Thank you very much sir!

Your link takes me to the BI forum which I am familiar with.  I've searched this form. It has good info but can't find the step by step BI instructions I'm looking for.  I know I've seen this tutorial somewhere.

Call them. I ordered from them and got  what I wanted. It it said sold out on the site.  I also got it cheaper than what was on the website.

ok here are where I'm looking to install cameras
1- this will be mounted on the 2nd story eve looking down at a gate and pool equipment
2 - this one will point towards the house at the porch to pickup the back doors
3 - this one will point towards the pool to cover the pool and gate next to the garage.
4 - this one will point towards the my fence line to cover the drive way and alley.  I'm primarily concerned with the driveway and picking up any vehicles parked in it.
5 - This one will point towareds the front of the house to cover the side of the house.
6 - this one will be installed on the 2nd story eves and point towards the street the and the sidewalk coming up to the house
7 - The front door it's going to be difficult to get wiring in at this location.  I have no basement and because of the interior layout I've got to come all the way down from the attic.  See where that window is above the front door inside there is a decorative landing there with a wall that goes all the way to the attic.  I'm pretty sure I can get into the attic and down to that landing but getting into the space above the door is the real question.  I'm hoping there is not a header at that landing but I'm never that lucky.  I know there is some gap there because there a flood light over the door on the porch.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Also should the camera be mounted to the front of hte porch or at the back of the porch pointing down.  I want to be able to see faces of whoever is standing at the front door.

All of this will be on POE run to a switch in an upstairs closet where I plan to repurpose a home built DVR/HTPC on windows 7 to do all of my recording.  

So fire away and pick it apart.  Let me know if
- I should add more cameras
- move a camera
- suggestions on focal length.  I plan to use a 2.8 on cameras 3 and 6 and 4 on the others.    The backyard at it's widest is 50 ft'.  From the curve to the front door it's 42 feet.  
- I've got a foscam on my desk I've played with and I'm cofortable with it, so I'm probably going to run with 3MP POE cameras but I'm not married to them if anyone thinks a different camera would be better I'm open to that.  

Here's an interesting one for you all.  Ignore the mess, I still have a lot of work to do outside and we got 5" of snow yesterday.  

This is my Hikvision DS-2CD2132F, and the light from my neighbor's yard light shows up green at twilight when still in color mode.  It does it morning or evening but it's more pronounced in the evening, and you only notice it when there is a reflective surface like wet concrete.  Their yard light is ancient and the photo cell is stuck on.  It has been running 24-7 since before they bought the house in January 2009, and is located almost above the garbage and recycle bins in the distance.  My Axis P3346-VE does not see this green at all.

A random picture just before sunset tonight.



As the sun sets and the main available light becomes the yard light, the green gradually appears and gets stronger until it looks like this just before the camera switches to B&W IR mode.



And as soon as it switches to B&W IR mode things are back to normal.

Maybe I missed this when I was scrolling through the pages, but has anyone built a long range, mobile spotting camera using all this info?

I'm trying to build my own targetvision or bullseye camera system. Basically I'd have a remote camera that i could use to see my hits on a target and that I could live stream to a laptop. Based on the projects you guys have done here, I think I can put it all together but I'm not sure if I need quite as high a quality camera as.most use. Just wanted to see if I had overlooked someone doing that already.

Shit a wireless foscam would probably work.

That's what I was thinking and for $60 off of amazon you won't cry when a ricochet nukes it.  

http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1448661730&sr=8-7&keywords=foscam+wireless+ip+camera

Just need a wifi router for it and your device to be on at the same time.

I never tested the range on the phone wifi ap.

Any idea of the range, if I have clear LOS? This seems deceptively easy; so easy a caveman can do it?

I started another thread to discuss this. It's here

Grey Man, I have my cameras and DVR. I can install the cameras physically onto the house no problem but I am confused by how to wire it.

What i want to do is just run the cameras to the dvr, from dvr to TV.


Must this system be routed through a computer?

I guess I need to buy a 16 port PoE switch?

Do i use Cat5 or Cat 6 cable?

