You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
We moved into a rural place last year and it had an old wired cctv system in the barn / garage. It’s useless though as we don’t have a password so can’t access any footage.
We’re looking to replace it but not a clue where to start - baffling array on Amazon, many of which look to be rebranded versions of the same thing.
Wired is fine - all exposed beams etc so easy to run cables.
No WiFi over there so hard drive necessary
Needs 4 cameras, maybe 5.
Don’t need to it send stuff to my phone, just be able to get to footage if needed.
Any recommendations or do I just buy something cheap and cheerful like this:
That’s cheap because it’s pretty low tech these days (not networked cameras) which are also quite low resolution. Annke cameras are usually decent quality but their software is often not so great. So many options with camera systems these days, it really depends what you hope to achieve & what your budget is. Reolink is a popular mid-range option and then Hikvision is (or was) the default higher-end option (although somewhat morally dubious these days due to their Chinese gov. links 😬)
Surely there’s a way of hard-resetting what you’ve already got tho & setting a new password?
Can you not factory reset the existing system? I am assuming you have tried Googling what the default password is?
Hikvision are being black listed for government use so expect a follow on by consumers.
Any 1080p poe system will be a step up for daytime use night footage that is clear can be tricky in low light.
I have a reolink PoE system with an NVR in the loft - with the 5mpx AI cameras (they record all the time but in the app they identify vehicle movement and people movement). Frankly it's excellent - light years ahead of the old system I had (which looks like the one in the amazon link). If you're quick you'll catch their black friday deals.
We’re looking to go something soon too, we moved into the house and it has a four camera hikvision system with NVR but it’s not good. Only 2 cameras work great and the others just don’t! But the machine itself keeps beeping and resetting itself just randomly and isn’t reliable as even the mobile access just drops off randomly too.
Was wondering about getting a CCTV company in to upgrade the NVR and see what the better cameras are like compared to nowadays systems, what’s the usual cost for a normal system fitted? £400?
The Beeping and rebooting will probably caused by a knackered hard drive.
Depending on weather you have a NVR or DVR will make a difference in what needs fixing and price.
Was wondering about getting a CCTV company in to upgrade the NVR and see what the better cameras are like compared to nowadays systems, what’s the usual cost for a normal system fitted? £400?
Given a good system that a company might install will cost more than 400 quid, i expect you'd be looking at more like 2k (assuming they will install something decent and run ethernet cables everywhere). It's an easy DIY job tho.
I assume the security issue with Hikvision is the software and the use of their servers, and that if you install different software, the Hikvision hardware is safe. There are several alternative software products but I don't know how difficult they are to implement. If anyone has experience of that I'd be interested; I have Hikvision cameras and DVR, all running Hikvision products.
Was wondering about getting a CCTV company in to upgrade the NVR and see what the better cameras are like compared to nowadays systems, what’s the usual cost for a normal system fitted? £400?
It cost me just over £900 a couple of years back for a 2 camera (1440p) and NVR set-up, fitted. It's worked issue-free since (I think they recommend doing an annual maintenance visit but I've not bothered). Occasionally get the odd spider web over it but they blow away (I was recommended to get a turret style rather than dome mostly for this reason + rain drops on the dome can distort the image).
The NVR has a 4TB HDD, enough for about 14 days of continuous recording from both cameras before footage starts overwriting
The only disappointment is it's 25fps (I think) recording - which means whilst footage is very clear for stationary objects things like number plates and faces are blurry whilst moving (I needed footage as evidence to submit to the police so this was annoying at times).
you could obviously do it a LOT cheaper if you DIYd but yeah, for a professional to come out & survey to see what you actually need, then come back to fit it, plus the cost of the gear... so £400 for a complete system professionally installed a bit optimistic obviously!!It cost me just over £900 a couple of years back for a 2 camera (1440p) and NVR set-up, fitted.
Turret is almost always best, lots of reasons including security (with a turret you can have the cabling hidden behind the camera so it can't easily be tampered with).
that doesn't make any sense though, frame rate has nothing to do with blurriness. Think about it - a stills camera only takes 1 frame - the blurriness or not is down to other factors such as focus, exposure time, quality of night vision (hugely variable) etc. Higher frame rate will potentially get you more face-shots though if someone is moving quickly. You have other issues at play (hardware or software).The only disappointment is it’s 25fps (I think) recording – which means whilst footage is very clear for stationary objects things like number plates and faces are blurry whilst moving
Not something I've looked into but I didn't think peoples' problem with Hikvision was down to security, just who owns the company & their links to the Chinese gov. i.e. moral issues!!I assume the security issue with Hikvision is the software and the use of their servers, and that if you install different software, the Hikvision hardware is safe.
Just got some Unifi gear inc. cameras at work, really impressed with the whole system & incredibly easy to set-up plus software is great. They're a US company. Price makes Hikvision look cheap though 😂
Been very happy with my Reolink ones, the AI motion detection (for people/cars) works great. Stops a tree blowing in the wind or car headlights driving past from tripping the motion detection.
£370 for 4 turret cams that do 4K and the AI motion detection, plus the NVR, 2TB drive and cables etc at Amazon right now. https://www.amazon.co.uk/NEW%E3%80%91Reolink-Security-Digitally-Waterproof-RLK8-800D4/dp/B0814Z8H4Q/ . You just run a single ethernet cable from the NVR to where the camera goes. Comes with 18m long cables for each, easy to make up your own off a reel of cable if you needed longer.
If you want to grab numberplates then it needs extra consideration - you ideally want a camera pointing straight along where a car will drive up, with a zoom so lots of car is in the frame, and with some extra lighting (or IR) off at the side as the camera's own IR gets reflected back and washes it out.
that doesn’t make any sense though, frame rate has nothing to do with blurriness. Think about it – a stills camera only takes 1 frame – the blurriness or not is down to other factors such as focus, exposure time, quality of night vision (hugely variable) etc. Higher frame rate will potentially get you more face-shots though if someone is moving quickly. You have other issues at play (hardware or software).
You're correct, it's not the fps itself that's the issue (I knew as I was typing it it was wrong :p ), it's the exposure time of the sensor. I think someone on another thread suggested it was adjustable through the camera software (the trade-off being the the shorter the exposure time the less light will be captured) but I couldn't find such a setting myself and didn't get around to seeing if there was other software available to adjust the camera settings as the evidentiary requirement I had went away so the slightly blurred recording of moving objects isn't an issue anymore.
It's not a camera fault as such, I'm not talking about everything being a big blurry mess, I'm talking about a number plate 20 metres away being difficult to read completely whilst a car is moving
yeah if you have a specific use-case then things start getting complicated and you probably need to consider specifics (camera spec, lens, positioning etc) rather than just buying an off-the-shelf set & bolting them up! IPcamTalk is the go-to for all this kind of info/advice.If you want to grab numberplates then it needs extra consideration – you ideally want a camera pointing straight along where a car will drive up, with a zoom so lots of car is in the frame, and with some extra lighting (or IR) off at the side as the camera’s own IR gets reflected back and washes it out.
Blimey - it's a minefield!
After much googling and trial and error, finally found the default code and I'm into the system. Yay - kick the problem down the road for a bit longer 😉