Looking for help setting up Cottage Surveillance

[GMD99]

Hi… I’m new to surveillance cameras and although I have done some research, I have a lot to learn. I’m looking for some help with getting set up for viewing my cottage remotely.

My wife and I just bought a cottage which is about 2 ½ hours away from our home. We take possession at the beginning of June. As such, I am looking at installing a number of surveillance cameras for the time we are not there.

Other than some rudimentary experimentation with a Foscam I have no experience with IP cameras!

Having read a number of reviews I am considering the following:

- 3 outdoor cameras around the house – considering Hikvision ds-2cd2032 cameras;

- 1 outdoor dome camera for the boathouse – Hikvision ds-2cd2132f-IS 3mp IR vandal mini-dome;

- 3 indoor cameras - Hikvision ds-2cd2432f-IW 3mp IR cube cameras;

- 1 camera for the garage – Hikvision DS-2CD2312-I Mini Dome camera

- 1 NVR – Hikvision DS-7816N-E2/8P

The cottage is fairly large with a sizable property which is why I am considering 8 cameras.

We live in Canada where the winters in cottage country are cold and snowy. Does anyone have experience with these outdoor cameras in cold winter conditions?

The cottage is finished inside so running interior wires will be tricky but fortunately the previous owners ran a lot of cat 5e cabling.
If I understand correctly the above NVR will allow me to connect and power the various cameras simply using the cat5 cabling (assuming I can get the network wiring to the cameras), without any additional equipment. Is this correct?

Apparently I will have hi-speed internet access although I don’t know if it will be satellite or DSL. (Exploring that is on my short list of things to do)

So my questions are as follows:

- Any comments on the above choices? (I recognize that I am providing limited information but any comments should help)

- Is it safe to assume that all Hikvision cameras will work well with the Hikvision NVR?

- Do I need additional software to view the recordings on the NVR (Blue Iris, Xprotect Go) or is there software that comes with the NVR and, if so, is it adequate?

- Can I setup the recording to the NVR to be based only upon activity and not run 24/7?

- Is it possible to set up alerts for camera activity to be sent to my phone (text or email)?

- Assuming that I can receive alerts / notifications will I know which camera is sending the alert?

- Does the alert come from the NVR or the camera?

- Can I do Live Video viewing if I receive a notification? Can I remotely view the various recordings on the NVR?

Thank you. I have been trying to read up on this whole field of surveillance and it is quite overwhelming… so I would appreciate any help.

 

[bp2008]

Please see my comments and answers in red text below.

Apparently I will have hi-speed internet access although I don’t know if it will be satellite or DSL. (Exploring that is on my short list of things to do)

Satellite would disappoint you. But it is better than nothing if it ends up being the only option.

So my questions are as follows:

- Any comments on the above choices? (I recognize that I am providing limited information but any comments should help)

Looks good to me

- Is it safe to assume that all Hikvision cameras will work well with the Hikvision NVR?

Yes

- Do I need additional software to view the recordings on the NVR (Blue Iris, Xprotect Go) or is there software that comes with the NVR and, if so, is it adequate?

No additional software is required. You will view recordings either through a monitor connected to the NVR, or through a web browser.

- Can I setup the recording to the NVR to be based only upon activity and not run 24/7?

Yes. Motion detection is not perfect though and depending on the environment you may get lots of recording when the wind blows.

- Is it possible to set up alerts for camera activity to be sent to my phone (text or email)?

Yes. Email anyway, I think. Not sure about text.

- Assuming that I can receive alerts / notifications will I know which camera is sending the alert?

I think so.

- Does the alert come from the NVR or the camera?

I'm not sure. The cameras have their own alerting capabilities, but it is likely that the NVR will take over that responsibility. I don't have a Hikvision NVR myself so I can only guess.

- Can I do Live Video viewing if I receive a notification? Can I remotely view the various recordings on the NVR?

