Spec me a CCTV System

RDCorporation · 18 Sep 2019 at 10:37

I was looking into buying Reolink 5MP camera set up and found it was slightly cheaper directly from Reolink website.
If its any use to anyone, not sure if sale still on.

Relentless81 · 18 Sep 2019 at 10:44

Sorry for the noob question but why are you all going for these DVR setups over a plug and play Nest camera or similar?

WJA96 · 18 Sep 2019 at 10:51

Relentless81 said:
Sorry for the noob question but why are you all going for these DVR setups over a plug and play Nest camera or similar?

Image quality
Long-term support
Flexibility
More configuration options
Fun?

Relentless81 · 18 Sep 2019 at 11:01

WJA96 said:
Image quality
Long-term support
Flexibility
More configuration options
Fun?

But if someone breaks into your home and routes through your stuff surely the DVR will get stolen?

krooton · 18 Sep 2019 at 11:38

Relentless81 said:
But if someone breaks into your home and routes through your stuff surely the DVR will get stolen?

Hide it.... don't stick in the TV unit or whatever, put it in the loft, or a hidden section/false wall or shelf in a cupboard.

WJA96 · 18 Sep 2019 at 11:53

And if I do an installation, I just constantly feed it to the offsite backup. The data feed is tiny and won’t remotely saturate a 15-20Mbps uplink.

JRJ · 18 Sep 2019 at 11:54

bimbleuk said:
Reolink cameras can be bought from the Reolink shop on Amazon and they have a website with lots of info and firmware. Just mentioning it because of the possible warranty issues with grey imports. I've had 3 running now for 2 years via PoE and a QNAP NAS running the NVR software.

Cheers for this not seen these and they look really good, I'd probably grab these but I'm after grey cameras to suit soffets

Relentless81 · 18 Sep 2019 at 11:56

krooton said:
Hide it.... don't stick in the TV unit or whatever, put it in the loft, or a hidden section/false wall or shelf in a cupboard.

Sounds like a bit too much hassle inc cabling, I think I'm going to go the Nest route or maybe Wyze because they are bringing out a wireless hub that can go anywhere and you can fit any HDD to it but not sure about their external cameras at the moment

Interesting reading all the options though

RDCorporation · 18 Sep 2019 at 11:59

I think thats the part of the fun, routing all cables, making a tidy set up in the loft

I am currently gathering all sorts of parts to make the set up, cables and tools bla bla.
Its like playing with toys but for adults

Saying that, anyone mounted Reolink cameras? I believe they have 3 cables out the back of the camera but you only use POE socket. Is there a way to disconnect other cables to mount flush to wall? Otherwise they will be in the way I believe.
Not too keen mounting the camera on top of junction box. :rolleyes:

WJA96 · 18 Sep 2019 at 11:59

Relentless81 said:
Sounds like a bit too much hassle inc cabling, I think I'm going to go the Nest route or maybe Wyze because they are bringing out a wireless hub that can go anywhere and you can fit any HDD to it but not sure about their external cameras at the moment

Interesting reading all the options though

We’ve all been there. You get the “simple” stuff in and it may not quite meet your expectations based on their advertising and eventually you just run the cables and put in the better quality kit.

bimbleuk · 18 Sep 2019 at 12:54

Relentless81 said:
But if someone breaks into your home and routes through your stuff surely the DVR will get stolen?

I had the NAS already so it was easy to use that. My Cameras are primarily a deterrent as no one else around me has much more than security signs with pictures of dogs. etc.

Also with Reolink for example I simply pick up my phone and almost instantly get a live stream from all the cameras. Just as easy to enable the motion detection on the internal camera and get push notifications of movement. Can be time scheduled to to suit you routine.

There are other setups that use a cloud based system so constantly updating to an external store.

Psycho Sonny · 18 Sep 2019 at 15:00

WJA96 said:
Where does it say the firmware is upgradeable on the cameras? The cameras are Chinese market (Chinese text only on the box) forced-flashed by the seller with older European firmware and are not firmware upgradeable because the part number doesn’t exist in the Dahua flash file. Note the review from the Dutch user who says it has old firmware in it. And the same seller’s amazon store states ‘not user upgradeable’. From looking at the Dahua website and reviews on IPCamTalk forum, those cameras are not Starlight. And yes, I know the description says Starlight, but the review images say not Starlight.

Note that the image of the NVR doesn’t have a Dahua logo on it, so it’s Chinese B stock. Dahua sell their unlabelled B stock to Chinese resellers who then sell it on. It is made by a Dahua but it’s failed QA in some way. Generally it still works, but there may well be something very slightly wrong with it.

