Which camera to choose?

H

Hundefutter

n3wb
Jun 21, 2022
10
9
Europe
Hi!
I'm looking for the best way to monitor my house.

My plans are:
1x 360° PTZ Poe Cam (?) (mounted in 20 feet height, to monitor a 60 feet long/15 feet wide parking place. House entrance on one side and garage on the other side of the parking place - see painted picture below)
example.png
2x Bullet/Turret Poe Cam (mounted in 10 feet height to monitor a 20 feet long/10 feet wide balcony)
1x Bullet/Turret Poe Cam to monitor the stairway (mounted in 6,5 feet height, stairway is 13 feet long and 10 feet wide)
The height of the camera is not really changeable (because of aesthetics ^^)

  • The cameras should have a good price-performance ratio. I don't need high-end stuff, but Image quality should be good enough to identify a person/vehicle/license plate on day/nighttime.
  • The cameras itself don't get internet access from me (blocked via router) and should only be reachable in my home network and outside only via VPN access. (the cam's shouldn't be allowed to "call home" to the manufacturer in any way)
  • I also want to connect the whole system to home assistant and have fully access/live view of the cameras. When motion is detected, the camera/home assistant should make a notification on my smartphone. I don't want to be forced to use the manufacturer's app of the camera...
  • Person detection is a must have / vehicle detection would be a very nice feature.
  • The brand should be buyable in Europe without problems (Hikvision, Dahua,... aren't available here?)

  • standalone NVR: stored in the attic (summer max. 100° Fahrenheit, winter max. 23° Fahrenheit).
  • Synology surveillance station (NAS is here, so there would be no extra buy)
  • Blue Iris PC build (used Dell optiplex or similar - need to buy that first)


My questions are:
Which cameras would cover my demand? (no "home calling", access via VPN, home assistant, smartphone notification, person/vehicle detection)
Which recording system should I choose and why?
Which recording system has the lowest power consumption?
Which camera/brand works best with home assistant?

It looks like Reolink cameras have problems with HomeAssistant, so it looks like they are no option in my case...
github.com

RLC-812A / RLC-811 A wont steam · Issue #514 · fwestenberg/reolink_dev

Hello, I have bought three new cameras and all integrated fine however when I click to view the steam on the 812a and 881a the steam will no load and only show a grey screen. However, for the cheap...
github.com github.com

What do you think about guys think about the "Annke NC800"? Would that be a possible candidate for me?


Thank you all for your help!

PS: Sorry for my bad english, it isn't my native language ;-)
 
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Hundefutter said:
Hi!
I'm looking for the best way to monitor my house.

My plans are:
1x 360° PTZ Poe Cam (?) (mounted in 20 feet height, to monitor a 60 feet long/15 feet wide parking place. House entrance on one side and garage on the other side of the parking place - see painted picture below)
View attachment 131367
2x Bullet/Turret Poe Cam (mounted in 10 feet height to monitor a 20 feet long/10 feet wide balcony)
1x Bullet/Turret Poe Cam to monitor the stairway (mounted in 6,5 feet height, stairway is 13 feet long and 10 feet wide)
The height of the camera is not really changeable (because of aesthetics ^^)

  • The cameras should have a good price-performance ratio. I don't need high-end stuff, but Image quality should be good enough to identify a person/vehicle/license plate on day/nighttime.
  • The cameras itself don't get internet access from me (blocked via router) and should only be reachable in my home network and outside only via VPN access. (the cam's shouldn't be allowed to "call home" to the manufacturer in any way)
  • I also want to connect the whole system to home assistant and have fully access/live view of the cameras. When motion is detected, the camera/home assistant should make a notification on my smartphone. I don't want to be forced to use the manufacturer's app of the camera...
  • Person detection is a must have / vehicle detection would be a very nice feature.
  • The brand should be buyable in Europe without problems (Hikvision, Dahua,... aren't available here?)

  • standalone NVR: stored in the attic (summer max. 100° Fahrenheit, winter max. 23° Fahrenheit).
  • Synology surveillance station (NAS is here, so there would be no extra buy)
  • Blue Iris PC build (used Dell optiplex or similar - need to buy that first)


My questions are:
Which cameras would cover my demand? (no "home calling", access via VPN, home assistant, smartphone notification, person/vehicle detection)
Which recording system should I choose and why?
Which recording system has the lowest power consumption?
Which camera/brand works best with home assistant?

It looks like Reolink cameras have problems with HomeAssistant, so it looks like they are no option in my case...
github.com

RLC-812A / RLC-811 A wont steam · Issue #514 · fwestenberg/reolink_dev

Hello, I have bought three new cameras and all integrated fine however when I click to view the steam on the 812a and 881a the steam will no load and only show a grey screen. However, for the cheap...
github.com github.com

What do you think about guys think about the "Annke NC800"? Would that be a possible candidate for me?


