cant decide which camera to go with

whoisthis

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this is a bit off topic but can you help me with getting the certificate for my iphone? I did install the config to Openvpn app but it doesn't connect probably because i don't have a certifcate.

im spending hrs trying to figure out but can't. this is what i'm looking at Setting Up Your Own Certificate Authority (CA) | OpenVPN
i can't get passed the first step :
In this section we will generate a master CA certificate/key, a server certificate/key, and certificates/keys for 3 separate clients.
For PKI management, we will use easy-rsa 2, a set of scripts which is bundled with OpenVPN 2.2.x and earlier. If you're using OpenVPN 2.3.x, you need to download easy-rsa 2 separately from here.
For PKI management, we will use easy-rsa 2, a set of scripts which is bundled with OpenVPN 2.2.x and earlier. If you're using OpenVPN 2.3.x, you may need to download easy-rsa 2 separately from the easy-rsa-old project page. An easy-rsa 2 package is also available for Debian and Ubuntu in the OpenVPN software repos. On *NIX platforms you should look into using easy-rsa 3instead; refer to its own documentation for details.

If you are using Windows, open up a Command Prompt window and cd to \Program Files\OpenVPN\easy-rsa. Run the following batch file to copy configuration files into place (this will overwrite any preexisting vars.bat and openssl.cnf files):

Now
init-config
command isn't working
 
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wittaj

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Is OpenVPN native to your router? If so, all that above is not needed. All of that above is if you are going to host OpenVPN on a computer instead of the router.
 

wittaj

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Thank you guys for all the good information you are sharing here. If I understood right, for my driveway area (where I have three cameras) and the distance from the camera to my cars is between 10 to 15 feet and the distance from the cameras to the street is around 40-50 feet I should use two 2.8 mm cameras and one 3.6mm camera, correct? Or I could by the varifocal ones and adjust them as needed. I have some street illumination plus my flood lights, then I think a 1/1.8 sensor should be ok for color night vision, will the 5442-ZE be a good choice? Thank you.
 

wittaj

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The 2.8 and 3.6 are both good for IDENTIFY at the 10-15 foot range (some may be able to stretch it a little more, but not much).

I would never use a 3.6mm to IDENTIFY at 40-50 feet. I wouldn't even use 12mm for that distance (although many do). I would go with 32mm like the 5442-Z4E.

Varifocal cameras are a set it and forget it. If you want to adjust them as needed to see stuff then you need a PTZ.
 
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The 2.8 and 3.6 are both good for IDENTIFY at the 10-15 foot range (some may be able to stretch it a little more, but not much).

I would never use a 3.6mm to IDENTIFY at 40-50 feet. I wouldn't even use 12mm for that distance (although many do). I would go with 32mm like the 5442-Z4E.

Varifocal cameras are a set it and forget it. If you want to adjust them as needed to see stuff then you need a PTZ.
Thank you for your prompt reply. I'm more interested on Identify at my driveway and not the street where I would just like to have a general visual of what is going on. I understand varifocal are set it and forget it, I thought about a varifocal due to my lack of experience setting the cameras and that way I could select between 2.8 or 3.6 mm once I install the cameras. For what you explained to me there will not be much difference between 2.8 and 3.6 mm at 10-15 feet, so I think the 2.8mm could be a better option for a wider angle of view, correct? Probably two 5442-ZE and one 5442-Z4E should cover my front area.
 

wittaj

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Yeah, the 2.8 gives the wider view that a lot of people like. Personally I like the 3.6 for better IDENTIFY as I don't personally see enough "wide" width between the 2.8 and 3.6. Obviously field of view dependent. If all it shows you is more brick wall, it is kinda wasting the width lol. YMMV.

The varifocal goes up to 12mm and isn't that much more expensive, so I am a big fan of the varifocal unless you know 100% that the fixed lens fits your needs.

What usually happens is someone gets the fixed lens and then wishes they had more zoom.
 
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Yeah, the 2.8 gives the wider view that a lot of people like. Personally I like the 3.6 for better IDENTIFY as I don't personally see enough "wide" width between the 2.8 and 3.6. Obviously field of view dependent. If all it shows you is more brick wall, it is kinda wasting the width lol. YMMV.

The varifocal goes up to 12mm and isn't that much more expensive, so I am a big fan of the varifocal unless you know 100% that the fixed lens fits your needs.

What usually happens is someone gets the fixed lens and then wishes they had more zoom.
Thank you again. Then I will start getting the 5442-ZE from Andy for my new setup (I'm upgrading from a Laview system) I'm choosing Dahua because I think it will work better than Hikvision with Safari. I've used OpenVpn for years thanks to a post from this forum but the Laview or Hikvision apps have not worked very well for me ( missing plugin). Any recommendation for a decent POE NVR (8 cameras) for this cameras?
 

wittaj

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Thank you again. Then I will start getting the 5442-ZE from Andy for my new setup (I'm upgrading from a Laview system) I'm choosing Dahua because I think it will work better than Hikvision with Safari. I've used OpenVpn for years thanks to a post from this forum but the Laview or Hikvision apps have not worked very well for me ( missing plugin). Any recommendation for a decent POE NVR (8 cameras) for this cameras?
I would recommend the 5xxx series NVR from Andy. I would suggest going to the 16 camera version as it isn't that much more and you will probably end up getting more cams LOL.

If you do think you will only have 4 cams, you could get by with a cheaper Amcrest or Lorex NVR, just recognize that after you go above half the camera capacity, it will probably start limiting your abilities with it.
 
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Great. I have looked at Costco Lorex systems but the camera sensors are 1/2.8 and Mat2000 mentioned the Amcrest but based on the posts here the 5442-EZ from Andy are better. I cannot afford to buy everything at once but with time I will get 8 cameras (or more LOL). Thank you so much for your help and for your time.
 

wittaj

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Great. I have looked at Costco Lorex systems but the camera sensors are 1/2.8 and Mat2000 mentioned the Amcrest but based on the posts here the 5442-EZ from Andy are better. I cannot afford to buy everything at once but with time I will get 8 cameras (or more LOL). Thank you so much for your help and for your time.
Absolutely the 5442 cams are better. My neighbor bought the Costco Lorex system and within a year he had a door checker and all he could tell the police was what time it happened because the quality was so poor. He started to replace his 4K cameras with cameras like mine.
 
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It is better to expend a bit more and get a better technology, I'm trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. Crime is on the rise in South Florida and almost all around the country.
 

whoisthis

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@wittaj most of the cameras you recommended seems to have a SD slot. Are the footages saved on NVR and Cameras? and the footages overwrite from the oldest footage when SD card runs out of storage?
 

wittaj

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Yes, they are two independent recording mechanisms - basically a redundancy if the NVR goes down or someone steals it you would have some video in the camera.

Some NVRs can pull video from the SD card if the NVR went down and fill it in when it came back on line.

You can set the SD card to overwrite the oldest stuff.
 
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Good evening guys, how secure is to buy from aliexpress? I see a discount code and I would like to buy some cameras from Andy using PayPal. Thank you.
 
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the IPC-T5442T-EZ in Aliexpress says eyeball, the one in amazon doest not say eyeball. Any difference between these cameras?
thank you.
 
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