Building a new house. Have requested a few runs of cat6 to the external corners of the house thinking this could be used for cameras, but would like to check here if anyone has any tips on brands or features or other items to consider? Minimum resolution or megapixels? Anything to consider for recording devices or streaming services?

If possible you might want one or two cameras up high and wireless. You never know when some crafty burglar might 'disable' the ones that are attached and hard wired.

Our equipment that is hard wired is in conduit so they would need a hacksaw and/or channel locks to start chipping away at it. Two cameras up on a 12 ft pole to cover the roof and exterior. We went with a good local company and have a cell backup that is instant alert.

If you happen to be around Central Texas, look at Dyess.

I would recommend the Hikvision POE cameras. I have installed about 25 of them and only have one failure in 3+ years and that was a unit that was up in a tree and the connector got full of water.

Nelly's Security out of Tulsa is where I buy all of mine. They are white labeled versions of the Hikvision units but still have the 3 year warranty.

You will need a POE switch to run them as that is what provides power and will install that where every the other ends of the Cat5/6 terminate (closet, utility room, etc)

I would say get at least the 4 megapixel cameras, that will be higher than 1080P quality and is plenty good to make a description of someone. That being said, when I bought my first cameras I paid around $180 for 3 Mp cameras, and then about 1 year later the 4 Mp cameras were down to $150, so prices do fall over time obviously.

Another thing on the Hikvision, there are people on Amazon selling the Chinese version for $30-50 less, but they are firmware locked and cannot be upgraded, so I always avoided. Hikvision is pretty good about releasing firmware regularly that gives new features and security upgrades. The chinese version either will brick or revert to all chinese when upgraded.

Finally, on the DVR, Nelly's also sells the Hikvision NVRs. I installed a 32 camera unit for a customer and it has been running for 18 months with no issues. It can hold 3 or 4 HDs up to 4 Terabytes and remote access is built in and they have Android and Iphone apps that are free.

IMO, I never understood the fascination with a wireless IP camera. You still have to power it and then you have a camera that may drop signal if it loses the wifi connection. Maybe they have gotten better, but when I did my research many people would have cameras that would go in/out frequently with a wireless camera. Now something completely wireless with batteries that last months would be good in certain situations.

What aggiez03 said.

I just installed 5 POE cameras plus 2 TB NVR at my house. System can hold up to 8 cameras.

They're a mix of 2.1mp and 3.1mp cameras and have a pretty good image. Supposedly they're manufactured by HIKVision, just the in house brand, called W Box Technologies. So far so good.

I helped a friend run cable for cameras in his attic last year. The builder had run conduit from different sections of his attic to facilitate running cable in the future.

In addition to running cable where you think you might want something, I would ask for the conduit above if not already included.

I purchased a PoE Q-See system from Costco earlier this year and have been happy with the setup.

I would recommend PoE & Cat-6 cables, since I'd imagine that will be the standard for cameras and NVRs for years to come, in case you want to upgrade down the road.

aggiez03 said:

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I would recommend the Hikvision POE cameras. I have installed about 25 of them and only have one failure in 3+ years and that was a unit that was up in a tree and the connector got full of water.

Nelly's Security out of Tulsa is where I buy all of mine. They are white labeled versions of the Hikvision units but still have the 3 year warranty.

You will need a POE switch to run them as that is what provides power and will install that where every the other ends of the Cat5/6 terminate (closet, utility room, etc)

I would say get at least the 4 megapixel cameras, that will be higher than 1080P quality and is plenty good to make a description of someone. That being said, when I bought my first cameras I paid around $180 for 3 Mp cameras, and then about 1 year later the 4 Mp cameras were down to $150, so prices do fall over time obviously.

Another thing on the Hikvision, there are people on Amazon selling the Chinese version for $30-50 less, but they are firmware locked and cannot be upgraded, so I always avoided. Hikvision is pretty good about releasing firmware regularly that gives new features and security upgrades. The chinese version either will brick or revert to all chinese when upgraded.

Finally, on the DVR, Nelly's also sells the Hikvision NVRs. I installed a 32 camera unit for a customer and it has been running for 18 months with no issues. It can hold 3 or 4 HDs up to 4 Terabytes and remote access is built in and they have Android and Iphone apps that are free.