Thank you all for your help!

PS: Sorry for my bad english, it isn't my native language ;-)
Click to expand...

Welcome @Hundefutter

1) The positions are too high for most useful functionality of potentially Identifying anyone ... you need to drop to about 2 meters high ..

2) Reolink is a very poor brand for a choice ..

I recommend you take more time to determine your setup and cameras.
 
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Thank you for the quick answer! :)
If I'm changing the height of the camera to (mainly) overlook the entrance, I would have a very long networkcable go all the way up under the roof - into the attic. (my better half would not approve that :smash:)

Because of that, I thought to place one or two cameras directly under the roof?
 
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Hundefutter said:
Thank you for the quick answer! :)
If I'm changing the height of the camera to (mainly) overlook the entrance, I would have a very long networkcable go all the way up under the roof - into the attic. (my better half would not approve that :smash:)

Because of that, I thought to place one or two cameras directly under the roof?
Click to expand...

Hi @Hundefutter

"better halves" often need to be shown the difference ..

Suggest getting one Good 4MP varifocal IP PoE camera with a larger sensor ( 1/1.8" for example ) .. many member get a nice Dahua OEM model from a member called EmpireTecAndy here .. he ships to EU also ..

Pick up a good cat5e/6 cable with copper wire ( in USA 23 or 24 AWG ) and a small IP PoE switch and start playing with it.

Have someone act as a prowler with a hoodie and cap .. and ask your better 1/2 if she can recognize the person .. often they can not .. so you get OK to mount lower.

I would consider running conduit down from the roof to about 2M high and put in a junction box .. yes, not pretty, but gets you what you want.

Other options depend on the construction of the home ..


Do search the forum for more info before you buy more than 1 camera ..

example of a Reolink thread ..

Reolink: Deconstruction of a dangerous misleading youtube review "Finding the BEST 4K Security Camera NVR Package (Reolink vs Amcrest vs Swann)"

Executive Summary: DO NOT be a sheep. Ask what a reviewer can be missing, ask if a reviewer is using hype words to sell the cheapest product. Test your cameras and kits right away. Just do a bench test. Test real world conditions. Test moving suspects. Test at night, test at day. Use a test rig...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
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Think of a triangle with the hypotenuse being the camera view. The higher it is, the steeper the angle at any give distance from the camera. In close, where identification can happen the angle will be too steep t show anything other than the tops of heads.
 
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I started off with my outdoor cameras way up high... above the 2nd floor underneath the roof eave.
Security event happened. Looked at my camera footage. Can you guess what I saw on the recordings? I think it was either BigFoot or Elvis.
I have since lowered ALL my cameras. I even have 1/2 of them at the 6' height to catch directly at a face. Others are 9' up.
 
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I too started with cameras under the eve as my boss (wife) would not allow then lower.
Once she started watching the monitor, she would say I can't see who that is.
within 6 months I got the OK to add cameras down lower, and to leave the upper ones
as more of an overview to show whats going on with a quick glance.
 
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So you probably have to divorce your Wife, and lower the camera's :)
ok, but seriously, You can certainly do it that way, and learn for yourself why the guys are recommending lower.
then later, you can add more cams. We can tell you which ones to buy for Round 2.
Once you find the weakness in a system you can fix it with MORE CAMS :)
 
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I started with four 2.8mm cameras and I was like "I can place one on each corner of the house and see my whole property and the whole neighborhood." A newbie loves the wide angle "I can see the whole neighborhood" of the 2.8mm fixed wide angle lens. I LOVED IT WHEN I PUT IT UP. I could see everything that would be blocked looking out the windows.

It is easy to get lured in to thinking the wide angle "see the whole neighborhood" because you are watching it and you see a neighbor go by and you are like "Look at that I can tell that is Heather out walking." and "Yeah I can tell our neighbor 4 down just passed by". Or you watch back the video of you walking around and are like "yeah I can tell that is me".

Little do we realize how much WE can identify a known person just by hair style, clothing, walking pace, gait, etc.

Then one day the door checker comes by. Total stranger. Totally useless video other than what time the door checking happened. I was so furious my system let me down.

Then you realize that this wide-angle see the whole neighborhood comes at a cost and that cost is not being able to IDENTIFY who did it. These 2.8mm wide angle cameras are great overview cameras or to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet of the camera if the camera is installed less than 9 feet hight. At 40 feet out or a higher install you need a different camera.

