Need help putting together a home CCTV package for my home

dave77

As said above it depends on what you want them for. If you want to identify would-be burglars then installing in soffits won't get their faces unless they look up. Mine are at about 2.5m high.

neonplanet40

I guess I could have the cameras which are being installed on the sides lower down. And the front and back higher. I have a ring at the front door which would pick up faces at the front door. It's my patio doors (at the back) I need to think about I guess.

mushii

This one of the problems with CCTV, the planning is as important as the install. You really need to think, what am I trying to achieve with this camera and how am I going to use it? My car and front door cams are all about people recognition. My high level cam is about monitoring an area. Gate cameras are looking at how and when and by whom they are being accessed. Rear cam is about monitoring intrusion detection and facial recognition of any scrotes.

All of this will determine camera resolution, FOV, apperture size (and type), low-light functionality and ultimately the height / camera angle / fixed / PTZ

A lot of people just see Hikvision - XMpixels (more must be better) - NVR and think that is it.

neonplanet40

I will contact my preferred installer and ask them to come out first so we can talk this through. Thank you

mushii

That is a great idea. Get them to do a walk survey with you. Explain what you want each camera to do and they should be able to advise on correct mounting heights, positions and the best cameras to do the job.

neonplanet40

Just a few questions for my own knowledge:

1) If the cameras are lower down, how will the weather impact them? I'm in Scotland so driving rain and wind, snow, frost etc are all an issue. I know the cameras have a good IP67 rating, but I am more worried about picture quality being affected by raindrops and frost etc. At least the soffits provided an element of protection. However, on the side walls, there would be none.

These questions are more focused on networking and connectivity.

2) A question on remote viewing within my network. When viewing the cameras over my network (the NVR as a headless unit within my network), do I get to see the full quality images (as my network is GB wired?) or do I see a reduced quality image which is being sent to Hivision servers and then routed back to me to view (so internet speed is what is used rather than LAN network speeds)?

3) Remote viewing via the app from within my network - similar to the question above, does this get sent directly to my phone from the NVR via my home network wireless or is it routed via Hikvision servers, which would undoubtedly cause lag issues as it would be determined by internet speed, rather than network speed?

4) Final question!! When viewing my cameras while at work etc over my phones 4G via Hi-Connect, am I seeing video direct from my home - which is uploaded via my own internet, direct to my phone? Or is the video routed to Hikvision servers first, then routed to my phone second? What is the quality like?

Thank you all

mushii

1 - Rain will affect images whether under the eaves or not. It will not affect the cameras themselves.

2. It depends which stream you wish to view and what you are viewing it on. Hik Cameras / NVRs produce 2 sometimes 3 streams. A min stream which is normally full resolution and a sub-steam which is 640 x 480 for viewing on mobile devices (it is more than adequate).

3. There is always about 1 -2 seconds lag on the cameras - its the frame buffer.Nothing you can really do about this.

4. AFAIK the images do not go via the Hik servers, they act a sort of Hik DNS service between your hardware and your mobile device, pointing your Hik Connect app to the correct hardware.

Image quality is IMHO as good as you are going to get using current technology - it is very good but remember you will only be watching a 640 x 480 sub-stream on your mobile device (this is to preserve fluidity and bandwidth)

At home you have several options to view a headless stream on TVs. You can use something like TinyCam on an Amazon Firestick (low frame rates) an android streaming box with iVMS 4200 loaded (much smoother) or you can use a Digital RF modulator to output the HDMI output of the NVR to an aerial distribution amp and actually see the feed as a TV channel in 1080p

neonplanet40

Thank you for that reply! Really useful!

I am hoping to use my PC to view the streams in my house. I will need to look a bit more at what programs etc would work best with this. I had hoped there would be an application/software to install which just mirrored (fluidly) what you could normally view on the NVR directly.

Similar to to how one would connect to their Synology NAS etc.

Puntoboy

I have a Raspberry Pi that I have connected to a monitor in my office and another on the TV downstairs that streams my cameras. The only in my office I have on most days (when I'm working from home). Works really well.

THat said, in the new house I will be looking at a HDMI > CAT6/IP setup with KVM support.

neonplanet40

Could you explain this "That said, in the new house I will be looking at a HDMI > CAT6/IP setup with KVM support." in more detail? It sounds interesting.

How would one do this and what would the benefits be? (I would imagine that my computer is around 40/50m from my NVR (Once it is located upstairs) if I was to use skirting trunks which I have in place already.

Similarly, any guides on building/using a raspberry Pi for this job?