I'm after some advice from you knowledgeable folk. The story: My wife's best friend is going through a messy divorce. Last week someone* got into the back garden of her house and tried to break in via a window. She is by herself in her terrace house with a 3 year old, so wants something to give her some piece of mind. I put up some security lights today as well as fixing the gate but she wants come CCTV to use to give to the police if it occurs again. Only access to the back garden is via an alleyway, this already has a gate at the entrance that I have just fixed but she would like camera and PIR light at the far end as if the gate is broken into again she would like a decent video of whoever* the intruder is. Additionally a secondary wide angle camera covering the front door might be useful but her front door faces onto the street so this is less of a concern as anyone trying to break in via the front would be very exposed to those walking down the road / neighbours. She is computer literate in her early 30's. She would like to be able to view the camera(s) while out via an app and have motion activated recordings uploaded to a cloud / remote hosting. Power is easy to route out to the camera, a Ethernet cable doable. The brief: 1 x narrow CCTV camera to record down an alleyway 1 x wide angle CCTV camera to record down an alleyway - Optional Cloud recording / storage Minimal initial and ongoing costs (she is spending enough with solicitors) Easy to use Anyone have any experience of something similar?
After a break in at mine a couple years ago I just went and bought a Swann package from Maplin. Easy enough to install, can access via the web and the recordings can be exported off. (both android and ios clients available as well as web browser. Could I have rigged up something more complex, sure but it had to be Wife friendly.
There is a few camera systems on eBay with up to 4 cameras or up to 8 or just the system so you can get your own with an app for checking on it http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/SANNCE-4CH-...%3A69714ee21560a62293a81d29fff50992%7Ciid%3A2 http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eB...3583&category=66738&pm=1&ds=0&t=1470647995251 You may need to get a hardrive for it
I'm researching the same at the moment, if it's any help, here's where I am: Looked at the cheap all-in-one camera systems to start out with, but ruled them off on the basis of a lack of extensibility and flexibility. I picked up a wireless ucam247 outdoor camera off Amazon and am a bit underwhelmed. The video quality is great in theory, but wireless signal or lack thereof means it's always washing out a bit, and not entirely reliable, wired is definitely the way to go. I'm currently deciding if it's reliable enough to be considered fit for purpose (and re-use elsewhere) or if it's just going back. No hands on experience with either of these, but if it's any help I'm on the fence right now between going for either a Ubiquiti UVC-G3 or a Hikvision DS-2CD2042WD-I to start with for out front, with a view to expand in the future. The first option seems to be the easiest to get up and running, and the Unifi software is decent, if not the most full featured out there. RTSP support was added to the cameras at the end of last year though, so there's always the option of running them with something like xProtect or BlueIris, which seem to be the most favoured CCTV servers out there. But if going for a third party server, then the Hikvision camera looks to be a better performer for the cost - there's definitely a premium for the UniFi "system" vs the component itself. I've gathered that it will be more straightforward to get something like the UniFi setup up and running, cloudy and phoney (technical jargon...), but the latter would be far more flexible and tweakable in the long term.
FWIW I'm looking at UniFi cams too, and I'm starting to think it's the best balance of features/ease of use/value.
I've just ordered the Hikvision one, decided that I prefer the idea of staying open and having more options than just whatever cameras Ubiquiti decide they want to sell (and what they decide to charge) when it comes to expanding. Case in point for the OP - You can get the Hikvision with a 75°, 45° or 25° FOV. If that's not right, there are a thousand other cameras out there to choose from. With Ubiquiti, what they've got is what you've got to choose from.
Thanks for all the feedback. I can see the appeal of a prepackaged Kit from Maplin. You have a central recording box, that can record from the remote camera's. This would most likely involve running a lot of cables as the camera are linked directly to the recorder. I had a look at the Hikvision camera suggested and I'm perhaps missing something but where do you keep the footage that's recorded? Also I assume I could connect the camera to a router using a powerline / injector / Cat5 powered cable?
be sure to read up on the regulations concerning cctv, as the rules have changed, you need to check with the local council any permissions needed, and may need to register with information commissioners office if areas where the general public can walk are in the view of the cameras. Linky
I was surprised how vaguely the guidance was worded when I checked it out prior to moving forward. I can't imagine there would be many domestic scenarios where you would need to register, unless you're really struggling to get a good placement of the camera that successfully captures your property and none others. Make sure you're not recording footage on your neighbours property, the street or public walkways, don't keep stuff longer than you need to etc. - these are all practical things for not having terabytes of footage of cats walking down the road at 3AM and a guaranteed falling out with the people that live around you (hey, at least you'll have footage of them keying your car) as well as complying with CCTV regulations. TL;DR - Don't be a dick and youll be fine. EDIT: it also struck me, why on earth are dashcams and helmet cams exempt from the DPA (or are they not?) when they record public spaces by design?
There are 2 ways to go, make it obvious you have cameras and try to scare off would be thieves, or try to catch them in the act (hide/disguise the cameras). If you go the latter route, you want at least 720p, preferably 1080p, and the recorder needs to be secured in a hidden (if possible) and locked box. A few of these or these, a switch, plus an old PC/Laptop to run the software should do the trick. I've also installed some next-gen analogue 720p systems from Lorex (link), which actually are not too bad, although I hate siamese cable.
