CCTV Costs?

[ihadablackdog]

So we are going to get cctv at home.

I want a poe system so that I can record 24/7 with big enough storage to record at a useable resolution/bit rate etc etc, obviously number of cameras, resolution and retention will inform that choice.

Capable of installing it myself apart from running the cables to make it neat....house has cavity wall insulation so that takes one option away, so I was thinking of running it behind a gutter to the soffit and into the roof, then drop it down into the room with the nvr.

But there’s no way I’m going up a ladder that high...slipped once and sh1t my pants I’m surprised none of you smelt it!

Stepladder is my limit

I know there’s lot of different cameras/systems available and I’m thinking we need at least 4 camera’s but would want the option to add more.

So, going to get a local security company out to quote. They installed our alarm 20 years ago and annually service it. They will also be able to advise on location/number and type of camera....my idea of 4 may well be wrong.

Now to my question....assuming the nvr is in the £300-400 range, and cameras roughly £100 each (some can be had for less), how do they charge to run cables?

It is distance based or time based or they just estimate going on experience, regardless of distance or time? Wondering what would be a reasonable cost to run the cables, accept that’s impossible to answer on here as you don’t know the house, but can anyone give me a rough guide? One of them will be really easy but the other 3 tricky, is £100 each drop reasonable?

Is there a general figure that would be a reasonable guide to start from?

4 bedroom detached house.

 

[Chris_D]

Cables??? lol what an expensive faff.
Sack cables and just get a wifi-camera system.
Most systems nowadays come with their own IP controller. You just need to make sure it's behind your own router firewall.
https://www.techradar.com/best/best-wireless-home-security-cameras

 

[mr.tourette]

next door neighbors had a decent quality 2 camera system with hard drive storage installed last month, images are strong and clear from what I have seen, no idea of any brands but was professionally installed..£500

 

[Pondrew]

What about a wireless system? Something like this as an example https://www.screwfix.com/p/chacon-34539-4-channel-wireless-ip-hd-dvr-2-cameras/589hf.
The only problem then would be your issue with heights, as you would be limited to installing the cameras at approx 10ft up, which could easily be tampered with by anyone with a spray can and you would also limit the viewing range.

 

[PDJ]

Try these I got my 2 camera system form them

http://www.aaacctv.co.uk/

 

[dhobbs]

I have installed the eufy wifi cctv system.
It's not to your requirements but was easy to install.
It has an internal 16gb storage and the cameras are battery powered. No subscription which is what I liked plus the wifi meant no cables to run in.

Worth a look.

 

[M1k3yC]

I have something similar that I installed mostly myself two years ago. A five port PoE switch, four 5MP PoE cameras, and a 2TB NVR came in at under £500. I can't directly answer your question because dad and I did most of the cabling but I paid my alarm installer to fix cable to the underside of my gable which extends out slightly at the front of my house. For the same reason as you - I have a 1930s house (high ceilings) and I'm not confident working off a ladder that needs to extend from my drive to the ceiling height of my first floor. He just charged for his time and it was a quick job.

I'm not sure how long my system would be able to record all cameras for constantly, though, so I've set it up to be motion activated and it's reliable enough although the highest camera struggles to pick up people on the ground sometimes. I did work out how much footage I had space for when I got it but I can't remember now (sorry). You could do a combination of some cameras motion activated and others recording all the time. I can configure mine to trigger the others to record if I want to although I'm not sure that works every time. These are just alternative options if you want footage going back over a longer period of time but don't want to shell out for an enormous hard drive.

I looked at wireless but often you need to either cable them anyway to supply power or periodically change a battery. I haven't had to physically mess with my cameras in two years apart from to brush some cobwebs off! The other reason I prefer PoE is that you can keep the traffic off your wireless network and decent cameras will take a chunk of bandwidth if they are recording all the time. Depending on the configuration of your house, you may be able to keep all of the traffic from the video streams off your home network because you can typically run PoE straight into the NVR and avoid any network switch or router with ethernet ports you may have. Another reason that I didn't want wireless is that for someone to try and access wired cameras they have to physically connect to whatever network the cameras are on. Admittedly, very few people are likely to try and gain access to your cameras but that's just how I think.

