Megapixel IP CCTV

BradsXmasLights

WiFi Interactive
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
601
Location
Brisbane, Australia
I've had a few people ask about my current CCTV camera setup, which is the Hikvision gear from Alixpress/China.


Whirlpool forums have a massive thread about Hikvision & home cctv setups here: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2352121&p=107 This is extremely useful once you've read the 100's of pages :) Most people there are recommending to buy from Aliexpress vendors, 'CCTV China' or 'E&M Security'. I have used both & it was a fast experience with DHL shipping, etc.


Although whatever you buy, I'd steer clear of the Swann stuff that's sold Retail here.


Cameras:
All the 'popular' Hikvision cameras are around the same price and use the same firmware (and camera hardware inside?). They are 3MP (2048 x 1536) & POE based, so a single CAT5 cable is required for power & data. They can be also be powered with a standard 12VDC supply. They can also record to an SD Card internally, however I'd be recording to an external DVR as playback is far easier in a multi camera setup then.

I personally think the $$$ PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) 'remote controlled' cameras are a waste of time unless you are have have a dedicated camera/security officer operator.

I like these the best:
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-hikvision-3megapixel-3mp-array-30m-IR-Network-Dome-DS-2CD2332-I-support-POE-free-shipping/638300_1396985171.html
+ Metal casing
+ single IR (visible, dim red glow when direclty looked at)
+ most powerful IR compared to the others I tested
+ 'Turrent' form-factor a avoids IR reflections that can occurr on the usual dome cameras if they get dirty due to reflections.
- The base is about the size of a CD - so it's not the smallest camera out there.


The "bullet" form-factor...
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/2013-Hikvision-Original-infrared-gun-waterproof-network-camera-DS-2CD2032-I-3MP-IR-ip-camera-support/638300_1397052584.html
+ Cheap
+ Concealed cable via mounting base (ALL cabling should be hidden so it can't be cut/pulled!) Not to mention how dodgy it looks
+ Formfactor really shows which direction the camera is pointing (which may be good as many people assume all 'domes' can spin round and look over fences, etc.)
- Negative IMO is they can be vandalized easier as the it's easy to grab hold of.


For a small camera...
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/waterproof-IR-IP-Camera-3-0MP-Mini-Dome-Network-DS-2CD2532F-IS-Hot-New-High-Quality/638300_1675650811.html
+ Much smaller
- IR slightly less powerful, image marginally more grainy (compared to the full-size dome I also have)
+ Less powerful IR is not really a bad thing close up anyway
+ Audio Recording (illegal in most cases)
+ Alarm
[SIZE=78%] I/O connections, Wire doorbell to it etc & email a photo :) [/SIZE]


Lenses:
* You can usually specify a lens size when ordering. The wider the lenses the more you can see! However this comes at the cost of detail/clarrity for things that are further away from the camera. eg: a 2.8mm lens will give a nice wide-angle shot of your frontyard, but numberplates for example will effectively be so small they'll be hard/impossible to see.
* 4mm are a more tighter, but still side shot that has less of a fish-eye effect.
* Mounting the camera further way, (or higher up), then you'll want to increase the lens MM size to get a more zoom'd image.
* For open spaces, the wider lens work best IMO so you can see if someone is there.
* For narrow walkways/gates/side of your house, more zoomed in is better so you'll get a nice close up if you know the suspect has to walk past the camera.
* There's much more to this topic of lens & camera positioning.

Camera Settings / Image Quality
* The cameras have a web interface on them for configuring various settings like shutter speed.
* Usual photography rules apply here, slow shutter speed and the "nightvision" will look amazing! But anything moving will become blurry.
For this reason I would take most sample images with a grain of salt.
* Also beware of mounting the camera up too high - you'll just be looking at the top of heads.
* Successfully getting the numbers plates of cars driving down your street is far easier said than done. A dedicated camera would usually be needed for this with enough zoom (and correct angle) to the street.
* Camera bitrate / MPEG compression settings are also fully adjustable. I found 8Mbit/max bitrate to be too laggy for live viewing. After tweaking settings 4mbit seems to be a lot better. (On this topic, my old analogue, real-time DVR was awesome in this respect as the live view was always instant!)
* They produce two streams, so your mobile (or live) viewing can be a lower resolution for faster viewing over the internet.



DVR "Recorder" info to follow...
 

BradsXmasLights

WiFi Interactive
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
601
Location
Brisbane, Australia

IP Cameras can be recorded using a PC with camera recording software, or a dedicated purpose built unit. Having used PC-based CCTV in the past, I've found them to be less reliable & use more electricity in the process.

The DVR / NVR I use to record the cameras is this:
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/2014-Hikvision-NVR-16CH-Plug-Play-8CH-PoE-Up-to-5MP-Onvif-Family-level-Network-video/638300_2052108539.html
+ Supports recording of 16 Cameras
+ Has an 8 port POE switch on-board. For more than 8 cameras you need to use a daisy chain another POE Switch
+ Gigabit LAN interface for 'normal' home network
+ Fits in ~1RU size - although has no rack-mount wings
+ Low power usage compared to running a PC
+ HDMI Output (to TV via long cable, wireless USB mouse, etc)
+ Support for up to 2 Hard Drives (not included)
- Minorly annoying 40mm cooling fan on PSU.


No hard drive is included, so I picked up a 4TB Western Digital Purple drive. With 7 cams recording 24/7 @ 3MP, 15fps, I get about a week. This is more than enough for a home setup.


