Spec me a CCTV System

I have a particular use case (regulated) for which having face/person detection and/or ANPR would be extremely useful.

There are existing cameras around the site which are hard wired to a DVR which powers them via baluns etc but the quality of the video at night and when looking at number plates isn't very good. Also, a problem with spiders obscuring the cameras due to IRs.

If I go down the BI route, I could incorporate all the existing cameras and add new cameras as required. Would need to invest in a decent PC to run the software on and invest time in setting it up as well as Bluestack.

The second option is for a Dahua Wizmind NVR (or if Hikvision offer something similar) and cameras in certain strategic locations. The existing system could run in parallel.

Decisions, decisions.. how much support is there for Dahua systems?
 
ivandrago said:
I have a particular use case (regulated) for which having face/person detection and/or ANPR would be extremely useful.

There are existing cameras around the site which are hard wired to a DVR which powers them via baluns etc but the quality of the video at night and when looking at number plates isn't very good. Also, a problem with spiders obscuring the cameras due to IRs.

If I go down the BI route, I could incorporate all the existing cameras and add new cameras as required. Would need to invest in a decent PC to run the software on and invest time in setting it up as well as Bluestack.

The second option is for a Dahua Wizmind NVR (or if Hikvision offer something similar) and cameras in certain strategic locations. The existing system could run in parallel.

Decisions, decisions.. how much support is there for Dahua systems?
Click to expand...

You shouldn’t need support. The idea is that you buy a solution from a Dahua approved partner/installer and they set the system up. Once you’re happy it works then you pay for it. That’s how we work.

The reason I know so much about rG-Tom’s setup is that while I explicitly told him I couldn’t sell him cameras, I could lend him some kit to see how it worked in his location. He then bought the gear from someone else which is why I said above that whoever he bought it from should make it work for him.

Dahua (and Hikvision) do not sell direct to customers, they sell through installation partners who should recommend the right thing for the job and make it work, or you don’t pay for it.
 
I'll do a search for some suppliers and make calls tomorrow but I'm sure they're going to want me to pay for any equipment they recommend before they ship it out.

If you mean to then get someone to install it, the organisation doesn't have funds for that which is where I come in.
 
ivandrago said:
I'll do a search for some suppliers and make calls tomorrow but I'm sure they're going to want me to pay for any equipment they recommend before they ship it out.

If you mean to then get someone to install it, the organisation doesn't have funds for that which is where I come in.
Click to expand...
Send me a trust message - I can’t sell you stuff to install yourself but I can lend you demo kit to test out.
 
So I bought a Reolink E1 Outdoor for £83 to experiment with and I'm that happy I'm going to get another Reolink (not the same one) and a Reolink Doorbell.
I've got it setup in Synology Surveillance and I love how the camera tracks people/cars.
In the bottom picture it's quite dark outside now.
I HAVE HAD PERMISSION OFF MY NEIGHBOURS FOR THE CAMERA VIEWS.

reolinksynology.jpg


reolinksynology2.jpg
 
SexyGreyFox said:
So I bought a Reolink E1 Outdoor for £83 to experiment with and I'm that happy I'm going to get another Reolink (not the same one) and a Reolink Doorbell.
I've got it setup in Synology Surveillance and I love how the camera tracks people/cars.
In the bottom picture it's quite dark outside now.
I HAVE HAD PERMISSION OFF MY NEIGHBOURS FOR THE CAMERA VIEWS.

reolinksynology.jpg


reolinksynology2.jpg
Click to expand...

It will be worth limiting the rotation so you don’t see as much wall as in the second image because the illumination at night will reflect off the light surface and make the rest of the picture look dark.
 
WJA96 said:
The challenge with these devices is you can flash the software but if the hardware isn’t there it won’t do it. So you could have a 5208 4KS2 flashed with SE software but that doesn’t make it a 4KS2 SE.
Click to expand...

how do you check the hardware?

hPPx8Hc.png


yBfVgfX.png
 
rG-tom said:
how do you check the hardware?

hPPx8Hc.png


yBfVgfX.png
Click to expand...

What does the sticker on the back of the recorder say?

If it doesn’t work, you need to go back to the people you bought it from and ask for support. On paper you have a unit that will do what you want. In reality it doesn’t. Even if you bought it at mates rates any UK reseller will support you because installers go bust and as long as it was sold and installed through a UK reseller they will support you directly.

Dahua UK will not sell to people for self-install and most of the kit available for people to buy in eBay and AliExpress is QA rejects (white box) or Chinese market product flashed with EU firmware. And you can never upgrade that firmware unless you bought it from EmpireTec who have their own cracked firmwares they put out. Even the stuff from BBB comes from Holland.

What makes me suspicious of your unit is how cheap it was. It wasn’t just cheap, it was spectacularly cheap.

It’s a minefield because people don’t want to pay someone else for their time. I understand that. I would try very hard not to pay someone else to do what I could do myself. Dahua is basically a closed shop in this regard. And when smart folks can’t work out the software themselves (Dahua’s wiki support system is out of date in the English version) the one person they don’t blame is themselves.

