Security surveillance camera

[OCD Solutions]

Screenshot from my PC...can you see the difference?

 

[OCD Solutions]

Not very impressed with the night vision...

 

[BruceSki]

Looks pretty clear to me?

 

[OCD Solutions]

I was being sarcastic. It's beyond any expectations I had.

I got the network setup today and got the Front Door camera installed and configured to send alerts. The app is on all our iphones and ipads so now my wife can check her device before she answers.

This was all prompted of course by her getting an email from ADT that there was a doorbell scam going on in our area and for people to be cautious. My hope is not to catch anyone, but rather to get them to just skip us altogether.



Got an email a little later saying that motion was detected...MY PACKAGE HAS ARRIVED!!!!

 

[OCD Solutions]

The icing on the cake, my camera just sent me an email to let me know, my package has arrived.

 

[OCD Solutions]

Pulled out the "tall" ladder today and installed 2 more cameras up under the peak of the roof. One overlooking the driveway and another looking out over the whole front yard and covering the road and a few of the neighbor's houses.

The Reolink client connect software is working great for remote viewing but I'm having a hell of a time getting them to integrate into the iSpy software so I can set up and manage recordings. I started to re-install the Milestone software before I headed to work so I will give it a go tomorrow to see if it plays any nicer.
EDIT: I figured out my problem and have ordered a new PC with 8 cores to run the software. Apparently cameras over 2MP demand a ton of processor and so I will have to ditch my core 2 for an i7 Duo Quad if I want to run 8-4MP cameras.

Here's the old view of our front yard with the Sony Ipela PTZ,



And here is the new view with the Reolink RLC-411 IP Camera.

 

[Peter123]

Pulled out the "tall" ladder today and installed 2 more cameras up under the peak of the roof. One overlooking the driveway and another looking out over the whole front yard and covering the road and a few of the neighbor's houses.

Well, based upon your 'limited' experience with Reolink, I went ahead and just now pulled the trigger on this Reolink complete system (it comes with 4 cameras but supports 8):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A22EYB2OIILVQA

I figured if I bought the four cameras, I'd already be at $320, so another $280 to get their NVR that supports up to 8 cameras was well worth it.

I was a little paranoid buying it since I couldn't find a single review of their complete NVR systems, but since I have yet to see such a great quality camera picture at that price, I figured I'd gamble. I was also afraid the price may jump up once they started having more exposure, assuming they have a high quality product.

I plan to eventually add this PTZ camera into the system:

http://www.amazon.com/Reolink-RLC-4...F8&qid=1442413292&sr=8-4&keywords=reolink#Ask

I'm sure I'll add three more cameras in the future to take it up to 8 total. Most likely I will have one PTZ in the back along with 1 PTZ in the front.

I was tempted to go with iSpy like you, but since I don't currently have a computer that would run it well, I figured I'd give their Reolink's appliance a shot. Additionally, after doing very brief reading on iSpy, I figured I'd want to pay for the Pro version which would mean I'd be at break even with this appliance within just a few years.

The sucky part is it won't be delivered until the end of October. But, at least that will be when my attic is cool when I run the cables (right now I have the old analog cables which I'll have to swap out).

 

[OCD Solutions]

Well I am starting to wish I had gone the same route as you with the NVR. In the end I think my system will be more flexible but the complete package would have just been so much less frustrating in the long run. Essentially I just added cameras to my MediaServer so the equipment expense is shared between multiple projects.

After I ordered the new PC last night, I installed the iSpy software on a much better PC and ran into the exact same issues. I even tried the iSpyPro and it did the same thing as well.

I am now attempting to install and configure the Milestone software to see if the issue follows the software or the cameras.

 

[Jetfiend]

Not a system, but this bothers me.

For $44 someone can look right into your house using your peep hole.

http://www.amazon.com/Shomer-Tec-SH...16227&sr=8-2&keywords=reverse+peephole+viewer





I'm considering giving this Lorex a try:

http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Chann...with-130'-Night-Vision.product.100153164.html

 

[Peter123]

I'm considering giving this Lorex a try:

http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-IP-NVR-with-2TB-HDD,-4-1080p-Cameras-with-130'-Night-Vision.product.100153164.html

That was one of the systems I was considering, and since I'm a bit of a Costco nut, it was hard to not make that purchase.

I decided the higher resolution cameras on the Reolink along with the great looking still's OCD posted along with it being $200 cheaper, was worth the risk of not having Costco's return policy.

A couple of other factors were:
I don't believe the Lorex cameras support ONVIF; therefore, if I ever wanted to setup a system like OCD's, those cameras might be worthless.
I see a lot of mixed reviews on Lorex. Yes, I didn't find a single review of the system I ordered, but I've never had a warm and fuzzy feeling with Lorex or Zmodo. Even Swann had me a little concerned.

In six to seven weeks, I should have a better idea of whether I chose wisely.

$599 for a system with such high resolution sees to be a little too good to be true.

 

[Jetfiend]

That was one of the systems I was considering, and since I'm a bit of a Costco nut, it was hard to not make that purchase.

I decided the higher resolution cameras on the Reolink along with the great looking still's OCD posted along with it being $200 cheaper, was worth the risk of not having Costco's return policy.

