Opinions please on these 4 cams + NVR

[esoteric]

Hi. Really hoping to get some experienced opinions on this setup before I pull the trigger. We recently moved into new construction at the edge of a very large development (~1000 units in 15-20 subdivisions). Our property is on the corner of the last side street before a dead end at the edge of the development. We soon noticed a trend of "lurkers" driving down the dead end, parking for 1-5 minutes, then taking off down the main drag heading out of the subdivision. This happens multiple times per day and I don't have a clear line of sight to the end where they park. Some others are using the dead end as the starting line of a racetrack and then come flying out. Neighbors often comment about the lurkers on our neighborhood Facebook group and we're the lucky ones in closest proximity. We're 2.2 miles in from the main road so police never patrol the area. Then about one month ago my neighbors left their garage door open and it was burglarized at around 8pm. They noticed a car parked near the house for a few minutes barely within view from the front windows which then sped off, after which he found that several power tools and some small landscaping equipment was taken. His Ring camera didn't trigger or record anything and he speculates the thieves used a deauth attack to knock wifi devices off line long enough to be in and out. That's when I started looking into wired cameras.

I'm looking to start off under $1000 with the following 4 cameras, each with a certain goal. PPF data comes from the IPVM FOV calculator. Cameras will run 24/7. I have attached a rough sketch of the camera angles on my property for reference.

1) Dahua IPC-HFW5231E-Z5 ($197): 2MP Starlight varifocal 7-35mm. H.265&H.264 triple-stream. ONVIF compliant (no specific profile stated)
The target area is 95-100' diagonally from the SW corner of my house to catch license plates driving out from the dead end and/or those turning out from my street in the same direction. Just want to be able to read plates, not looking for a full LPR setup. IPVM shows 65PPF at 100' with a 30' wide FOV. From what I've read 65PPF should be adequate for most plates. There's a well-placed streetlight which should help with night viewing. (Contingent on finding a NTSC version of this camera. The product page is for PAL)

2) Lorex (very open to alternatives) LNB8973BW ($199): 8mp 1/2.5 sensor, varifocal 2.8-12mm. ONVIF S/T. H.265 / H.264 / MJPEG.
My intent here is to see cars and foot traffic heading down the main drag to/from the dead end. The street runs perpendicular to the south side of my house. I want a 4k camera for clear daytime images and discernible night images up to 70 feet away with a somewhat wide FOV. The streetlight is right above this area and will improve night vision. I'm concerned 4-5MP cameras won't provide the PPF to recognize/identify at 70 feet. IPVM shows 55PPF at 70' distance with a 70'wide FOV when zoomed in to 53 degrees. This can be further tighened to 39 degrees for 77PPF with a 50' wide FOV at the same 70' distance. This Lorex is the only varifocal 4k camera I can find within my price range (trying to stay under $200/camera) but again I am very open to any rebranded 4k varifocal Dahua turret or bullet for this function.

3) Two Loryta IPC-T2431T-AS ($80 each): 4mp 1/3 "starlight" 3.6mm 1.6 ap turret cams with mic. ONVIF S/G. H.265; H.264; H.264B; MJPEG.
One for the front of the house overlooking the driveway and entryway, distance to the street is 30'. The other is for the rear of the house facing the backyard which extends 40' before a steep dropoff. These starlight cameras produce 50 PPF at 30' distance with a 54'w FOV. I will eventually add two additional cameras (one front, one back) after I see how the T23431T-AS performs in both applications.

4) Dahua NVR4208-8P-4KS2 4K 8 Channel PoE NVR ($259): H.265/H.264 decoding; Max 200Mbps Incoming Bandwidth
WD Purple 4TB hard drive also needed ($101)

I'll add more cameras in the future but for now this seems like it will meet my needs. The total cost for this setup is $836 without shipping, CAT6, additional mounting hardware, etc. Please let me know if you see any obvious flaws in my thinking or if you know of a better option for either of the varifocal cameras that will get the job done at 70' and 100'. Those two views are my priorities right now: the road leading to/from the dead end and the diagonal corner where I hope to catch plates. Thank you in advance for any feedback! I'm attaching a very rough overview map made with snippets from IPVM and Google maps. There's no satellite image for my property yet so took a snip of cameras arranged around another house in my neighborhood using the IPVM map and then "moved" it to my property. It's crude but very close to scale.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Stick to cameras with at least a 1/2.8 sensor. 1/3" just won't cut it at night unless you've got a lot of street lights around to help them. I'd also consider using a used PC and Blue Iris rather than an NVR. NVRs, compared to a PC running Blue Iris, are too limited in capabilities and a used i5 can be purchased for around the same price as an NVR. The best camera layout is to have two cameras on each side looking back at each other. You seem to have done good research for determining focal length requirements. It might be an idea to buy one camera and set up a test rig, buck ful of stones with a 2x4 to mount the camera, and check each proposed location before diving into the deep end just to be sure.

