agurkas 0 Posted June 17, 2014 Looking to do a 6 outside camera system. Dome or bullet I don't care about. What matters to me the most is highest resolution and nigh time clarity. 100'/30M would be great. For NVR remote viewing and motion detection is key. Was hoping to keep it all (including NVR) under $1K. This system would be for my house. Should I get something like this Lorex (bit outside of my price range) http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-Stratus-HD-NVR-Security-System-with-2TB-HDD-and-6-1080p-Cameras.product.100048586.html Or is there particular Hikvision camera you would recommend and place you would recommend I get them from? I am comfortable with Aliexpress, as long the seller is reputable. Not sure if we get hit with importation fees when shipped to US. I do have Synology DS-112J unit, but it may or may not be powerful enough to handle 6 streams. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
milkisbad 0 Posted June 17, 2014 Costco is one of the least expensive source, even less than many distributors. I tried to do a quote for you for the same Costco package and came up at $1383.00 (not including shipping andwithout the bundle stuff like 100' cables haha (well our cameras are 3 MP instead of 1080 P ) and our cameras are actually on sale! Costco is driving small businesses out ... Well we have 3 year warranty on NVR and cameras...and we use the WD purple surveillance HD but costco has i think 2 years...Aliexpress has like no warranty unless you are willing to spend $70-80 to ship it back to get serviced and god knows how many months that will take to return it back to you. The question is are you willing to pay more for service given the quality is almost the same? You're just another number if you buy it from Costco, but you'll be a valued customer if you buy from a smaller distributor. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
agurkas 0 Posted June 17, 2014 Well... Costco does buy huge quantities and they only mark them up 15% max. It may make sense for me to buy 4 camera system from Costco and then get 2 more of the 3MP ones from somewhere to augment cover driveway and back of the house where shot would be like 100 feet to the closest camera. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
milkisbad 0 Posted June 17, 2014 Make sure you get a 8 ch NVR with 4 camera kit instead of 4 ch NVR with 4 cameras lol, the writings on specs are not that clear sometimes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buellwinkle 0 Posted June 17, 2014 The problem I heard is Hikvision cameras are not compatible with Lorex. For example, if you buy the Lorex NVR from Costco, you are stuck buying only Lorex cameras. So what does that mean to you? It means you can't chose the same camera with a different lens, for example you may want to use a narrow field of view lens for side yards, like 6mm or 12mm or you may want to use a cube camera indoors with mic & speaker, or a varifocal lens camera. A lower cost alternative using Hikvision may be to buy the cameras and chose them by location and then use a spare PC to run the free iVMS4200 PCNVR software to do the recording. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
agurkas 0 Posted June 17, 2014 I definitely will need cameras with different lenses, because I go with all 4MM one, I will need close to 10 to cover the perimeter. That would get too expensive. That definitely is discouraging enough for me to skip Costco one. But now I need to figure out which Hikivision cameras are best for my situation. Wouldn't bullet ones be better, since all are going on the outside walls not under roof? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buellwinkle 0 Posted June 17, 2014 I like bullets because they are easy to install, have flat glass so not as susceptible to glare and reflections like a curved surface. I like domes in some cases where the camera has to be mounted lower and reachable because they are typically vandal proof. Also, the in-between is the eyeball camera that Hikvision calls the turret. And there's specialty cameras like covert or PTZ cameras. Alternatively to Hikvision in that price range is Dahua, made in the same town, they represent the 2 largest surveillance camera manufacturers in the world. But being from China, support is not ideal but resellers and distributors in the U.S. have picked up much of that slack. There are several OEM's for both these like Lorex, Q-See, LTS, Swann. The next step up are the Taiwan companies, they've had a presence in the U.S. for sometime now and used to handling customer support, service & warranty like ACTi, Messoa, Geovision, Vivotek. Figure their cameras are double the Chinese cameras in price. The next step up from Taiwan are the European, Japanese, American companies, Axis, Mobotix, Avigilon, Bosch, Panasonic, Sony. Figure their cameras are double the Taiwan cameras in price. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
noname 0 Posted June 17, 2014 I definitely will need cameras with different lenses, because I go with all 4MM one, I will need close to 10 to cover the perimeter. That would get too expensive.That definitely is discouraging enough for me to skip Costco one. But now I need to figure out which Hikivision cameras are best for my situation. Wouldn't bullet ones be better, since all are going on the outside walls not under roof? That will be the cheapest bundle you can find. If you buy these parts separately, it will be more expensive. Since you get 2TB HDD, all the cables included as well. HDD itself is like $100 for surveillance graded. You can purchase the Hikvision system from ADI, can choose 2.8mm lens option. But you would have to pay more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
milkisbad 0 Posted June 18, 2014 What is ADI? Largest security products distributor in the US. But I don't think they sell to end user and DIY'ers. Costco has good prices only in bundles, ADI has good prices on even 1 camera. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
agurkas 0 Posted June 18, 2014 Well... I am a co-founder of a tech company. Should not be too hard to get a commercial account Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
noname 0 Posted June 18, 2014 Well... I am a co-founder of a tech company. Should not be too hard to get a commercial account yah, just about anybody can open an account with ADI. Though it might be easier for you to just purchase from some of Hikvision OEM like LTS. http://www.ltsecurityinc.com/ currently they carry the most models Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
milkisbad 0 Posted June 18, 2014 I though ADI would be more strict with customer selection since they are a corporate company! Does anyone get their Flyer and catalog regularly? I would love to read it! PM me if you have it please Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