The NVR is preconfigured to DHCP IP addresses to the cameras connected to the POE switch - which effectively a standalone network/subnet from your existing LAN. Most of the basic camera settings can be remote-programmed from the NVR itself.


This setup isolate's the cameras off your internal LAN so you can't get to the camera's own configuration then. However with a suitable Router on your home LAN, you can reconfigure your routing (after running a second cable from the POE side to the router, etc)


The NVR can also be remotely accessed via Android (and I assume iPhone app) or just a plain webbrowser. once the usual port-fowards are setup. However I don't do these as there's unpatched security exploits for Hikvision NVRs. The way around this is to use a VPN (which will require a suitable router & skill to setup).


I record everything 24/7 as Motion Detection IMO on all CCTV systems should just be used as an event guide. Shadows, rogue headlight beams will false positive motion events like there's no tomorrow. Getting "continuous" recording AND motion-event logging working was not so straight forward. On the usual Chinese analogue systems you just set your record mode to 'continuous+motion' - a setting which was not on the Hikvision. Instead each camera is configured to send motion events (flags as such) to the NVR and these are then logged, and visible during the 'smart playback' - not the normal playback screens. Quirky, but works.
 

arw01

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 30, 2013
Messages
384
Location
Eastern Washington
Thanks for posting this great information, was wanting to put some sort of security camera on the house when the new soffits are installed.


Now what mm of lense would be best for 20-30 of driveway depth and about 35 in width?
 

scamper

Dedicated elf
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
1,225
Location
collie
Thanks for the info, I am still struggling with what I thought would be a simple security install :eek:
Learning about xmas lighting has been a breeze compared to this crap!

I bought a 4 camera nvr setup http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Techmate-4CH-Wifi-H-264-NVR-Kit-4pcs-Wireless-1-0MP-3-6mm-Day-Night-Vision/1478411310.html
and after initially getting it working it has done nothing but play up ever since.
It drops out constantly, the box restarts (as most do and should) but won't hold memory, now after initially getting it on my mobile it now won't.
I suppose I should have gone the wired route, but like I said, I thought it would be easy :-[
 

logandc99

Dedicated elf
Joined
Jul 13, 2012
Messages
1,153
I tried the wireless route with the cameras I got from Alliexpress but had same problems with dropping signal so ended up running them wired via the Ethernet cables and ended up much more reliable.
 

BradsXmasLights

WiFi Interactive
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
601
Location
Brisbane, Australia
BTW these cameras wholesale for about $350 Australian too! I've been asked previously if I thought these chinese ones were fakes or not - but from all accounts I have no reason to suspect they are dodgy. The only catch was firmware updating reverted them to Chinese-only language - but that was easy fixed by running a javascript commend in the web browser's address bar that then popped it back to english. But even better, someone on another CCTV/IP Camera forum had some 'fixed' firmware that rigged the language bit correctly. :D

Anyhow, with CCTV (and security alarms in general), it's technically it's best to hardwire.

There's CCTV lens calculators out there on the internet that can give estimates of coverage - you'll want to select 1/3 lens size.

Also the difference between the DS-2CD2332-I and DS-2CD3332-I (US vs Euro models) = exactly the same - buy whatever is cheaper :)
 

ԆцряєсϮ

Senior elf
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
503
Location
Botanic Ridge
Driver - Whats the difference with their NVR's
76 series Project Level versus 78 series Family level?
I cant see any difference other than price?
 

BradsXmasLights

WiFi Interactive
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
601
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Not entirely sure off the top of my head. But I think the more expensive units may support more hard drives (physically 2RU sized). eg: if you need 30 days of storage, etc.
 

B_P_J

Full time elf
Joined
Jan 6, 2014
Messages
355
Location
Wadalba
Hey ԆцряєсϮ & Driver, I am pretty sure the difference is the mbps, the larger the better in terms of Megapixel Camera's if your talking 2-3 megapixels then your talking 8-10mbs so its easy to see how quick the storage gets chewed and the bandwidth gets used, so add 4 cameras and there goes your basic model, & yes the bigger the more HDD's it can handle and pretty sure more capacity per HDD,
On a side note, I haven't done a huge amount with HikVision cause I work with higher end gear, Geutebruck, ControlWare, Genetec, Milestone, etc, etc, but I have been hearing nothing but great stories about them, there are a few ways you can get an NVR really cheap, certain companies let you download demo's or small packages for only a few camera's, but this means you need to know how to setup a simple network, POE, etc, not too bad when you get into it,
Most Camera's we use are Panasonic, AXIS, Bosch, my personal favorite is the Panasonic, great quality, nothing better than a PTZ than can read a number plate or get good details from over 200m away,
Now on the Alarm/Access Control Systems, people always have there favorite's and what they prefer to install/work on, myself of the smaller ones they would be Hills/DAS Reliance/NX, Bosch Panels, step up a little and the war rages with Inner Range Concept or GE Tecom Challenger, me hands down Concept. then there is the Large scale which we wont worry about that tonight, lol
 

ԆцряєсϮ

Senior elf
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
503
Location
Botanic Ridge
ԆцряєсϮ said:
Driver - Whats the difference with their NVR's
76 series Project Level versus 78 series Family level?
I cant see any difference other than price?


I stand corrected. there is a difference
1 states "Support Generel IPC"
the other "Support Smart IPC Smart Functions"
 
Top