Look in the WiKi and read the CLiff Notes in there if you haven't done so already. There's also lots of information regarding sizing the system, finding a PC , sizing drives and securing the system.

 

[Sybertiger]

+1 for Blue Iris on a PC. Don't get locked into a manufacturer with NVR. Turns out that PAL vs NTSC is a non-issue for IP cams. I have both, no issues.

Start off with just one or two varifocal cams. Get 2mp varifocal Starlight 1/2.8 or 4mp varifocal Starlight+ 1/1.8 cam.

I note your cam placement is not setup to protect your property but to identify people off your property. Note all the gaps on your property.

 

[aristobrat]

PAL/NTSC isn't a problem with digital video like it was with analog video. Most newer Dahua firmware versions let you switch between PAL/NTSC in the firmware, older versions required loading different firmware to switch between the two. Either way, if it's Dahua equipment, I wouldn't spend any time trying to find one that initially ships with NTSC since it's so easy to switch if you want to. I'm in the US and I've had no issues running my cameras in PAL.

For LPR, keep in mind that at night you generally have to increase the shutter speed dramatically in order to reduce motion blur. Increasing the shutter speed darkens the overall scene because the sensor has less time to collect light, so cameras tweaked to see license plates at night generally can only see license plates (or other reflective things)... the scene will often be too dark to notice people if they walk by, the make/model of the car, etc.

If you haven't stumbled across it yet, there is a sub-forum on here dedicated to LPR. I know you're not looking to collect plates programmatically, but it should still have a lot of good info on camera models, angles, and stuff like that. The Z12 5231 bullet model (or the updated 5241 model) seem to be the most popular because the high zoom from the varifocal x12 lens gives a huge boost to PPF, even at distances of 100ft+. The FOV isn't wide at higher distances, though.

The new 3241 looks similar to the older 5231 but with better low-light image quality (0.002 lux vs 0.006 lux).

Review-OEM IPC-T3241-ZAS 2mp AI Lite series Varifocal

IPC-T3241-ZAS from EMPIRETECANDY 2MP WDR Turret Varifocal AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Purchase in the IPCT Store Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price...

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Regarding the 2413s, I don't know how much ambient light you have to work with, but these models rate at 0.008 lux for minimum illumination -- better than most consumer-level gear but not that great compared to the Starlight+ models that are becoming the most popular models here. The 5231 rates at 0.006 lux and used to be the best (in terms of low-light performance) until the new models that do 0.002 lux came out last summer. I wouldn't expect too much from the 2314s at night in low-light areas... images when nothing is moving will probably look good, but once something starts moving (i.e. a person prowling around at night), at 0.008 lux you're probably going to get enough motion blur that facial areas probably won't have the details you're looking for. I'd personally start by getting only one of these cameras and if motion at night is too blurry, look at the 5442 turrets (0.002 lux).
Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+

 

[bigredfish]

I would not mess with the Z5, cutting it too close imho. Move up to the 5241Z-12

 

[esoteric]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Looking into EliteDesk and Optiplex options for BI.

@sebastiantombs & @Sybertiger : I'm swapping out the front and rear IPC-T2431T-AS turrets (1/3", 0.008 lux) in exchange for IPC-T2231T-ZS turrets (1/2.8", 0.002 lux).

@aristobrat & @bigredfish : swapping the IPC-HFW5231E-Z5 (1/2.8", 2MP, 0.006 lux) for IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E (1/2.8", 2MP, 0.002 lux).

The Lorex LNB8973BW is the only 8MP varifocal in my price range so I'm sticking with it for the wide distance coverage with high PPF on the side of my house. IPVM lists the sensor as 1/2.5" and it will be aimed right below a streetlight so I think it will work at night, and daytime detail for that area is just as important to me. There was an incident this week where having a clear image of pedestrians during daylight hours might have been helpful for police.

@Sybertiger : You're exactly right, my priority at this point is more about observing suspicious activity heading in and out of the dead end and catching plates to identify repeaters. Eventually I'll add more cameras to cover more of my property. In the meantime having 4 visible cameras should have a deterrent effect. Bad guys can't tell that two of the cameras are zoomed in to a narrow FOV. They'll see what appears to be broad coverage.