Thanks, I just looked up those terms, and it seems to be the right track.
Amcrest is good, but get 8MP cameras and supply your own WD helium-sealed Enterprise class hard drive. You can get an 8-channel system that supports up to 6TB. A good drive will cost about $300, but it’s worth it for the reliability.
Thanks, I just looked up those terms, and it seems to be the right track.
Amcrest is good, but get 8MP cameras and supply your own WD helium-sealed Enterprise class hard drive. You can get an 8-channel system that supports up to 6TB. A good drive will cost about $300, but it’s worth it for the reliability.
If night vision is important, I’d avoid 8MP cameras. Go with 4MP 1/1.8" sensor cameras like the Dahua Starlight+ instead. 8MP cameras struggle with low-light capture, and you end up with more motion blur and grainy footage. As for hard drives, I’d recommend a WD Purple—they’re built for this kind of use and are pretty reliable.
Go for a PoE IP camera system. Amcrest offers 6 4K cameras with a 6TB drive for around $1,000. Avoid Wi-Fi cameras like Arlo, Nest, or Ring, as they’ll clog up your network. If you’re comfortable running the cables, this is the way to go. You can even set it up so that the cameras don’t all have to connect directly to the NVR.
You can definitely meet your budget with this setup. What do you mean by ‘closed circuit’? And do you want remote access to the cameras when you’re away? Also, how tech-savvy are you?
Sarahkey said:
You can definitely meet your budget with this setup. What do you mean by ‘closed circuit’? And do you want remote access to the cameras when you’re away? Also, how tech-savvy are you?
By ‘closed circuit,’ I mean no internet access for the system, but I’m open to having local storage that I can monitor from my phone without using cloud storage. As for tech skills, I’ve built a few computers and set up LANs, but camera systems are new to me.
Sarahkey said:
You can definitely meet your budget with this setup. What do you mean by ‘closed circuit’? And do you want remote access to the cameras when you’re away? Also, how tech-savvy are you?
By ‘closed circuit,’ I mean no internet access for the system, but I’m open to having local storage that I can monitor from my phone without using cloud storage. As for tech skills, I’ve built a few computers and set up LANs, but camera systems are new to me.
So are you okay with the system being on your home network but not storing data on the cloud? That way you can still access it on your phone but keep it off the cloud.
Kevin said: Sarahkey said:
You can definitely meet your budget with this setup. What do you mean by ‘closed circuit’? And do you want remote access to the cameras when you’re away? Also, how tech-savvy are you?
By ‘closed circuit,’ I mean no internet access for the system, but I’m open to having local storage that I can monitor from my phone without using cloud storage. As for tech skills, I’ve built a few computers and set up LANs, but camera systems are new to me.
So are you okay with the system being on your home network but not storing data on the cloud? That way you can still access it on your phone but keep it off the cloud.
Exactly. I’d like a system that’s not dependent on the internet for storage but can be monitored remotely if needed.
Here’s my setup: I run a pfsense firewall with a separate network for my cameras (no internet). For remote access, I VPN into my firewall. I use a Synology NAS for storage and run Blue Iris on a Dell Optiplex as my NVR. My cameras are from Dahua, and I avoid giving them internet access for security reasons. This can all be done well under your budget, as long as you’re comfortable setting up firewalls and running cables.