

Gameroom - Indoor - need a wide angle and good detail. 2nd floor looking down at front lawn/driveway

 

You won't see outside with an indoor cam at night and again why do you need them?

 

 

AC area - Outdoor - dummy bullet cam

 

Spend another $100 and put in a real one.

 

Master Room - Indoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - wait - to cover windows

2nd Room - Indoor - Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW - wait - to cover windows

 

Cover them from outside.

am i missing some equipment?

 

A UPS. Have one running the server/poe switches.

overkill? suggestions?

Plan is to get the 4 outdoor cameras and 1 indoor camera first, then add the others slowly so the wife doesnt kill me.

 

First suggestion. Always keep the wife happy. That usually means you don't use bullets internally. Make it neat and pretty.

 

Second suggestion is to have a plan. Having cameras everywhere means you have cameras everywhere. It does not necessarily mean you have a system that will be any use at all. You seem to be running wide lenses everywhere. It is best to mix and match. Wide lenses for overview, narrow for identification. If you have choke points like gates or driveways that people have to pass through task the identification camera's there. Do the calculations. Work out the exact field of view and pixels per meter each camera will give you.

 

Unless you do the sums and calculations early you can end up with an expensive disappointment.

[fjoseph76 0]

Thanks for the info.

 

- i will look into building my own desktop computer. Didnt know if 1-2 TB would be enough storage on the PC so thought about a NAS. PC will be in the study downstairs and NAS would probably be in the wire room upstairs. But that's probably a addon later on. Will also add sd cards if possible.

 

Here's the layout of my house. Yellow spots are the prewired camera locations.

 

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd13/max_pwr/20150614_092918.jpg

 

The porch, porte cochere and covered patio are all lit up during the nite. The spot outside of the garage gets some light but not much. Added a few solar spot lights pointed to the fence gate.

 

As for the AC cam, i really dont want to run wires, so i will look into maybe a wifi outdoor cam. This side is dark.

 

noted on the bathroom and bedroom cams...will nix it.

 

Forgot about the UPS...will add it to the list.

 

I am trying to avoid using one of the monitored alarm systems. i'm still looking into a self monitored system to integrate with the existing home alarm system.

 

I am also waiting for SmartThings ver2 to come out, and will add more sensors then.

 

I will look into the cctv free trial...

 

thanks again

franklin

[Quantum` 0]

I didn't read it closely enough to see you were planning indoor cams. I second the 'why', unless you want to monitor babysitter, teens (, or wife)?

 

Myself, I have only two cams:

- on a 7' pole at the far corner of the front yard, looking at the house and whole front yard. The pole and camera are buried in a thick fir tree and painted camouflage. (Hiding cameras vs advertising them is a philosophical question which I'm not going in to)

- looking out a hole beside the garage door of the detached garage, looking down the driveway and at the whole back of the house.

 

So I have 100% coverage of the house and (longish) driveway with two quality cameras, and I even get cars going down the street in case something happens elsewhere, it may be a point of evidence.

 

My garage is 30' away from the house and it houses my backups and security cam computer. (in case of theft or fire in the house) I did an expensive wifi upgrade to 802.11ac, but found that wifi will not bridge for Xen (need Xen to run Winduhs since I'm a Linux house) so I had to ditch it. I went with powerline networking for the garage to the house, and it works great. PoE for the pole cam of course.

[SyconsciousAu 0]

Thanks for the info.

 

- i will look into building my own desktop computer. Didnt know if 1-2 TB would be enough storage on the PC so thought about a NAS. PC will be in the study downstairs and NAS would probably be in the wire room upstairs. But that's probably a addon later on. Will also add sd cards if possible.

 

Here's the layout of my house. Yellow spots are the prewired camera locations.

 

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd13/max_pwr/20150614_092918.jpg

 

The porch, porte cochere and covered patio are all lit up during the nite. The spot outside of the garage gets some light but not much. Added a few solar spot lights pointed to the fence gate.

 

As for the AC cam, i really dont want to run wires, so i will look into maybe a wifi outdoor cam. This side is dark.

 

noted on the bathroom and bedroom cams...will nix it.

 

Forgot about the UPS...will add it to the list.

