First time setup for 3 cams with quality night vision

[boterkoek]

I was looking into Reolink, but a Google search showed up this forum stating not to use Reolink because they are garbage.
So here I am. Seeking advice on a good NVR setup for my mom's house.

Cam 1: this can be a bullet cam pointed at driveway 1 (about 40ft to the sidewalk). There is a street light on the sidewalk.
It only needs to show/record the driveway. I need good quality at night. Having an LED on it would be perfect so it can turn on when movement is detected.
Just want to have my mom getting a message when someone enters the driveway at night. Sound/sirene activated if needed.

Cam 2: PTZ cam so it monitors driveway 2. But need it to move the the yard if someone walks towards it. This driveway is also about 40ft long and there is a street light on the sidewalk. But there is no light in the yard.
I need good quality at night. Same as above, led and Sirene would be preferred.

Cam 3: 180 degrees cam. So I can monitor the yard, the garage door, and the backdoor of the house. There is a small light in the backyard just by the back door. Could be replaced, but can't use a 24-hour big flood light to light up the yard

Since Reolink sucks at nighttime (according to this forum) I want some good stuff. Budget around 1000 euro.


I attached a sketch of the house and surroundings. Any advice on brand and model would be great. thanks

 

[wittaj]

Welcome!

You are asking for cameras that are "deterrent" in nature, but will not result in the ability to adequately capture clean images and are not designed to be good night quality cameras as their primary function are flashing lights and sirens. Is that ok?


See this thread for the commonly recommended cameras (along with Amazon links) based on distance to IDENTIFY that represent the overall best value in terms of price and performance day and night.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection



Motion activated lights are not a deterrent. There are enough videos here showing that perps do not flinch when a floodlight turns on. They avoid homes all lit up, so go with floodlights on all night.

Watch this video someone posted and how the floodlight comes on and they don't even flinch. But then the audio comes on and they don't know which way to run LOL.

https://ipcamtalk.com/attachments/whatsapp-video-2020-07-28-at-7-23-08-pm-mp4.73970/

Here is usually what happens when a motion activated floodlight comes on - it just about completely blinds the camera right at the moment of optimal opportunity to get the picture. There are 3 deer in this picture and two of them are lost in the blinded white while the camera's exposure adjusts to the rapid change in available light:

You do not want to trust a PTZ only. It will be looking left and the perp comes from the right. They are a good compliment to an existing fixed cam system, but relying on one will result in failure.

 

[wittaj]

Since you mentioned Reolinks....

Keep in mind that reolinks, especially at night are horrible.

What you mean a missing hand isn't normal LOL :lmao (plus look at the blur on the face and he is barely moving and this should be ideal indoor IR bounce and it struggles):

How about missing everything but the head and upper torso

The invisible man, where can he be. Thank goodness he is carrying around a reflective plate to see where he is LOL (hint - the person is literally in the middle of the image at the end of the fence)

I've seen better images on an episode of ghost hunters

And of course, this is an example from Reolink's marketing videos - do you see a person in this picture...yes, there is a person in this picture.... Could this provide anything useful for the police other than the date and time something happened? Would this protect your home? The still picture looks great though except for the person and the blur of the vehicle... Will give you a hint - the person is in between the two visible columns:

Bad Boys
Bad Boys
Watcha gonna do
Watcha gonna do
When the camera can't see you


Here is the unofficial Reolink thread.

You can see all the attempts people have provided to demonstrate the quality of Reolink, and they are all a blurry mess at night or missing body parts or other messes.

We have challenged someone to provide a clean capture of someone moving at night with a Reolink and as you can see with 20 pages, nobody has yet to provide a usable image with motion at night.

Reolink's algorithm is designed to produce a nice bright static image at night and that comes at a cost of blur and ghost and missing body parts at night.

Reolink: Deconstruction of a dangerous misleading youtube review "Finding the BEST 4K Security Camera NVR Package (Reolink vs Amcrest vs Swann)"

 

[boterkoek]

Like I said. No reolink since I have read that article.

Not sure about the starlight cameras how they perform with streetlights. The reason I want a PTZ is so that it can follow if people walk around the house. But it will be always pointed to the front. It will not patrol.

 

[wittaj]

Starlight is simply a marketing term. That last example of Reolink with a person between the columns is a starlight camera LOL.

It depends on where the light is in relation to the object and the camera. If the person is in between the camera and the streetlight, then it is actually a negative because it is a backlit condition and the face will be in shadows and will be black like this example:



So you need to be ok and accept a camera with infrared capabilities so that the face is receiving "light". Because once you dial in the shutter to minimize blur, the white LEDs on a camera do not reach very far.

Nobody here would suggest a PTZ on patrol. They are only good for so many cycles and people have locked up their PTZ by having it on 24/7 patrol.

So with only one PTZ and no additional fixed cameras - what happens when 2 or more people come up to your house - the PTZ is only catching and tracking one of them, not all of them.

That is why PTZs are not a replacement for fixed cameras - they are a compliment to an existing system.

If you rely on a PTZ only for driveway #2 it will miss many instances, especially when it is off tracking something else.

Keep in mind the 180 cameras are great OVERVIEW cameras, but not real good at IDENTIFY. And most of them do not have infrared, so you either need enough white light or be willing to use the built-in white LEDs.