I bought the highly recommended IPC-T5442T-ZE cam if that makes a difference.
I read in here cam should be installed 8 feet or below. What is the most ideal height?
- Thread starter mattyp
- Start date
sebastiantombs
Known around here
The best height is probably between 7 and 8 feet. Once you go higher the angles make it difficult to get a good ID shot. That can be mitigated with longer focal lengths and getting the capture further away. I have a B5442E-ZE mounted at about seven feet watching our cars from about 40 feet away and set to full zoom. Great face captures.
If you are like me and paranoid... go 5' with a slight angle up to help with the baseball cap lowering folks, to get that straight on facial ID vid/pic to give to the police. Are my 2 cameras at 5' height in danger of being destroyed? Yep. Am I going to move them up? Nope.
cyberwolf_uk
Getting comfortable
- Sep 27, 2014
- 636
- 802
Whilst I can agree having it at 5` you will capture 99% of face shots but like you said there is a risk of having the camera destroyed. Without any sort of mask its too late, by the time they get to smash the camera they have already been captured. But should they approach with a $1 balaclava it doesn't matter where the camera is you aren't going to get a facial ID. I always tell people this.. Doesn't matter what camera you have or how much it costs, that $1 covering has bypassed your camera system.
I always point them down the Alarm route first (with some sort of smart monitoring) cameras, flood lights and IR trip wires. The idea is to scare the scum away before they get close enough to your cameras. Hopefully with an alarm going off this would put a lot of scum whereby I have seen many YouTube videos of the them walking up to a car, clearly looking at the camera and still trying the doors. I know in a lot of places the feds don't do much for simply trying a door.... or come to think about it even if they take something
agreed about cameras & alarm system.Whilst I can agree having it at 5` you will capture 99% of face shots but like you said there is a risk of having the camera destroyed. Without any sort of mask its too late, by the time they get to smash the camera they have already been captured. But should they approach with a $1 balaclava it doesn't matter where the camera is you aren't going to get a facial ID. I always tell people this.. Doesn't matter what camera you have or how much it costs, that $1 covering has bypassed your camera system.
I always point them down the Alarm route first (with some sort of smart monitoring) cameras, flood lights and IR trip wires. The idea is to scare the scum away before they get close enough to your cameras. Hopefully with an alarm going off this would put a lot of scum whereby I have seen many YouTube videos of the them walking up to a car, clearly looking at the camera and still trying the doors. I know in a lot of places the feds don't do much for simply trying a door.... or come to think about it even if they take something
When I started down this road, I knew that camera systems can show you what happens to your car window or front door HOURS after it happened. I remember someone (Fenderman or BP) suggested that the primary focus should be an alarm system first and complimented with video cameras. I did just that. Installed a DSC 1864 alarm system with door/window sensors, glass break detectors and PIR's. I went a step further and put 3 PIR's outside to cover the entire front of my house (pet friendly ones as the standard PIR's tripped when local stray cats or animals came cruising around). And to get instant notification alerts, I installed Home Assistant. My situation was different from many as I needed something to let me know a HUMAN was in my driveway or approaching my house within seconds. This did the job rather well.
I think it comes down to some trial and error. Certainly getting it much higher than about 8' and you may have trouble getting facial shots as a person comes closer to the camera (especially if they wear a hat with a bill pulled down to help cover their face). However you can also put it too low where you are getting weird upward shots, or more likely can be put where they can be inadvertently blocked by something/someone. It's pretty common for a doorbell camera to get blocked for example even if the person is not intentionally doing it.
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Sybertiger
Known around here
That cam includes IVS/Global setup. Dahua states to set that up, the cam should be mounted higher than 3 meters which would mean around 10 ft.
I have my cams setup at 8 to 10 feet. Why?... because that is where the soffits are on my single story house. Seems to workout okay.
I have my cams setup at 8 to 10 feet. Why?... because that is where the soffits are on my single story house. Seems to workout okay.
Sybertiger
Known around here
Is there a DSC ethernet module you have to add to that system to tie it to your network?
Correct.
Envyision or something like that. It networks the dsc power series alarm box. Which then allows my home assistant (or even blue iris) to interface with it. I get alert notications within 1 second on my smart TV from either the dsc PIR trigger or when one of my AI cams detect a human
sebastiantombs
Known around here
(Stupid auto text on smartphone)
I'll buy that for a dollar!
sebastiantombs
Known around here
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
I have my 5442 cams mounted at 7ft and ivs works very well in them, as do many others here.
HAH, everytime i am in these forums i learn something i need to learn. Thanks. ok so that makes total sense to focus on an alarm. I looked up PIR to mean "passive infrared sensors" correct? So you have these set up to trigger lights? Is this a fancy way of saying motion detector? I like this idea - and later once i get the cam installed I will try to learn my best options here as well.
As for my cam having "IVS/Global setup" i have no idea what this means at this time.
As for my cam having "IVS/Global setup" i have no idea what this means at this time.
Sybertiger
Known around here
I'm finding out that pretty much none of us do either....LOL. But, I'd sure like to know more.
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
We explained it to you with links in your other thread. If you still don't understand, then ask more questions...
It really is pretty simple - If you hang the camera up and it works fine and triggers on human or vehicle only, then go without doing it. Conversely, f your field of view sucks and false triggers, then do global config to see if it can overcome a sucky field of view.
Global setup is a calibration....but it can only do so much. A bad install location is a bad install location.
Sybertiger
Known around here
Actually, I was just letting the OP know where to find that setting as I had mentioned that Dahua states that the cams should be mounted 3 meters or higher to follow their Global Setup process and he was asking a general question about mounting height. He may have no use for that setting. Pretty much most of what we know comes from that Dahua Wiki page which primarily discusses how to do the process but lacking any detail on exactly what is gained or what issue it resolves; it's very nebulous and could be intentional. I personally have no additional questions to ask other that what I had asked.
