New CCTV installation advice required.

[Wooders]

Hi,

I have recently had a quote for a 4 x (6Mp IP) HIKVision camera installation with 3TB NVR. But as a result of the price and also not being happy with the recommended siting of one of the cameras, i'm looking at installing myself. I'm a sparky, i'm ok with computers and networking, and have already setup various routers and access points around my property, including Ethernet into the garage.

Where i fall down a bit is with the camera selection and application. The following is what i would like to achieve

1 x camera front house at high level eaves
1 x camera rear house at high level eaves
1 x camera at front of garage low level eaves (would like to make this covert to avoid vandalism as it is not really fully out of reach)
1 x camera inside garage
1 x door/bell camera/intercom

The dvr will probably be placed inside the loft area and power the 2 house cameras. This is not too far away from the main network router.
The garage camera(s) would connect via an old Netgear router setup for wireless connection for my ipad and Alexa that is already in the garage (this isnt POe as far as i can tell). As stated above the outside camera would need to be a covert camera, or a suitable way of hiding a camera. I'm thinking of possible mounting into the soffit or adapting a roof vent so the camera catches anything passing by on the road, but a 2nd small hidden camera underneath in the soffit would cover the rest.

Now, I would like to use the garage cameras as a means of seeing what or who was outside before i open up the electric roller door. I have a smallish HDMI TV that i could mount in the garage and have those 2 cameras( or all cameras) displayed on it. But i would also like to view these cameras locally both on my mobile and main computer.

I would like all these cameras to record onto the dvr for security, but notice most have a SD card backup capability as well. It would be good if the intercom capability of the front doorbell could be used inside the garage.

Can anyone comment on what would be the best equipment to use and how to set this up? I can't really say what my budget is, (because I don't know what a spec like this should be) but based on the quote i had, the HIKVision equipment costs were what I would call acceptable. I'm more than capable of installation, just need to get the right equipment.

Thanks

Shaun

 

[Dan]

Hi @Wooders

I will jump straight into this with our recommendations for the camera positions you have stated above:

1 x camera front house at high level eaves - If you are covering distances greater than 10m but less than 30m then we would recommend the DS-2CD2345FWD-I 4MP Turret or the DS-2CD2385G1-I 8MP 4K Turret. If the distance is greater than 30m you would need to look at bullet models like the 2T45FWD-I5 (50m IR range) / 2T85G1-I5 / 2T85G1-I8 (80m IR range)

1 x camera rear house at high level eaves - Same recommendations as the above camera position

1 x camera at front of garage low level eaves - DS-2CD2545FWD-I 4MP Mini Dome

1 x camera inside garage - DS-2CD2545FWD-I

1 x door/bell camera/intercom - Hikvision DS-KB8112-IM Vandal Resistant IP Video Intercom Door Station

For the NVR we would recommend the DS-7608NI-I2-8P 8 Channel Network Video Recorder and a 3-4TB Western Digital Purple HDD. For powering the garage cameras we would recommend a 4-Port PoE switch that you can put inside the garage between the router and the cameras.

For outdoor garage position, we would recommend that you mount the 2545 Mini Dome flat to the soffit or flat to the front of the garage. In terms of viewing the cameras on an HDMI monitor in the garage, this may be tricky as you say you plan to have the NVR in the loft of the main house and so if you want to view in the garage on a monitor you will need to look into devices that can transmit an HDMI signal over WiFi or something similar, Viewing using a browser and the app should be easy enough as long as all the devices are on the same local network. (you may have an issue with that second old Netgear router if that is actually generating a different network range to the router the NVR is connected to)

It is quite common that users record to both the NVR and to local MicroSD card storage as a back up in case the NVR or HDD fail for any reason, but it is not a requirement and from our experience failure of HDDs or NVRs is fairly rare. The doorbell intercom linked above can be added to the NVR like any other camera and you should be able to set alerts to the direct monitor and/or the Hik-Connect app when the Intercom button is pressed.

 

[JB1970]

Now, I would like to use the garage cameras as a means of seeing what or who was outside before i open up the electric roller door. I have a smallish HDMI TV that i could mount in the garage and have those 2 cameras( or all cameras) displayed on it. But i would also like to view these cameras locally both on my mobile and main computer.

If you can get a WiFi signal in your garage the simplest solution for a remote monitor without wiring would be just to use a tablet. I have an old iPad running the iVMS app (as opposed to Hik Connect) that I use a bedside monitor. Works a treat and simpler than routing additional cabling. You can also select whatever cameras you want to stream on it rather than mimicking the main monitor (though the I series NVR that's been suggested has an additional composite monitor output)

Another alternative that I also use is a Technomate Digital modulator. It has HDMI loop through (or you can connect it to the NVR via a HDMI splitter) and you just connect it into your aerial system. You can then view the CCTV on any TV in the house in 1080P HD on a channel of your choosing. As well as having my NVR connected directly to a HDMI input on the main living room TV, I can also use the Picture in Picture function to monitor the front door if I'm waiting for my curry/pizza to arrive!