Spec me a CCTV System

I think I’ll be selling my Ring doorbell camera with their price rises.

Any suggestions for an alternative? I’ve looked at Eufy so far and they look good although not compatible with Apple HomeKit. I would like decent IQ and a cloud or NAS storage backup though.
 
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I use the Ubiquiti door bell, records locally and the notifications are fast. No subscriptions.

The downsides are the price and it’s a pain in the behind to get working with chimes. It’s designed for the US who have 16-24v door beeps and ours are typically 8. Fortunately I was able to find a 16v chime to use.
 
ChrisD. said:
I think I’ll be selling my Ring doorbell camera with their price rises.

Any suggestions for an alternative? I’ve looked at Eufy so far and they look good although not compatible with Apple HomeKit. I would like decent IQ and a cloud or NAS storage backup though.
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The issue is anything using an app or cloud storage means you are tied to the OEM's support lifecycle, as well as them staying in business and paying for cloud services to keep running. The history of smart devices is littered with examples where this has ended badly. Ring still support it's original 2014 first gen products 8 years later. You get NVR functionality and a reasonable app for £34.99/yr from next month, that's £2.91/month. Looking past the sensationalism of 40%!!!!111 increase, you don't pay for things or get paid in percentage points, you pay them in pounds, if that extra 83p a month is significantly important to you either financially or morally then feel free to change, for most people it's insignificant and not unexpected.
 
Hi, Hoping that someone can point me in the right direction and see if there is something on the market that will fulfil my criteria, either in part or hopefully fully.

Camera quality is paramount.
Unobtrusive (Appreciate its an deterrent, but needs to be Wife friendly)
Storage can either be onsite or cloud.
Have an iMac/Raspberry Pi's in the home, with wired CAT6 and Unifi networking to facilitate the products.
Can install it myself, happy to route ethernet through the cavities, although already have ethernet to the loft space.
Would like to be able to view Cameras on iMac/TV/iPad/Phones if possible.


Thinking a two Camera system may work? Although happy to have more. Both neighbouring properties are open, so will need a camera to the rear of the property too. My house did look like this many years ago. Hedge now fully grown, porch different and pitched roof over the garages in process.

Many thanks
 
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SizEzE said:
Hi, Hoping that someone can point me in the right direction and see if there is something on the market that will fulfil my criteria, either in part or hopefully fully.

Camera quality is paramount.
Unobtrusive (Appreciate its an deterrent, but needs to be Wife friendly)
Storage can either be onsite or cloud.
Have an iMac/Raspberry Pi's in the home, with wired CAT6 and Unifi networking to facilitate the products.
Can install it myself, happy to route ethernet through the cavities, although already have ethernet to the loft space.
Would like to be able to view Cameras on iMac/TV/iPad/Phones if possible.


Thinking a two Camera system may work? Although happy to have more. Both neighbouring properties are open, so will need a camera to the rear of the property too. My house did look like this many years ago. Hedge now fully grown, porch different and pitched roof over the garages in process.

Many thanks

52145757563_4bd7d94ee9_c.jpg
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I just bought and fitted pair of Hikvision DS-2CD2387G2-LU 8MP 4mm to the front and a DS-7608I-I2-8P NVR with a 4TB HDD .

The camera's have led floodlights which I've disabled due to not needing even on the lowest settings , the image is full colur at midnight (I have an led street light on the border of my property).

This is coming from an old DVR and 1080P cameras the different is amazing just a heads up they are huge in comparison to the old cams.

Next week I'm fitting the 4MP version to the rear of the house were the led lights will come in hand for intrusions .

​

 
pinkpound said:
I just bought and fitted pair of Hikvision DS-2CD2387G2-LU 8MP 4mm to the front and a DS-7608I-I2-8P NVR with a 4TB HDD .

The camera's have led floodlights which I've disabled due to not needing even on the lowest settings , the image is full colur at midnight (I have an led street light on the border of my property).

This is coming from an old DVR and 1080P cameras the different is amazing just a heads up they are huge in comparison to the old cams.

Next week I'm fitting the 4MP version to the rear of the house were the led lights will come in hand for intrusions .

​

Click to expand...

The LED's are a double edged sword, the first thing that tends to happen is when a light comes on is you look at it which is great for a CCTV camera, the problem is with the flashing LED, the sensor doesn't react quickly enough and it tends to give a poorer quality picture, so some experimentation is required to get a usable result. Like you, I found disabling the LED's on ColorVu gave the best results down to almost pitch black conditions. I have G1 and G2 4mp ColorVu's along with some 6mp DarkFighters, each has it's own strengths and weaknesses.
 
Look at all the cams spying on your local high street. Probably all Hik or Dahua. It sounds like reactive MP bluster because they're Chinese companies without realising how much the government already uses their kit.

What are the alternatives that they'll switch to? Because they're not going to stop investing in CCTV, that's for sure.
 
Would appreciate some advice.
I currently have three Reolink RLC-520-5MP covering front, EOT side & garden. I reused the NVR/DVR from our old Foscam WiFi system in the old flat, adding a separate POE switch to do so.
The Foscam DVR has started to fail and I'm looking for a replacement NVR, either 4 or 8ch, with up to 4K/8MP capability. I'm intending to replace the rear/garden camera with a 4K PTZ, to cover the angles missed by the current 2.8mm cam.