What is your IVS set to? There are a couple of things that need to be ticked to get the options working. The camera needs to send data and the recorder handles it at the image processing step or the camera does the processing and the recorder just records it. Both methods will work to an extent but the recorder only programs the camera in very limited cases (normally you have to go into camera list view and select and program the cameras from there). So clicking an option on the recorder quite often does nothing because the settings on the camera and the recorder aren’t just right. It’s like the TiOCs alarm constantly until you switch remote alarm disable on. WTF? What genius thought that was good default behaviour?

I‘m very happy to help if I can.
 
WJA96 said:
What does the sticker on the back of the recorder say?

If it doesn’t work, you need to go back to the people you bought it from and ask for support. On paper you have a unit that will do what you want. In reality it doesn’t. Even if you bought it at mates rates any UK reseller will support you because installers go bust and as long as it was sold and installed through a UK reseller they will support you directly.

Dahua UK will not sell to people for self-install and most of the kit available for people to buy in eBay and AliExpress is QA rejects (white box) or Chinese market product flashed with EU firmware. And you can never upgrade that firmware unless you bought it from EmpireTec who have their own cracked firmwares they put out. Even the stuff from BBB comes from Holland.

What makes me suspicious of your unit is how cheap it was. It wasn’t just cheap, it was spectacularly cheap.

It’s a minefield because people don’t want to pay someone else for their time. I understand that. I would try very hard not to pay someone else to do what I could do myself. Dahua is basically a closed shop in this regard. And when smart folks can’t work out the software themselves (Dahua’s wiki support system is out of date in the English version) the one person they don’t blame is themselves.

What is your IVS set to? There are a couple of things that need to be ticked to get the options working. The camera needs to send data and the recorder handles it at the image processing step or the camera does the processing and the recorder just records it. Both methods will work to an extent but the recorder only programs the camera in very limited cases (normally you have to go into camera list view and select and program the cameras from there). So clicking an option on the recorder quite often does nothing because the settings on the camera and the recorder aren’t just right. It’s like the TiOCs alarm constantly until you switch remote alarm disable on. WTF? What genius thought that was good default behaviour?

I‘m very happy to help if I can.
Click to expand...


NVR5208/16-8P-4KS2E

NVR5208/16-8P-4KS2E
www.dahuasecurity.com www.dahuasecurity.com

This is my exact unit right?

> AI by Camera: Perimeter protection; face detection and recognition; SMD Plus; video metadata; ANPR; people counting; stereo analysis; crowd distribution; heat map

Face Recognition by Camera
Performance8/14 channels
Face Attributes6 attributes: Gender; age; glasses; expression; mouth mask; beard
AI SearchSearch for pictures by channel, time and face attributes


If I'm re-reading this correctly, do I not need a 5 series camera to be able to use these features? and the issue is that my DH-IPC-HFW3549T1-AS-PV-S3 is only wizsense and not wizmind?

Would I not need one of these to be able to do the AI detection without better cameras?

XVR5208A-4KL-I3

XVR5208A-4KL-I3
www.dahuasecurity.com www.dahuasecurity.com
 
Yes, that’s your model number of unit and the spec for it.

When it says AI by camera that’s exactly what it means, the AI is done in the camera so if you want those features then you need a camera capable of doing those things. The camera passes that data to the NVR and the NVR places a marker on the recording that you can then search for.

You don’t need a 5-series camera for all of those things. Indeed, quite a few of those things a 5 or 8 series camera won’t do. ANPR for one. Stereo analysis is only on one camera as far as I’m aware. heat maps and people counting are also limited to specific cameras.

Your 3549T1s will happily do face detection, and vehicles and bicycles, but they won’t do glasses etc. on the camera. You can do it on a WizMind recorder though.

The XVR is a hybrid unit so the idea is you use cheap HDCVI cameras and the recorder does the image analysis. Read the specification very carefully though because it will almost certainly only do one function at a time on one or two cameras.
 
WJA96 said:
Yes, that’s your model number of unit and the spec for it.

When it says AI by camera that’s exactly what it means, the AI is done in the camera so if you want those features then you need a camera capable of doing those things. The camera passes that data to the NVR and the NVR places a marker on the recording that you can then search for.

You don’t need a 5-series camera for all of those things. Indeed, quite a few of those things a 5 or 8 series camera won’t do. ANPR for one. Stereo analysis is only on one camera as far as I’m aware. heat maps and people counting are also limited to specific cameras.

Your 3549T1s will happily do face detection, and vehicles and bicycles, but they won’t do glasses etc. on the camera. You can do it on a WizMind recorder though.

The XVR is a hybrid unit so the idea is you use cheap HDCVI cameras and the recorder does the image analysis. Read the specification very carefully though because it will almost certainly only do one function at a time on one or two cameras.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

IPC-HFW3549T1-AS-PV

IPC-HFW3549T1-AS-PV
www.dahuasecurity.com www.dahuasecurity.com

I can't see face detection as a function on this. IVS is working properly,with trip wires set up and i get an alert as to if it's a human or a car and it works basically 100% of the time, but I can't search / categorise by faces specifically (it only goes as granular as "yep that's a human"). Face detection for me would be it taking a zoomed-in snapshot of a persons face and that being part of the alert like it did on my cheap swann stuff, but it doesn't read like my camera can do that (i can't see reference to bicycle on that spec list or anywhere in the GUI either).

