Home surveillance system

DocYoda · November 9, 2016

Hi. any recommendations for home surveillance setups? I have a ubiquiti ERPOE5 router, asus ac68u router. all these routers are for my file and media server at home. I have no experience with this home surveillance setup. I hope there is a guide on this.. I need around 5-6 cameras, atleast 720p or 1080. Do I need high volume hdds? what software drives the cam setup? I am on fiber 50mbps line. I also want to access my cameras using my smartphone as well. For network cables, is cat5e STP enough? for the display monitors, do I need to have a good desktop computer for this? thank you

Carlos1010 · November 9, 2016

What is your budget?

Oshino Shinobu · November 9, 2016

The solution you'd want to go for really depends on your budget.

You're probably looking at somewhere from $700 to tens of thousands for a 5-6 camera surveillance setup.

I'd probably suggest going for a Synology NAS and use Synology's Surveillance Station software to manage the cameras and storage. I'd suggest WD Purple drives which are specifically designed for surveillance situations. As for the cameras, I would advise going for wired IP cameras with IEEE 802.3af/at support, along with an IEEE 802.3af/at switch to avoid using PoE injectors. You want to make sure you avoid proprietary PoE used by some companies like Ubiquiti (not on all of their products, but typically the lower end) if you're using an 802.3af/at switch.

EDIT: It's important to note that most Synology NAS boxes only come with two surveillance device licenses, so you'd need to purchase 3-4 more licenses. They're about $50 each or $160 for 4 licenses.

SCHISCHKA · November 9, 2016

8 minutes ago, DocYoda said:

Do I need high volume hdds?

depends how much you want to store. It might take you a while to notice you've been robbed or some sort of antisocial behavior has taken place on your property

8 minutes ago, DocYoda said:

For network cables, is cat5e STP enough?

yes. CAT 6 is for 10G speed which you wont need for your cameras.

8 minutes ago, DocYoda said:

for the display monitors, do I need to have a good desktop computer for this?

not really; your server should be doing all the work combining video feeds to your monitors

11 minutes ago, DocYoda said:

what software drives the cam setup?

You can go for a proprietary system or you can pay a private security firm to run your cameras; this might be cheaper and I highly recommend you contact your insurance company as it might pay for itself.

For DIY; zoneminder has been around for a while. I used it on my laptop in the past when I was paranoid about theft.

https://zoneminder.com/features/

dave01978 · November 9, 2016

2 hours ago, DocYoda said:

Hi. any recommendations for home surveillance setups? I have a ubiquiti ERPOE5 router, asus ac68u router. all these routers are for my file and media server at home. I have no experience with this home surveillance setup. I hope there is a guide on this.. I need around 5-6 cameras, atleast 720p or 1080. Do I need high volume hdds? what software drives the cam setup? I am on fiber 50mbps line. I also want to access my cameras using my smartphone as well. For network cables, is cat5e STP enough? for the display monitors, do I need to have a good desktop computer for this? thank you

Depends on your buget, throw me out a max you are looking to spend, you want 5 or 6 cameras are they all exterior cameras? I will tell you in video surveillance you get what you pay for. What are they exterior conditions, what level of detail you want? are there any lighting conditions to overcome? What kind of distance are you looking at for recognition and at what detail. a 720p camera might not give you facial features from 50ft away, but if its someone known it gives enough detail. volume of hard drives depends how long you need to store it, We typically say per 25GB you get 7-8 days at 720P 3-4 at 1080p 2-3 at 3MP 1-2 at 5MP now this is an average based on around 10 fps

Software can be all kinds of stuff, some cameras come with software to store to a pc, they sell software you can purchase per camera and run on a pc, they sell units that record. I tried the Synology and did not like it, however that was just me.

Personally I love Axis Cameras however they are more expensive but in my opinion are the best, and this will not affect you as much being an end user, they really stand behind there products.

Some people like Hikvision I personally am not a fan, don't get me wrong they are not horrible, just not up there with axis.

As far as recording platforms there are way to many out there to narrow down, do you have a pc that you want to dedicate? do you want to use a nas? do you want to purchase a preconfigured system?

Personally I used both a software that has ran on cameras, a custom pc for it, and a dedicated nvr and all work great, depending on your needs,

Cat 5 is plenty, typically for display most machines will be fine, I seen customers use an old laptop that was 5-6 years old and pull up 32 cameras (not going to say it didn't strugle)

I have installed 100's of systems so i have been around the block a few times when it comes to video.

Hope some of this helps

DocYoda · November 13, 2016

Thank you very much for the replies guys. Ive done a bit of research and asked help with friends who have home surveillance systems. I plan to get hikvision DS-7616NI-E2/16P. I would utilize its sata port with HGST 6TB 7k6000 enterprise drive, ubiquiti TS 8 Pro POE switch (I plan to have two of them) I will connect the NVR through these POE switches to save a bit on cluttered cables. By the way, I will only use CAT5E outdoor cables fot the cameras. Will update the thread of my progress on this project.