Really this depends on your internet provider, and whether they let you forward ports and accept incoming connections. Most allow this but some do not. Particularly satellite or cellular data providers are more likely to disallow incoming connections. There are ways to work around this, but lets hope it does not come to that.

Thank you. I have been trying to read up on this whole field of surveillance and it is quite overwhelming… so I would appreciate any help.

 

[Mel42]

"Any comments on the above choices? (I recognize that I am providing limited information but any comments should help)"

The DS-7816N-E2 is a good NVR you will not be disappointed, I prefer non POE, with built in POE you will have to run all cables from the cam to the NVR, I run two 4 port switches into my crawl space, 1 on the east side and 1 on the west side. With external switches you only have to run a couple cables back to the NVR opposed to a built in POE you would have to run 8 cables (one for each cam) back to the NVR, also you will have direct access to the cams instead of having to go through the NVR to access the cams and a non POE NVR is cheaper (but still a cost for external switches).

With a remote setup you may want to look at managed POE switch's, this will allow you to hard reset individual cams remotely.

 

[Mel42]

"Assuming that I can receive alerts / notifications will I know which camera is sending the alert?"
Yes the email subject will show the camera name.

"Does the alert come from the NVR or the camera?"
It can come from ether depending on how you set it up, I prefer the camera it gives me a better still shot.

"If I understand correctly the above NVR will allow me to connect and power the various cameras simply using the cat5 cabling (assuming I can get the network wiring to the cameras), without any additional equipment. Is this correct?"
Yes the POE switch will power the cams (does not matter if internal to the NVR or external)

"The cottage is fairly large with a sizable property which is why I am considering 8 cameras."
The 16 channel NVR is a good choice, you will want the extra bandwidth!.

 

[IPCamTalk007]

I too live here in Canada (Northern Ontario) and setup 8 Hikvision IP cams almost exactly as you have outlined last fall. I used cat6 cable and and external POE switch to power the cams. Like mentioned earlier, this allows me to remotely restart any cam if I can't connect for some reason. I used a dome in the garage and at the main entrance I also used a 12mm lens on one of the bullets for the main driveway to capture license plates of anyone driving up to the cottage. I opted out of the NVR at first and have a server setup for recording via NAS. I like this option, but for remote access an NVR would be a better choice since I have limited playback capabilities on the server and need to connect to each cam separately for remote playback. I have tried Blue Iris and Milestone xProtect but I will likely invest in an NVR later this fall since the server option requires more administration. The temperature hasn't been an issue thus far, and the cams and server survived a very cold winter (-40C on some days) but I did add silica packs to the inside of all the cams for extra piece of mind. The server and switch are located in a heated crawl space (3C) with the sump pump and water pump. I do get out there a few time in the winter and have had no issues. My internet connection is 3G and barely adequate for remote viewing, but it does the trick. I have email alerts and record on path traversal for outdoor cams and motion for the indoor cams. I have had some false triggers but not too many.

Based on my experience, you are on the right track and I'm very happy with my setup.

 

[GMD99]

Thanks for all the replies...

The comment on the advantages of a non-POE NVR are interesting. If I may, a few questions on this topic:

- Given that most of the rooms have network cables that terminate in the basement I could get away with a POE NVR for all internal cameras. However for the garage (which I suspect doesn't have network wiring) and those hanging off the outside of the building this could be problematic! Is it possible to set up a 4 port switch in one room that would connect back to the POE NVR over one of the network cables and this switch would then provide the POE power for any cameras that I run wiring directly from this room? I am thinking that this would allow me to set up this 4 port switch in the room adjacent to the garage, which would allow me to get to a camera there as well as to get to exterior cameras. I think that a non-POE NVR would mean that I would need numerous ports in the basement where most of the internal wiring terminates and a few more where I am setting them up to get at non-wired areas. Does this make sense?

- "you may want to look at managed POE switch's, this will allow you to hard reset individual cams remotely". How does this work for a managed POE switch? Am I correct that this means that you can remotely access the switch and turn off and on the power for a specific port?

