Recently moved to a new neighborhood and we are seeing some auto break-ins and theft of packages. Thankfully they haven't hit us yet but I want to go ahead and be proactive in setting up an outdoor surveillance system as a deterrent and potentially capturing them if they do come after us. I enjoy DIY (and saving money) so I've decided to take on this project myself. I'm hoping the experts here will be willing to share advice with me and provide recommendations. My wife is trying to sway me to purchase a generic (aka Swann or Laview) off-the-shelf system but I'm guessing those are likely sub-par and not decent quality. I've done a lot of browsing of this site but am a bit overwhelmed by all of the options in cameras (styles, lenses, etc), software, and recording hardware. I know basic networking and am leaning toward POE and likely powered cameras for simplicity sake at 2-3Mp each.
Here is what I have for a potential recording solution - thoughts if any of these options would suffice? Have a Windows Home Server that I built in 2009. It's pretty low on horsepower (dual core AMD) but it does have 5-6 TB of storage total and could serve as a dedicated security server. I may end up moving the hard drives over to my primary PC which has an i5 chip running Win7. Would that run Blue Iris or other monitoring software and still allow me to surf and/or play games or is the overhead too much running 4 (or potentially more) cameras, even just recording and not actively monitoring? I could also dedicate a Dell laptop running a Core2Duo chip that could serve as dedicated PC running monitoring software. It is slightly more powerful than the home server but is a circa 2010 laptop so not the best.
My home has a front entrance set back a bit on the left side of the garage (as you face the house). Also have only 1 entrance at the back on my covered patio with outdoor kitchen. Backyard is not deep at all but pretty wide. My biggest focus (forget the pun) is front door and driveway as I park my car there (wife parks in garage), but would also like to catch all the way to the other side of the street to the wood fence which is approximately 60-70 feet from front of my home. From garage to curb is only 25-30 feet and road is typical width for a neighborhood. The sides of the home are less of a focus for me now so the entire front and at least back door are my primary concerns. I can always add cameras later on to cover the whole exterior (and maybe prime interior locations) but for now I want to keep costs lower if possible. Can I expect to be able to capture license plates at 40-50' with a $75-$150 IP camera in daytime and/or nighttime?
Can someone please provide some guidance and recommendations of cameras with appropriate lenses for each location? I'm assuming I want a camera that has a pretty narrow view for the front door for monitoring for package theft and visitors, but one that can sufficiently resolve their face. Would you install 1 or 2 additional cameras (besides front door) camera to cover the front of the home? Bullet, dome? Either is fine for aesthetics for me. Crossing pattern to try and better capture license plates or just forward facing cams? Would you skip a dedicated front door camera and only rely on the other camera(s) to monitor the front perimeter. A thief after all would still have to cross one of those cameras to get to the front door. Back door - wide angle to monitor a good portion of backyard or would you focus mainly on the door?
Recommendation for recording solution? One of the above options or would you go with a dedicated NVR (probably 8 port for expansion purposes)? Also where would you typically install this device? Is a garage acceptable, even in Texas where it gets pretty damn hot?
Sorry for the novel but any design help and recommendations would be great. Budget would be likely around $75-$150 at the most for each camera. I know I will also need good quality Cat6 cable for my attic runs, one or two POE switches, and whatever I/you decide for the recording hardware and software.
Here is what I have for a potential recording solution - thoughts if any of these options would suffice? Have a Windows Home Server that I built in 2009. It's pretty low on horsepower (dual core AMD) but it does have 5-6 TB of storage total and could serve as a dedicated security server. I may end up moving the hard drives over to my primary PC which has an i5 chip running Win7. Would that run Blue Iris or other monitoring software and still allow me to surf and/or play games or is the overhead too much running 4 (or potentially more) cameras, even just recording and not actively monitoring? I could also dedicate a Dell laptop running a Core2Duo chip that could serve as dedicated PC running monitoring software. It is slightly more powerful than the home server but is a circa 2010 laptop so not the best.
My home has a front entrance set back a bit on the left side of the garage (as you face the house). Also have only 1 entrance at the back on my covered patio with outdoor kitchen. Backyard is not deep at all but pretty wide. My biggest focus (forget the pun) is front door and driveway as I park my car there (wife parks in garage), but would also like to catch all the way to the other side of the street to the wood fence which is approximately 60-70 feet from front of my home. From garage to curb is only 25-30 feet and road is typical width for a neighborhood. The sides of the home are less of a focus for me now so the entire front and at least back door are my primary concerns. I can always add cameras later on to cover the whole exterior (and maybe prime interior locations) but for now I want to keep costs lower if possible. Can I expect to be able to capture license plates at 40-50' with a $75-$150 IP camera in daytime and/or nighttime?
Can someone please provide some guidance and recommendations of cameras with appropriate lenses for each location? I'm assuming I want a camera that has a pretty narrow view for the front door for monitoring for package theft and visitors, but one that can sufficiently resolve their face. Would you install 1 or 2 additional cameras (besides front door) camera to cover the front of the home? Bullet, dome? Either is fine for aesthetics for me. Crossing pattern to try and better capture license plates or just forward facing cams? Would you skip a dedicated front door camera and only rely on the other camera(s) to monitor the front perimeter. A thief after all would still have to cross one of those cameras to get to the front door. Back door - wide angle to monitor a good portion of backyard or would you focus mainly on the door?
Recommendation for recording solution? One of the above options or would you go with a dedicated NVR (probably 8 port for expansion purposes)? Also where would you typically install this device? Is a garage acceptable, even in Texas where it gets pretty damn hot?
Sorry for the novel but any design help and recommendations would be great. Budget would be likely around $75-$150 at the most for each camera. I know I will also need good quality Cat6 cable for my attic runs, one or two POE switches, and whatever I/you decide for the recording hardware and software.