Glad I found this place!

[pidgey]

Hi everyone,

I just got done building a new house and had pre-wiring done for security cameras. I finally got around to looking at some systems after having a dealer try to sell me on Luma cameras:
Luma Surveillance

I could not find much information about them, is anyone familiar with that brand?

Anyway, I started looking at other systems like Lorex, Armcrest, Reolink etc. I found some nice 4K 6 Camera systems with NVR for around ~$1400 on the Lorex website. The marketing seems great but I'm always skeptical and that's when I came across this site! I did my homework and started reading the wiki and learned some good information. I also see that Dahua appears to be a popular brand here.

So what advice do you have to give me? Should I go with a system like Lorex or is it worth it to go down a more custom route and get the Dahua Starlight cameras and build a HTPC recording PC for it?

I care about the camera quality obviously and want a reliable recording solution - whatever that may be.

 

[fenderman]

Hi everyone,

I just got done building a new house and had pre-wiring done for security cameras. I finally got around to looking at some systems after having a dealer try to sell me on Luma cameras:
Luma Surveillance

I could not find much information about them, is anyone familiar with that brand?

Anyway, I started looking at other systems like Lorex, Armcrest, Reolink etc. I found some nice 4K 6 Camera systems with NVR for around ~$1400 on the Lorex website. The marketing seems great but I'm always skeptical and that's when I came across this site! I did my homework and started reading the wiki and learned some good information. I also see that Dahua appears to be a popular brand here.

So what advice do you have to give me? Should I go with a system like Lorex or is it worth it to go down a more custom route and get the Dahua Starlight cameras and build a HTPC recording PC for it?

I care about the camera quality obviously and want a reliable recording solution - whatever that may be.

luma is rebranded hikvision.

 

[looney2ns]

Welcome, be sure to read the cliff notes in the wiki.

 

[mat200]

Hi everyone,

I just got done building a new house and had pre-wiring done for security cameras. I finally got around to looking at some systems after having a dealer try to sell me on Luma cameras:
Luma Surveillance

I could not find much information about them, is anyone familiar with that brand?

Anyway, I started looking at other systems like Lorex, Armcrest, Reolink etc. I found some nice 4K 6 Camera systems with NVR for around ~$1400 on the Lorex website. The marketing seems great but I'm always skeptical and that's when I came across this site! I did my homework and started reading the wiki and learned some good information. I also see that Dahua appears to be a popular brand here.

So what advice do you have to give me? Should I go with a system like Lorex or is it worth it to go down a more custom route and get the Dahua Starlight cameras and build a HTPC recording PC for it?

I care about the camera quality obviously and want a reliable recording solution - whatever that may be.

Welcome Pidgey

Take some time to figure out what you need. Definitely check out the wiki cliff notes and other others as looney2ns recommends. IPCamTalk WiKi | IP Cam Talk

If you can, hold off on purchasing before you better understand what you need and what is available.

Avoid Reolink, numerous issues with that brand and company - you can read more in threads here on that.

Lorex - have some nice Dahua OEM products - however they do strip the IVS features out - so unless you are getting an amazing deal ( normally this is not the case on their website ) I would look at Dahua OEM products from Andy instead.

Amcrest - they have the IVS features in SOME of their products, however have a smaller selection of products than Andy has. Some of their products will work well with Dahua OEM IP PoE products - so not bad if you're getting a deal. Note - some of their products I really dislike due to their new "shape" - just fugly imho.. really, who though a hex cross section was good, ..

For most of us here, lately the Dahua OEM 2MP starlight models are preferred due to their value and low light performance. You can read more in the cliff notes.

 

[pidgey]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the responses so far. I think the Dahua Starlight cameras would be good for me given that I need cameras to perform in the day and night with fairly low light.

If I did have a larger budget, are there any better cameras you would recommend? Or is the Dahua Starlight really the best camera you can buy?

 

[mat200]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the responses so far. I think the Dahua Starlight cameras would be good for me given that I need cameras to perform in the day and night with fairly low light.

If I did have a larger budget, are there any better cameras you would recommend? Or is the Dahua Starlight really the best camera you can buy?

Hi Pidgey,

There is a nicer 8MP box version of the Dahua OEM starlight... about $800-1000 after the lens and box.