Home security cameras

[MR2SIK]

Hey all, just wondering if anyone has a DVR setup at home? Just seeing what people recommend. Looking for something that can record, be viewable via phone or tablet etc and has relatively good resolution.
Bit of added security around home is a bonus, more interested in how my dog is getting hold of random things from the back yard. ( which fence said things are been thrown from)
Seen a few deals on the net but worry I won't be able to see some smaller items. Experience is next to zero with this so any advice is welcome

[sergei]

Hey all, just wondering if anyone has a DVR setup at home? Just seeing what people recommend. Looking for something that can record, be viewable via phone or tablet etc and has relatively good resolution.
Bit of added security around home is a bonus, more interested in how my dog is getting hold of random things from the back yard. ( which fence said things are been thrown from)
Seen a few deals on the net but worry I won't be able to see some smaller items. Experience is next to zero with this so any advice is welcome

I am interested in real experiences in what is out there in terms of HD security cameras. For some reason they are overpriced (more than dash cams are).

I am using Airvision 720p camera and with my own DVR.
The camera itself is OK (not the best image quality), a bit noisy. No IR (I got security light to cover that) and no WIFI (don't care).

I would love to find 1080p camera that is not grainy, only other requirement is that it outputs h264 rtsp stream (does not require proprietary software to run).

Most of the affordable cameras ($300-$400) that do HD are a bit of a joke: they are just over glorified webcams, the quality is not so good at all, and usually comes with really crappy software...

For my "DVR", I wrote a perl script that organises files by year/month/day and does 10min long recordings. This runs 24/7. One month of 720p30 consumes about 1TB. I have another perl script that extract only sections with motion on them, I usually run it on files older than 1 month (this condenses to about 50-100GB per month).

One project I would like to do is use something like RaspberryPi+good quality webcam, housed in a fake security camera that you can buy for cheap... only if I had time.

[solitaire]

Bump - Looking into this also, keen for anyone who has experience with minimum 720p POE IR

Would prefer 1080p as Sergei said...

[solitaire]

I ended up getting a a 4mm Hikvision DS-2CD3332-I. 3MP POE

Pretty happy with the resolution, it's a pretty cheap camera and so the software certainly has it's quirks, but bang for buck it's great. cost me roughly $250 - just gotta make sure you get the english version, pm me if you want details on the dealer.

[sergei]

I did a bit of testing of various cameras in $100 USD range...

Cameras I use are:
Dahua IPC-HDBW4300E (http://sergei.nz/dahua-ipc-hdbw4300e/) Dome with 2.8mm lens for wider view, 1080p H264 High profile, short IR range.
Dahua IPC-HFW4300S (http://sergei.nz/tag/ipc-hfw4300s/) Bullet with 3.6mm lens 1080p H264 High profile, medium IR range.
Hikvision DS-2CD2232-I5 (http://sergei.nz/hikvision-ds-2cd2232-i5-12mm-lens/) Box with 12mm lens and very good IR range, 1080p H264 Main profile. This camera is useful for long driveways or number plate recognition.
Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I (http://sergei.nz/hikvision-ds-2cd2032-i/) Bullet with 4mm lens, medium IR range, 1080p H264 Main profile. My second IP camera. I prefer Dahua IPC-HFW4300S over it (mostly subjective reasons).
Ubiquiti AIRCAM HD (http://sergei.nz/ubiquiti-aircam-hd/) Bullet (?) with unknown lens (looks like 4mm) 720p H264 Main profile. No IR, crappy 24V PoE (not 802.3af/at). Pretty dated and old camera, image quality is crappy.

Camera I am going to test:
INC-MH40D06 2.8mm (http://www.ildvr.com/products/inc-mh40d06). I should have it on my hands next week and going to import a few if it is similar or better to Dahua IPC-HDBW4300E.

Most of these cameras (Dahua and Hikvision) run Ambarella chip (very similar to GoPro Hero3).
Hikvision and Dahua are a bit of dicks when it comes to firmware (Dahua keeps their firmware secret, and Hikvision locks the language).
A bit of warning regarding Hikvision, even if your camera has English firmware initially if it has CH in the serial number, when you update the firmware it will revert to Chinese only (there are hacks floating on internet, but there is a risk of bricking).

My use case is not a standard so beware of my good experiences being not so good for you.
What I use these cameras for:
Pure RTSP stream: I use two streams from each camera, low res. for motion detection and high res. for capture.
I don't use any inbuilt motion detection or zoning, neither I use DVRs or ONVIF compatible storage products (eg.: synology).
I wrote my own motion detection, zoning and capturing software (using python opencv libraries).
All I care about in the cameras is stable RTSP stream and good image quality.

[sergei]

I ended up getting a a 4mm Hikvision DS-2CD3332-I. 3MP POE

Pretty happy with the resolution, it's a pretty cheap camera and so the software certainly has it's quirks, but bang for buck it's great. cost me roughly $250 - just gotta make sure you get the english version, pm me if you want details on the dealer.

