Looking for suggestions for my large yard

[bdbull]

At the risk of being ridiculed, I'm posting because I feel like my scenario isn't quite the run of the mill "what should I get" post.

I'm looking to put a system on my property. I have read the cliff notes several times, but can't quite decipher the information I need in my situation. I'm not concerned with identifying faces, license plates, delivery guys or any of the usual goals. I have two goals for my system: 1) be able to see my kids and pets in the yard, and 2) be able to see someone at the gate. Number 2 will be more easily achievable as I plan on putting a camera or two at the gate so that should be fairly easy to accomplish.

Goal number 1 is where I'm having trouble. I'm looking for cameras that will allow me to view things at a distance of up to 200-300 feet. It would be nice to be able to see the expressions on their faces, but I'm more interested in just being able to answer the question of "what are the kids doing outside?" So, I guess I'm looking for cameras that provide the best experience at distances anywhere from a few feet out to a couple hundred.

The picture is a satellite image of my property. The entire lot is a little under 2.5 acres. The gray box is our garage that just hasn't been updated in Google's satellite images yet. The numbers on the fence are the length of that section of fence. The numbers in the corners are the distances in feet from that corner to the center of the house.

I would like to run the whole system on an NVR as I just don't want to bother with building/maintaining a PC to run BI. I'm thinking about at least a 16 channel NVR. As Dahua and Hik seem to be the preferred manufacturer, I'd like to stick to those guys unless they are just overkill for my situation.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

 

[mat200]

Welcome @bdbull

"I'm looking for cameras that will allow me to view things at a distance of up to 200-300 feet"

Thus I recommend looking at the various reviews by members on the larger PTZ models of cameras.

 

[SecuritySeeker]

but I'm more interested in just being able to answer the question of "what are the kids doing outside?

Bodycams



(Not ridiculing, just an attempt at some lighthearted humor)

 

[VorlonFrog]

A year or two ago, I'd have recommended the 5231 Starlight turret cameras. For an area as large as yours, the most important thing is overlapping the cameras' range of vision. Typically, you'd place one at each end of the house, and if they don't overlap, add another one or two cameras in the middle to provide overlap. You might be interested in the newer PTZ cameras, but they are much larger and more expensive. You didn't mention your budget range, so I'll suggest a few of the 5231 Starlight varifocal cameras at about $150 USD and one or two of the newer PTZ cameras for active zoom capabilities.

 

[bdbull]

Thanks for the replies!

Don't really have a set budget. Obviously would like to spend as little as possible, but if things are expensive, then I'll just piece the system together over time. I guess I'm more interested in finding the right pieces for the system and over time I can build it out if I need to.

Bodycams are a great idea.