High resolution IP camera system

[Templedentist]

Hey everyone I'm looking to install a high resolution eight camera IP security camera system. Each camera will be 3 to 4 MP resolution and it will be for a residential setting with short runs to each camera. What I would like to do is reduce lag time to as little as possible or preferably no lag time, keep the frame rate very high, and I may end up expanding the system to include more high-resolution cameras in the future. I don't mind lag or other issues when viewing remotely but I want the recording and on-site viewing to be smooth as butter.

What components would be necessary to achieve this type of high-end set up? I would rather spend a little extra money to achieve my goals than to cut corners and get less than what I'm expecting.

Thanks

 

[Stealth22]

You don't necessarily need 30fps all the time. Having multiple HD cams at full resolution and FPS takes a lot of CPU power.

That said, I would imagine you would want quality CAT6 cable, preferably shielded. To keep things clean, terminate your runs into a CAT6 patch panel, and mount it on one of these.

Then you can get a rack mount shelf if you plan to use an NVR, or my personal preference would be to buy a good quality PoE switch (rack mountable, so you can put it on that wall mount rack!), and use a PC running BlueIris for the recording. Get a 2TB or 4TB WD Purple drive, and stick that in the PC. You could either build a PC, or if you live in the States, buy a refurbished Optiplex on sale from the Dell Outlet store. I think others have posted you can get one with a good i7 CPU for around $300.

For keeping things as smooth as possible, use quality cameras, like Hikvision or Dahua, and have quality network equipment. I'm still pretty new to the IP camera world, but as long as you have a quick enough PC, and good quality switches and cables, you should be fine.

 

[hiky]

Budget
Distance to subject areas
Wide angles, tight angles, face detection ??
Weather generally, how exposed will the cams be ??
Hidden under eaves ( domes ) or sticking out ( bullets ) but interchangeable dependent on situation
Night time quality ??

each of these is important to recommend a system, and personally i would go for a NVR rather than Blue Iris, NVR`s are designed to run 24/7 365 days a year and be a little easier to deal with for general users

 

[nayr]

perceivable IP Latency is not determined by the length of the cables, but by how high quality you try to deal with.. more detail, more resources and processing and that will add latency..

A 1/4s to a full second of latency is pretty normal with most IP systems.. if you cant tolerate that then your going to have to go back to analouge and so much for 3-4MP resolution.

all my dahua's feeds latency was reduced when I plugged them into a dahua NVR.. went from about ~3/4s to under 1/2s... but if I crank quality and fps to max it'll be back to 3/4s or worse I am sure.. Achieving true realtime display with encoding in the way is not doable.. the camera would have to dump an HDMI type signal, just raw uncompressed data a display can understand.. then you will have distance and storage issues.

Id rather get a nice compressed stream vs realtime display.. the latency is easy to cope with.. saving a handfull of 6Mbit h264 streams = easy as pie, encoding a bunch of raw data coming at you 60Mbps or worse, each, in realtime = hard (read: expensive) as hell and impossible to scale.

 

[ncwbob]

I say go with an all HIKvision system, use a HIKvision NVR and cams. Decide weather you want POE or not. POE or power over Ethernet is where the camera has one cat 6 cable going to it and receives power over the cat 6 cable and transmits the camera signal back over the same cable to ether a POE switch or a NVR that has POE ports. Google POE for more info.

Note, NVR's with POE ports are more expensive and you can get a used POE 4 port switch on ebay for pretty cheap, go with a name brand switch.

On my house I have access to the attic in my garage. I can easily run cat 6 cable in my attic to the eves were I wish to mount my cameras then have all the cat 6 cables come down out of the attic to one place where I mount ether a POE switch or a NVR with POE ports.

I will have all cat 6 cables on my install run directly to a POE switch mounted on the back garage wall, then run a cat 6 up-link cable from the POE switch out the wall and around the outside of the house down stairs to my HIKvision NVR. I already have a conduit ran as my internet is right outside of the garage on the back wall and I already have a spare cat 6 cable ran inside the conduit.

So the cam signal will go over the cat 6 cable, to a POE switch, then out and down stares to my NVR in my office. I run a HDMI cable from it to an extra monitor on my desk.

