I know that this topic has been discussed in the past but I couldn't find anything through the search function. I have basic ADT for the home already. The Pulse upgrade includes some cameras but I think that putting them in myself will save a lot over time. Any recommendations on quality cameras that I can install would be greatly appreciated. Happy New Year!

I suggest Power over ethernet (PoE) IP cameras that support some of the standard protocols that way you are not tied to a specific NVR/DVR in the future.

I personally have Ubiquiti G3 on the outside - which are not 802.3AF PoE but instead 24v passive, at the time I started down the Ubiquiti road poe standard was basically only available on high end cameras. While 24v is not an IEEE standard it is popular enough that multiple vendors make injectors and converters. I had poe to passive adpaters so I could still run from a PoE switch. Recently I bought one of the Ubiquiti poe switches that supports 24v passive and 802.3AF on the same ports and was able to dump the inline power converters.

I have Foscam and Amcrest indoor cameras, stay way from the foscam, they require a browser plug-in to even login and configure the camera and the plugin is out of date; I can only get to work in IE now. Amcrest also requires a plugin but only to view the video, configuring worked without it.

I use an Ubuntu virtual machine running zoneminder for the NVR
I use IP Cam viewer for Android to look from my phone. It can talk directly to the camera or to the Zoneminder server.

I do not have any open to the Internet and require being at home or using a VPN to connect.

There is a LOT that has been discussed here ^^^ but without some parameters it would be an incomplete recommendation.
Additionally, this area can get very technical (to do it right) with a LOT of areas to consider (storage, bandwidth, lens, management, remote access, night vs day, motion, quality, field of view, depth of view, lighting conditions, installation, type of cameras and system, etc).

I have PoE cameras but the interface and notifications are junk. I replaced my front and back door entry lights with RING Floodlight/Cameras. I love it. Get notifications every time motion is detected, floodlights are also great. I can use the speaker to talk with people at both doors (use the back door speaker to talk with my dog sitter and family when they let the dog out). Yesterday I was at work when a UPS delivered a large package. I talked with the driver who put the package in my storage bin by the back door. Couple days ago, had a shady looking guy come to the door while I was at work. I told him I couldn't come to the door, I was giving both of the rottweilers a bath. At the same time, my 9 month old GSD in her crate in the living room got her big girl bark going. He couldn't leave the area fast enough.

I get notifications through RING from other users in my area for potential daytime and night time burglars, along with porch pirates.

I can't say enough good things about the RING system.

I spent yesterday morning in -8 degrees (not going to talk about wind chill, still trying to thaw out) investigating an armed robbery (woman robbed as she came out of her garage) at one home and a stolen vehicle (keys in vehicle, doors unlocked) at the next door home in a very affluent subdivision. Out of 40 homes along the only access street to the cul de sac where crimes occurred, ONLY one had a video surveillance system.

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I have PoE cameras but the interface and notifications are junk.

Interface is easy and notifications are spot on. No monthly fee.

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest...ords=Blue+Iris&psc=1

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Originally posted by jsbcody:
I get notifications through RING from other users in my area

Can you 'splain that? How does that work?

quote:

I get notifications through RING from other users in my area for potential daytime and night time burglars, along with porch pirates.

In the past I enabled this "Neighborhood" feature but had so many folks in my area posting videos of strangers just coming up to their doors maybe asking for directions etc, there were just so many of these types of video notifications it seemed every day, additionally you could not delete them from your menu like the normal activity videos, I just unsubscribed from this feature. It was my main complaint at the time. Maybe now Ring allows you to delete them, its been awhile.
I will say though, it's an interesting feature and does have great potential for keeping neighbors informed for legitimate concerns of suspected intruders!

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Originally posted by just1tym:

quote:

I get notifications through RING from other users in my area for potential daytime and night time burglars, along with porch pirates.