IMO, I never understood the fascination with a wireless IP camera. You still have to power it and then you have a camera that may drop signal if it loses the wifi connection. Maybe they have gotten better, but when I did my research many people would have cameras that would go in/out frequently with a wireless camera. Now something completely wireless with batteries that last months would be good in certain situations.

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Can you recommend any one to install a residential system (I've already spoken with Nelly) in the Austin area?

I don't know of anyone in Austin....

It is not too hard, I could probably assist you remotely in setting up the software side of things using TeamViewer. Obviously, I cannot run cable or install cameras remotely.

You would have to do the cable runs from each camera location back to a central cabinet or closet and mount the cameras. if you are handy it all, you probably could install 4 cameras in a half day.

The hardest part is running the cables and terminating the Cat 5/6 cable, but you could buy pre-terminated cable which would eliminate the termination.

It's the running the cables I don't want to mess with. I guess I can find an electrician to do it, but that's just going to add to my cost. House was wired for some security (motion detectors,) but not for cameras.

Thanks for all the tips.

Wasnt sure if resolution is more important than frames per second. Do you find the higher resolution cameras have better nighvision sensitivity? I would assume the same logic for digital SLR's would apply here that newer sensors would have more resolution and more sensitivity.

Would you recommend buying a kit with the cameras and poe switch/dvr/cpu all in one or is there much advantage in that?

Also, sounds like the tech is growing pretty quick as your 3MP was quickly replaced with 4MP. Seeing that the house will be not be finished around November, does it make sense to wait until Black Friday to buy everything?

This looks to be a pretty good deal - 8 channel, 4x4MP cameras...
http://www.bjs.com/lorex-8-channel-4-camera-4mp-security-system-with-2tb-hdd-nvr.product.3000000000000849586

Same kit at Costco's:
https://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-HD-IP-NVR-with-2TB-HDD%2c-4-4MP-Cameras-with-130'-Night-Vision.product.100336726.html

One thing to consider when running to corners of house are the gutter locations. I fell victim to this in my recent build. I know I can move it but I haven't had a chance.

pnut02 said:

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This looks to be a pretty good deal - 8 channel, 4x4MP cameras...
http://www.bjs.com/lorex-8-channel-4-camera-4mp-security-system-with-2tb-hdd-nvr.product.3000000000000849586

Same kit at Costco's:
https://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-HD-IP-NVR-with-2TB-HDD%2c-4-4MP-Cameras-with-130'-Night-Vision.product.100336726.html

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Just bought this package from BJ's. Thanks for the heads-up.

If you could post what you think of the Lorex system when you get it in, I would appreciate it. One of the items on my honey-do list is to get a security camera system for my MIL's house out in the country. From reading the specs, it would seem that this system would be a good fit.

Will do!

Foamcows said:

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Building a new house. Have requested a few runs of cat6 to the external corners of the house thinking this could be used for cameras, but would like to check here if anyone has any tips on brands or features or other items to consider? Minimum resolution or megapixels? Anything to consider for recording devices or streaming services?

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I don't know about CAT6s... keep in mind you'll need data+power connections through wires... easiest is to buy a system and get someone to use the included cables before your sheetrock/insulation is up. If you don't make a decision in time, you can always just get someone to run generic security camera wires for you. The ones I used at my house has coax+DC (power) bundled. I ended up having my security company pre-wired it for me (along with the all the other home security pre-wiring too). You can also have your electrician do it too.

bco2003 said:

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stardustag said:

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I don't know about CAT6s... keep in mind you'll need data+power connections through wires... easiest is to buy a system and get someone to use the included cables before your sheetrock/insulation is up. If you don't make a decision in time, you can always just get someone to run generic security camera wires for you. The ones I used at my house has coax+DC (power) bundled. I ended up having my security company pre-wired it for me (along with the all the other home security pre-wiring too). You can also have your electrician do it too.

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Not to be rude, but the above is bad advice. The standard now is PoE (power over Ethernet) which cat 6 delivers. Most cameras which use coax and dc power are antiquated these days.

