Security Camera Thread
 

Starting a new thread to not clutter up the Harbor Freight thread anymore. Post your system or any questions you might have.

Just got started into this not too long ago. Bought a LaView systemthat included four cameras and an 8 channel POE NVR. Added a 4TB hard drive for storage, running continuous recording with motion triggers.

System is on an APC 1000VA UPS, which should be good for about 2 hours of power loss with current camera load. For extra network security (and because bored) I've taken my Raspberry Pi that is loaded with PiHole (network wide adblock) and added PiVPN to it which means to access the cameras remotely, VPN access is needed.

Also been experimenting with Hikvision cameras from AliExpress with great luck. Planning on adding two of these to the system as well as a smaller front door camera.

Current state of camera station below. Much needed wire routing happening soon.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...067eb97b21.jpg

I went with the complete wireless Arlo Pro. Really expensive, but totally worth it. I've got full control and access with my phone as well. Set-up and UI is simple and easy.

We take them down about once every 2 months to charge. Because they are attached with strong magnets, the process is easy.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...361bb8b6b5.png

Oh man. I have so much information to post i don't know where to start.
I recently installed a 30+ camera network system at work. It's beautiful. I will say, you get exactly what you pay for. I'm almost ready to change my home network to a POE system. The old BnC system is getting a bit outdated.

It's 2018 and this quality is not cutting it anymore.

Amcrest indoor cheap cameras mounted under the eves outside gives me full view around the house. Two of the cameras recording full time gives me a few days recall in the driveway and front door.

ETA: Phone app works well also.

REQ:

Cheap single wireless camera that can interop with OpenHAB. Night vision would be nice I guess.

Really just want something to light up the front yard, which is small.

Don't know anything about OpenHAB, but these are the cameras I use up under the eves in all weather. Rain and snow can't hit them, but the extremes of temp have not affected them.

Definitely interested in this thread, some worthless fucking low life robbed my girlfriend in a Walmart parking lot in broad daylight during her lunch. "Big girl" our 60lb pitbull has been on patrol since I got home yesterday.

She said it was a couple of teenage assholes wearing hoodies, but you never know. Big girl isn't a fan of people she doesn't know.

Thankfully my girl is OK, her hand is a little banged up from her hand getting caught in the door of the truck that drove off as she was going after them.

Wireless as in battery powered or powered via outlet but uses wifi? I'm guessing that OpenHAB supports the ONVIF standard so likely any camera that supports ONVIF would work. I don't have a lot of experience with wireless though. The reliability of hardwired is hard to beat.

By the way - for indoor use:

https://www.wyzecam.com/product/wyze-cam-v2/

- $20 per cam
- 2 way audio
- night vision
- 2 week free cloud storage
- wireless
- takes micro sd
- alerts
- recognition of special sounds for alerts (smoke, co2 alerts)
- USB powered

In general, I like NVRs better for features and flexibility of the system,but they are usually much more expensive than BNC based ones. In general, for personal use stuff from Costco, Frys, NewEgg, AliExpress, Amazon is good enough if you take your time selecting one with better sensors, support and other important factors.

Thanks. Reasonable. I'd probably have them in a covered area.

By Wireless I mean not having to run network cables. Power cables are OK.

I can even mount them inside glass in reasonable places too, but I'm not sure how the glass would affect the night vision capabilities (like emitters, etc)

I have two of them on WiFi and two cabled. The two cabled are quite a distance from the router. All require power.

I have a lower end Amcrest as well. They are cheap and functional, but the resolution is pretty terrible, not sure I'd be able to identify anyone if it ever came to that. I know the HikVision cameras are supposed to be good value for the money, but you still get what you pay for.

I've found that their IP3M-943 (outside bullet) are horrible on resolution and come nowhere near the IP2M-841(Cheap Indoor with all the bells and whistles). No problem identifying people and reading license plates in the driveway.

Playing around with some different cameras in one location for comparison, mainly for night vision. First is this cheap Hikvision 4MP dome camera. Second is the LaView LV-PB932F4 2MP camera that came with the surveillance system. Third is from this "Ultra Low Light" Hikvision 3MP turret camera.



https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3c607f5b04.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...76f8656c46.png
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b405fb7d79.jpg

How far is the camera from the gate(that needs some TLC)?

A little over 15 feet away. I think the LaView camera would be a lot better if the IR had as much spread as the turret does, but the turret would still outperform it.

Also the gate is on our to-do list once it stops snowing around here. Instead of fixing it, the PO just put a latch on the outside...

For everyone who uses these cheap chinese camera's, just make sure they are on an isolated network with zero internet access. Otherwise know that people in China will have access to your camera's.

That's good advice for all camera systems, not many if any at all cheapish consumer ones are made in the US.

Either don't connect it to Internet at all, make it's own isolated VLAN, or block the IPs from internet on your router and use a VPN to look at them remotely.