I bought a 16 channel NVR because I am only planning on running 4 to 6 cams for my main security system but will want to run more cams to do other things like one really high def PTZ cam just to view the valley and neighbor hood. Then there will be the dog cams to watch the yard and probably a few more here and there.

The advantage of staying with one brand for everything such as HIKvision will be easy hookup of the cams to the NVR. They should be all plug and play and pretty much automatic to setup. This should also help with latency.

For the POE switch, if you go that way like me, find a model with a gig up link port. This way your network will stay fast.

If you do not plan on remote viewing of your security cams over the internet, then you can set everything up on a separate network and keep it off your internet network. This will keep it faster and also keep your internet faster and also keep your security cams more secure. You can always run a bridge cable later if you go on vacation and decide you do want to view your security system remotely.

I'm going with mostly wired cams but will have a few wireless cams so I can move them around as needed or if I go on vacation, I can set one up to watch the front door from inside or watch a place like just inside the front door so I can setup an alert if that cam sees anything.

Bob

 

[pal251]

I would go with LTS security, look up @milkisbad who may direct you over to some of their equipment.
I would go with POE for a new setup, no reason not to do POE.

 

[Templedentist]

Thanks for the replies, i plan on a POE setup and using all hikvision equipment after reading these comments and others I've come across on the Internet. It sounds like I should use cat 6 cable. Does it matter if I run the cable to a POE switch and then to an NVR vs running the cables to an NVR with POE ports? The set up I was contemplating is almost exactly the one posted above by ncwbob. The distance to subjects will be anywhere from 5 to 50 feet. The lot size is probably only 100 x 90' with the house taking up the center portion of the lot. There may be one to two PTZ cameras and the rest will be exposed bullet cameras. There are some pretty intense storms in my area as well as intense heat and very high humidity. I'm thinking wide angle cameras would be best due to the close distances. Face detection would be great as well as the ability to make out license plates for at least two of the cameras. Latency of less than a second is acceptable but anything greater than that I don't think would be acceptable for my purposes. Nighttime video quality is very important as well. I'm trying to respond to as many questions as I can so this post is pretty scatter brained.

I will likely rarely be viewing cameras live but would like low latency when doing so. If I'm understanding everything correctly maybe the cameras that will be viewing further distances but encompassing a large area should be as high of a resolution as possible where as the cameras that are viewing much shorter distances could be a lower resolution to minimize latency issues and storage space. Or should I just go with the highest resolution cameras I can afford?

Budget isn't set in stone but I was planning on spending probably $2000 to $5000. I'm a do-it-yourselfer so these would all be hardware/software costs, no installation costs. I'll probably go with the 16 channel NVR since it's likely I'll add cameras in the future. Any recommendations on a specific Hikvision NVR and POE switch? As I said before low latency is the goal, which is why my budget/expected expenditures is such a large range because I am debating between cost and difference in latency.

 

[nayr]

I will likely rarely be viewing cameras live but would like low latency when doing so.

Then you should get off this low latency kick, or you have a fundamental misunderstanding about what latency is... either way, if this remains true... latency is of absolutely no importance.

 

[howardrya]

+1 for milkisbad and LTS brand Cameras. I got a 4MP turret, and I am very impressed. Almost identical to Hikvision cameras. Better pricing too. Shoot him a message.

 

[alastairstevenson]

If I'm understanding everything correctly maybe the cameras that will be viewing further distances but encompassing a large area should be as high of a resolution as possible where as the cameras that are viewing much shorter distances could be a lower resolution to minimize latency issues and storage space

One thing you may have missed in your reading is the importance of the lens focal length choice. This determines the field of view (FOV) and is critical in ensuring the coverage meets your needs.
Common are 4mm, with 2.8mm for a wider field for close range, 6 or 8mm for more distance.
You need to check out the specs for the specific cameras to get the actual angles in the FOV.
The resolution determines the overall level of detail, and is common to all lens choices.

 

[hiky]

I am debating between cost and difference in latency.

?? your biggest issue will be upload speed, dont worry about a IP cam system, if you want to see things as they happen just hope your ISP isnt doing maintenance on your line, that is where your issues will come from