Teenager Sneakiness - Need Camera Advise

[bugsysiegals 0]

As the title says, I've a teenager who's being a teenager ... sneaking out, sneaking people in, and sneaking into my bedroom. That said, I'd like to setup some cameras and put an end to the shenanigans.

 

I suspect my wife will let me spend between $500 and $1000 to get things under control.

 

As far as indoor cameras are concerned, I need one camera to cover the main entries of the home, one for my bedroom, and one for my work shop. As far as outdoor cameras are concerned, I need at least 4 cameras to cover the main entries and 8 if I want to cover the bedroom windows of the younger teenagers.

 

I'd considered the Nest IQ for outdoors because of it's AI facial recognition but heard there are better cameras for the money and cannot see myself paying a re-occurring service of $450. I'm an IT guy so I have no problem configuring cameras, setting up private VLAN, or creating scripts to process their streams and push to the cloud, etc. That said, I'm thinking a NVR is a better choice with IP cameras?? Are there any cameras which have good AI facial recognition and a movement alert system so I can be alerted when people are entering or exiting my home at night without tons of false alerts?

 

FYI - I have a PoE switch and plenty of RG6 and CAT6 cabling so wiring the cameras aren't an issue. It would be nice to see all the devices from my iPad. It could also be nice to have TPZ but not critical.

 

What are your thoughts? Please help me find a good system by Black Friday.

[jeromephone 6]

before i spent the money i would try to deal with the problem on a personal basis.

[51cent 8]

Bugs, I believe all security cameras have motion detection, but false alerts are tough to eliminate.

For cameras, I like Dahua 2mp starlight cameras, best night vision for the buck. As it stands now, 2mp starlights are better than 4mp or higher for night vision.

If running the same brand cameras, I believe an NVR is better as you stated. If mixing brands, then a computer running BlueIris is best.

And yes, wired is better than wireless because of interference.

[bugsysiegals 0]

I have LED motion lights above my entries which I think illuminate quiet well at night. Without having owned any cameras, do you think the Dahua 5231 is a better choice than the 5831 4K? If the LED's provide enough light and complete darkness isn't an issue then perhaps the 4K would give the better picture?

[51cent 8]

The 5831 looks impressive. If you have plenty of nighttime light the 4k in 24hr daytime/color mode should be great.

[tomcctv 190]

Hi. I would hold off buying dahua .....

 

Starlight is used buy other manufacturers

 

 

Dahua have been closing some offices in countries the last two months.

 

Spy software is the problem along with hikvision

[Burkhardt 0]

I believe Nest is a decent option. If you're in for accurate notification and facial recognition, it's a good way to go. For other options, Arlo pro or the pro 2 might be worth checking. It's got almost identical features with Nest, the two-way audio, hi-def and all. The arlo's got a 7day free storage though. I looked into Nest before I got myself an Arlo, and it was a pretty tough decision, lol. Eventually, I felt that the monthly fee on Nest might come as a hassle on my end in the long run. I think both of these cameras are going to have good deals for the Black Friday. I just feel that Arlo will have to work on their batteries, it's a bit of a disappointment how we started re-charging it from every 5months to every month

[Cortian2 3]

Hi. I would hold off buying dahua .....

 

Starlight is used buy other manufacturers

Well that may be, but, if by "other manufacturers" you mean "non-Chinese manufacturers": Near as I can tell: Products from them cost two to three times as much, do they not?

 

Dahua have been closing some offices in countries the last two months.

That would certainly be a concern. As would...

 

Spy software is the problem along with hikvision

Spyware in the cameras' firmware? Is this confirmed, or merely suspected?

 

I will readily admit that I have my doubts about Chinese-manufactured surveillance system cameras on two points: 1. Product (hardware and firmware) quality. If my experiences with Reolink and Xiaomi are any guide: Expect less-than-satisfactory results. 2. Security. My Reolink C1 Pro, in addition to the MAC address that belongs to it, apparently invents random second MAC addresses, some of which are unassigned and some of which are assigned to other companies, and requests IP addresses for them.

 

If, as I plan, I go with Dahua cameras: They will be blocked from Internet access at my border router. In fact: I'm thinking replacing my network switch with one with Layer 3 switching, and isolating them from my LAN entirely, save communicating to the NVR.

[tomcctv 190]

Yes it’s confirmed...... hence the reason they are banned for government facilities

 

We have been talking about hik 3rd part viewing for a few years.

 

If you are using hik or dahua cameras with there 2016 upwards software then look at the p2p setup and see we’re the IP address is going.

 

Nothing to do with port forwarding

[tomcctv 190]

Well that may be, but, if by "other manufacturers" you mean "non-Chinese manufacturers": Near as I can tell: Products from them cost two to three times as much, do they not?

 

Hi. I ment other manufacturers. But since most are built in China with the likes of hikvision and dahua ... they are more expensive from rebadged than direct from authorised dealers..... even eBay and Amazon are over priced

 

TVI or CVI 2.1 mp which is now old tech sell for $50 for brand name on eBay or amazon and have to wait for delivery from China

 

I can walk into my supplier same camera $14 and if it fails I just walk back into supplier. Cheap because old tech.

 

Cvi or tvi 4 or 5mp brand name $32 ...... eBay amazon $60 / 70

[Cortian2 3]

Yes it’s confirmed...... hence the reason they are banned for government facilities

Very well. Thanks for the info.

 

Colour me unsurprised. There's a bunch of China-sourced IoT devices with spyware in them. That what is supposed to be security product from China has spyware in it comes as no surprise.

 

If you are using hik or dahua cameras with there 2016 upwards software then look at the p2p setup and see we’re the IP address is going.

I'd actually have to see the User's Manual to know for sure what you're talking about, but it looks like you're saying they come pre-configured to talk to a VPN server somewhere?

 

Nothing to do with port forwarding

If it's outgoing connection configuration: It wouldn't be. That doesn't mean it cannot be defeated at your border router.

 

In fact: Today I'm going to allocate a LAN address block just for IP cameras, block that netblock at the router, and move my Reolink C1 Pro into it. I'd do the same with the Reolink Argus watching the front porch, but I still need to use Reolink's app to access that one.

 

I think it's about time to fire-up an IDS on my LAN server, too. I'm not worried about intrusions from the Internet. My firewall router stops those. But all this IoT stuff I now have on my LAN is becoming a concern.

 

Re: The "old tech" cameras: Not interested in that tech, but thanks for the info.

[FoxSTI 0]

guys can't the p2p in dahuas UNP just be turned off?

Also (get ready for dumb question) isn't there a way to run some sort of antivirus on IP cameras or network to clean out the spyware?