IP camera setup for front of house

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Depending on where you mount it pan/tilt may be unnecessary and even unusable.

What kind of DVR are you using? Any kind of home automation controller?
 
Don't waste your money on a PTZ. SO MANY people waste money on them, they are only needed if you plan to monitor it 24/7, we use install them with companies that have security monitoring 24/7 and can control it.

What you want is a camera that is in the top left/top right corner and aims down at an angle. Don't put it directly overhead, you want that angle. I'd recommend you place it in the corner that is above your door knob to capture more of a person's face. If it were me, i'd place it right under your soffit, DON'T bother putting it up high in that ceiling area, it won't capture as much. PLUS it's added security if someone can see the camera. A place with exposed cameras is hit less then a place with no cameras or hidden cameras.

What you want is to SCARE them off first, and record their actions second, not the other way around. Once the damage/break in is done, it's done, your next step is to HOPE you can idenfity them.. scare them off first, and that solves more problems

Aim it so that when someone is standing there, you capture the top of their head plus another foot, and then cover the stairs if you can.

Now, have you given thoughts to what KIND of IP camera? What kind of NVR are you recording to, will they charge you a license fee to add a camera?
 
thanks for the input!!! im not sure yet what kind of camera. i have been seeing some qnap or synology that have NVR capabilities but havent gotten that deep into it yet
 
Personally, I'd go eye-level just off to the side of the door on the handle side. You want to fish the cable behind the camera to keep it all clean and keep the cable both hidden and secure. You want to be very obvious about what it is for deterrence as @Adam has already pointed out. Unfortunately fishing outside walls is a PITA with modern insulation & vapor barriers.

A small outdoor dome camera is probably best for this, like this one.

For home use keep the NVR cheap & simple. I use Blue Iris. Functional, stable and only $65 for unlimited camera license.
 
Not to thread hijack....

But how do you interface with these things? Are they simply seen as generic webcam like any other camera? Does the vendor supply the software? How good is this software? Any custom options out there?
 
Adam is correct with the PTZ function. Though they are really nice.. you really don't need for them unless your'e monitoring them 24/7.

jadams said:
Not to thread hijack....

But how do you interface with these things? Are they simply seen as generic webcam like any other camera? Does the vendor supply the software? How good is this software? Any custom options out there?
Click to expand...

The software I use at home is DS Controlpoint in conjunction with a Pelco NVR and its probably overkill, but is pretty powerfull.
 
Also a lot of the cheaper PTZ cameras are not meant to be setup on a guard tour. Moving them manually is fine but 24/7 moving on a tour will burn them out.
 
I was thinking about doing something similar but using a Raspberry Pi with a camera attachment. It would be quite easy to add motion capture, email alerts or something more visible like turning on a light.
 
The HDB3200C dahua looks real good. Looks like its powered over POE. How would be the ideal way to do this? Feed it to a Poe switch? So you wouldn t need a POE splitter?
 
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