In the past I enabled this "Neighborhood" feature but had so many folks in my area posting videos of individuals just coming up to their doors and there were just so many of these types of video notifications, additionally you could not delete them from your menu like the normal activity videos, I just unsubscribed from this feature. It was my main complaint at the time. Maybe now Ring allows you to delete them, its been awhile.
I will say though, it's an interesting feature and does have great potential for keeping neighbors informed for legitimate concerns of suspected intruders!

interesting. never heard of that.

the limitation I hear about Ring is it is a closed system. If you want to do your own DVR, mix with other cams etc., its not straightforward.

that said, I have no direct experience with Ring --- that's just what I have read.

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Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by jsbcody:
I get notifications through RING from other users in my area

Can you 'splain that? How does that work?

If you enable this feature you're able to receive videos from Ring customers in a close proximity to your location where you or others with a Ring video device can share the video with others that are subscribed to the Ring app. I never did get the size of the area in close proximity to you but from the videos I viewed in my area my guess would be within 5-10mi radius maybe, I'm kinda guessing, maybe the zip code area? Maybe Ring even allows you to delete these Neighborhood videos now, so you don't keep many of these videos within your app.

I just upgraded my analog cameras with IP cameras. My analog were old and just didn't give a decent recording.

I investigated for quite a while before I decided what to do. First I had a generic DVR in my old system and it was not user friendly nor did I get regular software updates. It worked but was far from ideal. I decided to build my own recorder from a current generation i7 based windows 10 system using Blue Iris as the recording interface. It was $69 per year if I recall correctly. It provides an excellent interface and also allows me to provide access securely to my phone or tablet.

Regarding cameras I settled on Hikvision PoE (power over ethernet) cameras. I have several 4Mp cameras for areas with outside light at night (streetlights and garage lights) and a couple 3MP night sensitive cameras for the back yard. You need to investigate lens size also as that will change the field of view. I got all fixed focus as they are only $100 - $160 versus significantly more for variable focal length cameras.

Regarding security, I have all the cameras on a separate network for only cameras and server and I use a VPN connection to access from outside my house.

I have not found a good doorbell camera that I can integrate into my recorder. All the ones I see force you to use their cloud service. I'm just not a fan of any outside person having access to my cameras or recordings.

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Blue Iris as the recording interface. It was $69 per year if I recall correctly.

Only if you want technical support.
If not you just pay the initial $45 for the software and $10 for the mobile app.
One should be able to set a system up with the included technical support time period.

Good point!

Nest has a new system with cameras that’s pretty slick.

Everybody has a different set of criteria of price/functionality/capability. But my cameras are AXIS. They are expensive mostly but work and if you have issues you can get real support since their target market is large scale users.

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Originally posted by just1tym:

quote:

I get notifications through RING from other users in my area for potential daytime and night time burglars, along with porch pirates.

In the past I enabled this "Neighborhood" feature but had so many folks in my area posting videos of strangers just coming up to their doors maybe asking for directions etc, there were just so many of these types of video notifications it seemed every day, additionally you could not delete them from your menu like the normal activity videos, I just unsubscribed from this feature. It was my main complaint at the time. Maybe now Ring allows you to delete them, its been awhile.
I will say though, it's an interesting feature and does have great potential for keeping neighbors informed for legitimate concerns of suspected intruders!

Haha, we live in a well off suburb of philly, a couple miles any direction is pretty rough.. all I saw on the neighborhood screen this past snowfall "suspicious black male approached my house today... I don't know him"... well, the shovel in his hand and the half foot of snow on your steps may be a good indicator of his intentions... like every year.

Here is the thread I started back in October.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...935/m/7030010234/p/1

I installed 8 IP cams, running Blue Iris software on a PC I built.

Here are some pics of my system:
https://imgur.com/a/4qkem

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Originally posted by xantom:
Here is the thread I started back in October.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...935/m/7030010234/p/1

I installed 8 IP cams, running Blue Iris software on a PC I built.

Here are some pics of my system:
https://imgur.com/a/4qkem

If you don't mind answering, what was the total cost on your setup?

I just installed two Blink cameras. Easy setup, NO wires!, great HD picture and a lot of configuration options. About $90 to $120 per camera for indoor/outdoor cameras.

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Originally posted by ffips:

If you don't mind answering, what was the total cost on your setup?

Cameras, switch, cables, PC, and software:
$1,981.38