DVR Security Camera Systems?

[gregs]

Does anybody have any links to good information on how to set a system up with the current equipment available? Something along the line of equipment recomendations, how to connect to a computer to connect to the web, etc.

I want to setup a 2 or 3 camera system to monitor a remote property. I dont have anything there that I am worried about gettting stolen as its somewhat vacant and have a good neighbor that checks on it regularly. What I want to do is to be able to check a few outside areas from time to time from my home and work computer and possibly from my Iphone if its simple enough to see if there are any vehicles coming onto the property. I have cable internet there with a wireless router. I dont feel like I need a dvr system to record anything just some way to access the cameras over the web. Thanks

 

[Teken]

Does anybody have any links to good information on how to set a system up with the current equipment available? Something along the line of equipment recomendations, how to connect to a computer to connect to the web, etc.

I want to setup a 2 or 3 camera system to monitor a remote property. I dont have anything there that I am worried about gettting stolen as its somewhat vacant and have a good neighbor that checks on it regularly. What I want to do is to be able to check a few outside areas from time to time from my home and work computer and possibly from my Iphone if its simple enough to see if there are any vehicles coming onto the property. I have cable internet there with a wireless router. I dont feel like I need a dvr system to record anything just some way to access the cameras over the web. Thanks

You would need a camera(s) with a built in web server to have the ability remote in, to view the images / video feed. You of course still require a good Ethernet connection to your router.

There are 4 channel web servers that you can buy to hook up the cameras though. The latter may be cheaper but requires extra wiring and power needs.

Just adds an extra layer of complexity, but nothing too big in the grand scheme of things.

Teken . . .

 

[gregs]

Has anyone used the wireless / wired IP outdoor cameras like the Foscam FI8905W? Looks like they would be a way to go. Figure I would wire them as they need power any how and it wouldnt be that much to run some network cable to them.

 

[Arne73]

I set up a hardwired 16 channel DVR about 2 years ago and have been very happy with the results. The DVR is an Intellicam JS XLA16 with 1T of hard drive space.
I found lots of good info and advice on the CCTV Forum:

http://www.cctvforum.com/

 

[mrb]

totally off topic but it seems like there are a couple people in here who know about this stuff:
i have a pile of nextiva s1704 and s1708 network video servers. does anyone know of any cheap or opensource software I can use with these besides zoneminder?

 

[ddawg16]

I installed the Lorex wireless setup last month after we got burg'd.....for anyone that saw the video of my wife catching the recycling thief....that was taken with the Lorex....it triggered on motion and started recording....I like the fact that it also has sound.

In the near future I am going to add a DVR and a couple of wired cameras. Also considering running some DC wire to the existing cameras so I don't have to depend on AC.

If there is one thing we really like about the Lorex....it came with a 12" LCD monitor....looks like one of those LCD picture frames....we can have that in the back of the house and see what is going on outside....it's actually handy for keeping an eye on the kids.

 

[mpire]

Inexpensive Samsung DVR showed up today.

Will try to get the cameras installed this weekend.

Seems rather straight forward.

 

[sloorider]

How about systems for gate entrance, I would like to install something with audio and video and it is about 500 feet from house.Could it be part of one of the middle of the road systems talked about, don't want to send a fortune maybe something around a g note.

 

[sloorider]

Inexpensive Samsung DVR showed up today.

Will try to get the cameras installed this weekend.

Seems rather straight forward.

Hey it's been a couple of weeks, who is it going?

 

[oilslick]

Bunker Hill security HF saves the day

 

[sloorider]

Bunker Hill security HF saves the day

I gave them a look, interesting and thanks for responding.

 

[SiGmA_X]

Sub'd, I want to see the quality of your Samsung system, and install pics

 

[junk4dummies]

I installed the Lorex wireless setup last month after we got burg'd.....for anyone that saw the video of my wife catching the recycling thief....that was taken with the Lorex....it triggered on motion and started recording....I like the fact that it also has sound.

In the near future I am going to add a DVR and a couple of wired cameras. Also considering running some DC wire to the existing cameras so I don't have to depend on AC.