Oh, make sure the ethernet cabling you run outside is suitable for outdoor application and will stand up to the weather.

 

[ihadablackdog]

Thanks, sounds similar to what I’m looking for, would prefer all cameras to record all the time, but hadn’t thought of mixing some to be motion and some constant.

Would want to keep probably 3 weeks generally, not much point going away for 2 weeks only to find you were burgled on day 1 but it only keeps 7 days worth lol.

I think a wired system is the better option as Wi-fi can get interference etc. Think how a hardwired Ethernet from router to computer is better than Wi-fi, especially a distance away through walls etc. And powerline isn’t infallible.

And keeping the traffic off normal network is a benefit. Would need a cable from the nvr to router to enable remote viewing, but that’s not the same as all cameras going straight onto network.

As you say, with a Wi-fi option you still have to power it, either with cable or battery, but I don’t think the battery ones record full time.

I think the preferred height is 7 or 8ft so that you get a facial shot, not just the top of people’s heads, but yes, too low and they can be damaged. Ideally I’d like one high up to give an overall view of the area and then lower to capture more detail, but that increases my 4 camera option, but 4 cameras is never going to cover every blind spot.

£500 for 2 camera system sounds good, depends on the equipment used and how difficult the install was of course but I’m expecting it to be over £1k supplied and fitted, or like you, buy my own kit at possibly £500 - £800 and pay for installation. If I do that though it might not be any cheaper and if there’s a problem it’s just easier to point the finger at the installer if they’ve done the lot.

 

[dhobbs]

My eufy system is activated on motion which is configurable and the batteries last up to six months on my models.
Some of the eufy cameras last up to 12 months but at a lower resolution.
I've not had any issues with WiFi interference.
I can also access the video from my phone which is useful for checking the kids have left for school

Don't want to change your mind on the hard wired options but don't discount the wireless one as they are very good.

 

[ihadablackdog]

My eufy system is activated on motion which is configurable and the batteries last up to six months on my models.
Some of the eufy cameras last up to 12 months but at a lower resolution.
I've not had any issues with WiFi interference.
I can also access the video from my phone which is useful for checking the kids have left for school

Don't want to change your mind on the hard wired options but don't discount the wireless one as they are very good.

I do see the benefits of Wi-fi options, but in this case I want wired....

We have a ring doorbell which is wireless and it’s ok, but the motion detection is hit and miss...sometimes the person has been to the door and not pressed the button and the camera just catches them walking away. Other times it’s good.

Considered the floodlight camera also but would prefer a dedicated system.

However, the links given so far give me something to consider.

 

[DPG]

I’ve got a cobra dvr with 3 wired cameras and a 4TB surveillance drive. Permanent recording and get about 4 weeks recording

Recordings / live view is accessed via the smart eyes pro app on iOS and Android.

Camera quality is great during the day but not brilliant at night so I’m thinking of upgrading the camera’s to Hikvision ColorVu.

 

[sp3ctre]

First off, if you want proper CCTV (i.e. not just keeping an eye out for when Amazon arrives) you will want wired. You will also want it to record all the time as motion activation can be temperamental. Storage is cheap (ish) so unless you have 10 cameras you can easily have it record 24/7.

With reasonable resolution cameras they can chew up wifi bandwidth quite quickly too.

In terms of what camera to get the lens is important (much more important than megapixels!). Here is a guide:



Also worth doing research on which cameras are better at night. Dahua Starlight cameras for example are so good in low light that providing there is a small amount of ambient light they stay in colour mode at night time. This would be useful if you wanted to see the colour of the intruders jacket etc.

