[amol4184]

Can someone give me inputs on security cameras for a standalone house?
I have located 2-3 points for installation but I am lost after that - what hardware do I need? what things to look for? which brands? Amazon is full of brands that do not inspire confidence AT ALL, and which is where my research ended.

As starters I am thinking of one camera looking over main gate/entrance, another one on the second floor at a height which will look over our parking as well as cover some part of the street outside and a third one for the backyard - but that is something I can excuse. At the minimum I am looking at 2 cameras.

Inputs appreciated.

[Vinod_nair]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Can someone give me inputs on security cameras for a standalone house?
I have located 2-3 points for installation but I am lost after that - what hardware do I need? what things to look for? which brands? Amazon is full of brands that do not inspire confidence AT ALL, and which is where my research ended.

As starters I am thinking of one camera looking over main gate/entrance, another one on the second floor at a height which will look over our parking as well as cover some part of the street outside and a third one for the backyard - but that is something I can excuse. At the minimum I am looking at 2 cameras.

Inputs appreciated.

I got CP Plus 4 camera setup installed in 2016, bought from Amazon for about, for my independent house, without any issues, the only thing that conked out was the recorder disk.

I've 2 cameras overlooking front porch and main gate, where my 2 cars are parked, 1 inside the house, and 1 on the terrace.

Note: what ever you decide to get, get the max say 4/6 camera setup, as the cost defference isn't much.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Vinod_nair

I got CP Plus 4 camera setup installed in 2016, bought from Amazon for about, for my independent house, without any issues, the only thing that conked out was the recorder disk.

Thanks for the brand name. Just checked their own website and it looks good. Was the installation DIY or you got professionals to install it? Also, do they work at night? Is that functionality needed? I saw some night vision camera reviews and they were dicey at best..people have really mixed reviews.

[Vinod_nair]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Thanks for the brand name. Just checked their own website and it looks good. Was the installation DIY or you got professionals to install it? Also, do they work at night? Is that functionality needed? I saw some night vision camera reviews and they were dicey at best..people have really mixed reviews.

I got my local CCTV guy to install, paid about 2K for it. Don't waste money on night vision etc, just put on a light, (like in the terrace etc) everything is visible, at night the colour is black white and grey, good enough.

The setup i bought, comes with 90 mtr of wire, this is all mentioned in the description. I've it attached to my home TV, not a separate monitor.

CCTV cameras are a deterrent for intruders.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by Vinod_nair

I got CP Plus 4 camera setup installed in 2016, bought from Amazon for about, for my independent house, without any issues, the only thing that conked out was the recorder disk.

I've 2 cameras overlooking front porch and main gate, where my 2 cars are parked, 1 inside the house, and 1 on the terrace.

Note: what ever you decide to get, get the max say 4/6 camera setup, as the cost defference isn't much.

Originally Posted by amol4184

Thanks for the brand name. Just checked their own website and it looks good. Was the installation DIY or you got professionals to install it? Also, do they work at night? Is that functionality needed? I saw some night vision camera reviews and they were dicey at best..people have really mixed reviews.

Originally Posted by Vinod_nair

I got my local CCTV guy to install, paid about 2K for it. Don't waste money on night vision etc, just put on a light, (like in the terrace etc) everything is visible, at night the colour is black white and grey, good enough.

The setup i bought, comes with 90 mtr of wire, this is all mentioned in the description. I've it attached to my home TV, not a separate monitor.

CCTV cameras are a deterrent for intruders.

@amol4184

Vinod has given very good tips, I wound only want to ad a few more points.

1. Get the DVR with 8 channels at least. Even if you are getting 1 or 2 cams at first, there is room for expansion.

2. Route the 3+1 cable inside flexible plastic ducting. That way the cable would stay good for a long duration.

3. CCTV cameras should be installed such that one camera is covering another camera, to avoid any tampering from blind angle

4. Get the 1 MP or 2 MP camera, bullet style. They are good enough for home surveillance, and are waterproof (they survived successive cyclones without any issues in my case ). CP plus or Hikvision are good. They have infrared sensors, and give color video during the day and b+w video after dusk.

5. Install camera's using a metal mounting arm bracket and 4x4 plastic box for firm mounting

6. Make sure that the Hard disk you are using in the DVR is a surveillance type HDD. Normal desktop HDD would not survive for long as they are not built for constant write operation. Get the WD purple or Seagate skyhawk HDD.