If there is one thing we really like about the Lorex....it came with a 12" LCD monitor....looks like one of those LCD picture frames....we can have that in the back of the house and see what is going on outside....it's actually handy for keeping an eye on the kids.

Off topic....LOL
You mean your kids hang around?
When I was 10 and older we would ride our bikes 2 miles to the hobby shop. We just told our parents were we were going and we were never told when to be home. We knew when dinner was and we better have been there. That was in Detroit when it was a beautiful place to live. Nothing ever went missing even if you left it in your yard over night. If you need to watch your kids pick there nose you have a real problem. I can see the farmer having them all over the barn with an intercom telling the kids not to jump out of the hay loft. What a hoot. I always knew where my kids were and what they were doing when I was around. I din't need no camera that is for sure. Just one look and they would tell me what they did wrong.
LOL If you had time watching the kids on camera you should be out playing with them instead of watching. It is no wonder we have generations of kids that are not creative and living at home in thier 30's They were never alowed to make mistakes and figure life out for themselves. They were never made to grow up. So Johnny broke his arm. The next time he thought twice. How did we every grow up? No cell phones, No computers, we had bicycles and slide rules. We went out to play and no one every checked on us. We saved used bent nails and built the world. Now eveyone needs to stay connected. I never send a text message. If my phone rings and I am not there I have an electronic awnsering machine. People are smart enough to call back if there is not an answer. I don't care what you are doing. I am to bussy to tell you what I am doing. I am living life. I have a cheap cell phone for emergency's. I would never have a Twitter or FB account. What I do is not even my childrens business and I sure as .... dont' want to know their every move. Fake camera's in site will do the job. A motion alarm is much better if you are home. It gives you a chance to grab the shot gun. By the time the usless police get there the thief is gone and you seldom get your junk back. LOL If you have problems with the neighbors just stay up all night and nail them. I have done it. Make em pee in their pants. LOL I have a sign on my shop door that says "I shoot to kill" It is in Spanish first then English. I would have it up there in Ebonic's but when one can't read it doesn't do much good.

Last year I was asleep on the sofa in my den. The sliding door was locked and the blind closed. I am a light sleeper. I heard the door pop every so gently. An earthquake or wind here in California can cause that noise. The motion light went on. I grabbed the shot gun and went out the laundry room door and around the corner to find two men trying to break in. After telling them to freeze they started running. I fired over thier heads. They stopped. They got cuffed and stuffed. Just walk around your house with the shot gun when the neighbors are out. They will get the message. I would rather have a thouand dollar shot gun than a camera.

I know camera's are necessary in most places so don't give me a lecture. I only trust in two things. God and guns. I distrust the government and police. You can't find a cop that does not have an attitded anymore. I don't even trust the wife. LOL Hell, for that matter I don't trust myself. I know I will shoot first then ask questions later. LOL

I don't even drink. The hardest thing in the house is the cooking sherry and it has too mcuh salt.

Sense you can't take the junk with you when you die what is all the fuss over owing it in the first place? The less you have the happier you will be. You can own too much stuff and it comes to the point it owns you. I hit that point years ago. You can't worry about spilt milk so why worry over stolen property. You can try to prevent it but you can't stop it. I worry about the safty of my family the rest means nohting. We have all the laws we need. We just need government to inforce them.

 

[Jagmandave]

My brother and his wife were home one evening, she was in the kitchen and he was in the easy chair watching the tube, she came out of the kitchen just in time to see a young guy with a gun coming thru their patio door.

She yelled and my brother went after the guy like a linebacker. My brother is a pretty big guy, about 6'2" and 275 lb and the guy coming thru the door was a skinny crackhead, and I guess the guy either wasn't expecting someone to come after him so luckily he didn't shoot, he ran. He got over the 6 ft wooden back fence before my brother quite got him, but he forgot a few things.....the gun, his cell phone and his wallet!

