I’m looking for a 3 or 4 camera set up to monitor and record the outside of the house while we’re out. I think I’d prefer a wired system as I could extend it to some outbuildings to keep an eye on our chickens, ducks and sheep. Not sure how long the cable run can be though.

I’ve been looking at Swann systems for around £300 which includes the recorder and 2 or 4 cameras but are there any others I should consider in a similar price range or any that I should avoid?

Thanks.

Why not a Foscam setup with a HD camera? It will trigger an email with attachments as soon as activity is encountered (set this up for your garage/bike area/house). You can also record/stream etc using a built in Dynamic DNS address supplied with the camera so no configuring services/port forwarding usually.

http://www.foscam.co.uk

I’m currently looking into this as well. I looked at the Swann gear, and from trawling cctv forums, it seems you can do better price wise for the same specs.

There’s a decent 4 channel 720p camera setup on Amazon which looks like a winner:

ANNKE 4CH 720P PoE NVR HD 1280*720P CCTV Camera System and 1TB HDD w/ 4 Weatherproof Superior Night Vision HD 720P Security Cameras System (HDMI Output, 1 Megapixels Hi-Resolution, Vandalproof/Weatherproof Metal Housing, P2P Technology/E-Cloud Service, Smartphone QR Code Scan Quick Access, PC Easy Remote Access)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NZWIZYS/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_a-xzvb0QRARH7

Its ONVIF compliant, and uses power over Ethernet cabling. This means you don’t have to use the supplied recorder to access the cameras, but can use your home PC network, with whatever software you choose.

The PoE cabling is a nice touch.

Other than that, I’m looking into individual 1080p PoE cameras from a company called Hikvision. They are about £90 each, but come highly recommend.

Ton may be able to help, I think?

I’m looking into individual 1080p PoE cameras from a company called Hikvision

I’ve got a couple of HIKvision 3MP cameras and have been quite impressed. Image quality is OK and the camera user interface is significantly better than any of the other cheap ones that I’ve used / looked at.

I’ve been to a few industrial sites where HIKvision cameras are being used and feedback seems generally positive.

Thanks for the replies so far. I’ve done a bit more reading over lunch.

If my thinking is correct then the NVR route rather than DVR would be more flexible. I’d only have to connect the cameras back to the LAN and not back to the NVR which could make for easier cable routing, especially if I use gigabit switches to save running many cables between floors.

I guess picture quality from the cameras is similar for both recording systems?

I’m putting together a 2-cam system using 2x3Mp Hikvision IP cameras (£120 delivered for the pair from Aliexpress), a Synology NAS running Surveillance station, a PoE ethernet switch and a UPS.

Despite having had all the kit since January, I’ve done jack-all with it so far 🙂

If my thinking is correct then the NVR route rather than DVR would be more flexible. I’d only have to connect the cameras back to the LAN and not back to the NVR which could make for easier cable routing, especially if I use gigabit switches to save running many cables between floors.

An NVR recording from IP cameras will normally be less affected by interference etc than a system using analogue cameras and a DVR – particularly over longer cable runs. An analogue camera is always going to need a signal cable and a separate power cable, so a PoE IP camera set up is generally a neater/simpler install. Given two cameras of equal quality, you are more likely to get a better quality recording from an IP-based system than an analogue camera and DVR (particularly a cheap one).

You need to make sure that the last LAN device that your cameras are connected into is PoE – i.e. the switch closest to the camera. How the connection then runs back to the NVR is up to you, provided you have enough bandwidth with the other traffic on the network.

Despite having had all the kit since January, I’ve done jack-all with it so far

Relax, there’s no point doing it until just before you’re burgled.

Relax, there’s no point doing it until just before you’re burgled.

Yes, but just think of the embarrassment if you’re too late and have to claim on your home insurance for the still-boxed CCTV kit…

Thanks all for your info. I hadn’t thought about needing PoE routers 😳

I’ve decided to go with an 8 channel IP system. Probably an inexpensive NVR such as this 8CH FULL H.264 1080P Onvif NVR (I’ll check it’ll record 1080p on all channels at the same time) plus a HDD and PoE router which should do the job of recording 24/7 and spend the money on cameras such as the Hikvision mentioned above.

As for network bandwidth we only use wifi for our gadgets and the cctv would be wired but if necessary I guess I could use a VLAN enabled router to keep the traffic separate.

Move? 😯

If I lived somewhere where I was having to seriously think about about putting up my own CCTV, my favourite web-site in the world would be rightmove

Move?

It’s to keep an eye on our free range chickens and ducks not for security although I guess it would be a deterrent. We lost a chicken at the weekend to a predator and although cctv wouldn’t have stopped it happening I’d like to know what killed it and which direction it came from. I’d also like to run a camera to the back field to keep an eye on our sheep.

Worth noting that most of the cheap IP cameras will output their stream to a network file share, so you may not necessarily need a dedicated DVR (just a PC or NAS). The HIKVision cameras come with a copy of their iVMS NVR software which you can install on a Windows PC if you have a ‘spare’ one lying around, or one that you’re happy to leave on 24h/day.

That’s brilliant. So I can leave buying an NVR to a later date if I feel I need one. In that case I think I’ll just order a HikVision camera or two and a PoE router to start with and give it a whirl.

Thanks again for all your help. It’s very much appreciated.

how about this?

interested in this.

is their anything wrong with a couple of the wireless ip cameras off ebay?

allthepies – Member
I’m putting together a 2-cam system using 2x3Mp Hikvision IP cameras (£120 delivered for the pair from Aliexpress), a Synology NAS running Surveillance station, a PoE ethernet switch and a UPS.

Been thinking about doing something with my Synology given it has the Surveillance Station stuff. Plenty of IP cameras and can get some quite cheap now. Would work wired or wireless. Shame it doesn’t do USB cameras as got plenty of crappy old webcams 😀

Surveillance station comes with a 2 camera “free” licence, any more than that and you have to buy additional licences from Synology (and they’re a rip off IMO).

The Hikvision camera software has motion detection built in so you can let the camera worry about that rather than get Surveillance Station to do it.

This is the camera I bought (2 of), DHL delivery in about 7 days for £125 all in for the pair.

I’ve ordered a similar Hikvision from Amazon but in bullet cam format. I’ll report back once I’ve set it up (this weekend hopefully if it arrives).

Those from AliExpress look good and I may get a pair myself once I’ve got my first one set up. Is there any additional tax or import duty to pay as they are quite a bit cheaper?

Import duty doesn’t apply as the goods amount is below threshold. I guess VAT might but in my case I had no additional charges. I *think* the vendor marked the goods cost low on the customs’s declaration, not at my insistence I might add.

allthepies – Member
Surveillance station comes with a 2 camera “free” licence, any more than that and you have to buy additional licences from Synology (and they’re a rip off IMO).

Ah, didn’t realise that. I assumed it was all part of the Synology package by buying the NAS.

Still, not sure I’d go with more than 2 or even 1. Not sure I really need it anyway, just that as it’s there and can get a cheap camera I may give it a go. Either permanently pointed at my bikes, or to spy on the postie/couriers who card me without knocking when I’m in the house 😈

Oh and AliExpress by all the reviews I look at seems to be full of crooks and scammers. More so than ebay. Terrible reviews.