- One of the things I will be doing is installing an Insteon automation system which will allow me to remotely turn off lights, reset the furnace...etc. I thought that if I connect the switch to an Insteon device I could then remotely turn the entire switch off and on. This should then reset all cameras on that switch. My original thought was that I would be able to do this to the NVR, in the event that a camera required resetting, which would then reset all connected cameras... in a power failure situation like this (or a real one) am I correct that the NVR will restart automatically?

- "you will have direct access to the cams instead of having to go through the NVR to access the cams". Why does a non-POE NVR with a 4 port switch allow you direct access to the cam, whereas a POE NVR does not? Is it a big advantage to have the direct access? Wouldn't I be able to view Live Video from any camera I choose through the NVR?

IPCamTalk007 - It sounds like you are a bit further north than I will be. We will be about 2 hours north of Toronto. Our cottage is a 4 season set up so there will be heat inside. It's the external ones cams that concern me. That is an interesting thought on the silica packs. I assume that there was sufficient room inside... I will have to consider this too. By the way, if you don't mind, where did you buy your Hikvision cams? The Canadian prices appear really expensive!

 

[code2]

Or you could pay for a handful of us guys to go out there for a week and do it for you LOL i need a vacation

 

[NVR]

Question related to OP post, I was going with a similar setup and found the 32ch is the same price as the above and decided on it for the better bandwidth and not sure if it holds more storage. But I figured for the same price or slightly higher it wont hurt. Would you take a 32ch even if you wont be using all 32 just to get a better system?

 

[Mel42]

"Given that most of the rooms have network cables that terminate in the basement I could get away with a POE NVR for all internal cameras. However for the garage (which I suspect doesn't have network wiring) and those hanging off the outside of the building this could be problematic! Is it possible to set up a 4 port switch in one room that would connect back to the POE NVR over one of the network cables and this switch would then provide the POE power for any cameras that I run wiring directly from this room? I am thinking that this would allow me to set up this 4 port switch in the room adjacent to the garage, which would allow me to get to a camera there as well as to get to exterior cameras. I think that a non-POE NVR would mean that I would need numerous ports in the basement where most of the internal wiring terminates and a few more where I am setting them up to get at non-wired areas. Does this make sense?"

Yes you could do this, you can still use an external POE switch with an NVR that has built in POE, seeing that you already have most all your cables coming into the house a built in POE may be better

"you may want to look at managed POE switch's, this will allow you to hard reset individual cams remotely". How does this work for a managed POE switch? Am I correct that this means that you can remotely access the switch and turn off and on the power for a specific port?"

Yes that is correct

"you will have direct access to the cams instead of having to go through the NVR to access the cams". Why does a non-POE NVR with a 4 port switch allow you direct access to the cam, whereas a POE NVR does not? Is it a big advantage to have the direct access? Wouldn't I be able to view Live Video from any camera I choose through the NVR?"

Yes you can view any cam through the NVR but if you want to access the cam directly you would have to go through the NVR with built in POE, there are some things you can do to make it easier, with an external switch you can access the cam directly, there are a lot post here about this issue, here one: http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/1604-Hikvision-POE-LAN-segment-access-to-cameras-without-virtual-host-or-extra-wiring
I am not sure how much of a hassle it is as I have never had an NVR with built in POE.

 

[GMD99]

Mel42... thanks for the info and thanks for the link to the other thread which makes me believe that my config will work (even if there are a few loops to go through!)

Am I correct in assuming that in the event of a power failure (or if I simply unplug the unit or a 4 port switch) the NVR (or 4 port switch) will automatically restart and reset all connected cameras?