The wife called the cops and they took all the info and collected the leavings, later that night my brother had a shotgun from a buddy, the next day he had his own, and the wife had a 38 to go along with it. She was raised in the country and knows how to handle a gun, and my brother has done his share of shooting since he was in the service.

The cops caught the guy (duh, they had his wallet and cell phone!) a couple days later and my brother had to go to court on him, but since he had the gun, the guy got put away...otherwise he would have been back on the streets same day.

My brother says if it ever happens again, the guy won't get over the fence, he'll be floating in the pool.....if he makes it that far!

 

[mpire]

Quick update on how things are going.

I am not really very worried about criminals breaking in as much as having a record of them when they do. I have a security system on all the doors and windows, but that doesn't usually matter because the guys are in and out so fast it won't matter. I want a record of them for prosecution.

Also, I want my neighbors to stop leaving huge piles of dung in my yard for me to hit with my lawn mower, and I would like them to stop stealing my planters. Long story if you feel like reading.

Anyways, on to the pictures.

I have only gotten one camera installed. The hard part by far is running the wiring. I removed the sofit and mounted the camera under there. I have some 1/2" MDF on the other side of the aluminum panel to give it some strength. I don't want it to vibrate in heavy winds. The camera is connected using a standard RJ45, so I can make custom cables if necessary. So far I am good on cable length. I have lots of expensive cable laying around since I do phone systems for work, so I will probably put in a punch down block and termiate the cameras in one place in the attic and then run a 25 pair line down to the DVR when I figure out where I am going to hide it.

Its just sitting in my closet for now on the laundry hamper until I get all the cameras installed.

After I get the second camera installed in this location looking the other way, I will aim them. So far its been pretty straight forward.

The DVR has a fan on it or maybe its the hard drives. Not sure but it makes a humming sound like a computer, so that could be an issue. I don't know if they will take time to hunt for the DVR if they break in, but if they do then I need to make sure they can't hear the DVR.

 

[gatchel]

totally off topic but it seems like there are a couple people in here who know about this stuff:
i have a pile of nextiva s1704 and s1708 network video servers. does anyone know of any cheap or opensource software I can use with these besides zoneminder?

Did you ever find anything to use those units?

I don't know the cost but Genetec makes an SV-16 NVR appliance that will give you recording in a small package. Verint's products aren't exactly open source kinda material. They are locked down pretty tight, dealers only.

Did you try Luxriot? You may be able to add the camera in generic mode? Not 100% open source though.

 

[jeffmoss26]

mpire, nice job. Glad to see another phone guy around here! What kinds of systems do you work on?

 

[mpire]

Avaya.

 

[cruzn57]

I'm not a pro, or claim to be, but here are some inexpensive options.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=4442

I have the "Q see" 8 cam-16 channel.
it does everything I ever wanted or expected.
I cannot warrant the expense of 2-3 thousand $ ,
I can view this from my cell ph also. or any computer.
is it perfect? no, but its affordable and works just fine.

 

[ersatzs2]

I saw several different brands of systems at Sams club last weekend that made me think aha prices/functionality are really coming into alignment. They seemed to be ~$500, have multiple cameras, send images to iPhone etc. Might be time to take the plunge. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Nowater]

Not what you expected to hear!

Are you sure the area between the sidewalk and street can be legally landscaped the way you intend? Sometimes that area is subject to easement(s) that limit your rights to paying for it and maintaining it. Do you have a copy of your survey?

For instance, I own out to the middle of the street, but it is a private road. You may only own out to fifty feet (give or take) from the middle of the street. You may be the one breaking the law. It is worth checking out, IMHO.

 

[gcan]

I bought a cabin in the mountains with a CCTV DVR system and it's great except for having the ability to remote in. The alarm guy couldn't get it to remote said the IP rolls so I call the cable/internet company and they said I woudl have to pay an addittional $50 per month to have a static IP address for the system to be accessed off site.

It's a Speco 4TN-8TN-1 with 4 IR motion activated camera's but is 3-1/2 hours away so remote access would be great. The alarm guy said was pretty good system and set up.

suggest any system have remote access

 

[mpire]

Are you sure the area between the sidewalk and street can be legally landscaped the way you intend? Sometimes that area is subject to easement(s) that limit your rights to paying for it and maintaining it.

