Spec me a CCTV System

Shure said:
Is there a go to solution for a setup for less than £500 with a minimum of 3 cameras?
I'm removing an analogue 4 cam system and I'm unsure whether or not to retain the RG59 shotgun cabling, at this kind of budget is it worth moving to a turbo HD setup?
The only thing worth keeping from the previous setup would be the cabling and replacing with PoE would be a pain so I wouldn't be able replace the cam positions like for like.
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You can get almost any IP camera as an HDCVI equivalent - 4K/8MP, active deterrent etc. A 4-channel HDCVI XVR recorder is £150-ish for a 2Tb HDD and you can get an 8MP/4K camera for £60 so you would easily be able to do 3 or 4 cameras for £500. Straight swap with your existing cameras, just plug in the BNC and power cables.
 
Last week I think I had some damage to my car and I've decided to get some CCTV to just keep an eye out.
My whole house will be getting a refurb next year so I'm going to get one camera and and NVR for now and once it's being refurbed I'll get the remaining cameras and set them up.

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This is a view from my front door, as you can see it's quite bright even at night because there is lamp post just on the right. I believe it turns off after 2am but I couldn't say for sure.

This is a view of the front of my house, I'm going to out the camera just above the porch and feed a cable through the window on the top right. Not an elegant solution but it's only for a few months.
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I want to eventually get 5 external cameras and 1 internal all fed into a NVR.
I know hikvision and dahua are the two main brands to go for, but I'm not sure what camera I should be getting? Any help?
 
I use Hikvision ds-2cd2385g1 cameras out the front of my house. They are really clear at night. My car got keyed a couple off weeks ago as I had to park it on the road die to scaffolding around my house for the new roof.
I put the video footage on Facebook and blew up the guy from a still the camera generated. I had a name within an hour and he's now paid me £2500 to cover the repairs. The police have the footage and were very complimentary on it compared to what they normally see. My cameras have paid for them selves four times over now.

https://youtu.be/lIfJjVuLx84
 
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It really depends on what you want - the most popular cameras we install now are Dahua TiOCs - 2MP (best for night vision), 8MP (best for day-time image quality) and the most popular is the 5MP version simply because it has the best compromise between image quality and night vision.

Bizarrely they all cost roughly the same - £90-£110+VAT and lenses cover 2.8mm wide angle to 6mm detail lens, again, the 3.6mm mid-point is the most popular.

And Hikvision have their own version - LiveGuard. Only one resolution option - 4MP but that’s good enough for most uses and they do a similar range of lens options 2.8mm, 4.0mm and 6mm to give you the option to look more or less closely at one area.

For most people it’s the night-light function they find reassuring, especially with councils turning off the streetlights nowadays.
 
Dandle said:
I use Hikvision ds-2cd2385g1 cameras out the front of my house. They are really clear at night. My car got keyed a couple off weeks ago as I had to park it on the road die to scaffolding around my house for the new roof.
I put the video footage on Facebook and blew up the guy from a still the camera generated. I had a name within an hour and he's now paid me £2500 to cover the repairs. The police have the footage and were very complimentary on it compared to what they normally see. My cameras have paid for them selves four times over now.

https://youtu.be/lIfJjVuLx84
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Thanks for the information.

Just saw your video, what an absolute ****
 
WJA96 said:
It really depends on what you want - the most popular cameras we install now are Dahua TiOCs - 2MP (best for night vision), 8MP (best for day-time image quality) and the most popular is the 5MP version simply because it has the best compromise between image quality and night vision.

Bizarrely they all cost roughly the same - £90-£110+VAT and lenses cover 2.8mm wide angle to 6mm detail lens, again, the 3.6mm mid-point is the most popular.

And Hikvision have their own version - LiveGuard. Only one resolution option - 4MP but that’s good enough for most uses and they do a similar range of lens options 2.8mm, 4.0mm and 6mm to give you the option to look more or less closely at one area.

For most people it’s the night-light function they find reassuring, especially with councils turning off the streetlights nowadays.
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Any model numbers for the 5mp that I should keep an eye on?
 
