Surveillance cams for the home

[maze]

I have begun looking into stuff for my new house - besides the server gear that I have covered

What do you guys have setup in terms of video surveillance ?

I am considering getting 2-3 outside cams, one for each side of the house, plus one for the outside/front of the garage.

Will be pooring data onto my xpenology surveillance station. So would love for them to be compatible with that.

/Mads

 

[Martin Jørgensen]

I can recommend Ubiquiti Networks - Products
The software is open and can be installede on your own servers, for free.
There is allso a PVR Box you can buy

 

[Angus]

Axis is generally very well supported...

Not the cheapest option out there but they have a very wide range so i'm sure you can find something that fits your needs

 

[PigLover]

Inexpensive Hikvision IP cameras on a POE switch. Blue Iris software running inside a VM on my server for NVR.

Note: most camera from Swann are just OEMs of Hikvision and you can flash them with 'real' firmware from Hik. The four-packs of Swann camera at Costco often go on sale at fabulous prices.

 

[Deslok]

I'll have to second BlueIris I've run it on S2012 and S2008 R2 and a varierty of server platforms, usually I just use the grandstream cameras although i have panasonics at my office now(on a related note i wonder if there's any demand for the older panasonic cameras)

 

[T_Minus]

Like @PigLover Blue Iris, and I too have a mix of HIK / Swann / Generic and like @Martin Jørgensen I have some new Ubiquiti to put up and try out The different protocol required a new switch though, now to recall which one it was and where exactly it is

 

[whitey]

All raspi's here w/ raspi camera option, using motion daemon and snapping pics on detected motion, pieces images together into vid files, rsyncing every 1 min to offsite co-lo box. $50 surveillance cam solution. Rock solid in monoprice cam enclosure.

 

[T_Minus]

Sounds like a cool setup @whitey !!!

 

[whitey]

Sounds like a cool setup @whitey !!!

I ain't gonna lie, they do leave a bit to be desired at nighttime w/out the IR cam module. Wish raspi's put out an all-in-one kickass 'works awesome in day/night' optic out there :-(

If you all want hit mine up today I will leave it open access (generic auth) and you all can see how Arvada, Colorado (suburb of Denver) looks today from the front house view of my raspi surveillance cam.

http://71.196.231.126:8081

Chrome seems to have heartaches viewing, firefox and vlc work like a charm

Auth is admin/Changeme12345!

 

[maze]

I ain't gonna lie, they do leave a bit to be desired at nighttime w/out the IR cam module. Wish raspi's put out an all-in-one kickass 'works awesome in day/night' optic out there :-(

If you all want hit mine up today I will leave it open access (generic auth) and you all can see how Arvada, Colorado (suburb of Denver) looks today from the front house view of my raspi surveillance cam.

http://71.196.231.126:8081

Chrome seems to have heartaches viewing, firefox and vlc work like a charm

Auth is admin/Changeme12345!

Man.. your street is seriously inactive ... UH! I see a car moving!

 

[rubylaser]

I ain't gonna lie, they do leave a bit to be desired at nighttime w/out the IR cam module. Wish raspi's put out an all-in-one kickass 'works awesome in day/night' optic out there :-(

If you all want hit mine up today I will leave it open access (generic auth) and you all can see how Arvada, Colorado (suburb of Denver) looks today from the front house view of my raspi surveillance cam.

http://71.196.231.126:8081

Chrome seems to have heartaches viewing, firefox and vlc work like a charm

Auth is admin/Changeme12345!

I'd love to hear more details about the exact parts used and the setup if you are interested in sharing

Are you doing something like this for the case?
Raspberry Pi as low-cost HD surveillance camera - CodeProject

 

[whitey]

Man.. your street is seriously inactive ... UH! I see a car moving!

Yeah that's surprising, it's usually jammin' pretty good, maybe a lazy Sunday afternoon on my block. May catch me moving lawn or working outside is all :-D

 

[whitey]

I'd love to hear more details about the exact parts used and the setup if you are interested in sharing

Are you doing something like this for the case?
Raspberry Pi as low-cost HD surveillance camera - CodeProject

I used an instructables website but that one you have linked I also looked at. Here's the guide I used.

Raspberry Pi as low-cost HD surveillance camera

Case and bracket that I used are here.