NVR... No I had not considered a 32ch unit. It seemed like a bit of overkill, however I don't imagine there is any downside to having a 32ch instead of a 16ch NVR. Particularly if they are similarly priced. I will consider this when I get down to the ordering step. Would increasing the bandwidth from 100Mbps to 200 Mbps actually help anything is a 8-12 camera set up?

code2... "Or you could pay for a handful of us guys to go out there for a week and do it for you LOL i need a vacation". lol... it's a DIY project which is a heck of a lot more fun than paying someone to do it... plus you would probably drink all my beer!!

 

[code2]

Mel42... thanks for the info and thanks for the link to the other thread which makes me believe that my config will work (even if there are a few loops to go through!)

Am I correct in assuming that in the event of a power failure (or if I simply unplug the unit or a 4 port switch) the NVR (or 4 port switch) will automatically restart and reset all connected cameras?

NVR... No I had not considered a 32ch unit. It seemed like a bit of overkill, however I don't imagine there is any downside to having a 32ch instead of a 16ch NVR. Particularly if they are similarly priced. I will consider this when I get down to the ordering step. Would increasing the bandwidth from 100Mbps to 200 Mbps actually help anything is a 8-12 camera set up?

code2... "Or you could pay for a handful of us guys to go out there for a week and do it for you LOL i need a vacation". lol... it's a DIY project which is a heck of a lot more fun than paying someone to do it... plus you would probably drink all my beer!!

Tho one vital part I never said what kind of payment is required :O)

 

[olli]

Question related to OP post, I was going with a similar setup and found the 32ch is the same price as the above and decided on it for the better bandwidth and not sure if it holds more storage. But I figured for the same price or slightly higher it wont hurt. Would you take a 32ch even if you wont be using all 32 just to get a better system?

With 32 ch you will get 200 Mbps maximum which means you can record all cameras at the highest image quality.

you can compare them here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1loKNZBfMYreKzVVxS2Tpcmr8_7qMfevNFEB5yX1iZ3Q/view#gid=0
just switch tab in the bottom to "NVRs"

 

[NVR]

I purchased this model ds-7932n-e4 which is the Chinese version. $230 + $65 for shipping.

 

[GMD99]

NVR... "I purchased this model ds-7932n-e4". Is that a new series --> DS-79? What are the advantages over previous versions? Is there a language option? Have you received it and set it up? Any issues?

One of my concerns with these NVR's is the power requirement... AC 220V! I live in North America where we mostly use 110V. I am looking for someone in NA who has experience with these NVR's...

 

[Mel42]

DS-7816N-E2 Non-POE $178.24, ships DHL, got it in 8 days. Currently running 8 cams at highest quality and still have room for 1-2 more. Unit also has VCA that allows smart cam functions (line cross, intrusion detection, etc.)


http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hikvision-NVR-16CH-Network-Video-Recorder-HDMI-NVR-Up-to-6MP-5MP-3MP-1000M-Engineering-project/2041523283.html

"Am I correct in assuming that in the event of a power failure (or if I simply unplug the unit or a 4 port switch) the NVR (or 4 port switch) will automatically restart and reset all connected cameras?"
Yes it will all boot right backup and continue to function normal.

 

[alastairstevenson]

What firmware did your 7816N-E2 come with?

 

[Mel42]

V3.0.8, I have not bothered to update as everything works just as I need it.

 

[NVR]

Probably the best thing to do when dealing with this equipment.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Yes, the same as mine. Works just fine, though it would be good if it had a 'Shutdown' button, maybe the view of the PoE status as per the VGA/HMDI interface.

 

[GMD99]

I have another question that I would appreciate help with...

I am looking at POE injectors and I see that they vary in output voltage (some are 12V some are 48V)! Do I have to get one that outputs 12V to connect to a Hikvision cam that asks for 12VDC? Does it matter is I use a 48V unit?

If I do have a 48V POE injector can I use it to power a passive 4 port switch that would provide POE to 4 cams?

Thanks...

NVR... Just so you know, I decided to order a 32ch NVR (DS-7832N-E2/8P). The price differential was close enough to go big.