Morshu 0 Posted December 3, 2014 Hi guys, Not too familiar with camera systems, but I'm pretty technical and pick things up quickly. I'm looking to get something with: 8-12 cameras Cable runs of less than 300 feet Remote monitoring accessible via iPhone (If the alarm trips, the alarm company calls responsible individual who can check the cameras to see if anything looks foul on-site) Night vision Indoor/Outdoor use I'm looking to do it myself to save money. I like the concept of recording on motion detection. Should I do IP cameras? I feel like that's the most future-proof option at this point from what I've read. Should I buy an NVR or use an old spare computer? I have an old 2.83 GHz quad-core Xeon box at my disposal that I could fit with a couple new hard drives and more ram, but I'm not sure of what software would be ideal and if this box could handle it. Software recommendations? I don't really like the idea of WiFi cameras, as there's just one more thing to go wrong in that system. Plus the camera needs power anyway so I might as well run ethernet to each cam and power it through PoE. Feel free to ask any questions. I'm looking to spend less than $2000. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boogieman 1 Posted December 3, 2014 Hi guys,Not too familiar with camera systems, but I'm pretty technical and pick things up quickly. I'm looking to get something with: 8-12 cameras Cable runs of less than 300 feet Remote monitoring accessible via iPhone (If the alarm trips, the alarm company calls responsible individual who can check the cameras to see if anything looks foul on-site) Night vision Indoor/Outdoor use I'm looking to do it myself to save money. I like the concept of recording on motion detection. Should I do IP cameras? I feel like that's the most future-proof option at this point from what I've read. Should I buy an NVR or use an old spare computer? I have an old 2.83 GHz quad-core Xeon box at my disposal that I could fit with a couple new hard drives and more ram, but I'm not sure of what software would be ideal and if this box could handle it. Software recommendations? I don't really like the idea of WiFi cameras, as there's just one more thing to go wrong in that system. Plus the camera needs power anyway so I might as well run ethernet to each cam and power it through PoE. Feel free to ask any questions. I'm looking to spend less than $2000. IP is the way to go. You dont want to run an old xeon...its a power hog and will cost more than you save to run it 24/7... NVR's a very stable and plug and play (generally)... PC's are more flexible and let you choose cameras from multiple manufacturers... Hikvision and dahua are brands to look at. How many cameras are you considering? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