I went the home brew method, using Blue Iris software on an old Dell PC (desktop PC's with newer processors work much better than servers for CCTV!). Threw in an 8TB Hard Drive and it works really well with 6 cameras.

 

[mgrlane]

I recently installed a camera on my property.

I used the following:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08H8F7PS3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08GYKNCCP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I paid £80 for the camera and it looks like it's just over 55 quid now!

It saves to the memory card and the app runs off wifi (you can pay for a cloud service if you so choose).

The app's decent. it has an option for the LED's to be permanently on or flash on person or motion detect. My sisters husband used to install these for a living so I asked him to recommend one for me.

You can run multiple cameras off the app but just need a power source for the camera's.

I just ran the cable through a hole in the wall where a TV Arial comes in- took about an hour to install.

 

[mgrlane]

I’ve got a cobra dvr with 3 wired cameras and a 4TB surveillance drive. Permanent recording and get about 4 weeks recording

Recordings / live view is accessed via the smart eyes pro app on iOS and Android.

Camera quality is great during the day but not brilliant at night so I’m thinking of upgrading the camera’s to Hikvision ColorVu.

7737C2EC-B881-435E-959F-FF96B84BAF6C.jpeg

C866A470-4E96-4E2E-A5CA-5112C77AF87A.jpeg

From the picture it looks like you might need to give your E85 a clean and a polish oke:

 

[ihadablackdog]

First off, if you want proper CCTV (i.e. not just keeping an eye out for when Amazon arrives) you will want wired. You will also want it to record all the time as motion activation can be temperamental. Storage is cheap (ish) so unless you have 10 cameras you can easily have it record 24/7.

With reasonable resolution cameras they can chew up wifi bandwidth quite quickly too.

In terms of what camera to get the lens is important (much more important than megapixels!). Here is a guide:

upload_2019-3-13_16-51-47.png

Also worth doing research on which cameras are better at night. Dahua Starlight cameras for example are so good in low light that providing there is a small amount of ambient light they stay in colour mode at night time. This would be useful if you wanted to see the colour of the intruders jacket etc.

I went the home brew method, using Blue Iris software on an old Dell PC (desktop PC's with newer processors work much better than servers for CCTV!). Threw in an 8TB Hard Drive and it works really well with 6 cameras.

That’s the other thing I’m not sure about is the lens, 2.8 being wide angle I read that that the person has to be quite close to be seen properly?

Booked the company to come and look, but not till early June when I can be home in the day.

Blue Iris though needs a pc (cheaper then nvr) but doesn’t that just put all the cameras on the main network then, with bandwidth concerns?

 

[TitanTim]

Ring Cam hooked up to a solar panel linked to Alexa, job done.

The Neos cams are good as well which pick up movement through glass, mains powered and linked to Alexa when movement sensed.

All inexpensive and work well.

Tim.

 

[ihadablackdog]

Ring Cam hooked up to a solar panel linked to Alexa, job done.

The Neos cams are good as well which pick up movement through glass, mains powered and linked to Alexa when movement sensed.

All inexpensive and work well.

Tim.

We have the ring doorbell camera which works well for it’s purpose but don’t want to get deeper into that ecosystem, but yes,like a lot of similar systems, they are easy to do.

 

[ihadablackdog]

Thank you to everyone who’s taken the time so far to post, can’t reply to all of them, but they are appreciated.

 

[PDJ]

Here is an image from my fixed and PTZ cameras at 3am with the street light on (20mph sign)

Was going to file too big maybe try harder latter

 

[sp3ctre]

That’s the other thing I’m not sure about is the lens, 2.8 being wide angle I read that that the person has to be quite close to be seen properly?

See my chart in my last post

Blue Iris though needs a pc (cheaper then nvr) but doesn’t that just put all the cameras on the main network then, with bandwidth concerns?

Yes it does, but with gigabit LAN it doesn't cause too much trouble. Also, you could plug the PC and cameras into the same switch and then the rest of your network won't be affected.