Many cameras have a MicroSD slot for recording directly onboard, but they really need to be connected to a network to work at their best, and if they're connected to a network you may as well be recording to a NVR somewhere, or a PC of some description running the software. I've been playing with the Hikvision camera a bit this evening and it's a great bit of kit. Miles better than the ucam247 one in every way (which has been flaking out over the past couple days pretty regularly despite it claiming the signal isn't too bad)
Bit of an update if it's any assistance. I've been playing with the HikVision one for a day now and a bit of commentary: - I initially thought I'd use a third party VMS, and started with xProtect Go thinking that it would overcome any limitations with regards to capabilities of more "consumer" software. I'm sure it does, but the learning curve was too high for me to continue to try to bother with after an hour of playing. So I thought I would just see what I can make happen with the camera using the onboard VMS. - The HikVsion software is good capability wise, but not so much in terms of ease of use. Once you know what you're looking at and how to best tweak things it's all good, but there are some idiosyncrasies for sure. - Once all set up, the video quality is really very good. I'm capturing 20fps at 2688*1520 and the detail is pretty impressive - clearly only capturing on events as I don't have all the storage in the world (line cross and motion detect). I've set the target bitrate at 6mbit for now, but I may up it once I get on top of false positives with motion detection - The default motion sensitivity setting is waaaaaay too sensitive - the slightest movements even in the reflection of the cars triggered it. - The way that the storage is set up is odd, and from the looks of it there's no quota setting, so it will eat up all of whatever device you point it at (unless there's a quota on the device itself). I gave it a share on a VHD on my server to limit. - The HikConnect iPhone app is very good, but again not entirely straightforward at first. I suspect the UniFi cams are far more user friendly to set up and run on an ongoing basis without any form of documentation, but I feel in this case the tradeoff is worth it (not that I have hands-on with the UniFi kit) I may well go for a third party VMS at some point, but I wanted to get things up and running quickly to start.
I'm quoting for Hikvision cameras to replace our ancient analogue ones in work at the moment. To cut a long story short, we were quoted for an entire new IP system about 18 months ago, and unfortunately it was too expensive to get the green light at the time, so it was shelved. But earlier this year we were "gifted" a very nice NVR which can take up to 32 IP cameras and 16 analogue, along with a very high quality IP68 Hikvision dome, which was all installed to tackle anti social behaviour in one area of our grounds at no cost to us. Now that the NVR is there and we've saved about £4k on the cost of having a new IP camera system installed, we plan on replacing the remaining analogue cameras with IP ones and adding more where necessary, one or two at a time. I can tell you that the Hikvision IP dome that they installed is an incredible piece of technology, from what I can tell it retails for about £500 but the rest of the models I'll be installing both indoors and outside won't be as feature rich and will be much less expensive. As I've mentioned in your thread Mr Tad, I've gone with UniFi cameras at home recording onto my own file server, and am extremely happy with them so far.
I'm still not 100% on having made the right choice with the HikVision vs the UniFi cameras to be honest. I chose on the basis that >99.99% of the time the camera is there to be a deterrent, so it matters not how it works, or even if it works, so saving £20 on the HikVision seemed sensible. The remaining <0.01% of the time it's there to capture a face, and this is the time when the HikVision with double the fidelity of the UniFi ones could be the difference between doing that or not. The problem is that because the user friendliness, or lack thereof, of the HikVision option, I'm not yet entirely sure everything is configured properly. I'm sure once I'm running for a few days I'm sure I'll feel better about it, and won't feel the need to play any more (at which point the SW/interface becomes largely irrelevant), but in the meantime, I'm left wondering what would be different had I opted for the UniFi.
Whatever you choose, a bit of grease around the edge of your cameras will stop you from having to clean cobwebs away every month.
How did you get on with the Hikvision DS-2CD2042WD-I? My wife's friend is now sorted with a Maplin jobbie which is more of a deterrent than anything else, her dad fitted it while I was travelling. So, I'm now moving onto fit a couple of cameras at home. My plan is to use a ds211j with the "Surveillance Station" plug in and two Hikvision cameras (something like a DS-2CD2042WD-I) which are on the supported list. Covering front and back of the house. Use one of these to give POE to the cameras: Linky Then the following to connect cameras to router: Cable Tool and tester Face plate for mounting on wall. Plan to run from router to POE injector, POE injector to Wall box, wall box externally to cameras.
I went down the Hikvision 4MP cameras as Domes and their PVR. I am still installing but will update you when im done. We had issues where I wanted to put the PVR as it got too hot in the roof space when the sun was out so need to mount it somewhere else but still hidden away from sight. Hikvision DS-2CD2142FWD-I(S) 3 of those and 1 smaller ceiling mounted one for the front door.
A couple questions for those of you who have gotten this working... Is the network bandwidth a limiting factor? Can a 100 MB ethernet network support multiple 720p inputs? Can the hard drive keep up? Can these be set up with a remote switch to start and stop recording without having to be in front of your computer?
I'd suggest trying zoneminder, its free, opensource, has apps for iphone/android and works with pretty much any IP camera. The only downside is that its implementation of motion recognition can be hard to understand & setup for the first time.
Depends on the camera. Using Vivotek cameras, I found 1.25-1.5 mbit/s @ 15fps with 4s I-frames decent for 720p ( mostly static image). You'd probably need to reduce your I-frame to 1s and bump the bitrate to 2-3mb/s in a busy image (or a constantly moving PTZ camera). So unless your running 25+ cameras, even a 100mbit uplink to the NVR is fine. HDD will have no problems, even desktop grade is generally ok. Even the most basic NVR's allow you to set up a recording schedule or a record on movement. With the price of HDD's though, I'd just set to continuous record and be done with it.
