The Annual CCTV at home thread.

[s1962a]

wjwren said:

What does the ubquiti record on to? I have one of their WiFi discs and it's pretty decent.

You do need to buy some of their other kit, and those have record functions

For example I have this, which is a router/firewall/switch in one, but also records (8tb hard drive)

https://eu.store.ui.com/products/udm-pro

You can also do the same thing (record) with this

https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-protect/...

And if you have a POE switch you can power all cameras from there.

The software is pretty decent too.

Did i mention it's an expensive setup?

[Spare tyre]

I was a hikvision from China man, then I got a £40 reolink direct from eBay. Works well to my nvr

I’d go with someone with a U.K. base or Amazon prime

[Royce44]

Whatever you do, I'd strongly suggest you go for a colour at night model of camera, something like hikvision colourvu, or concept pro coloursmart etc.

You'll get a full colour picture 24/7. It's crazy how good they are compared to an equivalent B+E image.

Regarding MP, I think its got to a bit of willy waving now with manufacturers, above 5mp, for domestic is overkill tbh. (although I am using 8mp on my house lol)

Regarding remote access, get a hardwired connection from your router to the nvr, even using power line adapters will restrict the data speed.

Another tip, you can get very good analogue versions of the above cameras, which are cheaper and would save swapping cables out for an IP system.

[Cheib]

With the Reolink WiFi cameras is the four to six month battery life what I could really expect ?

[Shnozz]

Cheib said:

With the Reolink WiFi cameras is the four to six month battery life what I could really expect ?

The blinks seem to be better for retaining battery but really it is dependent on how often an alert is triggered. If the camera is sat idly for the majority of the time, no reason why not. If its registering alerts and recording umpteen times a day, possibly not.

I ran one of my reolinks in the garage on battery only and reckon I was getting a good 10 weeks out of it. I have since hardwired it and the other 3 I run with the reolink solar panels.

[Cheib]

Shnozz said:

Cheib said:

With the Reolink WiFi cameras is the four to six month battery life what I could really expect ?

The blinks seem to be better for retaining battery but really it is dependent on how often an alert is triggered. If the camera is sat idly for the majority of the time, no reason why not. If its registering alerts and recording umpteen times a day, possibly not.

I ran one of my reolinks in the garage on battery only and reckon I was getting a good 10 weeks out of it. I have since hardwired it and the other 3 I run with the reolink solar panels.

Thanks for replying. We’re buying a house which is quite private/set well back from the road so I don’t think it should get triggered too often...have thought about the solar panels but think SWMBO might object....it’s a pre 1900 house so might look a bit out of place

[Shnozz]

Cheib said:

Thanks for replying. We’re buying a house which is quite private/set well back from the road so I don’t think it should get triggered too often...have thought about the solar panels but think SWMBO might object....it’s a pre 1900 house so might look a bit out of place

Again, you might want to look at the Blink ones then as they are black, small and discreet (of course you might think part of the prevention is having non-discreet cameras).

The solar panels are on about a 5m cable BTW so you can of course locate them somewhere more discreet, so long as they get some natural light.

[105.4]

Nothing to add, just watching with interest.

Thanks to all who’ve contributed.

[Sporky]

I went Axis Companion, on the basis that work is a certified partner, and the not-for-resale pricing is just ridiculous. And I didn't want wireless. Two bullets, two domes, NVR.

I have some chums who do control system programming and network setup for domestic installations, and they have horror stories about the cheap wireless stuff basically opening huge holes into your network.

Edited by Sporky on Sunday 16th May 11:02

[whoami]

Had anyone got any experience of Hikvision Colorvu cameras?

[Cheib]

Shnozz said:

Cheib said:

Thanks for replying. We’re buying a house which is quite private/set well back from the road so I don’t think it should get triggered too often...have thought about the solar panels but think SWMBO might object....it’s a pre 1900 house so might look a bit out of place

Again, you might want to look at the Blink ones then as they are black, small and discreet (of course you might think part of the prevention is having non-discreet cameras).

The solar panels are on about a 5m cable BTW so you can of course locate them somewhere more discreet, so long as they get some natural light.

White actually works better with this house. Didn’t realise the cables for the solar panels were that long so that is helpful !

[wjwren]

Axis is probably the best out there but very pricey.

[Sporky]

wjwren said:

Axis is probably the best out there but very pricey.

It was a while before I saw how much of a trade discount there is. I honestly never thought of Axis as expensive. The support you get as a partner is really good too.

[C n C]

Just posting an update that following advice earlier in this thread, I went for the Reolink NVR - RLN8-410-New, and 3 x RLC-520A 5MP POE cameras.

I'm very happy with the image quality, and also the software - both directly on the NVR box, and remotely using the Reolink app on both a smartphone and Mac computer.

Triggering sensitivity is great (and tunable), and the whole thing just works.

Many thanks.

[snotrag]

Off the top of my head I think thats exactly the kit I have - its great and hs been perfectly reliable too. Good choice!

[CampoTheMexicana]

C n C said:

Just posting an update that following advice earlier in this thread, I went for the Reolink NVR - RLN8-410-New, and 3 x RLC-520A 5MP POE cameras.

I'm very happy with the image quality, and also the software - both directly on the NVR box, and remotely using the Reolink app on both a smartphone and Mac computer.

Triggering sensitivity is great (and tunable), and the whole thing just works.

Many thanks.

You can also get the App on Amazon TV and view on a bigger screen

[C n C]

CampoTheMexicana said:

You can also get the App on Amazon TV and view on a bigger screen

Thanks for the added info.

To be fair, I'll still mainly use the Mac (it's a Mac Pro with 24" screen, so not a small laptop), as it also allows me to download video segments to the local hard drive. The CCTV system itself is installed several miles away at MiL's house, so I'm monitoring remotely.

Still useful to know there's even more functionality available with the Amazon option. Cheers.

[ewanjp]

My router doesn't have any ethernet ports. Anyone know if it's possible to get a wifi to POE adaptor?

i.e. it goes wifi router -> wifi signal -> POE injector -> ethernet cable -> several IP cameras

[Scobblelotcher]

ewanjp said:

My router doesn't have any ethernet ports. Anyone know if it's possible to get a wifi to POE adaptor?

i.e. it goes wifi router -> wifi signal -> POE injector -> ethernet cable -> several IP cameras

A router with no Ethernet ports? What brand is that and is it provided by your ISP?

I’d start by changing your router, install a POE switch and then plug cameras in. I personally wouldn’t attempt to route IP camera traffic over WiFi, that could end up being fraught with issues even if you can technically make it work.

[rxe]

s1962a said:

You do need to buy some of their other kit, and those have record functions

For example I have this, which is a router/firewall/switch in one, but also records (8tb hard drive)

https://eu.store.ui.com/products/udm-pro

You can also do the same thing (record) with this

https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-protect/...

And if you have a POE switch you can power all cameras from there.

The software is pretty decent too.

Did i mention it's an expensive setup?

I have the Cloudkey V2. As an all in one DVR that runs on POE, it's a bargain. I have my POE switch on UPS, and everything stays up when the power goes off (frequent, we are off the beaten track).

The Protect App is what swings it for me - it is absolutely brilliant on iThings, and just works.