If $250 for NZ sourced camera (via official channel) then it is good price, otherwise a bit too expensive. I was quoted 800+GST for similar camera. Screw them.

[MrOizo]

Rebooting a thread from back in the days here! Looks like to be on a bi-yearly occurrence

I have been given the task on behalf of my grandparents (75y/o+) to sort out cameras for their farm. There's been some dodgy activity and rumors of undesirables in the area so they're wanting to have a little peace of mind.
They were conned into paying big bucks after a sales person promised the world in camera surveillance - sounded like a weatherproof battery camera with SD card that didn't last long, took it to 'fix' it but fled the country and never seen again- and now are weary of it happening again.

Now my grandparents are pretty much 100% illiterate when it comes to technology.
Are there systems that are easy to figure out? Maybe sitting down with them and going over the basics and they'll be set?
Would be nice to output to the TV for viewing footage when needed but not necessary. Maybe get a monitor (TV/PCScreen?) to suit?

There is no broadband or reliable cellphone coverage in the area so would like a stand alone system.

Looked at DVR packages and seem like the obvious choice - does anyone have any experience with a off the shelf system?

Would like at least 2 cameras to start with and have a total of 8 channels on DVR. Wireless would be nice although PoE is an option. Camera placement will be no further than 50m from house.

Have about $500-1000 depending on features. Is this reasonable starting amount?

[Bling]

Not much has changed since the thread was started. Local suppliers charge $$$$$$$$$

Aliexpress is where I got my cameras - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-Hi ... 0.0.kaCtKq

DVR is probably the way to go, and can be output to a TV.

I haven't done a HUGE amount of fiddling with my setup as i've had too many other things on the go. But my setup is a NAS (QNAP) they tend to only come with two licenses, with the option to buy more. I haven't setup my second camera, but for my explanation we'll assume I have. I run them both off POE, to my NAS, which has a western digital red hard drive recording 24/7. I can access them from my phone when at home, i'm still yet to put the time into getting access sorted outside of that. I have them both setup to record 7 days before overwriting the footage. This sort of thing can be changed to suit requirements. I currently run the surveillance software that came on my QNAP NAS, it works fine.

I originally had them running off a ~$250 2 bay NAS, and purely for cameras, it had no issues. I have since upgraded to a 4 bay unit that is much more powerful as I wanted to make use of other features. Both units came with 2 camera licenses.

Setting up the cameras in the software was easy enough.

You'll want to do your homework on the areas you want to monitor, and the lense specs you'll want to do this. Mine are both 4mm I think, so a medium angle view, with good quality close up, rubbish quality long range.

If I was doing it again, and didn't already have a NAS that would run them for me, i'd go DVR as they come with POE built in, and are built to do one job well.

[solitaire]

I ditched hikvision (got an outdoor 4mp one to sell if anyone is interested) and bought ubiquity just because it's simpler. running the unifi app in a docker on my unraid server and writing to the cache drive, working pretty well although the video upstream on my crappy vdsl connection makes checking recorded video over 3g a pain in the arse...

[sergei]

I ditched hikvision (got an outdoor 4mp one to sell if anyone is interested) and bought ubiquity just because it's simpler. running the unifi app in a docker on my unraid server and writing to the cache drive, working pretty well although the video upstream on my crappy vdsl connection makes checking recorded video over 3g a pain in the arse...

What model/firmware that hik is?

[solitaire]

I ditched hikvision (got an outdoor 4mp one to sell if anyone is interested) and bought ubiquity just because it's simpler. running the unifi app in a docker on my unraid server and writing to the cache drive, working pretty well although the video upstream on my crappy vdsl connection makes checking recorded video over 3g a pain in the arse...

What model/firmware that hik is?

DS-2CD2342WD-I 2.8mm - bought it from playtech around 20 december 2016 - it's got the firmware that came with it, full english supporting gmail mail encryption and all that jazz.

I also have a DS-2CD3332-1 in firmware recovery mode - chinese market version that i tried to upgrade and it ended up in chinese and i have not found a english version and gave up and put it on trademe as i don't have the time.

both are on trademe under the same seller (my wife's account - heaps of $1 reserve stuff) listing 1284667815 is the one i bought from playtech.

[Bling]

I can understand you not wanting to bother with the firmware on that camera, they can be a bit fiddly at times. I've never even looked up updating the firmware on mine for that reason. Both cameras up and working now. Quite a few options out there now that are very user friendly for viewing of content and the likes of cloud recording. I just prefer to not rely on a third party software solution. NAS software excluded as it's running on my own hardware and so is less likely to cause me issues.

Netgear Arlo range look pretty sweet. $$$$ But you are buying a complete package.

Just set up my second camera, picked a place where the attic space was none existant. Looking back, I should have thought of that before putting a hole in the exterior soffit. Cue an hour laying down in insulation trying to feed a length of pipe from outside into the accessible roofspace.