opinions or recommendations for a new residential system

[WILDCATSWON1 0]

I am looking for any good opinions or recommendations for installing a residential surveillance system. Also, please remember I am a newb and have never dealt with surveillance equip. but I understand a little about the hardware side.

 

Here is a list of my requirements in sort of an order of importance.

 

1. stability/reliability-I don't want to have to constantly tweek or play with it to get it to work properly or keep it working

2. easy to use software-like I said I am a newb

3. either nvr or pc recording- don't have a preference (at least 16 channel)

4. mix of ip and wireless cameras-probably 6 wired ip cams and up to 6 wireless, night vision on all cams (I know what lens size I want for each) all cameras will be outside. Wireless will be added at a later date. Right now just the 6 wired

5. at least 1080p with constant recording on 4 cameras and motion activation on the rest

6. ability to access cam feeds through smartphone and inputs to 3 tvs in house (grid layout on tvs, no control though) and some sort of notification to phone or ipad when cameras are activated including on the constantly recorded feeds

7. some legit sellers online. Have seen some of the hacked and/or fake cameras online.

 

And now the $64000 question(hope not), how much will it cost?

 

I would like to keep it under $1500 if at all possible. Tall task I know.

 

Well any help

[mattaggie 0]

A couple of thoughts:

 

try to do all wired cameras. If you can go through the pain of getting power to a camera, you can get ethernet cable to it and use POE (power over ethernet).

 

Why the need to record 24/7 on certain cameras? That eats up tons of hard drive space and you are trying to keep cost down. And then when you are researching an event, it takes forever to sift through 24/7 recordings. If there is no motion occuring, why record?

 

Personally I prefer to use a PC as the NVR because it becomes a multi use device. It can be your personal computer. You can have as many cameras as you want (or your software can support).

 

having alerts on outside cameras can be tricky. Outside cameras can be triggered by so many things: leaves, wind blowing, trees, bushes, shadows, animals, changes in light, etc. You will be getting texts/emails all day and night.

 

Im not sure about viewing on three TVs unless all those TVs have a PC attached to them. Maybe someone else can guide you better there. Some better cameras come with video feed outputs so Im sure if you put enough thought (and money) into it, you could run a live feed directly from cameras to TVs.

 

HD and smartphone access is pretty basic these days. no big deal to find those.

[WILDCATSWON1 0]

A couple of thoughts:

 

try to do all wired cameras. If you can go through the pain of getting power to a camera, you can get ethernet cable to it and use POE (power over ethernet).

 

Why the need to record 24/7 on certain cameras? That eats up tons of hard drive space and you are trying to keep cost down. And then when you are researching an event, it takes forever to sift through 24/7 recordings. If there is no motion occuring, why record?

 

Personally I prefer to use a PC as the NVR because it becomes a multi use device. It can be your personal computer. You can have as many cameras as you want (or your software can support).

 

having alerts on outside cameras can be tricky. Outside cameras can be triggered by so many things: leaves, wind blowing, trees, bushes, shadows, animals, changes in light, etc. You will be getting texts/emails all day and night.

 

Im not sure about viewing on three TVs unless all those TVs have a PC attached to them. Maybe someone else can guide you better there. Some better cameras come with video feed outputs so Im sure if you put enough thought (and money) into it, you could run a live feed directly from cameras to TVs.

 

HD and smartphone access is pretty basic these days. no big deal to find those.

 

I have to use wifi on the garage. Its unattached and has no room in conduit for more cabling and too much concrete between house and garage so no other option. Yeah you're probably right on the 24/7 thing and I am leaning towards the pc.

As far as the tvs are concerned, I was just going to use an hdmi splitter to send the feed from the pc that is going to the monitor and basically have 4 monitors. That will allow anyone in the 2 bedrooms and the living room to see the cam feeds without going to where the pc is. They will simply have to switch inputs. I am probably going to go with a WD purple 3 or 4 tb hard drive.

 

Any suggestions on pc requirements or software? Also, what if any kind of poe switches or the like will I need? I've seen how easy it is to setup the nvr/cam packages but this definitely seems like a whole different animal.

 

Also, is there a special type of cat5e cable needed for ip cams?

 

Thanks for the help

[tomcctv 190]

Hi. Another way besides wifi and is better is to use your existing power cables to garage.

 

Also hdmi splitters are expensive ... it is cheaper to buy a tablet for we're you want to view your system ....

[WILDCATSWON1 0]

Hi. Another way besides wifi and is better is to use your existing power cables to garage.

 

Also hdmi splitters are expensive ... it is cheaper to buy a tablet for we're you want to view your system ....

 

I don't have power cables for cameras run. I was referring to the electricity service lines to the garage. I have 100 amp service run to my garage.

[tomcctv 190]

Hi. Another way besides wifi and is better is to use your existing power cables to garage.

 

Also hdmi splitters are expensive ... it is cheaper to buy a tablet for we're you want to view your system ....

 

I don't have power cables for cameras run. I was referring to the electricity service lines to the garage. I have 100 amp service run to my garage.

 

Yes I was talking about your existing power line

 

You can run your camera data over that cable

[WILDCATSWON1 0]

Hi. Another way besides wifi and is better is to use your existing power cables to garage.

 

Also hdmi splitters are expensive ... it is cheaper to buy a tablet for we're you want to view your system ....

 

I don't have power cables for cameras run. I was referring to the electricity service lines to the garage. I have 100 amp service run to my garage.

 

Yes I was talking about your existing power line

 

You can run your camera data over that cable

 

Yeah I just seen that. I did not know that was possible. That is one of the great things about a good forum. The collective knowledge is awesome. Yeah I know the splitters are expensive. That was one of the requests my ladies made so you know that is gonna happen.

[WILDCATSWON1 0]

What will I need for the pc? What type of video card? cpu? hard drive?

 

I was thinking i5 with 2tb or larger hard drive and just a cheap video card with hdmi out. I have read that blue iris is a resource hog though and I was leaning toward it. Is it necessary to run an i7 with it or will I be able to use an i5?

[mattaggie 0]

You do not need any special type of video card. Any new-ish onboard video will do fine. i3 cpu should be fine (you arent going to have a ton of cameras) but getting i5 wont hurt. Depending on what brand of camera you go with, some cameras come with their own software. For example, I use Geovision cameras and software is included. Hard drive space is so cheap these days. I like the 4TB western digital purple drives.

[captainvideo 0]

I just picked up a 4 channel hdmi splitter for $50.not too expensive.

[WILDCATSWON1 0]

I just picked up a 4 channel hdmi splitter for $50.not too expensive.

 

Have you tried it out yet? Any good? What brand/model?

[captainvideo 0]

Cable matters 4 port hdmi splitter with 4k resolution .103073

Good specs ,good reviews .

So far so good .

Many hdmi splitters will adjust all the outputs to the lowest definition tv's input .so if you have 1tv @4k ,2 tv @ 1080p ,& 1 tv @ 720p ,all outputs of the splitter will be 720p .

This splitter has 4 EDID switches to adjust the outputs to each tv's highest resolution .

It also supports 3d and up to dolby 7.1

It also came with 2 hdmi cables