Spec me a CCTV System

Scream said:
Dahua cameras have always had time issues. A lot of it down to the firmware. Depending who in China you got the cameras of, you could be stuck on a firmware that isn’t upgradeable to the latest Version.

You can set the NTP server address to the IP of your router or use your NVR server ip. Your cameras should not have direct access to the internet.
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Wasn't a firmware issue. I had to IP into each camera individually and set and apply the time on each.

So I was doing everything through the NVR which is assigned 192.168.1.9 and asuming it would talk to all the cameras. That wasn't the case.

I had to go into 192.168.1.51 then 192.168.1.52, then 53 and 54 to set the correct time on each individual camera.

All sorted now. Such an easy fix.

I now need to find optimal settings for each camera. I'm assuming I want those at the front of the house recording maximum detail and maximum FPS. The ones at the back I can lower to 15 fps and try and keep the detail max or somewhat high.
 
Anyone have any camera recommendations? Hikvision seem to be the best, and colorvu especially but they only have a decent image when using its inbuilt white Led. I don’t want to illuminate my whole house every night as my neighbours will kill me! What’s the best IR ones people are using?

I’m planning on hooking them up to my Poe switch and just having my Gen8 server be used to record it all. Any software recommendations for that too? Cheers!
 
Blinkz said:
Hikvision seem to be the best, and colorvu especially but they only have a decent image when using its inbuilt white Led. I don’t want to illuminate my whole house every night as my neighbours will kill me! What’s the best IR ones people are using?
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Not sure where you got that info but i can assure you that it isn't true. None of my colorvu's have the supplemental light switched on, it's not needed. I also didn't want to use the light as it would draw unwanted attention.

Knowing what i know now having had both IR and colorvu i would never get IR cameras again.
 
maschio said:
Not sure where you got that info but i can assure you that it isn't true. None of my colorvu's have the supplemental light switched on, it's not needed. I also didn't want to use the light as it would draw unwanted attention.

Knowing what i know now having had both IR and colorvu i would never get IR cameras again.
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I’ve read in a few reviews that they aren’t suitable for anywhere you don’t want continuous light, as whilst they are good low light they do need some light to work.

Interesting that you find they are great tho, do you have any other sources of light around? Street lamps etc?
 
Blinkz said:
I’ve read in a few reviews that they aren’t suitable for anywhere you don’t want continuous light, as whilst they are good low light they do need some light to work.

Interesting that you find they are great tho, do you have any other sources of light around? Street lamps etc?
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I can only go on real world experience. For home use with very similar prices to IR cameras from Hik and others, these beat IR hands down.

The two looking to the front benefit from some street lighting (the nearest street light is around 25m away) and the image is great at night. There are areas in the field of view of these front cams that don't get bathed in street lamp light but are clear as day from the cams point of view.

I've mentioned a few times on this thread that the rear cam is looking into total darkness, i.e if you stand in view of the cam you cannot see your hand in front of you but the cam see's everything in colour. It literally is mind boggling how without IR the camera can look into darkness and turn everything it see's into colour, every detail is clear and no supplemental light from the camera is needed.

Now i have to point out i don't work in cctv, sell or install nor have any affiliation with Hik or any other as i feel i am pushing these units but the fact is for home use and compared to my previous Hik IR's these really are well worth it.

If it helps someone else to decide to go for these that's good but i bought them because someone else earlier in this thread advocated for them and i trusted his judgement and was not disappointed.

Seriously, forget IR, get one of these and make your own mind up :)
 
You need to decide how far away you are trying to light up or see. Colorvu cams which I am using are 4mm so they are perfect for me as I want to view an area up to 30/40 ft away. Now, Since I live out in the sticks, I have a back lane. This lane is around 200m so to view down this lane, it will need some lighting further down it for colourVu cams but a 4mm lens is no good. Instead I use a Darkfighter PTZ with 150m IR. Phenomenal Image right down to the bottom of the lane.

For me you can’t beat colourVu cams for short distances as the colour image is just fantastic for night viewing. However, additional light is required to get the best image. You either need IR, White light or some other form of natural light. The colorVu cams may have the bigger and better sensor than your Darkfighter turrets but any additional light makes a big difference.
 
Had some motion alerts while I was out on Friday night, this is what I found...


I edited the footage a bit as after she'd got out the car she was out of shot for a couple of minutes before coming back to my house. A bit strange though... car parked outside, no attempt to hide her face, trying doors but no knocking.