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Agree 1000%

The quality of a POE based ethernet camera even at 2 MP blows a conventional coax & dc power out of the water.

My 3 MP Hikvision camera can read a license plate at over 60 feet in my driveway and is mounted 15 feet in the air. Try doing that with a coax based system.

aggiez03 said:

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bco2003 said:

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stardustag said:

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I don't know about CAT6s... keep in mind you'll need data+power connections through wires... easiest is to buy a system and get someone to use the included cables before your sheetrock/insulation is up. If you don't make a decision in time, you can always just get someone to run generic security camera wires for you. The ones I used at my house has coax+DC (power) bundled. I ended up having my security company pre-wired it for me (along with the all the other home security pre-wiring too). You can also have your electrician do it too.

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Not to be rude, but the above is bad advice. The standard now is PoE (power over Ethernet) which cat 6 delivers. Most cameras which use coax and dc power are antiquated these days.

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Agree 1000%

The quality of a POE based ethernet camera even at 2 MP blows a conventional coax & dc power out of the water.

My 3 MP Hikvision camera can read a license plate at over 60 feet in my driveway and is mounted 15 feet in the air. Try doing that with a coax based system.

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Thanks guys. I got my system 2 years ago (2015)... didn't think it would get outdated that fast

Recs for FW area installers?

Never know what crime you'll capture with home surveillance



or a good earthquake



of course not everyone likes surveillance camera's

Combined coax and power wire can be more difficult to run than cat5e/6. Its thicker which translates to bigger holes when going through boards. Your attic layout will dictate whether this is important or not.

Personally I would stick with POE also because you can run longer lengths. POE can supposedly run up to 300'. Try not to splice.

If your not gonna have someone do it for you see if you can get some friends/neighbors to do it at the same time so you can split the cost of the tools needed.

My Lorex kit was delivered last week. It was very easy to setup. Mounting and wiring the cameras was simple other than stringing Cat 5 in my blazing hot attic. The DVR hard drive was very easy to navigate by following the 1-pager. The Flir mobile app works decent for remote monitoring. I'll probably turn off the motion notifications on one of my cameras, because bugs are triggering it every night. Overall, 2 thumbs up for this rig.

Thanks for the feedback.

For those that have the POE cameras under the eves:

Did you run traditional cable or the heavier "waterproof" cables? Is the connection to the camera outside or is the tail off the camera itself run back up into the eves?

I made all the connections in the attic. The Lorex kit I bought came with a weatherproof connection kit if necessary.

It's normal Cat6 wire. The kind I have are the dome type so the cable is not visible from the ground or exposed to the weather elements besides heat.

Bump. any of the people with he Lorex systems having any issues. I have been looking into a system and there are bad reviews all over about their cameras so was trying to figure out if i should shy away from them or not.

I'm looking for a good quality 4 camera system that is on a black friday deal. Wife got freaked by a recent incident in a neighborhood over so now I'm putting in cameras. I"m pretty sure I can run most of the wires myself, but not 100% sure.

Does anyone know if Amcrest ProHD Cameras are any good?

Same question about Q-See. There is a 4 camera 4k system for $850 I'm looking at.

I picked up 2 reolink 410-s cameras off of Amazon ($79 a pop) and have been very happy. Picture quality is fanstastic. App is great. Cameras have 16gb built in SD cards so it stores a few days worth of motion on the cams, and they also have audio. I don't have a NVR yet but that's my next step. I get email notifications for any motion as well as the onboard storage. They are 4MP POE cams and we're fairly simple to DIY install.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016UCNPEE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_iw6dAbK2CNFH1

This is the camera you want:

https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/dahua-starlight-varifocal-turret-ipc-hdw5231r-z.14683/

They just came out w/ a newer version but it will blow away anything you can buy at a store... Dont get caught up in the MP marketing .. You want the best low light cam you can get for the money and the 2 MP Dahua is it.

We have 2 of these running Blue Iris to a PC and pitch black looks like daytime on them.

I am starting to research security cameras for my home.

Question: I live in an area with many deer that are often around the house. Are most of these cameras motion activated or continuous recording?