I am subject to easements from the HOA, but its private property and private roads. The city does not maintain our neighborhood streets. Also, I got all the necessary HOA approvals before I did anything.

I bought a cabin in the mountains with a CCTV DVR system and it's great except for having the ability to remote in. The alarm guy couldn't get it to remote said the IP rolls so I call the cable/internet company and they said I woudl have to pay an addittional $50 per month to have a static IP address for the system to be accessed off site.

Samsung seems to solve this problem free and automatically with a dynamic DNS service. They network you directly to the server through websamsung.net.

So that's not an issue with the Samsung receivers.

Also, they have an app for that! I didn't even know it, but some web searches brought up their new app calls Ipolis.

It lets you view your cameras in real time from your cell phone or any web browser. You have to log in first, but its super simple.

I only have one camera up, so thats why it only has one on the screen.

 

[gatchel]

If I may make a suggestion...Move that shot a bit to the right if the white area is the house. The house in the image useless and you will get more "information" moved over a bit.

If you are getting motion triggers from street traffic see if you can mask off the street if you don't want vehicle traffic to cause motion alarms.

 

[gatchel]

I bought a cabin in the mountains with a CCTV DVR system and it's great except for having the ability to remote in. The alarm guy couldn't get it to remote said the IP rolls so I call the cable/internet company and they said I woudl have to pay an addittional $50 per month to have a static IP address for the system to be accessed off site.

It's a Speco 4TN-8TN-1 with 4 IR motion activated camera's but is 3-1/2 hours away so remote access would be great. The alarm guy said was pretty good system and set up.

suggest any system have remote access

You can get router that supports Dynamic DNS and set up port forwarding to get in with a Dynamic IP address. You don't need a static IP. Also, your DVR may already support DynDNS.

 

[mpire]

If I may make a suggestion...Move that shot a bit to the right if the white area is the house. The house in the image useless and you will get more "information" moved over a bit.

If you are getting motion triggers from street traffic see if you can mask off the street if you don't want vehicle traffic to cause motion alarms.

Now that I can see it from my phone itwill be much easier to aim 20 feet up on a ladder. I still have to install the other 7 cameras.

 

[gatchel]

Now that I can see it from my phone itwill be much easier to aim 20 feet up on a ladder. I still have to install the other 7 cameras.

Sometimes I forget that not everyone who installs a camera has a battery powered aiming monitor. Didn't think about that. Duh!

 

[mpire]

Sometimes I forget that not everyone who installs a camera has a battery powered aiming monitor. Didn't think about that. Duh!

Yeah, I don't have a bunch of tools that aren't for phone systems.

I have 3 cameras in the closet just for testing.

Its still pretty cool, I didn't even know there was an app for that yesterday.

 

[mpire]

To see the other 4 cameras you have to scroll the screen to the right.

 

[redman333]

I am ordering this setup for my girlfriend. Not sure of the quality but it seems to be priced nicely, have the options I want. 4 CCTV cameras with night vision. 500gb dvr that can be sent to a phone or viewed online. Easy to use software that can be customized to record different things, or ways. Like I can set it to record when motion is detected but only for half of the screen so if the camera faces a road you can turn off recordings from cars passing on the road but if someone pulls in the driveway it'll start recording. Kinda a nice feature and theres more too. When I get it I'll take some pics of the product itself and it installed and then maybe some video of the cams working and let you guys know how everything turns out.

By the way the reason for this install is because she has been broken into twice and we think it's by the same person and we are actually hoping they are dumb enough to come back again and get caught on camera, also the neighbors have had some stuff stolen too so one camera will point across the street also. Maybe catch them too.

Here's the link to the product.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G672ZE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[mpire]

Make sure it has the other bells and whistles, because the Samsung is only $30 more.

 

[Teken]

Yeah, I don't have a bunch of tools that aren't for phone systems.

