Looking for security camera setup advice for large home

Helping a friend set up security cameras in a large house. We can only run Cat 6 to two locations, but the rest of the house has spray insulation, so drilling isn’t an option. There are several floodlights around the house where we could tap into power for cameras like Ring Floodlight or something similar.

We are looking to install around ten cameras in total and want a mix of wired and wireless options with good motion detection and reliable alerts. Any recommendations for a solid security camera system that would work well in this setup?

Check out Reolink. They have both wired and wireless cameras, and their Color 24/7 models offer full-color night vision.

Brown said:
Check out Reolink. They have both wired and wireless cameras, and their Color 24/7 models offer full-color night vision.

I was considering them but wasn’t sure where their servers are located. Do you know if they are based outside the US?

@Pedro
Yes, their servers are based outside the US, but if you avoid using P2P, it won’t really matter. You can set up port forwarding with a strong password or use a VPN to access the cameras securely.

@Brown
Got it, thanks for the info.

@Brown
If P2P is disabled, will motion alerts still work? How reliable is the motion detection?

Pedro said:
@Brown
If P2P is disabled, will motion alerts still work? How reliable is the motion detection?

Yes, you can set up motion alerts via email using SMTP. The motion detection works well, but it doesn’t have advanced AI features. If you need person or vehicle detection, you might need a more expensive system.

What’s your budget and how many cameras are you looking for?

Marc said:
What’s your budget and how many cameras are you looking for?

Budget is around $2,000 to $4,000 including installation, and we need about ten cameras.

Pedro said:

Marc said:
What’s your budget and how many cameras are you looking for?

Budget is around $2,000 to $4,000 including installation, and we need about ten cameras.

With that budget, you should look into a Dahua or Hikvision PoE system. They offer good reliability and image quality.