I want to invest in a home security system, and as part of that, I want a video camera system.


So I see multiple types and installation types.

I feel wireless will be MUCH easier espectially since my basement and really, all parts, of my house are finished. Unless I'm missing something I do not know how in the world they would run wires. However, if I AM missing something then please, let me know.

The second major question is DVR storage versus "Cloud" storage.

I see advantages and disadvantageous to both. One, is that I want a camera inside. Now it would of course be possible to have a "cloud" camera or the footage from such stolen or hacked, and broadcase or kept or whatever. But also on a DVR only system a person could break in and just destroy or steal the DVR and ruin my video capture.

Is there a hybrid system?

Ideally, I would have an indoor/outdoor system, with 2 cameras viewing the street (to catch plates each direction), one ont he front door, one on the garage door, and one on the back door. (That is 5 cameras covering the 3 doorways to the house and each direction of teh street (which is a dead end)) I would additionally like 3 cameras facing the doors that come inside. (Example, camera 6 faces the inside side of the front door, at a level that captures the face, mannerisms and clothing description of a person IMMEDIATELY after they walk inside the front door.)

So now we are at 8 cameras. It would be helpful, if at least the street cameras, and better yet, the outside cameras were nightshot....

Lastly, I would like a system that does't take batteries, or lame/unreliable solar chargers.

So, I'm sure the "prefect" system doesn't exist, but I'm guessing there are customization systems out there... Point me in the direction my friends. What are you using?

I bought mine from Sam's about a year ago. It is a Samsung Wisenet http://www.wisenetlife.com/en-us/

That is the main website page. Mine is all wired but they do have wireless also. It came as an 8 channel DVR with 4 cameras. I added 4 more cameras, only 7 in use right now. There are many other brands out there but I am satisfied with mine.

It gets complicated pretty quick

Without writing a book, some quick thoughts based on my experiences over the last 6 years as a hobby of sorts

You probably won’t ultimately be happy with wireless, even the best systems tend to drop out now and then.. You’ll have to get power to each camera anyway, have someone run the Ethernet cable for you which will allow both power and video in a single cable (PoE)

Cloud based service means probably only recording on motion or triggers. Streaming 24/7 video to the cloud with any good resolution will likely be cost prohibitive. It’s very nice being able to see what happened before/after that 10 second motion-only clip. Either hide the NVR or record to 2 with one well hidden.

Get cameras with good night vision, especially for outside. I find most bad things happen after dark. Can’t stress this enough

License plate capture is an art unto itself. Plan on putting in the time tweaking settings and know that the LPR camera will be dedicated, zoomed in to a small area and be of no use for anything else.

Lots of info here:
IP camtalk

quote:

I feel wireless will be MUCH easier espectially since my basement and really, all parts, of my house are finished. Unless I'm missing something I do not know how in the world they would run wires. However, if I AM missing something then please, let me know.

Wireless would be easier but not recommended if you are serious about security.
Issues that haunt normal wi-fi are the same for cameras and worse due to bandwidth and connectivity potential problems.
However, in an already built home running cables can be an issue.
Additionally even with wi-fi cams you still need to run power to them and with CCTV (not my fav) or IP cams (fav) you can run power and signal in one run.

quote:

The second major question is DVR storage versus "Cloud" storage.

Even if you have an on premise storage (recommended) you can access the recordings remotely in many cases and if you have concerns or needs to protect copies of the storage files you can back them to the "cloud" as with any Internet Backup product.
Personally, I see few advantages to "cloud" storage and many obstacles.

quote:

Ideally, I would have an indoor/outdoor system, with 2 cameras viewing the street (to catch plates each direction), one ont he front door, one on the garage door, and one on the back door.

Now this as bigredfish says "it gets complicated" is correct.

To do all you indicated you have to pick the right camera.

Night cams vs LPR (License Plate Recog)vs other varying distance and lighting conditions all are different.
The all-in-one Costco packages will not do it all well.
Especially LPR which is a whole 'nother animal to conquer.

9/10 consumers (not a fact I just made up from my experiences ) just want to see "something", want cheap and easy and do not weigh all the factors as you are considering - kudos for you.
Businesses DO weigh these factors most of the time because they have to.

I would look as follows:
1) CAMS- define the picture you are expecting considering what light conditions and distances.
2) INSTALLATION- figure what is the ideal place to mount the cams considering easy of installation, security of the cam itself, ideal mounting angle (this affects #1 above greatly).
3) STORAGE & VIDEO MANAGEMENT - the storage requirements depend on what and how much you are recording, the software to watch, record and view both locally and remotely comes all together with VMS (Video Management Software.
A DVR is basically a low powered computer designed for this purpose, this can also be accomplished with software on a computer (IP CAMS).

THEN compare to your budget and installation abilities.

Lastly, carefully evaluate the camera quality.

Good Luck and check out this site:

https://ipvm.com/