I have 3 cameras in the closet just for testing.

Its still pretty cool, I didn't even know there was an app for that yesterday.

What is the stated TVL resolution for these cameras?

Teken . . .

 

[redman333]

Make sure it has the other bells and whistles, because the Samsung is only $30 more.

What do you mean, the Samsung cameras or the whole Samsung setup like the one at SAMs club?

 

[mpire]

What is the stated TVL resolution for these cameras?

Teken . . .

The user manual states its 520TVL.

Its not the best resolution from really far away, but its good enough for what I want it for.

I will be posting more photos once I have time to finish mounting the cameras.

I am going to add a new camera with microphone for the nursery, should be nice to be able to view the baby I don't even have yet when its sleeping from my cell phone considering how much I travel.

Plus, I can port that video to the TV in the master bedroom for a baby monitor.

 

[mpire]

What do you mean, the Samsung cameras or the whole Samsung setup like the one at SAMs club?

I bought a friend a Samsung 4 camera system as a wedding gift for $299.

Samsung makes some really expensive units, but they all use the same fancy software.

So the low end units have phone apps that are actually updated and the computer software etc.

If the cameras support it, the phone app will let you pan and zoom right from your phone, as well as review the history and alerts etc.

Plus it does all the other stuff that I haven't even tried out yet like send you emails with a photo when the motion alarm is triggered etc.

Looking good so far.

 

[tncatadjuster]

After much searching, I pulled the trigger on the Swann from Costco $ 299. DVR comes with 4 cameras, additional four were only $175.00, I had a monitor so I installed everything, and I must say it is exactly what I wanted. It is very easy to use, and has excellent night viewing. Eight cameras in all.

This is Costco internet purchase only, not in any store.

 

[Teken]

The user manual states its 520TVL.

Its not the best resolution from really far away, but its good enough for what I want it for.

I will be posting more photos once I have time to finish mounting the cameras.

I am going to add a new camera with microphone for the nursery, should be nice to be able to view the baby I don't even have yet when its sleeping from my cell phone considering how much I travel.

Plus, I can port that video to the TV in the master bedroom for a baby monitor.

That's not too bad and is a good starting point. It most definitely will give you a general idea of what is happening. As long as your expectations of face / license plate recognition is not on the want list.

When finances or the need arises you will really appreciate a PTZ camera in a general location to allow you to see more of the property.

Looking forward to more pictures and hope this reduces the amount of vandalism and **** piles being dumped on your property.

Teken . . .

 

[redman333]

I bought a friend a Samsung 4 camera system as a wedding gift for $299.

Samsung makes some really expensive units, but they all use the same fancy software.

So the low end units have phone apps that are actually updated and the computer software etc.

If the cameras support it, the phone app will let you pan and zoom right from your phone, as well as review the history and alerts etc.

Plus it does all the other stuff that I haven't even tried out yet like send you emails with a photo when the motion alarm is triggered etc.

Looking good so far.

When I looked at the system I posted above there were two models with different cameras. One Sony camera had 460tvl(I had to loom up what tvl stood for, I had no idea) the other is a Samsung camera and is actually more expensive and states it has a shorter night viewing distance of 50ft a posed to 65ft and that one has 420tvl. I'm not sure why the one with a higher resolution would be cheaper, is there something else I should be looking at?

 

[redman333]

Make sure it has the other bells and whistles, because the Samsung is only $30 more.

Do you have a link to the Samsung system. I can't seem to find any that are around $300. All the ones I see are near the $500 range.

 

[mpire]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-SDE...ultDomain_0&hash=item4cfefb575a#ht_3284wt_952

This is the one I bought, but I didn't realize it was refurbished.

Not sure if this is going to work with the phone app though, I will let you know once we get it installed.

Here it is new for $384

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SDE-120n-Channel-DVR-System/dp/B004P60U1O/ref=pd_cp_p_3

I know the SDE-3001N is the same as my system but with less cameras.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SDE-3001-Channel-Security-Surveillance/dp/B005J2QXWI/ref=pd_cp_p_0