 

I am trying to avoid using one of the monitored alarm systems. i'm still looking into a self monitored system to integrate with the existing home alarm system.

 

I am also waiting for SmartThings ver2 to come out, and will add more sensors then.

 

I will look into the cctv free trial...

 

thanks again

franklin

 

That's a nice house you have there. The design creates excellent choke points you can put ID quality cameras on. The two side gates, front door and carport all look like good places for an ID resolution cam. The garages look like a place where you have a significant investment in tools and cars so I would be considering a camera with the appropriate lens on it pointing towards the side gate where you have the existing wiring and a second camera on the side of the front single garage that gives you id quality of any offender coming over the fence or from the back yard. An overview camera could be mounted in the corner.

 

If you did want an inside camera a single dome covering the foyer and that window off the foyer may not be a bad idea. It will catch anyone coming through that window and that door, and give you a lower angle shot on people coming through the front door. That window looks fairly vulnerable and probably couldn't be covered by a camera up the AC side of the house.

 

Maybe some overview cameras on the front and rear yard? If you have a front fence with a choke point in it maybe another camera there? If you are really keen a numberplate capture camera covering the road?

 

 

 

Don't take that diagram as definitive, it is just to get you thinking. Everything will depend on your specific needs, budget, skill set, and of course the assent of the wife. You can use lens calculators to put you in the ballpark with your pixels per meter

 

http://www.theiatech.com/calculator.php

 

 

 

 

If you are building your own have you considered a rackmount solution? Having everything bolted into a rackmount cupboard which is locked and bolted to the wall makes it harder to steal, especially if it is in a discreet location. On top of that dumb crooks will probably steal the switch thinking it is the NVR.

 

In regards to not wanting to run wires you still need to run power to a wifi cam. If you have to run power run data as well. If you were going to power them locally then consider a Ethernet over Power Adaptor to link them back to the NVR, or get something like the Hikvision 2CD-2132F-IWS which has a built in SD card it records to so you are not completely reliant on the wireless link back to the NVR.

 

From all the cars in the driveway you look fairly handy on the tools so I don't think there is anything standing in your way of a very professional and comprehensive DIY setup, except the wife of course, but with that many cars and tools she is clearly an understanding woman, and definitely a keeper.

 

Have a good read of the forums. Google the questions you might have. Its a learning experience.

 

http://cctvdesign.com.au/tutorials/cameras-choosing-resolution/surveillance-camera-comparison-parameters/

 

http://www.networkwebcams.co.uk/blog/2013/10/22/useful-examples-of-pixel-density-network-cameras/

 

Plenty of web tutorials out there.

[fjoseph76 0]

wow lots of info for me to go over...thanks for the diagram too...i'll definitely revisit these areas and see what options i have.

 

I'm pretty handy with tools....working on cars and also getting comfortable with house wiring etc.

Sure i would love to run new POE wires to these locations...will have to see how/whats the best way to do it...the only thing is i dont want to start cutting walls etc (this is where the wife will kill me)

 

Getting power to the camera is much easier (have a bunch of outlets all over the house/outside) wish i found this forum much earlier, would have had the builder prewire more locations.

 

Thanks again!!!

Franklin

[Quantum` 0]

Everyone mounts the cameras on the building. That's not very good for evidence. I have mine on poles at the far corners of the yards, so I have 100% coverage of the house and both yards with two cameras. (buriable ToughCable)

 

Both are hidden in thick fir trees and painted camouflage. Invisible. I know, being visible has its deterrent, but I have different things in mind.

[SyconsciousAu 0]

Everyone mounts the cameras on the building. That's not very good for evidence. I have mine on poles at the far corners of the yards, so I have 100% coverage of the house and both yards with two cameras. (buriable ToughCable)

 

Both are hidden in thick fir trees and painted camouflage. Invisible. I know, being visible has its deterrent, but I have different things in mind.

 

And I can almost guarantee that your camera's are useless for evidence.

 

The evidentiary value of CCTV comes back to there being enough pixels per metre in the shot to identify the offender, and the quality of the video (excess compression reduces the evidentiary value). If you have two cameras covering your whole house you will, at best, have observation quality CCTV. Entirely useless as evidence.

[Quantum` 0]

And what do you give to cover your guarantee?