7. Use good quality BNC connectors and ground the lines correctly to get rid of ghosting, lines , interruptions in signal etc

8. Connect the DVR to your router so that you can view in your phone

9. You can also use IP CAMS if you have good wifi coverage

10. Always add security measure (password access) to your DVR so that no one can easily access and tamper with video files.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Can someone give me inputs on security cameras for a standalone house?
I have located 2-3 points for installation but I am lost after that - what hardware do I need? what things to look for? which brands? Amazon is full of brands that do not inspire confidence AT ALL, and which is where my research ended.

As starters I am thinking of one camera looking over main gate/entrance, another one on the second floor at a height which will look over our parking as well as cover some part of the street outside and a third one for the backyard - but that is something I can excuse. At the minimum I am looking at 2 cameras.

Inputs appreciated.

What you will need are below
1. One to two CCTV cameras
2 DVR unit.
3. Hard disk
4. Wiring cable for the cameras.
5. Optional - A cabinet to protect the DVR from dust, theft etc.

I have a CP Plus DVR & Camera unit. Installed in 2018 for around ~15k inclusive of everything. The DVR conked off in Oct this year and I replaced it with a new one with the same hard disk. At night it is all back and white. With lights on the picture quality is decent.
You may need higher resolution cameras to get a clearer picture. I am not sure though what resolution are mine as I threw away the boxes later. If the cameras are not going to focus on distant objects standard resolution will do I guess.

[CzechItaliaMoto]

Hi, we have a CCTV system installed in our building and I made a mistake of installing a 1TB hard disk as the storage drive. The footage is being erased within 20 days of recording, any backup suggestions are welcome. I had thought of installing a NAS connected to the CCTV system but the enclosures are really costly even without hard drives. Is there any way to bridge more than one hard disks using a SATA to USB adapter and plugging this into the DVR, or like are there any enclosures for sale which already do that?

Thanks in advance

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by CzechItaliaMoto

Hi, we have a CCTV system installed in our building and I made a mistake of installing a 1TB hard disk as the storage drive. The footage is being erased within 20 days of recording, any backup suggestions are welcome. I had thought of installing a NAS connected to the CCTV system but the enclosures are really costly even without hard drives. Is there any way to bridge more than one hard disks using a SATA to USB adapter and plugging this into the DVR, or like are there any enclosures for sale which already do that?

Thanks in advance

If the DVR supports it, multiple HDDs can be installed in the DVR. Generally if it a small size dvr (around 20cm) it will have only 1HDD support. But if it is a bigger DVR (length around 35cm) it should support two HDDs.
If it is a small DVR, then no option but to replace the existing hDD with a higher capacity HDD (go for 2TB or higher WD purple).

Like this one
Western Digital Purple 2TB SATA Internal Surveillance Hard Drive (WD20PURZ) https://www.amazon.in/dp/B071RM2HS7/...FWBJ48RDJHDCMS

[beast_within]

Originally Posted by CzechItaliaMoto

Hi, we have a CCTV system installed in our building and I made a mistake of installing a 1TB hard disk as the storage drive. The footage is being erased within 20 days of recording, any backup suggestions are welcome. I had thought of installing a NAS connected to the CCTV system but the enclosures are really costly even without hard drives. Is there any way to bridge more than one hard disks using a SATA to USB adapter and plugging this into the DVR, or like are there any enclosures for sale which already do that?

Thanks in advance

You can do the following if there is option in the DVR

1. Reduce the frame rate to 10 or 15, default is 25 I guess
2. Reduce the recording quality in the non critical areas/hours
3. Enable only motion sensitive recording (depends on your use-case)

above steps will reduce your storage requirements and increase the days before the footage is overwritten

[CzechItaliaMoto]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

If the DVR supports it, multiple HDDs can be installed in the DVR. Generally if it a small size dvr (around 20cm) it will have only 1HDD support. But if it is a bigger DVR (length around 35cm) it should support two HDDs.
If it is a small DVR, then no option but to replace the existing hDD with a higher capacity HDD (go for 2TB or higher WD purple).