We've also got the Ezviz (Hikvision domestic brand) Doorbell & chime which works very well, so I'm happy to look at the Hikvision/Hilook NVRs.

My question is, on the NVR-104MH-C/4P(B) spec list it states "up to 1ch @ 8MP or 5ch @ 1080p decoding capacity".
Does that mean it will only display 1× 4k camera at a time (or 5× 2MP/1080p), or it literally only records one 4K camera feed?



I'm pretty sure it's the former, but if it's the latter, I need to look at another NVR with capacity for up to 4× 8MP cameras.

Many thanks
 
RedMogg said:
Would appreciate some advice.
I currently have three Reolink RLC-520-5MP covering front, EOT side & garden. I reused the NVR/DVR from our old Foscam WiFi system in the old flat, adding a separate POE switch to do so.
The Foscam DVR has started to fail and I'm looking for a replacement NVR, either 4 or 8ch, with up to 4K/8MP capability. I'm intending to replace the rear/garden camera with a 4K PTZ, to cover the angles missed by the current 2.8mm cam.

We've also got the Ezviz (Hikvision domestic brand) Doorbell & chime which works very well, so I'm happy to look at the Hikvision/Hilook NVRs.

My question is, on the NVR-104MH-C/4P(B) spec list it states "up to 1ch @ 8MP or 5ch @ 1080p decoding capacity".
Does that mean it will only display 1× 4k camera at a time (or 5× 2MP/1080p), or it literally only records one 4K camera feed?



I'm pretty sure it's the former, but if it's the latter, I need to look at another NVR with capacity for up to 4× 8MP cameras.

Many thanks
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Reading the actual spec sheet here: https://www.hikvision.com/my/produc...-Video-Recorders/Value-NVR/NVR-104MH-C-4P-B-/

I'd say it can only record 4x 1080P camera's or 1x 8MP camera
 
You need an NVR with a minimum of 200Mbps incoming bandwidth. And that’s not going to be cheap.

You're looking at a 9-series Hikvision or a 5 or 7 series Dahua recorder.

Can I ask what’s driving the 8MP/4K requirement?
 
Armageus said:
Reading the actual spec sheet here: https://www.hikvision.com/my/produc...-Video-Recorders/Value-NVR/NVR-104MH-C-4P-B-/

I'd say it can only record 4x 1080P camera's or 1x 8MP camera
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That was my understanding.
Spoke with my old man this afternoon - forgot he used to install alarm & cctv systems many years ago and often moonlight for his mate's install firm. Just ordered a Uniview NVR302-08S-P8 on his advice - the NVR will only live-view one 4k stream, but it'll record up to eight 4k cameras fine (with a beefy enough HDD).
WJA96 said:
You need an NVR with a minimum of 200Mbps incoming bandwidth. And that’s not going to be cheap.

You're looking at a 9-series Hikvision or a 5 or 7 series Dahua recorder.

Can I ask what’s driving the 8MP/4K requirement?
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We've had two attempts to break into our garage in the early hours - most recent was whilst I was away in London.

Front camera clearly shows the make & model of the vehicle, and can just about make a partial plate, but police were uninterested without either a "more vigorous attempt" or better footage.

I've added another security light, but if/when they try again, I'd prefer to hand over crystal clear footage over to the plod. I'm spending more time away from home and need to reassure the wife.

What's puzzling is there's nothing really of any value in the garage and I'm sure there's more interesting motors to nick than a 2016 Ford Galaxy - even if it does have the 2 litre Ecoboost & full leather :p ...
 
RedMogg said:
That was my understanding.
Spoke with my old man this afternoon - forgot he used to install alarm & cctv systems many years ago and often moonlight for his mate's install firm. Just ordered a Uniview NVR302-08S-P8 on his advice - the NVR will only live-view one 4k stream, but it'll record up to eight 4k cameras fine (with a beefy enough HDD).

We've had two attempts to break into our garage in the early hours - most recent was whilst I was away in London.

Front camera clearly shows the make & model of the vehicle, and can just about make a partial plate, but police were uninterested without either a "more vigorous attempt" or better footage.

I've added another security light, but if/when they try again, I'd prefer to hand over crystal clear footage over to the plod. I'm spending more time away from home and need to reassure the wife.

What's puzzling is there's nothing really of any value in the garage and I'm sure there's more interesting motors to nick than a 2016 Ford Galaxy - even if it does have the 2 litre Ecoboost & full leather :p ...
Click to expand...


I recently bought and installed a DS-7608NI and pair of 8MP DS-2CD2387G2-LU (for now) , great pictire quality and at night it's like it is daytime without the leds even been used .

DS-7608NI-I2/8P

Hikvision DS-7608NI-I2/8P 8-ch 1U 8 PoE 4K NVR
www.hikvision.com www.hikvision.com
 
Does anyone know how to make the Hikvision DVR accessible via remote access? I can do it from the home Wi-Fi but I'm a bit clueless when it comes to setting it up, do I need a server or can I use HIK-Connect?
 
Any links/resources to setting up a Uniview NVR with Onvif POE cameras?
Way more over-specced than I needed (and Dad's away until the 19th).
I'll have a play, but my networking knowledge is minimal at best.
 
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