First time I've had this happen, my mate thinks it has something to do with a taxi that picked us up from the house earlier that evening and guessing the house would be empty? I'm not sure, seems odd for a pair of women to turn up but then why try the doors.

Still very impressed with these Hikvision B120s but I think I might add a couple of Darkfighters in the future to cover the house at height.
 
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Seen this happen with customers before in particular with a house of young people heading out for the night and no one locks the door behind them especially if they had a few cans on them like most of us do before heading out. The taxi man tells his mates that a house could be unlocked and worth raiding.

The time stamp is a bit late in the morning though but she appears to have selected your house. Would have been nice to know what she did during those missing minutes, maybe trying the house next door? If a neighbour has cctv, could be worth while checking theirs. Don’t discount the fact that while you were out till after 3am or whatever time you were out to, someone could have been watching you, while this bird was at your house.

A 2.8mm lens up high can be great for a larger over view of the property or property’s around you.
 
Yeah I've heard about this happening before. I tend to go out fairly local so no need for a taxi, this is probably the first time I've asked to be picked up from home. Won't be doing that again!

I don't think any of my neighbours have CCTV but I will ask around. Tempted to leave the footage with my local police station just in case they recognise her.

I have a mix of 2.8 and 4mm cameras covering the house but they're all either older or cheap model Hikvisions. I highly doubt this will be a re-occuring situation but the circumstances have made me review my current setup.
 
agw_01 said:
Tempted to leave the footage with my local police station just in case they recognise her.
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Call 101 and ask if they're interested. It's pretty clear she was trying to break into your house and you have a clear view of her face and car and that might just be something that helps piece together a case somewhere else. Worst the police can do is say no.
 
Can you remember the taxi drivers details or have a recording of them?

I'm sure the police would ask those that have been robbed in the area if they had taken a taxi on the same night from the same company or driver?
 
I've got the taxi company details and know what model of car it was, but nothing more specific unfortunately. I'm sure if the police wanted to look into it further they could narrow it down by speaking to the firm but of course, there's no evidence that the driver was involved.

I'll give 101 a call and see what they say.
 
Even if you choose the wireless option you are still going to have to get power to the cameras, which looks like it will be POE. Surely if you are going to have to run Cat 5e (dont use Cat 6 its not as flexible) to the cameras for power you can get the cables all the way back to the NVR or a POE switch?
 
agw_01 said:
I've got the taxi company details and know what model of car it was, but nothing more specific unfortunately. I'm sure if the police wanted to look into it further they could narrow it down by speaking to the firm but of course, there's no evidence that the driver was involved.

I'll give 101 a call and see what they say.
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Mate phoned me this evening to tell me he just got back from holiday. Cars stole. Jet-ski and motorbike stole from garage. Told no one he was going on holiday or his Mrs did. Only person they can think of was the Uber driver that took them to the airport who did ask where they were going, for how long etc. Neighbours heard & saw nothing. No one has cctv in the area either.
 
Defiantly report it as an attempt burglary. You have the car model, colour and some good facial images. Might be able to use it to Id other burglaries.
 
maschio said:
I can only go on real world experience. For home use with very similar prices to IR cameras from Hik and others, these beat IR hands down.

The two looking to the front benefit from some street lighting (the nearest street light is around 25m away) and the image is great at night. There are areas in the field of view of these front cams that don't get bathed in street lamp light but are clear as day from the cams point of view.

I've mentioned a few times on this thread that the rear cam is looking into total darkness, i.e if you stand in view of the cam you cannot see your hand in front of you but the cam see's everything in colour. It literally is mind boggling how without IR the camera can look into darkness and turn everything it see's into colour, every detail is clear and no supplemental light from the camera is needed.

Now i have to point out i don't work in cctv, sell or install nor have any affiliation with Hik or any other as i feel i am pushing these units but the fact is for home use and compared to my previous Hik IR's these really are well worth it.

If it helps someone else to decide to go for these that's good but i bought them because someone else earlier in this thread advocated for them and i trusted his judgement and was not disappointed.

Seriously, forget IR, get one of these and make your own mind up :)
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Really appreciate the info, I’ve a number of street lights around the house so this should give all the light that is needed.

Where did you get the colorvu cameras from? All the websites I find that stock them are trade only?
 
Blinkz said:
Really appreciate the info, I’ve a number of street lights around the house so this should give all the light that is needed.

Where did you get the colorvu cameras from? All the websites I find that stock them are trade only?
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From the link on post #2264 of this thread.
 
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