Rural setup

[Noodle]

Hi All,

Just come across this great forum just in time before i pressed the button on a ....reolink...

I'm setting up a system for my house and holiday let barn that we let out, we are out in the sticks in the UK, no neighbours, very little crime, only one access road in front of the property, back onto 50+ acres of fields that yes technically someone could traipse through but very unlikely.

I would like some advice on placement of a limited system, thinking 4 to 6 cameras now, perhaps raising to 8 over time on the obvious week areas.

One key aspect is there is NO ambient light or street lighting so assume the Duhua starlight the ones to go for, plus also look at some PIR lights and possible IR flood light on the main drive as well?

We have a single PIR light above the garage at the moment.


Please see the attached jpegs and let me know thoughts. From other threads ive been looking at
EMPIRETECANDY store so guess my main questions are:

- Should i use the starlight turret for all cams, or other recommended?
- should i try to use a narrower FOV where possible to get better facial recognition?
- Do they do the starlight in 4 or 6mp yet?
- Assume the NVR on the aliexpress site is suitable and has all access/ android app access required?
- Is there any benefit to having a camera high in the 2nd floor eaves over the drive, or better to keep them low for faces etc? (ie front left of the main house over looking the drive)
- Is there any other cameras better suited to gather a large area? One day perhaps a PTZ on one of the chimneys getting general 360 degree view of the property...

Keen to keep costs under control but with the relink costing £400 then happy to spend extra for a proper system that actually works and much better quality!

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Phil

 

[looney2ns]

Please study this cliff notes.

 

[bigredfish]

Some answers, just my opinion..worth what you paid for it

I know most here will advise to use all 5231 turrets, but for longer shots I prefer the bullets. Its hard to quantify but I believe you get a better depth of field with varifocal bullets.... and for more zoom than standard varifocal turrets provide, you have to go the bullets anyway...yes Dahua Starlights are the way to go

There are 4MP and larger MP Starlights in the pipeline supposedly, but currently the 2MP 52xx series rules.

- Is there any benefit to having a camera high in the 2nd floor eaves over the drive, or better to keep them low for faces etc? (ie front left of the main house over looking the drive)
BOTH
Use zoomed in cameras with narrow FOV for choke points where you can reliably get good ID yes. This doesnt discount the need for overview cameras as well though.

Yes unless you want to go the BI route and set up a dedicated PC for recording/management, the Dahua NVR's work well. Just dont skimp here. Go big or go home lest you be disappointed. Look at the higher end NVR models, pay attention to the total incoming bandwidth capabilities

PTZ's are like a whole 'nother language and I can't help ya there...

 

[Noodle]

Thanks both. Have already speed read the cliff notes so will look into further details over next few days.

Thanks big red, any suggestion for the dahua nvr then? I don't see going past 8 channel really but perhaps a 16 one future proofs!

Cheers.

 

[bigredfish]

I think most would steer you to one of these:
https://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/allProducts/100/465?tab=472

 

[crw030]

If you are just looking for an overview (a kind of "whats going on" without needing to ID people), I wonder if you could get by placing all but the barn entrance camera on that set of buildings in the middle? Unless you already have conduit/network running between buildings, you will probably want wireless links to minimize wire/routing cost.

Also PTZ feedback, PTX aren't terribly useful unless you are planning to monitor them continuously (or if you need one you can take control of and point anywhere on the property in the event you get an alert that warrants some realtime investigation). Either way the PTZ will likely need to be a higher zoom type, so pretty costly for your limited budget. The starlight varifocal is nice, but you might want to start with just one and figure out if some fixed lens models will handle your overview requirements (see threads on test rigs etc) because they are a little cheaper without the varifocal option.

I've never used an NVR, but I can attest Blue Iris is a great bargain, especially since it is on sale right now ($50), but it does require a computer. The challenge will be staying close to the $500 USD budget, you can definitely get 4 good starlights from Andy for that price (probably have to give up varifocal), or computer and Blue Iris ($250 - $450), or cabling or wireless network setup -- but you need ALL of them. If you already have a computer with Intel integrated graphics that's at least 2000-series you can repurpose by adding an SSD and WD Purple drive that could work. The good news is if you stick to the 4-8 max cameras, a computer capable of handling those won't run you much at all. With a space that large I could see you having 20 cameras, but it sounds like there isn't a significant need as much as a general interest in keeping an eye on the place.

 

[Noodle]

Thanks crw, been travelling so slow reply! Yep you got it more of keeping an eye on the place but them of you're going to spend x amount you might as well make sure it's does the right job if ever required!

Yeah we have cat 6 to the barn already so positioning camera not a problem. Thanks for you're suggestions, will look into it all.

 

[Defcon]

Any farm I have been asked to kit out here in the UK, the farmer ends up going for more than 8 cams when they see how good they are. They end up having cams fitted in cattle sheds to monitor cattle. A 16-CH NVR becomes popular.

 

[Noodle]

One last question!

I had been intending to purchase nvr: NVR5216-4KS2 V2
however this is approx $280 and opting for the starlight 4no. 5231r ZE has blown the starting budget! in all likelihood i'm not going to go past 8 cams anytime soon. If I do it will be in a year or 2 and ill happily buy a new nvr then.

with that in mind I've also looked at:

NVR4108-4KS2 8 Channel $112
- US $112.99 |Aliexpress.com : Buy NVR4108 4KS2 8 Channel Smart 1U 4K&H.265 Network Video Recorder without Logo NVR4108 4KS2 free shipping from Reliable recorder video suppliers on Empire Technology Co., Ltd

and

NVR4108HS-8P-4KS2 8 Channel $190
- US $190.99 |Aliexpress.com : Buy NVR4108HS 8P 4KS2 8 Channel Compact 1U 8PoE 4K&H.265 Lite NVR without Logo NVR4108HS 8P 4KS2 free DHL shipping from Reliable nvr 265 suppliers on Empire Technology Co., Ltd

Now i know people will obviously say go for the 5216 as its better etc, more bandwidth but from what i can tell 4 to 8 2mp starlight cams at 20 to 30fps wont exceed the 80mbs limit on the cheaper NVRs and to be honest i dont need an all singing and dancing NVR, I just want to be able to set them up, record and access from android. I notice the 5216 doesn't have android support but the cheaper 4108HS does? but i can use the dahua app anyway to access the cams remotely?

Are there any things im missing on opting for a cheaper NVR?

Many thanks!

 

[SouthernYankee]

The 8P nvr has the POE ports. you will need to purchase a POE switch with the other 2 NVRs.

If all you are running is 8 2mp cameras I do not see a problem.

 

[Noodle]

many thanks, a last question. ive made the assumptio, hopefully im right!:

The nvr will be in the main house, this connects to a tplink switch(not poe), a cat 6 run from this house switch to the barns(70m), in the barn i have another switch/hub. This switch in the barn is the one to have poe to power the cams? Im assuming the is poe only needed to power the cam and not to send signal back to main house switch/ nvr?

thanks

 

[Defcon]

The Poe switch powers the cameras. This is a similar setup I use on numerous barns but quite often use fibre between the house and barn or wireless.

Remember, if the barn is on a separate electric supply, you can’t use cat6 between house and barn due to earthing.