Unless youre pretty network savvy and are planning on building your own NVR, the best bang for the buck is the new "HD" analog equipment that goes over coax. These new analog systems (HD-TVI, HD-CVI, AHD, etc.) use more scan lines than the old NTSC stuff that we grew up with. The cameras and DVRs are inexpensive and the video quality is pretty damn decent, just as good as cheap IP cameras IMHO. Emphasis on the word "cheap" in the previous sentence. There are many IP cameras that are on a different level because of 1080p+ resolution but the cheap cameras are limited by cheap optics. They are also able to transmit the serial PTZ control over the coax as, so if you need PTZ control you can still have that without running extra wire.

OK, you lost me right after the part where you plug the wire into the camera on one end and the big black box on the other end.

I want to have it send me a notification if there's movement in certain areas outdoors so I can use their app to see what's going on with my phone. Trying to determine if it matters that Chinese people see me cut the grass. I will have no indoor cameras and have no intention of showing sensitive info to the outside cameras. What are the risks?

The real issue isnt someone actually looking at the video. Criminals that are breaking into houses are barely technical enough to use a crowbar, let alone hack your network. The real issue is security vulnerabilities that allow IP cameras to become part of botnets.

Thats what happened a few years back with Dahua. There was a know security vulnerability that they didnt bother to fix. They also happened to be selling a shit load of cameras at this time, everybody was rebranding their equipment. A malware called Mirai managed to take over many of these Dahua cameras along with a bunch of other IoT devices and then they were used for numerous DDOS attacks.

Fun Fact: The Mirai malware, which was named after the anime series Mirai Nikki, was created by some kid so he could DDOS minecraft servers.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg

I don't think it's really too big of a concern. The firmware version of your cameras are updated past the issue that Hikvision had a couple years ago, so there's no known issues right now. I've added the VPN and such to mine mainly just to learn, it's not overly hard but not necessary. Adding the email notification is a pretty simple process. The instructions in the manual are actually accurate for this.

Okay. I feel better. Why is you guys making me crazy fo nuttin?

like @Joker I went for the Arlo Pro. No complaints here. I have a couple of them that are in low traffic areas and only need charged every couple of months. The one that is on the road only lasts about ten days, but too be fair, it is tripping on a couple of hundred times a day. Probably time to get a permanent power wire.

Try the solar adapter

Thanks @joker, I'll look in to that. Sure would beat climbing on the house every other week.

Looking to complete an install over the next 30 days, and trying to select a system. Looking for recommendations on NVR and cameras.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ba460246ea.png
House to end of the driveway is approximately 1/3 mile. I've got electric at the barn and at the gate at the end of the driveway.

What I think I want to do:
NVR on a UPS at the house
- Hard-wired: House arc covers the swimming pool, primary parking areas, and home entrances - (requires pan/tilt/infrared)
- Hard-wired: Small cone on the front door - (fixed perspective/infrared)
- Hard wired: Long cone to cover the final driveway approach - (fixed perspective)
- Hard Wired: (Not shown) arc to cover the back of the house including entrance (180 degree pan/infrared)
- Network Wired: (Not shown) arc internal to garage (pan/infrared)

Point-to-point network from the house (top left of image) to the barn (top center of image) and run a meshed wi-fi router in the barn (because we're in the barn often and it's an effective Faraday cage) No good way to hard-wire the barn @ 350 feet without digging a trench and boring under some concrete
- Arc with optical zoom for 3rd person view of the house - (require pan/tilt, desire optical zoom)
- Cone for view of the driveway, towards the road, and past the 5-car detached garage - (desire good optical zoom)

Point-to-point network from the easternmost corner of the barn to the gate at the end of the driveway (Elevated LOS available), connected to 4-port POE outdoor switch.
- Large cone directed up driveway (good optical zoom)
- Short cone directed towards road (fixed perspective)
- I would like at least one of these two cameras to be able to identify a license plate at night between two brake lights
- I would like at least one of these two cameras to be able to recognize a driver passing it during daylight conditions (polarized lens?)
- A third camera at the gate may be an option

I know, easy peasy, right?

It would be nice to be able to view/control cameras remotely from a cell phone. I acknowledge the risks of a Chinese takeover of my property, though my overall concern is low.

Outdoor POE switch: 4x Point-to-point outdoor antennas: (perhaps a 2.4GHz for one pair and a 5GHz for the second pair)

Probably looking at an 8/16 channel NVR (8 powered, 16 total), though I believe 4 direct-powered would be acceptable. There are opportunities for additional cameras in the future (2-3 in barn). I'm most interested in a 4k system even though it will be viewed almost entirely on 1080 monitors. I'd prefer to keep the budget under $2K if possible.

Amcrest

All 5 are IP2M-841 units mounted out of the weather under the eves. 3 are hardwired, the one by the A/C is WiFi. The roof is 3600 miles away in Peru.

The control is a Beta of their Amcrest Surveillance Pro, since the PC_NVR on their current system download is screwed up.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...094f932cc2.png