I wasn't sure where to post this so I placed it in networking.
So I've been switched to evening shift and there have been a lot of weirdos walking through my yard at night. It kind creeps out my wife and she's had to call the police a few times. What's a nice security surveillance system for around $1,000? I have no clue where to start or what systems are best. I also heard they now have systems that run through cat5e? Not sure but one cord would be nice.
have a look at the ubiquity stuff ubnt.com; I realy can recommend their line of IP CCTV cams; either set up your own NVR or buy theirs; Each cam comes with a POE injector so you could potentially not use a PoE switch.
CCTV has a few pitfalls the first being the use of non-POE cameras requires either power (110v) close to the place where each camera is installed or running separate low voltage wires to each camera along with the data/video cable, if your only looking to cover a small amount of area then a stand alone system like the Amcrest listed above is a great choice, for bigger areas (more cameras/zones) you're really better off just building your own and using an old PC either running Windows or Linux and using a network switch with POE (makes life simpler), companies like TrendNet sell excellent IP-POE HD cameras and the windows based software to manage up to 32 cameras is free.
Just stay away from the wireless stuff and buy anything that is digital IP based and you'll be fine....if you buy a stand alone system just make sure it is expandable because once you have a CCTV system you will figure out that you want to expand it to cover more areas.
Not really there are still analog systems for sale but most newer systems have moved to digital HD network IP cameras just for the ease of installation (one cat5 cable carries power/audio/video and network connectivity) network IP cameras are more versatile offer better features and as long as the manufacturers adhere to the ONVIF standards any camera will work on many different systems with different monitoring software on different platforms. To me any system that uses live video for security/monitoring is a CCTV system regardless of the type of cameras/interface it uses....in reality a baby monitor that uses a camera and a WiFi connection is a CCTV system.
Nigh vision and you savviness will be your hardest hurdles to overcome.
If you are Technically savvy I would suggest taking a look into Hikvision IP cameras. They are 3MP cameras with decent night vision and very high quality for the price. Depending on the featuers you want they range from $80-250 each. They usually are purchased from Aliexpress but for slightly higher you can get them from amazon or other retailers.
If you want a crazy good budget minded camera I would suggest the camera Huisun Mini PTZ v2 this camera is about $150 each, its a Pan Tilt Zoom IP camera that is 1080P. very versatile camera that can cover a large range. Only downside is it doesnt autotrack objects. If you want to remote in and control the camera you can take a look around your property with ease. This will take a little setup and reading on but works really well and its great quality.
The best place to start is figuring out what you want out of the system. If you just want to see if someone is around your house then most IP cameras will give you that. If you want to be able to capture a face that can be identified you need great strategic planning. Start with the list of needs and wants, then create a site survey of where you would like to place the cameras. Then create a list of things you need to order.
For recording the video I would suggest one of the three following from easiest to hardest
Get a camera with a SD card slot. record all video to this SD card and the camera acts as its stand alone unit that you can remotely connect to.
get a NVR with a built in POE.
Setup a computer to install Blue Iris software on or use Hikvisions own NVR software that is free.
Option 1 is the easiest setup with minimal upkeep but has the least amount of options Option 2 requires a little more knowledge of setting up but offers more funtionality Option 3 is the most versatile and if using Blue Iris can really cut down false alarms
For a more comprehensive security system I would suggest having two of the three options for redundancy purposes.
The basics that I recommend to friends and families in your situation are:
Hikvision 3MP IP cameras 4 port POE switch Cat5e ethernet cables. NVR or Computer with Blue Iris or Hikvisions own free NVR software or SD card option.
All in all this is should only be taken as a starting point (tip of the iceberg) and should not be deemed a comprehensive list.
Please let me know if you need any help or if you want someone to bounce ideas off of I would certainly be able to help
That's a great find thanks for posting, I did a little research and it looks like it uses the Hikvision protocols so it should be fairly easy to set up in my Zoneminder system, I've been looking for a reasonable priced PTZ and that might just fit the bill...thanks.
No Problem! I have their version 1 and its a pretty amazing camera considering the price. The downside (an understandable one at this price point) is there is no auto tracking. I am using this camera to monitor two parts in my backyard. I have the camera pointed in one direction but I wanted the camera to move the the other direction when there was movement. What I did to combat this in my location was set up a Optex LX-402 PIR sensor in one location and have the camera pointed in the other position. When their is movement detected on the PIR sensor the camera turns around and records when there is no more movement it returns back to the parked position.
Yeah for my usage auto tracking isn't a requirement, I have fixed bullet cameras covering all the important areas set to motion detect, but I've been looking for a PTZ that I can change to different views to spy on the neighborhood....lol
I use a mix of Trendnet and Hikvision cameras, both dome and bullet, my monitoring software is a Linux program called Zoneminder that runs on a LAMP server and I use a Netgear managed 24 port POE switch to supply the POE power and connectivity to the server....works very well and allows lots of room for growth. I currently have 7 cameras up and running and have been acquiring more cameras over the winter to add this summer, once I had the major areas/zones covered I realized that there were other areas that I'd like covered so have been working towards that goal at my own pace, the software/hardware scales up nicely.
I run most of my cameras on motion detect which means they don't record events unless motion is detected, this saves room on the server (drive space) and keeps things tidy when trying to look back at a given area where something has happen. Because I'm using Zoneminder I have to be kind of careful which cameras I buy because while a lot of different brands will work with it some of the cheaper cameras do not work, unlike some of the other monitoring software that runs on Windows Zoneminder requires you to know the path the camera is broadcasting on which adds a little complexity to getting a camera setup, but it's not a big deal and is very flexible allowing almost all settings to be accomplished through it's web browser interface (I use firefox or chrome since I'm on linux).
I have a very similar set-up to yours trendnet cameras about 6 right now set up on modetect. But there is one thing that really worries me and that is cpu usage there all 1080p and as of right now the system runs about 80% cpu load constantly. I am going to need to add another 2 cameras pretty soon and I'm just trying to figure out the best way to manage the cpu load. Do you have any tips.
Huh......with the seven I have running my average CPU load never exceeds 10-12% of course this is running on a AMD 6300 with 16g of ram, the only time I've seen it go higher was when we had a rain/thunder storm and lighting strikes were triggering all the cameras at the same time. It might not make a difference but I set the motion detect in Zoneminder not in the camera itself, I have several cameras that have movement in part of the field of view (flag pole or trees, cars) and it was easier to define the target area in Zoneminder masking out the constant movement of a flag in the wind or cars going down a street then it would be to do it at the camera if you follow me.
I have no GPU, the server runs headless, after it was built I removed the GPU and installed the server in the rack where is has been for almost a year untouched (except for OS updates and upgrades, it's running Ubuntu server 14.x), if I need to access it I SSH into it from my Fedora daily driver, I will say also that Zoneminder isn't the only task the server is performing but it is the most demanding, and of course I'm quoting the usage from what Zoneminder is telling me in the web interface in the upper right hand corner which I believe is a average not real time usage but I could be mistaken about that.
You can get them from Aliexpress. I would suggest going through the Store:Shenzhen Huisun Technology Co., Ltd. If you message them you will most likely speak with Monica, She is nice and honest from my transactions.