Spec me a CCTV System

eidolon · 10 Nov 2018 at 10:13

TheFew said:
I have a Hikvision DVR a DS-7208HUHI-F1/N

2) is anyone able to recommend a decent IP camera for outdoors usage. Ideally looking to spend not much more than £50, unless that is way too optimistic.

Similar here. I have the 7204 with 4 cameras and believe I can add a further 2 more IP cameras. I already have Cat6 throughout the house so it should be relatively easy to add the cameras.

Can anyone suggest any decent IP outdoor turret cameras that I could add?

eidolon · 12 Nov 2018 at 16:24

I have another question.
I've set up my Hikvision to upload any events to my Google Drive however instead of getting videos uploaded I just get tiny (about 300px) images instead. I'm sure there must be a setting somewhere but I've spent the last hour looking and can't find it. Anyone got any ideas?

xriccix · 21 Nov 2018 at 14:16

Hi Guys,

I know little to nothing about CCTV and hoping to pick something up on black Friday. After a pretty simple system I think, 1 camera at the front to cover the drive, front door and garage and one at the back and that's about it. 14 days record time as a minimum. Would prefer wireless but can do wired. I would also like the receiver to be plugged in to the main lounge TV.

What should I be looking for?

On Holiday · 21 Nov 2018 at 16:56

xriccix · 21 Nov 2018 at 22:59

WoodyUK said:
I've just done an install for a neighbour using the following kit for £150 which I'd thoroughly recommend for a low cost setup.

Swann CCTV System - 4 Channel 1080p DVR with 2 x 1080p Thermal Sensing Cameras & 1TB HDD

Thanks for the recommendation, I presume its this ones?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swann-Channel-Security-System-DVR-4575/dp/B06XNM7WDS

On Holiday · 22 Nov 2018 at 12:30

tsinc80697 · 22 Nov 2018 at 16:30

I'm looking to upgrade our CCTV system at home as when we bough the house it came with a 7 camera system already fitted. All the cameras are 480p and have the image quality of a potato so they're absolutely useless.

The DVR is an "Alien 508 Hybrid", if anyone knows one of those, but I assume it's hugely out of date seeing as how the cameras are 480p.

Do all cameras use the same single cable to the DVR or are there different options? I'm wondering if I could simply swap the DVR and the cameras without having to pull new cabling through to every corner of the house as that wouldn't be an easy, if at all possible, job. That would totally depend on whether the cables have connectors on the DVR and camera end so I could simply unplug them and swap the hardware whilst leaving the cabling in place.

On Holiday · 22 Nov 2018 at 18:11

DampCat · 23 Nov 2018 at 12:34

BNC Connections on SDI cable is a standard that's not going anywhere. Depending on exactly what SDI it is it could support up to 4k. 3gSDI can from some outputs and 6gSDI is capable.

LabR@t · 23 Nov 2018 at 19:17

Yi outdoor can £50 on the river

dirtychinchilla · 29 Nov 2018 at 08:30

I'm sure you guys get this all the time, and I didn't want to start a new thread. My wife is worried about burglaries in our area. It being Christmas etc, money is a little tight but we could really do with some home security. Currently we have nothing.

What's going to be the most cost effective way for me to get started here? I see some alarm companies have services where you pay monthly, so that might be good. In terms of installing cameras, I'm not going to have much luck wiring through external walls to make connections so that could be a problem...

Thanks in advance for your help.

tsinc80697 · 7 Dec 2018 at 12:02

WoodyUK said:
Should be BNC + Power cables, what do you have at DVR side?

i.e.
https://www.parts-express.com/Data/Default/Images/Catalog/Original/335-358_HR_0.jpg

If it's that then you're fine to re-use as it's pretty much standard.

Thanks for the photo, very helpful.

The DVR only has the BNC cables attached, theres 8 of them so 1 for each camera we currently have. Can they provide power through the same cable or will each camera have a power lead routed somewhere?

Kaka · 7 Dec 2018 at 13:41

Analogue cameras that use BNC cabling will have their own separate power feed.

You'll need to go for something IP based for cameras that run on a single cable for power and data.

tsinc80697 · 7 Dec 2018 at 23:05

Kaka said:
Analogue cameras that use BNC cabling will have their own separate power feed.

You'll need to go for something IP based for cameras that run on a single cable for power and data.

Thanks. I highly doubt I’ll be able to run new cables out to the cameras so I wanted to use what is already there in the current system. I’ll get up and have a look at how one of the lower down ones is powered as they must have something if the BNC only provides a video feed.

DampCat · 8 Dec 2018 at 10:53

I'm not trying to nitpick it just might come in handy to know that it's the connector that's called BNC, the cable itself is typically SDI for video. Mostly now it's HD-SDI, but there's a ton of SDI standards that all use BNC connectors. (None of them carry power as per your convo, but just useful to know).

darael · 8 Dec 2018 at 18:03

I am now looking for a single outdoor camera to cover a small area outside - about 5m x 5m.. I have wondered about using a spare mobile phone, but power and protecting from the weather is going to be a problem.

Night vision would be a bonus, but above all reliability and ease of wiring. The camera will be placed at the opposite end of the house from where my router and wifi is and wiring outdoors is new to me.

Any advice and links would be greatly appreciated.

mr tommo · 9 Dec 2018 at 15:43

LabR@t said:
Yi outdoor can £50 on the river

I bought that when it was on offer, just got around to fitting it. I've just stuck it up as a temporary thing at the moment, not the ideal location as you could sneak up behind and cut it off but before I start drilling any holes through the render I wanted to make sure of its usefulness.

That plus a Ring doorbell should do for now.

Not bad quality to be fair - Yes I know the grass needs cutting...

Scream · 9 Dec 2018 at 16:25

Night time pic?

tsinc80697 · 9 Dec 2018 at 16:41

DampCat said:
I'm not trying to nitpick it just might come in handy to know that it's the connector that's called BNC, the cable itself is typically SDI for video. Mostly now it's HD-SDI, but there's a ton of SDI standards that all use BNC connectors. (None of them carry power as per your convo, but just useful to know).

All new to me so thanks for the info

Is there a way of telling the difference between an SDI and HD-SDI cable?

I've noticed that most cameras that I come across seem to be IP, can you run IP over SDI cabling as I have noticed convertors but no idea if they are worth the cost/have the capability of running a HD feed.

Scream · 10 Dec 2018 at 22:36

Cable should in most cases be marked or stamped with a code. Could even be RG6. Some HD-STI cable can have more than one inner core wires.

Personally, if going down the route of IP cameras, you would be best to use cat5e/6.