Spec me a CCTV System

[Avalon]

Any risks from buying on there? Like dodgy firmware of something? Has such thing been heard of if anyone knows?

Well as Hikvision won’t deal with you unless you are a certified installer and your legal recourse is with the seller, potentially reduced recourse if a camera/NVR fails. Hikvision region lock firmware, so for example the NVR I just purchased needed an EU firmware, it took all of an extra 2 minutes to manually download the firmware and unzip it to a USB flash drive then manually update. In years gone by, you could make decent savings by sourcing Chinese Hikvision kit that had been flashed with modified firmware to make it English language. The savings now aren’t what they used to be and generally sourcing EU stock isn’t an issue imo. Of course you could buy a unit that is not as described, for example my recent ‘3 month old’ DS-7604-K1 (which should make is a B or C) turned out to be a 2016 unit in the box of a unit manufactured last year, it wasn’t upgradable to a v4 firmware, and the 7608-K2 I ordered ended up being a 7616-K2, but I didn’t complain too much about that

 

[Scream]

Is there a way to make the video playback notifications in Hik-Connect longer? A few seconds isn’t long enough once a line crossing point is crossed.

 

[Magic_x_uk]

Sorry to jump into this thread, but not really looking for a big system. Just one camera to monitor the front of the house and cars.

Anything out there worthwhile that won't break the bank. We used to use a ip camera when our daughter was a baby in her bedroom and that worked great. But needing something obviously weather proof.

Looking at loads on Amazon, but unsure on them

Thank you.

 

[pinkpound]

I'm just about to order a Hikvision DS7608ni-12-8p (will add a wd purple 2tb) and 2 x DS2CD238/6G2-IU 's 4mm for the front of my drive . Drive is 15m to pavement and 25m wide .

Too add my current cctv are both 3.6mm turret cams and placed 2.5m from the floor 1 in each corner of house looking towards each other led street lamp shines over my drive .

Think 4mm would work best ?

 

[xb8browney]

Second quote, this guy actually visited and said 3 cameras won't be necessary and wanted to install dahua.

HDCVI 5meg (coax cable):
2 camera system - £589.00 plus VAT

HDCVI 8meg 4k (coax cable):
2 camera system - £648.00 plus VAT

IP 5meg (network cable):
2 camera system - £636.10 plus VAT

IP 4K TIOC 8meg (network cable):
2 camera system - £745.00 plus VAT

 

[Avalon]

Is there a way to make the video playback notifications in Hik-Connect longer? A few seconds isn’t long enough once a line crossing point is crossed.

On the NVR it lets you set the record duration before and after the event iirc.

 

[Avalon]

Second quote, this guy actually visited and said 3 cameras won't be necessary and wanted to install dahua.

HDCVI 5meg (coax cable):
2 camera system - £589.00 plus VAT

HDCVI 8meg 4k (coax cable):
2 camera system - £648.00 plus VAT

IP 5meg (network cable):
2 camera system - £636.10 plus VAT

IP 4K TIOC 8meg (network cable):
2 camera system - £745.00 plus VAT

First up are you asking for advice or looking for support in a choice?

At its most basic level, you are paying someone to come out with a ladder, drill and possibly a hammer and safety glasses to run some cable, you’re presumably doing so because they are competent and insured to do so while providing backup in the event something goes wrong. Personally I like a project, I have cable/tools and networks are my thing, so PoE and IP are the obvious answer. Others may have a different perspective, and different reasons why getting someone in is absolutely the right choice for them, so no right or wrong answer here. I would suggest costing up the components, add cable/ancillaries and you are left with labour costs. Realistically if you are happy with that number and what they are offering for it, then it’s all good.

A Hikvision ColorVu 4mp two cam set-up inc NVR is around £270-330 depending on camera choice and comparable to your 636.10+VAT (£763.32 inc VAT) option. For me that’s £433.32-493.32 to spend two hours installing and setting up cameras? Only you can decide.

 

[Scream]

On the NVR it lets you set the record duration before and after the event iirc.

Thats separate from Hik-Connect video notification. Also, there is no NVR, just Cams with SDCards.

 

[Avalon]

Thats separate from Hik-Connect video notification. Also, there is no NVR, just Cams with SDCards.

It may have been better to include that in the question. My video notification is 2:10 long, from memory I set it to a minute before and after the event on the NVR, does the camera web interface not allow you to set pre/post times for events? How are you finding running camera only? I briefly considered it for one property, but SD cards are not something I would consider reliable at the best of times, let alone in a situation that requires regular writes and if someone nicked the camera, you're SoL unless it's something non critical like watching pets.

 

[ivandrago]

Quick questions - I have a CCTV system from CCTV42 and it's reliable but not many features. I want to add more cameras and I guess I have 3 options:

1. Parallel run existing DVR/cameras with new kit.
2. Replace existing DVR with new NVR which can take more cameras (>16) and add the existing cams and new cams to it.
3. Set up a new Blue IRIS instance and add all cameras to it.

My question is - if I go with option 3, is it correct to say that any cameras will do as Blue IRIS handles all the processing in software? Does that mean it's a 'waste' to buy cameras with specific features e.g. ColorVU or Darkfighter??

 

[Scream]

It may have been better to include that in the question. My video notification is 2:10 long, from memory I set it to a minute before and after the event on the NVR, does the camera web interface not allow you to set pre/post times for events? How are you finding running camera only? I briefly considered it for one property, but SD cards are not something I would consider reliable at the best of times, let alone in a situation that requires regular writes and if someone nicked the camera, you're SoL unless it's something non critical like watching pets.