And like most, I stuck these wide angle cameras on the 2nd story to be able to see even more, which then means any IDENTIFY distance is lost vertically. Someone needs to be within 10-13 feet to identify someone with a 2.8mm lens. A camera placed 16-20 feet up means the entire IDENTIFY distance is lost in the vertical direction. They could be one foot away horizontally, but at 20 feet high, you will only get a good shot at the top of the head...

So then we start adding more cameras and varifocal cameras so that we can optically zoom in to pinch points and other areas of interest to get the clean IDENTIFY captures of someone. While the varifocals are great at helping to identify at a distance, they come at a cost of a reduced field of view, just like the wide-angles are great at seeing a wide area, but they come at the expense of IDENTIFY at distance.
 
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Wow, thank you all for your kind help! :)

I now understand that the camera above the entrance/garage definitive need to be lower mounted.

But what about the other 3 cameras? Would they work as they should be?

"2x Bullet/Turret Poe Cam (mounted in 10 feet height to monitor a 20 feet long/10 feet wide balcony) (2 balconys - so 1 cam for each)
1x Bullet/Turret Poe Cam to monitor the stairway (mounted in 6,5 feet height, stairway is 13 feet long and 10 feet wide)"

I don't have any ambient light at night, so
nightvision with good IR or LED lights (when motion is detected) would be necessary.

Reolink seems like cra*. Good thing that I asked before bought something wrong...:winktongue:

What about the Annke cameras? Would they work good with Homeassistant?

And which DVR system would you choose in my case? NAS or BlueIris build would also be my HomeAssistant server, a " two-in-one" solution.
 
Hundefutter said:
Wow, thank you all for your kind help! :)

I now understand that the camera above the entrance/garage definitive need to be lower mounted.

But what about the other 3 cameras? Would they work as they should be?

"2x Bullet/Turret Poe Cam (mounted in 10 feet height to monitor a 20 feet long/10 feet wide balcony) (2 balconys - so 1 cam for each)
1x Bullet/Turret Poe Cam to monitor the stairway (mounted in 6,5 feet height, stairway is 13 feet long and 10 feet wide)"

I don't have any ambient light at night, so
nightvision with good IR or LED lights (when motion is detected) would be necessary.

Reolink seems like cra*. Good thing that I asked before bought something wrong...:winktongue:

What about the Annke cameras? Would they work good with Homeassistant?

And which DVR system would you choose in my case? NAS or BlueIris build would also be my HomeAssistant server, a " two-in-one" solution.
Click to expand...

FYI - NVR .. you want an NVR with IP PoE cameras .. ( DVR for coax analog cameras .. )

Annke .. in general Hikvision OEM cameras .. some models better than others .. again, check the sensor size ..
 
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If you want to use the features of the camera, you usually need to buy the NVR of the same manufacture.
BlueIris will access the features directly from the camera, so if you are using it only with BlueIris, you are good.
 
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Hundefutter said:
What about this one:

Should be good enough for the balcony/indoor?
Only downside is the "low" 20fps...
Click to expand...


Hi @Hundefutter

Looks like a Hikvision OEM camera imho.

I do like the specs .. 1/1.2" sensor and 8MP .. nice .. ( Hikvision and Dahua are the top 2 OEMs for IP POE cameras .. in general they have a lot of good options to consider )





Camera
Image Sensor
1/1.2" Progressive Scan CMOS

50 Hz: 20 fps (3840 X 2160, 3072 X 1728)



1656010056069.png
1656010084902.png

1656010129807.png
 

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mat200 said:
Hi @Hundefutter

Looks like a Hikvision OEM camera imho.

I do like the specs .. 1/1.2" sensor and 8MP .. nice .. ( Hikvision and Dahua are the top 2 OEMs for IP POE cameras .. in general they have a lot of good options to consider )





Camera
Image Sensor
1/1.2" Progressive Scan CMOS

50 Hz: 20 fps (3840 X 2160, 3072 X 1728)



View attachment 131564
View attachment 131565

View attachment 131566
Click to expand...
Thank you! So Annke is definitive a Brand i will consider to buy...
What do you think of the NC400 in comparison to the NC800? Maybe the 400 series is good enough for the stairway/balcony and above entrance/garage an 800 series?
 
Hundefutter said:
Thank you! So Annke is definitive a Brand i will consider to buy...
What do you think of the NC400 in comparison to the NC800? Maybe the 400 series is good enough for the stairway/balcony and above entrance/garage an 800 series?
Click to expand...

I've mostly purchased Dahua OEM cameras .. as we have a good vendor here .. so I have little experience with much of the Hikvision models .. just know the 1/1.2" sensor on those Hikvision cameras have a good reputation from what I have read here.
 
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