Spec me a CCTV System

Looking for advice after a failure today.

I bought a Lorex system from Costco around 3 years ago and it has worked great up until now. The NVR stopped working today and after some investigation it looks like a resistor near the fan header on the board has went pop. There are 7x 8MP 15fps cameras attached to it. My understanding is that the Lorex kit is rebranded Dahua. 6 of the 7 cameras have audio and ‘active deterrent‘ which is a small light and the ability to alarm. I don’t use the active deterrent feature but the audio recording ability has come in handy.

I have a couple of options.
1. Buy a new NVR.
2. Repurpose a spare PC as an NVR.

Option 1, buying a new NVR, I‘m guessing it would be best to go for a Dahua branded model that supports 8 channels at 4K. Are there any particular models which will or will not work better? Would a new NVR support all of the features on the cameras? From what I can see, the cost of this would be £150-300.

Option 2, I have a Dell Optiplex 3060 sitting here unused. It has an i5-8500, 8GB, 256Gb NVMe and I can add the WD Purple 2Tb from the Lorex NVR. Would this spec support the requirements? Would Blue Iris be the best software? Cost of software and an 8 port PoE switch would be about £180-ish.

Thanks.
 
I have a Dell Optiplex NVR at my mums house and my house. It is ok but sometimes I wish I had a plug and forget dedicated device. Unless you want to run a Plex server as well then go dedicated NVR IMHO.
 
dLockers said:
I have a Dell Optiplex NVR at my mums house and my house. It is ok but sometimes I wish I had a plug and forget dedicated device. Unless you want to run a Plex server as well then go dedicated NVR IMHO.
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Yeah being able to effectively forget about it is attractive. Power consumption is also a consideration. I guess a NVR would be significantly lower.
 
If you do decide to run the Optiplex Dahua DSS is a free download. Gave you contacted Lorex about a replacement recorder?
 
WJA96 said:
If you do decide to run the Optiplex Dahua DSS is a free download. Gave you contacted Lorex about a replacement recorder?
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I’ll look into that, thanks! I spoke to Lorex tech support today but had to cut it short and didn’t get as far as discussing replacement options. I doubt they’d entertain warranty or goodwill given it is over 3 years old. A Lorex branded NVR from their UK website is £279.99. I guess that’s an option but it does continue to restrict me to Lorex cameras whereas I may want to look at other brands when the time to upgrade comes around.
 
Scuzi said:
I’ll look into that, thanks! I spoke to Lorex tech support today but had to cut it short and didn’t get as far as discussing replacement options. I doubt they’d entertain warranty or goodwill given it is over 3 years old. A Lorex branded NVR from their UK website is £279.99. I guess that’s an option but it does continue to restrict me to Lorex cameras whereas I may want to look at other brands when the time to upgrade comes around.
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Have you spoken to some of the electronics nerds on here? I had a broken TV that someone idiot-proof explained what I needed and how I needed to do it.
 
Just noticed this in the documentation for Dahua DSS…

Minimum configuration
● CPU: Intel® Core(TM) I5- 9400 [email protected]
● RAM: 8 GB
● Network card: 1 × Ethernet port @ 1000Mbps
● Hard drive type: 7200RPM Enterprise Class HDD 1 TB
● DSS installation directory space: 200 GB


Not sure it’ll run smoothly on my Dell i5-8500.
 
dLockers said:
Have you spoken to some of the electronics nerds on here? I had a broken TV that someone idiot-proof explained what I needed and how I needed to do it.
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I have dabbled a bit with electronics in a previous life and my amateur eye tells me that it would be uneconomical to attempt a repair. It looks like someone has used the PCB to extinguish a Cohiba Robusto.

Is there any reason a Hikvision NVR wouldn't work with my cameras? Scouring eBay, Hikvision offerings seem to be a bit better value than the Dahua equivalent.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
About six posts above :)

This is the E1 Outdoor in Synology.
Be aware the Battery/solar panel cameras won't work in Synology.
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I like the look of the Reolink cameras (esp the price) but I don't see a useful way of mounting them vertically, on the wall above the front door. Am looking one that does POE, that I can fit flush to the wall, and a turret camera would be perfect, but it just doesn't seem to work with these reolinks.
 
redstar1 said:
I like the look of the Reolink cameras (esp the price) but I don't see a useful way of mounting them vertically, on the wall above the front door. Am looking one that does POE, that I can fit flush to the wall, and a turret camera would be perfect, but it just doesn't seem to work with these reolinks.
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Reolink also sell turrets. Just have a look on their website. They do a very wide range of surveillance options.
 
WJA96 said:
Reolink also sell turrets. Just have a look on their website. They do a very wide range of surveillance options.
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Yeah but loads of the turret ones, especially the smaller ones son't seem to be suited to vertical mounting. Saw the RLC-823A but it looks massive, and a little bit overbearing for where it would be located.
 
redstar1 said:
Yeah but loads of the turret ones, especially the smaller ones son't seem to be suited to vertical mounting. Saw the RLC-823A but it looks massive, and a little bit overbearing for where it would be located.
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They’re effectively a standard footprint. The screw holes differ in mounting position and number but 99.9% of all these cameras are on a roughly 120mm base size. The first week you put surveillance cameras in you think they’re massive but after a couple of weeks you barely notice them.
 
WJA96 said:
They’re effectively a standard footprint. The screw holes differ in mounting position and number but 99.9% of all these cameras are on a roughly 120mm base size. The first week you put surveillance cameras in you think they’re massive but after a couple of weeks you barely notice them.
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and not only that I haven't seen one person actually look up at it who has walked past while following them so it can't be that noticeable.
Actually tell a lie, the old bloke next door asked what I was doing when I was putting it up and twice I've got him just staring at it for a couple of minutes :)
 
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My two bargain Reolinks have turned up (approx 35ea using the Reolink seller on eBay).

Where are we going for boxes of CAT5/6? Is it still about 40 quid a box? :o
 
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SexyGreyFox said:
Just added that for £68 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265006101617?hash=item3db3983471:g:dHEAAOSwls9f-DkN

Thanks

Just waiting for the Doorbell to be released now.
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That looks like it could do for me. I would like to get some CCTV covering my garden and don't really want to go to the expense and hassle of running cables for data and POE just yet. The back of the house gets a fair bit of sun in the morning so I might just take a punt on this. Have you tried it yourself?
 
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