I always use an NVR when doing installs for people when asked but for this install, the guy doesn’t want one but wants sdcards instead. It does the job but I worry about the reliability of the cards especially when it’s not your own. In an NVR it would give an audible alarm if there is an issue with a hard disk or loss of a camera etc whereas the standalone cams won’t. However around 5yrs ago I did run a cam with an sdcard on continuous record without a single issue.

There is an option for post and prerecord but this has zero change to the notification video length. I have been testing on my own setup and I see some of mine have a duration of 2:10mins like yours. This seems common on my IR Static and PTZ cams. My Colorvu cam however has no video reply notification. I have tried everything and cannot get a video notification replay to appear or change the duration of 2:10. Not sure if it’s related to video quality settings but more testing of that is needed.

 

[Avalon]

Quick questions - I have a CCTV system from CCTV42 and it's reliable but not many features. I want to add more cameras and I guess I have 3 options:

1. Parallel run existing DVR/cameras with new kit.
2. Replace existing DVR with new NVR which can take more cameras (>16) and add the existing cams and new cams to it.
3. Set up a new Blue IRIS instance and add all cameras to it.

My question is - if I go with option 3, is it correct to say that any cameras will do as Blue IRIS handles all the processing in software? Does that mean it's a 'waste' to buy cameras with specific features e.g. ColorVU or Darkfighter??

Doing processing in software is tough as you scale up on BI, you really want to do it in hardware if at all possible, iGPU or NVEnc. In terms of features do you realise what ColorVu and Darkfighter do? It’s nothing to do with the NVR side, it’s down t the way in which the camera captures the image. With respect to ColorVu it specifically gives you near daytime colour reproduction in very, very low light situations, BI or whatever NVR you use has nothing to do with that. In simple terms choose an appropriate camera set-up for the intended usage, nobody ever complains that they want more pixelated/over saturated footage of an incident.

 

[Avalon]

Any risks from buying on there? Like dodgy firmware of something? Has such thing been heard of if anyone knows?

Just an update on the risks of buying from eBay… I purchased a DS-2CD2347G2 ColorVu as per the listing and noticed shortly after I hit buy that it was in fact a G1, seller apologised and cancelled the transaction blaming eBay for auto populating the details. Another seller (who is a business) sold me another DS-2CD2347G2 which is a G2 ColorVu, model clearly stated, actual photo of the box that matched, what came was a DS-2CD2346G2 which is a DarkFighter, so return/refund on that one. The 7604 NVR that was ‘3 months old’ turned out to be from 2016 in a new box and the 7608 I grabbed turned out to be a 7616 (win!). Everything I have purchased (10 Hikvision devices so far) has been EU stock, which isn’t a problem, but if you are expecting a 1 click upgrade, be prepared to manually download to a flash drive and update by choosing the firmware and hitting update.

If buying from eBay then triple check everything you receive, based on recent transactions, nobody seems to have a clue what they are selling or actually care. I have a pair of cheap DS-2CD2347G1’s arriving this week and hopefully that’s me done for a little while. I have compromised on the two other installs and will throw Ring doorbells in and see how that goes as they are low foot fall and don’t have neighbours who see other peoples property as ‘free use’ when they aren’t at home.

 

[Simon42]

I am into double figures with cameras inside and outside my home and looking to upgrade a couple of the oldest outdoor ones due to IR range and older smaller sensor. I had been planning to buy mostly on sensor size (with a sensible resolution) and IR range but am wondering about a couple of colour night time cameras where there is more ambient light or I can use built in white light illumination.

My main concern is how do these 24x7 colour cameras such as ColorVu fare with motion performance vs IR as I've seen a number of samples where motion is blurry despite their larger sensors and otherwise good picture?

I run Blue Iris with DeepStack to analyse motion and send alerts and it does a great job so don't want to ruin that just for colour night time recordings.

 

[redstar1]

Looking at placing a camera just above my front door to look out over the driveway/garden and approach to the house. Prefer POE as I'm not prepared to mess with electrics and would really like it to be able to record/write to a NAS. Not likely to ever have more than one camera so I don't think NAS performance is going to be a huge issue. Ideally would have decent IR to 20/30 feet or so, just to pick up the end of the garden. Prepared to spend on a decent one to be honest. Looked at Unifi stuff but but I just want a standalone camera that writes to storage. Any recommendations welcome.

 

[Biffa]

Which NAS? Any external ONVIF POE compatible camera on the rainforest would work.

 

[redstar1]

Which NAS? Any external ONVIF POE compatible camera on the rainforest would work.

It's an old 2 bay synology.

 

[Biffa]

Should be fine then, Surveillance station has licenses included for 2 cameras on a Synology, I've been using them for years on mine.

 

[pinkpound]

Got the Hik 7608NI 12/8P and a pair of turret DS2CD23878G2-LU delivered Wednesday installed a 4TB HDD and plugged a camera in to test quality of the image is a fair jump from my old 1080p cameras . The amount of configuration pages area bit daunting google time I think , now to install them on the house

 

[UberTiger]

Ordered a PTZ the other day, looking forward to see what it can pick up using the auto tracking and to cover my car when parked on the street. Pretty sure there's a lot of car door checking thieves around this neck of the woods. Already been done by them once a while back when I must have forgotten to lock up properly. A couple of neighbours have had their cat-converters chopped off too. So will be nice to have some half decent street coverage.

SD5A425XA-HNR

SD5A425XA-HNR

www.dahuasecurity.com