Dandle said:
I use Hikvision ds-2cd2385g1 cameras out the front of my house. They are really clear at night. My car got keyed a couple off weeks ago as I had to park it on the road die to scaffolding around my house for the new roof.
I put the video footage on Facebook and blew up the guy from a still the camera generated. I had a name within an hour and he's now paid me £2500 to cover the repairs. The police have the footage and were very complimentary on it compared to what they normally see. My cameras have paid for them selves four times over now.

https://youtu.be/lIfJjVuLx84
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Glad you caught him, only worth having cameras if they actually record decent footage to do something with like that. Did he say why he did it?
 
Duke said:
Glad you caught him, only worth having cameras if they actually record decent footage to do something with like that. Did he say why he did it?
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Yes , he came out with a load of stuff about how hard his life is etc. Not even focused on his wife a daughter he has now, all about how hard done by he was. He only lives a few doors up and some off the people that now him said he's just a jealous person. I don't get it, I wouldn't ever think of doing that to someone else's property. He's paid up though and the car has been repaired and is going for ceramic coating repairs at the end of the month. Without the cameras I would have never known who it was.
 
Dandle said:
Yes , he came out with a load of stuff about how hard his life is etc. Not even focused on his wife a daughter he has now, all about how hard done by he was. He only lives a few doors up and some off the people that now him said he's just a jealous person. I don't get it, I wouldn't ever think of doing that to someone else's property. He's paid up though and the car has been repaired and is going for ceramic coating repairs at the end of the month. Without the cameras I would have never known who it was.
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Difficult to relate with something like that, but at least your CCTV helped to identify who was responsible and you got compensated.

Do you use an NVR or something like Blue Iris to record your cameras.? If an NVR then which model.?

Thanks.
 
Yes I use a Hikvision ds-7616ni-k2 gives me about two months footage with four cameras on a 4tb HD. I bought it and the cameras from the Chinese website. They are so cheap that it doesn't matter about warranty and they are all international firmware upgradeable.

The NVR is also on a decent UPS which gives quite a few hours of power if the mains fails.
 
@Dandle thanks. I have bought kit from Ali in the past.
Did you get hit by Customs charges for the NVR.?
I imagine that it will record H265, my NVR will record 1080p and H264. I do have 2 x 5TB HD's in it, one records whilst the other sleeps.
With the International firmware at least you get updated firmware for both the cameras and NVR.
I take it that the NVR supplies POE for the cameras?
Mine would only supply 4 and so I use a Netgear POE switch.
 
I didn't buy it together so haven't been hit with customs charges so far. The NVR is a big step up from the 7608SE I had before and supplies POE to all cameras, I have another two cameras to add as well.
H265 is much better than the H264+ the previous NVR supported the compression is much better with no loss to quality.
 
I can only image how much H265 has improved. Mine is a 7608 variant from early 2014 iirc.

I'm not sure if you can mix 4k and 1080p cameras together and also H264 and H265 types so that each could record to their best potential, using the same NVR.

Any chance you can link me to the seller you used, always good to buy from a known seller who delivers ok.

Thanks
 
You can mix the cameras the setting allow for both H264 and H 265 at the same time. I just replaced all my old cameras with the 8mp versions and sold the old ones on when I changed.
 
That's good to know, too expensive to change all at once.
I take it that overall you are pleased with your change from your previous NVR and cameras.
 
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mushtafa said:
https://www.cctvkits.co.uk/hikvision-hilook-colorvu-lite-4-channel-2mp-or-5mp-custom-ip-kit-builder/

These camera/NVR any good? Would like to tie them in with Home Assistant or have a nice app to use with them
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They’re fine. HiLook is Hikvisions budget range so you get plastic enclosures and mounting brackets, slightly lower grade optics, slightly less oomphy processors and shorter range on the IR or white lights for night vision.

They’re cheap, but they’re far from being nasty. Just be gentle with the brackets when you mount them.
 
Dandle said:
Yes I use a Hikvision ds-7616ni-k2 gives me about two months footage with four cameras on a 4tb HD. I bought it and the cameras from the Chinese website. They are so cheap that it doesn't matter about warranty and they are all international firmware upgradeable.
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Do you use the privacy masks on that NVR? If so how many can you place? My annoyance with my current one is you can only place 4 boxes.
 
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