First time buying/installing IP cams

[hwj77]

Hi all,

I'm planning to install 6 ip cams on the outside of my house.
I have no experience with ip cams although I have quite some experience when it comes to computers in general and bit of networking.

This is currently what I'm planning to buy:
6x DS-2CD2032 (4mm)
DS-7604/7608NI-SE/(8)P (http://www.hikvision.com/en/us/Products_show.asp?id=4142)

I live in Western Europe and was planning to buy from E&M Security Center: http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/GrrcFas

So some of my questions were:

1. Would this be a good setup? Are there better cams/nvr's you would recommend in that price category?

2. Is that a good store for someone in the EU? Their prices seem competitive and they offer free DHL so that seems like a pretty good deal to me.

3. Another question: I noticed in an unboxing video that the wire coming out of the camera gets split, one POE and what is the other? Is that in case you're using regular ethernet?

4. So all I'll need to do is hook up the camera's up with cat6 to the NVR if I understand correctly?

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[The_Penguin]

Hi, welcome!
1) Great cameras, not sure you could do any better at the price.
Can't really advise on the NVR, I don't know anything about them.

2) Not familiar with that store, probably similar to most of the Chinese stores. I have used this store, and many other people give them good reviews:
http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/blZvHZPa

3) Yes you can use a single cat5e or caat6 with POE for data and power, or if you don't have POE the second wire is for a 12v power supply.

4) I believe so, that NVR should have POE network ports, so that should be all you need.

 

[bp2008]

I'd like to add that the Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I is a popular alternative to the 2032. It is more or less the same camera, but it has a different shape and mounting style, and the infrared is provided through a single very powerful lamp to the side of the lens instead of through multiple smaller lamps surrounding the lens. Due to this, the DS-2CD2332-I is generally considered to attract fewer insects to the lens. It does of course cost a bit more than the 2032 model and it is larger and a bit trickier to mount on some surfaces.

 

[bp2008]

Lastly, consider carefully that these cameras are available with multiple different lens sizes. If you have any specific areas that could benefit from a narrower field of view (more zoomed in), then ask for a 6mm or 12mm lens. 6mm is a fair amount narrower than the default 4mm size, and 12mm is a lot narrower. The 2332 model is available with a 2.8mm lens which is extra-wide, and not available on the 2032 model.

 

[hwj77]

Thanks for the help guys!

Thanks for that info about the 2332, I wasn't aware of its 'insect benefit'. I'll definitely consider it!

 

[hwj77]

Lastly, consider carefully that these cameras are available with multiple different lens sizes. If you have any specific areas that could benefit from a narrower field of view (more zoomed in), then ask for a 6mm or 12mm lens. 6mm is a fair amount narrower than the default 4mm size, and 12mm is a lot narrower. The 2332 model is available with a 2.8mm lens which is extra-wide, and not available on the 2032 model.

On the side of the house there is a narrow stretch, maybe 30 feet long, that I wanted to cover. I was wondering whether zooming (aka bigger lens) in would actually be counter productive in the sense that I would see less of the space just in front of the camera? I reckon that since it's HD zooming in on such a relatively small area wouldn't be a problem. I've looked at some video's and pictures of the different lenses but I'm still not a 100% sure of which ones would be the best choice in certain areas of the house.

 

[bp2008]

To help you make your decision, this is what I did on the sides of my house.

<-- -->

Both are Hikvision 2032 with 4mm lenses, video rotated firmware to match the physical rotation. The distance from the house to the fence is 15 feet in both cases.

 

[hwj77]

Thanks for sharing! Seems like 4mm would be perfect

 

[fenderman]

Thanks for sharing! Seems like 4mm would be perfect

When you rotate the 2032 the black "hood" will be sideways....another reason the 2332 turret will look cleaner

 

[hwj77]

I'll be hanging them under the eaves so that shouldn't be an issue, I'll still consider the 2332 for the better IR though, although I do like the (in my opinion) cleaner look of the bullet-style cam.

 

[hwj77]

Another question: how much HDD space would I need? I plan on running them at 1080p/30fps, and trigger them with motion detection.

I know that the motion detection often gets falsely triggered, so taking into account those 'false triggers', would 2TB be sufficient? I have no idea how often they get triggered so maybe someone can shed a light on their experiences concerning that.

Also, is 30fps overkill? Or is it fine considering I'm using motion detection. I'm not sure for how long I'd like to keep the footage, what do you guys think about that?

Thanks for the help and advice!

 

[bp2008]

Resolution and frame rate do not affect storage size. What matters is the bit rate. For 1080p/30fps video, you will need to set a fairly high bit rate to have great image quality. I would recommend around 8 Mbps for each camera.

2 TB drives actually have usable space around 1.82 TB. 1.82 TB divided by 8 Mbps is 21 days. In other words you could store about 21 days worth of 8 Mbps video on the drive. That is 504 hours. Divide again by the number of cameras (6) and you have 3.5 days or 84 hours. That is to say, if you were to record all the cameras constantly, you would fill the drive in 3.5 days. But you plan on using motion detection, which means most of the time you will not be recording. This much disk space will not fill up for months. Maybe even years if you have very little motion around your house.

 

[hwj77]

Resolution and frame rate do not affect storage size. What matters is the bit rate. For 1080p/30fps video, you will need to set a fairly high bit rate to have great image quality. I would recommend around 8 Mbps for each camera.

2 TB drives actually have usable space around 1.82 TB. 1.82 TB divided by 8 Mbps is 21 days. In other words you could store about 21 days worth of 8 Mbps video on the drive. That is 504 hours. Divide again by the number of cameras (6) and you have 3.5 days or 84 hours. That is to say, if you were to record all the cameras constantly, you would fill the drive in 3.5 days. But you plan on using motion detection, which means most of the time you will not be recording. This much disk space will not fill up for months. Maybe even years if you have very little motion around your house.

Great explanation, thank you!
I read a lot of good things about the WD purple drives, would you also recommend those?

 

[bp2008]

Sure. An inadequate hard drive can cause all sorts of problems, so I say the Purple is worth the price.