None of this information is provided with the kit i bought

I am a complete noob at this, probably because the instructions that came with this suck...

Thank you,
Jim

Can you provide a link to the system you have?

The system I have uses PoE. Plug the cat6 cable into the nvr and the other end into the camera and everything works. No other cables or adapters needed.

Thank you, see that I edited my post as i learned some of the things I needed to learn.

Link to my System

Did the system come with cable?

Don't see a hard drive listed with the nvr.

May need to look at the manufacturer web site for instructions.

Double tap

Mine has a 2tb drive. Other than drive capacity, I don't have any recommendations.

TheGreyman should be able to provide better info on drive specifics.

Thanks, I will.

Do I need a PoE switch? Or just plug and play?

Thank you very much!

If this has already been posted my apologies.  But if you're willing to roll the dice on cameras direct from China here's some really good prices.  

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1111147

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1010031

More links at this youtube video

When good cameras go bad...

hence the roll dice warning.....I would only use these for easy to reach places on my house.  as long as you don't upgrade firmware you should be ok.  

TBH- some of the amazon prices are only marginally higher depending on camera focal length and you've got amazons warranty to back you up

Forgive me if this has been answered, I have been trying to follow this thread but its massive....and great!!

What have we determined to be the "best bang for the buck" network dome camera? I am looking for a dome cam with superior night time performance, that wont break the bank. I currently have analog cams that leave a lot to be desired; by comparison, they are down right awful!

The hikvision domes seem to the be the best bang for the buck these days.

I use these Hikvision DS-2CD3132 domes.

Also if you are after night performance consider additional IR illumination. They will go a LONG way towards improving your image at night.

For you users of the higher end domes that have the backup internal SDHC slot.

Has anyone seen degradation from the perpetual overwrites, and if so - how often should the owner replace the SDcard as "preventative maintenance".

Thank you.

When I do a ebay search I find a few listings for $85-$99 bucks (Hikvision-DS-2CD3132)......are these likely the knock off cams? Should the price point for the real cam be closer to $130?

i get mine from B&H photo

Anyone know of a network DVR that will automatically upload footage to a remote server?

Looking to backup the DVR remotely, currently use the motion activated feature of my DVR to auto email images when motion is detected. This is a nice feature, but video would be better.

Thanks.

What are the go to apps for monitoring video feeds on an iPhone?   I have a note 4 and use "Tiny cam monitor pro" which is outstanding.  My wife has an iPhone and the app store doesn't seem to support tinycam.  What's the iPhone equivalent or better app? I don't want some ghetto "baby monitor"  app.  I want to get her a real network camera app.

All I wanted for Christmas was a linux (or *nx) based NVR that's not ZoneMinder.

TGM, thanks for making this thread and keeping it updated. 6 years!

What do you think about this? It seems to have everything you like (HD, IP).

http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-HD-IP-NVR-with-2TB-HDD%2c-2-1080p-Cameras-with-130'-Night-Vision-and-2-1080p-Pan-Tilt-Cameras-.product.100226688.html

I'm very comfortable building my own computers, and running my own wires. I definitely want POE for ease of installation (only running one wire). Will I save any money building my own camera system, including the DVR? It seems that with an $800-1000 price point, I won't save much after building a nice computer, putting in storage, and buying the cameras.

Great thread!

Is there any way to tell if this camera is knock off or legit?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA50K3PZ2909&cm_re=Hikvision-DS-2CD3132-_-2P0-0016-00029-_-Product

Also any recommendations on an inexpensive POE switch?

I'm looking to start switching over my SuperCircuits Ananlog system to IP/Megapixel

Both of the Asia First cameras I bought from Newegg (two different third party sellers) are chinese market cameras loaded with hacked US firmware.  They work great, but don't try to upgrade the firmware - they'll brick, although you can recover them.  There have been some hardware revisions and not all firmware is compatible.

What do you think about the EYEsurv stuff from Nellys?
Tom

I didn't see any Hikvision nvr's at Nellys.  I'm quite lost and was going to call them tomorrow.