The more I re-read the specs it looks like it's performing exactly as it should, and I had just misunderstood what it could or couldn't do?
 
HI there.i am looking for a CCTV camera to be used on the side access and backgarden.

Here are some prerequisites .

  • Good low light camera
  • Sensor detection, ie when someone walks near it, it starts recording.
  • An app of some sort for me to control and view whats happening in real time, and get sensor detect alerts(Need one fo rboth Android and iOS)
  • No subscription plan to store my video recordings.
  • Must be able to upload the footage on my home network(maybe my raspberry pi NAS) and have internal backup storage(sd card type storage).
  • 1080p res minimum footage.
NIce to have:

  • Wireless connection
  • If not wireless, POE.
  • rechage itself via solar panel on top of it?
  • 4k recording.
  • Able to swival and move the camera's position remotely via an app.
  • Face detection

Cheers in advanced.

Budget is around £350. £400 at a stretch if its a amazing camera sysem.
 
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jonneymendoza said:
HI there.i am looking for a CCTV camera to be used on the side access and backgarden.

Here are some prerequisites .

  • Good low light camera
  • Sensor detection, ie when someone walks near it, it starts recording.
  • An app of some sort for me to control and view whats happening in real time, and get sensor detect alerts(Need one fo rboth Android and iOS)
  • No subscription plan to store my video recordings.
  • Must be able to upload the footage on my home network(maybe my raspberry pi NAS) and have internal backup storage(sd card type storage).
  • 1080p res minimum footage.
NIce to have:

  • Wireless connection
  • If not wireless, POE.
  • rechage itself via solar panel on top of it?
  • 4k recording.
  • Able to swival and move the camera's position remotely via an app.
  • Face detection

Cheers in advanced.

Budget is around £350. £400 at a stretch if its a amazing camera sysem.
Click to expand...

About 3 weeks ago I bought a Reolink E1 Outdoor and very impressed with it but it is mains, it also moves through 355 degrees.
I then bought the Argus 3 Pro to sit on my garage, that works with a solar panel.
The E1 Outdoor uploads to my NAS but the Argus doesn't, apparently being battery powered it won't work with 3rd party software like Synology.

reolink2.jpg
 
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WJA96 said:
Dahua UK will not sell to people for self-install and most of the kit available for people to buy in eBay and AliExpress is QA rejects (white box) or Chinese market product flashed with EU firmware.
Click to expand...
Hi @WJA96 I'm anticipating some birthday money and want a tioc bullet. I know broadbandbuyer can sell if I was to register, but have seen some on eBay, what are your thoughts ? I'm especially interested in your quote above, I'd want the firmware to be upgradable, and would pay extra for that to get the right version. Where should I buy from? I only want one
 
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BBB is pretty much your only option in the UK. It might be Dutch stock but it’s genuine Dahua and BBB will honour their warranty on obligations. Which are basically zilch as it’s a business to business transaction and your warranty with Dahua is only valid if the camera is installed by a certified installer.

Its always worth looking in Member’s Market too as I’ve been know to to sell my demo cameras in there from time to time.
 
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Hi guys,

I'm looking to fit CCTV to my house. In my mum's I fitted pretty inexpensive Amazon specials, using PoE and into BlueIris.

It's been almost 10 years and I'm still super happy with that setup although I expect tech has moved on and it can only be better now

I have a home server running 24x7 - what cams would you recommend? Really don't want to break the bank.
 
dLockers said:
Hi guys,

I'm looking to fit CCTV to my house. In my mum's I fitted pretty inexpensive Amazon specials, using PoE and into BlueIris.

It's been almost 10 years and I'm still super happy with that setup although I expect tech has moved on and it can only be better now

I have a home server running 24x7 - what cams would you recommend? Really don't want to break the bank.
Click to expand...

If you’re happy, leave it. The cameras are a bit better, white light illumination for colour night time capture is the main draw at the moment, plus higher resolution, but in truth things are very much the same.
 
WJA96 said:
BBB is pretty much your only option in the UK. It might be Dutch stock but it’s genuine Dahua and BBB will honour their warranty on obligations. Which are basically zilch as it’s a business to business transaction and your warranty with Dahua is only valid if the camera is installed by a certified installer.

Its always worth looking in Member’s Market too as I’ve been know to to sell my demo cameras in there from time to time.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your unwaivering honesty! Do Dutch cameras allow for upgrades to firmware?

You'd definitely avoid eBay then?
 
WJA96 said:
If you’re happy, leave it. The cameras are a bit better, white light illumination for colour night time capture is the main draw at the moment, plus higher resolution, but in truth things are very much the same.
Click to expand...
Thanks. This is a new installation in my home, I was just comparing to what I did for my mum a decade a go.

Looks like Reolink 410s fit the bill, approx. 45 quid a camera. Iirc FOSCAM used to be the 'cheapo name of choice'.

Anyone had experience with Reolink stuff? Probably fine?
 
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