Montavue NVR Kit: Please Provide Your Opnion prior to my purchase, thanks :)

Mar 1, 2020
7
1
USA
URL: Montavue | 16 Camera Ultra HD 4K NVR Commercial/Residential Surveillance System with 8 4K Bullet Cameras and 8 4K IP Vandal Proof Dome Cameras – Color Night Vision, 200ft IR, 4K @ 30fps, H.265 – Montavue MTIP1216384KBP84KDP
  • the sensor size is why I was recommended this kit
  • 4k at 30fps unlike lorex/swann etc. doing 4k 15fps

Location: Commercial (this is for a non for profit organization)

Wiring? Already pre wired cat 5e/cat 6 to the camera points from a central location

Requirements:
  • mostly outside coverage needed 10 bullets outside
  • 6 domes inside
  • it would be nice if the NVR can be expanded from 16 cameras so it's future expandable
  • 4 Door's for entrance/exit points so a better camera for night time etc. would be good
  • 3 Parking lot entrance/exit area
  • so those 7 cameras I would want to be pretty good for day/night

In past I have only purchased more USA mainstream brands such as Swann and Lorex and never really heard of Montavue before. I was recommended this company and found this kit through their deals.

Things I plan on doing
  • upgrading HDD
  • installing exterior cameras with the waterproof junction box + weather resistant sillicone

Please provide your opinions on if this is a good purchase for the price point ?

Budget <3k (nvr, cameras, junction boxes) I must purchase a kit in the next few days. So can't wait for major sales. Please suggest any system with URL, thanks :)
 
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URL: Montavue | 16 Camera Ultra HD 4K NVR Commercial/Residential Surveillance System with 8 4K Bullet Cameras and 8 4K IP Vandal Proof Dome Cameras – Color Night Vision, 200ft IR, 4K @ 30fps, H.265 – Montavue MTIP1216384KBP84KDP
  • the sensor size is why I was recommended this kit
  • 4k at 30fps unlike lorex/swann etc. doing 4k 15fps

Location: Commercial (this is for a non for profit organization)

Wiring? Already pre wired cat 5e/cat 6 to the camera points from a central location

Requirements:
  • mostly outside coverage needed 10 bullets outside
  • 6 domes inside
  • it would be nice if the NVR can be expanded from 16 cameras so it's future expandable
  • 4 Door's for entrance/exit points so a better camera for night time etc. would be good
  • 3 Parking lot entrance/exit area
  • so those 7 cameras I would want to be pretty good for day/night

In past I have only purchased more USA mainstream brands such as Swann and Lorex and never really heard of Montavue before. I was recommended this company and found this kit through their deals.

Things I plan on doing
  • upgrading HDD
  • installing exterior cameras with the waterproof junction box + weather resistant sillicone

Please provide your opinions on if this is a good purchase for the price point ?

Budget <3k (nvr, cameras, junction boxes) I must purchase a kit in the next few days. So can't wait for major sales. Please suggest any system with URL, thanks :)

Welcome @RayAllenGame6

Do check out the cliff notes here, and VPN notes.

Montavue carries Dahua OEM international models which retain the Dahua IVS features - this is good, and a feature many of us like.

Lorex is now owned by Dahua, and much of what they carry is Dahua OEM ( some inventory still sold is not Dahua OEM from what I can tell. ) They typically strip out the IVS features.

Swann was using Hikvision OEM products, and have recently changed to another OEM. ( search for Swann topics here ).

Of the 3 brands listed, Montavue would be the best hardware imho as it retains the Dahua features we like.
 
Welcome @RayAllenGame6

Do check out the cliff notes here, and VPN notes.

Montavue carries Dahua OEM international models which retain the Dahua IVS features - this is good, and a feature many of us like.

Lorex is now owned by Dahua, and much of what they carry is Dahua OEM ( some inventory still sold is not Dahua OEM from what I can tell. ) They typically strip out the IVS features.

Swann was using Hikvision OEM products, and have recently changed to another OEM. ( search for Swann topics here ).

Of the 3 brands listed, Montavue would be the best hardware imho as it retains the Dahua features we like.
Hi you were the one to recommend me Montavue. so is this kit (nvr, cameras in it) good for my requirements or you would suggest a different kit from their website.

I plan on calling them Monday to customize the bundle so I can have more bullet cameras instead of domes
 
Hi you were the one to recommend me Montavue. so is this kit (nvr, cameras in it) good for my requirements or you would suggest a different kit from their website.

I plan on calling them Monday to customize the bundle so I can have more bullet cameras instead of domes
The one big drawback is the lens in this kit. 2.8mm is very wide angle, one size does not fit all. 2.8mm lens will require the perp to be within 10-12ft for an ID.
As Mat suggests, please study the cliff notes.
 
I have a Montavue system I bought 3 months ago, good friday sale 40% off.
It has been a good system so far I added 2 - 10tb drives and a few more cameras.
1x 4K IP Residential Camera System w/ 4 4K Bullet Cameras and 2 4K Dome Cameras - 30fps @ 4K, 2TB HDD, 200ft Color Night Vision, Vandal Resistant - Montavue MTIP1208244KBP24KDP
So far so good for my needs.
 