A couple of other factors were:
I don't believe the Lorex cameras support ONVIF; therefore, if I ever wanted to setup a system like OCD's, those cameras might be worthless.
I see a lot of mixed reviews on Lorex. Yes, I didn't find a single review of the system I ordered, but I've never had a warm and fuzzy feeling with Lorex or Zmodo. Even Swann had me a little concerned.

In six to seven weeks, I should have a better idea of whether I chose wisely.

$599 for a system with such high resolution sees to be a little too good to be true.

You're right, I don't want to get stuck using ONLY Lorex cameras. I would eventually like to add a PTZ that is programmed to constantly sweep in a pattern.

The first system I purchased form Costco was a Q-see HD POE, it was a $1700 8 - camera system. It was DOA, after 20 minutes on the phone with Costco concierge I was instructed to return it. Thankfully I was able to just walk into my local store and return it for full refund. That was almost 2 years ago and I'm still searching for a good system. I had the Uniden wireless 4 camera system up for a while, it was nice with OK picture quality, but nothing near what OCD posted and it had very limited recording capability.

The REOlink looks like a big bang for buck when comparing to these other systems. I need to do some more research to figure out what will fit my needs.

 

[Peter123]

Yeah, I've been researching for quite a while now. Once I saw the screen captures from OCD and then the price of that system, I figured it was time to pull the trigger. It was that or get off the pot.

I just knew that I wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time and get a low resolution system. My old system essentially would allow me to know that I should call the cops because "someone" in a vehicle which I couldn't give a plate number was at my house. In reality, is was useful in many ways, but it's been time to upgrade for well over a year.

You're right, I don't want to get stuck using ONLY Lorex cameras. I would eventually like to add a PTZ that is programmed to constantly sweep in a pattern.

The first system I purchased form Costco was a Q-see HD POE, it was a $1700 8 - camera system. It was DOA, after 20 minutes on the phone with Costco concierge I was instructed to return it. Thankfully I was able to just walk into my local store and return it for full refund. That was almost 2 years ago and I'm still searching for a good system. I had the Uniden wireless 4 camera system up for a while, it was nice with OK picture quality, but nothing near what OCD posted and it had very limited recording capability.

The REOlink looks like a big bang for buck when comparing to these other systems. I need to do some more research to figure out what will fit my needs.

 

[OCD Solutions]

Reolink must be fairly new on the scene as I am not coming up with much info on it at all.

I installed Milestone this afternoon and it offers no support for these cameras whatsoever. It's possible they install under a different manufacturer name but if so, I haven't uncovered that little detail yet. I even tried to install them as ONVIF which should be a generic standard and that didn't work either.

I ended up going back to iSpy and then connecting to the cameras secondary feed and have it working now. The secondary feed is a low res feed scaled for remote viewing and therefore not at full resolution like I have been posting. Perhaps that's with any camera system but what is the point of having a crystal clear image if that's not what get's recorded? Any investigation and fact gathering is going to need the full res to be of any use whatsover right?

 

[OCD Solutions]

I'm slowly getting the bugs worked out and all the settings dialed in for motion recording. Lot's of tweaking to get it to ignore bugs, light flashes, moving of trees and then even just pix-elation from using the low res video stream.

I played around with a high res stream today and was able to get much more accurate motion settings with fewer false alarms but even just one high res camera put my CPU usage over 90%. The new computer should be here next week and I should be able to go full resolution then.

 

[IS0LD0UT]

Had similar issues with motion detection in my sytem. Shadows from clouds even made it hard at times. I always wanted to go to a external perimeter motion detector. My dvr had a interface for that.

 

[OCD Solutions]

The iSpy software has a great interface with plenty of adjustability and options to customize.

I masked out the entire sky on my front yard camera and then started boxing in areas like my mailbox and setting up alerts.

 

[Mark44]

I think I would have to move if I needed camera's around my home.

 

[OCD Solutions]

I think I would have to move if I needed camera's around my home.

I would too. And let's be clear, this is a want, not a need. For me it's just one of those projects that has always been on my list of things to do and now I have the means to do it. I've patched together several systems over the years but never anything like this current one.

My 2 greatest uses of the system to date is to see if the mail has come yet or if it's the pizza guy or the neighbor's crazy kid, (or wife) at the front door.
Although I did catch it on camera when that same crazy kid started a fire in the bushes...The walk of shame as the policeman walked the kid back to his house to tell the parents is priceless, lol.

I got my wife's buy in because she wants to know which neighbor is allowing their dog to crap on our lawn and then not pick up after it.

 

[swapmeet]

I need to play with my Swann System more. It has a ton of features but I kinda just plugged it in, mounted cameras, installed their app and let it ride.

Still need to add cameras.

Your gear looks awesome @OCD Solutions but I would be out if I had to mess with all that software.

 

[OCD Solutions]

You gotta know I thrive on such projects though.

It bears noting that I have been the admin on a few large scale camera systems at work, the largest boasting a few hundred cameras, so setting up the software and tweaking settings is just another day at work for me. Thankfully, I was paid by the hour to learn most of what I know about surveillance cams and software.

I figure that the time spent now will mean less time later. Those DVR systems typically record 24/7 and so you have to sift through everything to see anything. Multiply that by the number of cameras you have and that task gets pretty daunting. Set up the motion correctly, (on any system) and you just have to breeze through the highlights. Delete the odd false trigger and then archive anything worth saving. In the past 7 months, I have only archived video from 3 different events.