IR Camera Recommendations?

[bosstones]

Lots of info and reviews online.....lots of crap, too. Just wondering if anyone here has put in their own IR camera system on their home. I'd be interested in any lessons learned, 'if I could do it over again', and general recommendations. I am thinking PoE cameras.

[BMW F22]

Got a Yi camera for my gf's dad and it's working fine (good & sharp imaging, low light quality is excellent, etc.). I got a Foscam and I'm thinking of returning and get a Yi instead since the Foscam is almost 3x the price.

[Mirko]

I bought an Amcrest IP wireless (can also do PoE) camera via amazon 6 months ago. Was a little work to setup but I am using it outside to watch over the cars. The pictures and video it records is sent to my local wireless cloud where it is recorded. Quality is good, both day and night. Definitely a better solution than the dlink camera's I also have. I have enough camera's but if I were to do this again I would've just gotten the Amcrest camera's right off the start for the whole house.

[zx10guy]

We had a running thread on this topic a while ago here:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1132696

P1et and I went with Hikvision/LTS cameras. The IR performance of the cameras are about the best you can get for the price range. On the outdoor camera, I can get pretty much an honest 30 meters of range on the thing. Video quality is excellent and the best part of the whole system, no stupid cloud dependency. I buy my system and don't have to worry about the cloud service going away. I have 5 cameras tied into an NVR with a 4TB hard drive. The NVR can support another 3 cameras for a total of 8. The indoor cameras I use have both WiFi and Ethernet options along with 2 way audio that also gets captured by the NVR.

Here is a site I found when I was researching which IP cameras to purchase:

http://www.networkcameracritic.com/

The site has the best reviews of security cameras I've seen on the web. Sadly, the reviewer passed away. The family said the site will continue with more reviews, but sadly the site hasn't been updated since 2015. While the reviews are starting to get dated as the cameras reviewed age out, it gives you great information on the features to look for and what a quality camera can do from brands that the general public probably haven't heard of. Now these cameras are not dirt cheap but you get what you pay for. As I've told many people considering a security camera system is don't cheap out. Saving money won't do you any good if you can't make out any features or the face of a suspect.

I showed the performance of my system to a coworker who also has an IP camera system. He was blown away by the picture quality and IR performance of my system. I showed him the video of the outdoor cameras at night and the camera I have in my garage with no ambient light/pitch dark.

[P1]

As zx10guy mentioned, I'm running a full Hikvision/LTS system. It's been absolutely rock-solid since the day I installed it and have zero "wish I would have done that" regrets.

If I can give you any advice, buy the cameras from a reputable place in the US. Many first-timers get excited about the savings they can realize by buying via China, but it's a gamble and returns aren't exactly easy. Software issues as well at times. I've been lucky with one, and got burned on another. Not worth it.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by P1et

As zx10guy mentioned, I'm running a full Hikvision/LTS system. It's been absolutely rock-solid since the day I installed it and have zero "wish I would have done that" regrets.

If I can give you any advice, buy the cameras from a reputable place in the US. Many first-timers get excited about the savings they can realize by buying via China, but it's a gamble and returns aren't exactly easy. Software issues as well at times. I've been lucky with one, and got burned on another. Not worth it.

Agreed. I have several Foscams and wish I could start over. Be careful with Foscam/Amcrest (same company). Older firmware on those cameras "phones home" to websites in Asia (I've confirmed this with my outgoing firewall logs). It's just a very short message that supposedly tells their web service that your systems are still up and running. But even if you don't use their service, the cams still send the messages. I have a firewall rule blocking them now. Supposedly the latest firmware allows you to turn that feature off, but I haven't verified that it actually does yet.

[bosstones]

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I didn't think to look in the Video+PC Gaming section. I just read thru the entire thread from P1et and zx10guy (that is some network setup you got there, zx10guy). I had previously been thinking Hikvision but damn...there are so many companies out there. Guess I wasn't too far off.