11" Outdoor Back Open Camera Housing - Monoprice.com
Housing Brackets - Monoprice.com

The rsync is just a crontab job w/ ssh PKI keys.

* * * * * /usr/bin/rsync -avz -e ssh 192.168.X.X:/s3500/surveillancecam /tank/data/

 

[N3RO]

Hello,

Sorry for hijacking your thread but I never heard about Swann/Hikvision cams, any cheap recommendation for a small box/garage with IR?

Interested on two cameras.

Thank you!

 

[Aestr]

I have two DS-2CD2332-I which I've been very happy with. They can be had for $100-150 on Amazon or cheaper on aliexpress with all the caveats that carries.

I also have 3 of the Ubiquiti UVC cameras that I will be replacing with Hikvision cameras. Considering they are roughly the same price the Hikvision in my experience have better resolution, picture quality and IR performance. I also prefer BlueIris to the Ubiquiti software as it can work with just about any IP camera allowing me to mix and match as needed and I can tie it into my home automation.

To be fair I do love my Unifi-AP and my EdgeSwitch.

 

[Diavuno]

I run a few UBNT micros as well as a few of their unifi video with IR (outdoor)

To be fair I'm a channel partner and get a discount.



Ubiquiti Networks - Products

 

[JeffroMart]

Inexpensive Hikvision IP cameras on a POE switch. Blue Iris software running inside a VM on my server for NVR.

Note: most camera from Swann are just OEMs of Hikvision and you can flash them with 'real' firmware from Hik. The four-packs of Swann camera at Costco often go on sale at fabulous prices.

Same here, it's a perfect setup and rarely has any issues at all. The web interface and app works well, and it's a great product for the price.

 

[katit]

I have old school system in my house, installed myself 2 years ago. I was thinking about network cameras, or wifi cameras. But this is NOT mainstream and hard/expensive way to go. It's more like a hobby level stuff. Running your server/software is also just another thing to worry about. Now, think about switch and overall network load if you start adding all those cameras? Do you really want that? Also, each camera needs power, so they have to be plugged in. Do you have power outlets where you want cameras to be installed?

Currently I have 10 wide angle cameras outside of my house covering outside perimeter 100%. I also have microphones recording audio at entrance cameras.

Main question was wiring. How do you do it? Answer is simple - CAT 5e! 1 cable carries power, audio and video signals. Cheap and easy wiring. At each end of cable there is "baloon" device like this:
Amazon.com : Evertech 4 Pairs Video Audio Power Balun Network Transceiver Connectors CAT5/CAT6 to BNC : Camera & Photo

Use regular cameras, pick ones you want. Wide angle, PTZ, etc.

Get one of those:
Amazon.com: 8 Channel 9 Port Power Box Security Camera 12V DC 5A Ampere CCTV DVR Power Supply Switch Box Key Locked: Electronics

Get DVR for number of channels you want. I got 16 channel DVR from Swann. Those can be 4 or 8 channels. HDD installed inside. This box has all it needs, black box appliance. Install power next to DVR, get some pigtails for video/power and off you go.

I'm planning to add more cameras this year. My network is not saturated, I can review recordings (motion activated - keeps about 30 days of history), I can use smartphone apps to see if UPS dropped another package.

Seriously. Do it "standard" way. Might be cheaper and more reliable. Plus, you can get better cameras cheaper.

 

[Aestr]

I think your statement about IP cameras being hobby focused is a bit outdated.

DS-7716NI-SP/16 - DS-7700 Series NVR - Hikvision USA, Inc.

That should address your concerns of running a server since it's a DVR just like the ones for analog cameras. It also provides PoE to power them so you can take advantage of the same single cable for video and power and don't need the adapters you linked on each end. These cables run direct to the NVR so there's no congestion on existing networks (although VLANs deal with that just fine too)

While there's nothing wrong with using analog cameras I think network cameras are where we will continue to see the more interesting advances going forward. These cameras are an example of some of the cool things you can do when a camera can send more than one feed.

 

[katit]

I think your statement about IP cameras being hobby focused is a bit outdated.

About 2 years outdated

But how many players in this industry? Right now I see that I can build analog system much cheaper. And, if digital takes off - we will have access to very nice used analog cameras..