Like this one
Western Digital Purple 2TB SATA Internal Surveillance Hard Drive (WD20PURZ) https://www.amazon.in/dp/B071RM2HS7/...FWBJ48RDJHDCMS

It is a small DVR which only supports one HDD. I'm looking for a solution wherein there can be an external HDD to which the backups go, and later this can be retrieved and then cleared. Kind of like a piggyback ECU

I want to bridge two HDDs together and connect it via USB. I know in Mac OS we have an option to like bridge drives to make multiple drives into one, so trying to replicate something like that.

Originally Posted by beast_within

You can do the following if there is option in the DVR

1. Reduce the frame rate to 10 or 15, default is 25 I guess
2. Reduce the recording quality in the non critical areas/hours
3. Enable only motion sensitive recording (depends on your use-case)

above steps will reduce your storage requirements and increase the days before the footage is overwritten

While installing, I have decreased the resolution of all cameras. So I think i just have to reduce frame rate and record only movements. Thanks for the suggestion!

[CzechItaliaMoto]

Originally Posted by CzechItaliaMoto

Hi, we have a CCTV system installed in our building and I made a mistake of installing a 1TB hard disk as the storage drive. The footage is being erased within 20 days of recording, any backup suggestions are welcome. I had thought of installing a NAS connected to the CCTV system but the enclosures are really costly even without hard drives. Is there any way to bridge more than one hard disks using a SATA to USB adapter and plugging this into the DVR, or like are there any enclosures for sale which already do that?

Thanks in advance

UPDATE: Have done some research and this is what I have come up with:

Two 2TB surveillance drives from WD:
https://www.amazon.in/Purple-Interna...s%2C222&sr=8-3


One HDD docking station with two drive slots:
https://www.amazon.in/India-Docking-...s%2C195&sr=8-2


This will be placed on top of the DVR and there is an option to do periodical backups automatically in the user control panel. I have decided to enable that and hopefully this will be sufficient for holding 6 months of video footage.

The total cost comes out to be around 12k which is way less than what a NAS is currently priced at.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by CzechItaliaMoto

UPDATE: Have done some research and this is what I have come up with:

Two 2TB surveillance drives from WD:
https://www.amazon.in/Purple-Interna...s%2C222&sr=8-3


One HDD docking station with two drive slots:
https://www.amazon.in/India-Docking-...s%2C195&sr=8-2


This will be placed on top of the DVR and there is an option to do periodical backups automatically in the user control panel. I have decided to enable that and hopefully this will be sufficient for holding 6 months of video footage.

The total cost comes out to be around 12k which is way less than what a NAS is currently priced at.

Very Doubtful this will work for you. The PIbox is basically just a USB dock for two hard drives and it basically works like a HDD cloner (1 to 1 copying). The DVR will not have any logic built into its OS to allow writing to the external HDD connected thru USB.

Also, only if you have a NVR (Network video recorder) you can attach it to an external storage in NAS or SAN mode.

Best would be if you upgrade your DVR to a 2 x HDD model and then install 2x HDD in the DVR.
For 6 months, you will need at least 2x 8 TB HDD for retaining the recordings.

[sagarpadaki]

I have a query on NVR. I want to install two IP camera's. I do not know if NVR support Power Over Ethernet(PoE) by default or it depends on the model. I want a NVR with PoE to avoid an additional PoE switch.

[CzechItaliaMoto]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Very Doubtful this will work for you. The PIbox is basically just a USB dock for two hard drives and it basically works like a HDD cloner (1 to 1 copying). The DVR will not have any logic built into its OS to allow writing to the external HDD connected thru USB.

Also, only if you have a NVR (Network video recorder) you can attach it to an external storage in NAS or SAN mode.

Best would be if you upgrade your DVR to a 2 x HDD model and then install 2x HDD in the DVR.
For 6 months, you will need at least 2x 8 TB HDD for retaining the recordings.

Hi, I think I do have a NVR because I'm able to access the cameras without being present there, so do you think I should try plugging in an existing external HDD to see if the box is able to recognise and store things in it before going for the aforementioned setup?

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

I have a query on NVR. I want to install two IP camera's. I do not know if NVR support Power Over Ethernet(PoE) by default or it depends on the model. I want a NVR with PoE to avoid an additional PoE switch.

Hi Sagar,

Yes only some NVRs have POE ports - I recall the hikvision 7600 series NVRs had it - do check their current models for which ones have this feature.


Otherwise you can use a POE Switch like this along with a normal NVR.
https://www.amazon.in/Hikvision-DS-3...7N5BRR87&psc=1