I'm in the process of having a new home built so I was looking for spot to have the low voltage guy put in some Cat6 in a couple of spots on the 1st floor where it'll be a pain to do later. 2nd floor is easy, though.....soffits all day/night. Currently thinking above the front door, the soffit by the patio door (for backyard/deck/patio door coverage) and the soffit at the corner of the garage to view the driveway. For general SA, I'd probably add some to 2nd floor soffits.

[M_Six]

Since you're building, you may want to think about PoE (Power over Ethernet) cameras and how you'll wire them up. Much easier if you just have to run a CAT6 to them and not worry about a separate power cable. You'll need a PoE router somewhere along the line, though.

[bosstones]

Fully agree, Mark! That's exactly what I am doing (at least for the 1st floor). I'm having a PVC run going up from the basement to attic so I can easily pull low voltage wiring later. I'm also running a 2" dia run of conduit up to the attic from the basement electrical panel, too...just in case.

[P1]

Originally Posted by bosstones

Fully agree, Mark! That's exactly what I am doing (at least for the 1st floor). I'm having a PVC run going up from the basement to attic so I can easily pull low voltage wiring later. I'm also running a 2" dia run of conduit up to the attic from the basement electrical panel, too...just in case.

Low voltage wiring is the same at cat5/6 cable. Just wire your whole house, inside and out. It'll always be cheapest to do it now vs. later. Think of any point where you might want to have cameras at some point, and the same with connections for PCs, TVs, Sonos, routers, WAPs, etc. etc. I have a dedicated networking closet.

[bosstones]

Originally Posted by P1et

Low voltage wiring is the same at cat5/6 cable. Just wire your whole house, inside and out. It'll always be cheapest to do it now vs. later. Think of any point where you might want to have cameras at some point, and the same with connections for PCs, TVs, Sonos, routers, WAPs, etc. etc. I have a dedicated networking closet.

I was having Cat6 run to a few places on the 1st floor (mainly to soffits). I can add anything for general, wide angle SA from the 2nd floor soffit later myself; the same goes for the area outside the (walkout) basement. I'm having both empty conduit and PVC pipe rum from the basement to the attic for future electrical project needs. I figure I'd have a mix of wired and wireless, battery cameras inside the house.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by P1et

I have a dedicated networking closet.

Extremely jealous. I'd love to have one.

[zx10guy]

If you haven't started wiring yet and purchased the cabling, I would use Cat6a instead of 6. The reason being is Cat6a is the proper cable to support the next speed up from GigE to the standard 100 meter distance spec now used as the benchmark for Ethernet cabling. This means 6a will support up to 100 meter distances for 10GigE. Cat6 will support 10GigE but at a shorter 55 meter max distance.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Extremely jealous. I'd love to have one.

I have a dedicated server room in my home.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I have a dedicated server room in my home.

My server is an Apple Mac Mini Server. Sits on my desk and is quiet as a mouse. My old server, a massive tower with dual CPUs and a shitload of drives, sits on the floor next to the desk. I need to wipe the drives and dump it. It can't hold a match to the Mac Mini for either performance or storage.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by M_Six

My server is an Apple Mac Mini Server. Sits on my desk and is quiet as a mouse. My old server, a massive tower with dual CPUs and a shitload of drives, sits on the floor next to the desk. I need to wipe the drives and dump it. It can't hold a match to the Mac Mini for either performance or storage.

My server rack as it is today. Some changes are coming with some new goodies. So the rack is going to change up some more. Currently have 25TB of SAN storage online and could bring online another 25TB but the additional shelf would be just eating power needlessly. All my servers are dual socket servers with the exception of the full height blades in my blade chassis which are quad socket servers.

[M_Six]

You obviously do more than store a TB or 2 of image files like I do.

[zx10guy]

I use the equipment as part of my IT job. One of the perks of the job I have now. But I'd be lying if I didn't use some of the hardware as part of my personal network.

[F32Fleet]

never mind