From looking at the Dahua website and reviews on IPCamTalk forum, those cameras are not Starlight. And yes, I know the description says Starlight, but the review images say not Starlight.

How would I verify if starlight or not?

I also paid by credit card so I can do a charge back if any issues with dispute process.

WJA96 · 18 Sep 2019 at 16:13

Image quality at night. A true starlight camera will be good in near full darkness. Maybe not full colour, but colour should be discernible in the image. With decent street lighting, it should be nearly as good as in daylight.

Relentless81 · 19 Sep 2019 at 10:11

agw_01 said:
Bought a couple of cheap Hikvision 2.8mm B120H cameras to replace an old DS-2CD2012-I. Was not expecting such a drastic improvement in image quality given that the B120H is from the budget HiWatch range. Very very impressed with the low light ability too. The street lighting alone is enough to provide enough light that I don't even need to use IR.

Highly recommended for £40 each.

I cant believe this is through glass, I've been warned away from looking through glass but that looks absolutely fine, is it because of the specific camera or is it because you got lucky with the lighting or the camera is close to the glass?

If I wanted something like this in my Porch how would I go about it?

Thanks

agw_01 · 19 Sep 2019 at 11:43

I think the issues with the camera being behind a window are from either IR reflections or glare from a nearby light. I got lucky with my setup just by trial and error.

I have another camera (2) inside a window at the side of my house. The IR is off but as this area is much more dimly lit than the front it was a bit pointless at night unless someone triggered the security light. I've since fitted a Hik dome camera (3) high up on the side of the house and as this camera is external, IR is enabled. This camera is pretty old now so it's not a fantastic image but the IR light from this camera actually benefits camera 2 massively and allows it to see in the dark before the secuity light is triggered.

You could always have a camera inside your porch with the IR turned off and either visible or invisible lighting on the outside of the house to assist the camera. Depending on how well your house is lit up by the street lighting you may not even need it. The street lighting on my road isn't anything special.

Psycho Sonny · 19 Sep 2019 at 13:51

WJA96 said:
Image quality at night. A true starlight camera will be good in near full darkness. Maybe not full colour, but colour should be discernible in the image. With decent street lighting, it should be nearly as good as in daylight.

I contacted the seller and he says it's starlight. I have a street light right outside the home so I'll await the camera turning up then look at the feed at night time.

So that will prove if star light or not.

The only other issue then is the NVR. If it's grade b stock and works and does the job I'll be happy enough as it was cheap. If not I'll see if they are open to returns and order a more expensive one with the logos, etc.

Vauxmad · 20 Sep 2019 at 07:15

Well my cheap cameras proved to be a good deterrent even if the picture quality isnt up to much. Scumbag wasnt bothered by the security light but as soon as he spotted the camera he made a quick turn round.

In the process of adding more lights and upgrading the cameras now.

Relentless81 · 20 Sep 2019 at 08:01

Vauxmad said:
Scumbag

Filthy oxygen thief, freaks me out knowing they are scoping out our hard earned properties in the night and its why I'm on the verge of buying CCTV now its getting darker but I still cant decide on what to get. Glad to see yours worked as intended there.

What are you using and what are you replacing them with?

Psycho Sonny · 20 Sep 2019 at 09:59

Relentless81 said:
Filthy oxygen thief, freaks me out knowing they are scoping out our hard earned properties in the night and its why I'm on the verge of buying CCTV now its getting darker but I still cant decide on what to get. Glad to see yours worked as intended there.

What are you using and what are you replacing them with?

if you want a cheap setup. I have 5 yi cameras I'm using at the moment and I'll be selling tonight on ebay but I could always put them on the members market instead if you wanted to buy them. i use them indoors looking out of windows. which isn't an issue unless you have lights on in the room near the window or an item near the window which will reflect of the glass.

i am replacing mine with dahua from aliexpress. i'm going from a circa £100 setup to a circa £400 setup.

Relentless81 · 20 Sep 2019 at 10:14

Psycho Sonny said:
if you want a cheap setup. I have 5 yi cameras I'm using at the moment and I'll be selling tonight on ebay but I could always put them on the members market instead if you wanted to buy them. i use them indoors looking out of windows. which isn't an issue unless you have lights on in the room near the window or an item near the window which will reflect of the glass.

i am replacing mine with dahua from aliexpress. i'm going from a circa £100 setup to a circa £400 setup.

Are these the Yi WiFi cameras that are £65 on Amazon? I would potentially be interested in a couple but I dont need five. I also think I could run a network cable to the camera location quite easily but cant for the life of me find a POE Smart Camera, they all seem to be WiFi only