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The one big drawback is the lens in this kit. 2.8mm is very wide angle, one size does not fit all. 2.8mm lens will require the perp to be within 10-12ft for an ID.
As Mat suggests, please study the cliff notes.

Thanks for the input. because of your input, I'm considering getting a few cameras with the motorized varifocal lens that has 3-4 optical zoom so I can get a closer view of the high priority areas.

Does this solve the concern you mentioned regarding very wide angle.
 
I have a Montavue system I bought 3 months ago, good friday sale 40% off.
It has been a good system so far I added 2 - 10tb drives and a few more cameras.
1x 4K IP Residential Camera System w/ 4 4K Bullet Cameras and 2 4K Dome Cameras - 30fps @ 4K, 2TB HDD, 200ft Color Night Vision, Vandal Resistant - Montavue MTIP1208244KBP24KDP
So far so good for my needs.

is the 30fps advertised really good ? only they seem to be advertising 30 fps

and wow 20TB that's a lot $$ spent towards HDD
 
Hi @RayAllenGame6

The following is the calculated ID distance for a 2MP 1080P camera ( to the 100 ppf mark ). Multiply the ID distance by 2x to get the approximate ID distance for a 8MP "4K" UHD camera model.

Dahua IPC-HDW4231EM-AS starlight fixed lens 1080p 1920x1080
w/2.8mm lens FOV H 110 degrees: 10 feet { area covered 95.94 sq feet covered }
w/3.6mm lens FOV H 87 degrees: 12.65 feet { 121.43 sq feet covered }
w/6mm lens FOV H 51 degrees: 21.58 feet { 207.16 sq feet covered }

DORI notes in the cliff notes should be useful for more info on this topic.
 
Hi @RayAllenGame6

The following is the calculated ID distance for a 2MP 1080P camera ( to the 100 ppf mark ). Multiply the ID distance by 2x to get the approximate ID distance for a 8MP "4K" UHD camera model.

Dahua IPC-HDW4231EM-AS starlight fixed lens 1080p 1920x1080
w/2.8mm lens FOV H 110 degrees: 10 feet { area covered 95.94 sq feet covered }
w/3.6mm lens FOV H 87 degrees: 12.65 feet { 121.43 sq feet covered }
w/6mm lens FOV H 51 degrees: 21.58 feet { 207.16 sq feet covered }

DORI notes in the cliff notes should be useful for more info on this topic.

so my outdoors camera are covering parking lot and the entrance/exit points. 10 feet seems a little less for facial recognition for the 2.8mm lens.
I spoke to Montavue team and they only sell 2.8mm fix lens and not narrower angle than the 112 degree angle cameras for their fixed lens cameras.

@mat200 @looney2ns
Or should I consider a system like this one

all the cameras in this kit will be varifocal lens, seems like theres heavy emphasis being placed on avoid fixed lens wide angle cameras by you guys.
- I can just ask them to add 2 more bullets and 2 more domes for me. To make it 16 cameras. So you suggest pay up front and instead buy the camera with varifocal Lens as that will always give flexibility to set optical zoom up to 4times.
 
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so my outdoors camera are covering parking lot and the entrance/exit points. 10 feet seems a little less for facial recognition for the 2.8mm lens.
I spoke to Montavue team and they only sell 2.8mm fix lens and not narrower angle than the 112 degree angle cameras for their fixed lens cameras.

@mat200 @looney2ns
Or should I consider a system like this one

all the cameras in this kit will be varifocal lens, seems like theres heavy emphasis being placed on avoid fixed lens wide angle cameras by you guys.
- I can just ask them to add 2 more bullets and 2 more domes for me. To make it 16 cameras. So you suggest pay up front and instead buy the camera with varifocal Lens as that will always give flexibility to set optical zoom up to 4times.

Hi @RayAllenGame6

You'll have to make the judgement, both are decent kits.
 
Varifocal is obviously more expensive. Any downsides besides cost ?

imho - really nice to have varifocal.. cost and a bit larger are the downsides.
 
so my outdoors camera are covering parking lot and the entrance/exit points. 10 feet seems a little less for facial recognition for the 2.8mm lens.
I spoke to Montavue team and they only sell 2.8mm fix lens and not narrower angle than the 112 degree angle cameras for their fixed lens cameras.

@mat200 @looney2ns
Or should I consider a system like this one

all the cameras in this kit will be varifocal lens, seems like theres heavy emphasis being placed on avoid fixed lens wide angle cameras by you guys.
- I can just ask them to add 2 more bullets and 2 more domes for me. To make it 16 cameras. So you suggest pay up front and instead buy the camera with varifocal Lens as that will always give flexibility to set optical zoom up to 4times.
What distances will the cameras be from those mentioned areas?
 
I would say the distance from camera to parking lot entrance is about 70 feet for the furthest distance.
You really want Varifocal turrets.
I suggest you purchase one varifocal camera such as this one, Link here and test the locations you think you want them. Use a 2x4x8, 5gal bucket, rocks for ballast for a temp mount. Test day and night. Purchase a 64gb SD card, put in the camera to record test video.