Network camera/NVR capabilities

Z

Zook

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Hi all,

I'm investigating a network camera setup for our house and (small) complex. Not sure of the capabilities/limitations.

Assuming Hikvision IP cameras and NVR or online recording, is it possible to:
Have some private cameras
Have some cameras shared, e.g. two of mine, two of theirs in some kind of pool

For example, if we have some that are in general areas like our parking areas / front gate, and some that are in our garden, I'd obviously want to share some and not others.

Sites like camcloud.com seem to allow remote recording. $6 a month per camera, so not super cheap but might be worth the ability to share.
 
Nothing? Experts all hiding?

One option is to have private cams go to NVR and have IP cams go to Camcloud. Not sure if they can go to both.

Things I think I'd like:
- Some cams be full HD. Not sure if I need garden ones that good.
- PoE so one cable and don't need WiFi.
- Probably only need 8 channel NVR. Why do people buy 16 if they only have EG 4 cams? Just in case?

Not sure how to have one gate cam with three screens, one at each house.
 
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Technically you can do what you need. What existing network infrastructure is there? You could achieve a shared "virtual" network with some clever routing or if there's something existing then just the right port forwards etc. Most IP cameras allow you to configure multiple users so I'm guessing House A has a good view of the gate and House F has a good view of the back wall or whatever then the owner of A can have the "admin" account on their camera, but add a second user for the shared NVR. It might be easiest and more secure to simply install a completely new network purely for the cameras but then the question of internet access etc comes up because what if someone wants "their" camera to be on their own private network etc.

Cloud storage is fairly impractical unless it's limited to motion only, but at a complex you might have a lot of motion detected that is "normal" like people driving in/out etc that you want to have recorded but you don't really want to be uploading to the cloud all day.

Typically there isn't a big price difference between a 8 or 16 channel NVR. There's more of a price difference when you want a higher Mbit rate so you'll find a NVR can do 8 streams at 5Mb (enough for 1080) or 16 at 720p or any combination in between.

If you install a new network of some sort you could probably use an HDMI over Ethernet (not CAT6) adapter that supports multicast so you can have multiple receivers. Alternatively most NVR's will have some sort of stream output but then you need some sort of device that can connect and display it (some media players, if you get lucky maybe smart tvs etc).
 
Im also redoing cameras for my complex. The not planning in sharing private cameras, but the system which I am looking at is called NX Witness and that does allow one to have multiple servers and then merge them all together as a big wholesome system.

Its not cheap but the features are pretty amazing.
 
I did not have a big budget so have opted for ZoneMinder on a Linux box (core i5 with 8GB RAM) with a bunch of different cams (any cam that supports RTSP will work)
Some of the camera's are shared with neighbors + they can check the recordings.
I have a few TB storage on the machine/NVR and then backup any important footage to a NAS.
 
OCP said:
I did not have a big budget so have opted for ZoneMinder on a Linux box (core i5 with 8GB RAM) with a bunch of different cams (any cam that supports RTSP will work)
Some of the camera's are shared with neighbors + they can check the recordings.
I have a few TB storage on the machine/NVR and then backup any important footage to a NAS.
Click to expand...

curious about how you connected the cameras to your linux box? Was it just a straight network connection, or did you have to get something else?
 
lucifir said:
curious about how you connected the cameras to your linux box? Was it just a straight network connection, or did you have to get something else?
Click to expand...
Yip - all are POE IP cams so straight network cable (CAT5e) connection from POE switch.
 
rorz0r said:
Technically you can do what you need. What existing network infrastructure is there? You could achieve a shared "virtual" network with some clever routing or if there's something existing then just the right port forwards etc. Most IP cameras allow you to configure multiple users so I'm guessing House A has a good view of the gate and House F has a good view of the back wall or whatever then the owner of A can have the "admin" account on their camera, but add a second user for the shared NVR. It might be easiest and more secure to simply install a completely new network purely for the cameras but then the question of internet access etc comes up because what if someone wants "their" camera to be on their own private network etc.

Cloud storage is fairly impractical unless it's limited to motion only, but at a complex you might have a lot of motion detected that is "normal" like people driving in/out etc that you want to have recorded but you don't really want to be uploading to the cloud all day.

Typically there isn't a big price difference between a 8 or 16 channel NVR. There's more of a price difference when you want a higher Mbit rate so you'll find a NVR can do 8 streams at 5Mb (enough for 1080) or 16 at 720p or any combination in between.

If you install a new network of some sort you could probably use an HDMI over Ethernet (not CAT6) adapter that supports multicast so you can have multiple receivers. Alternatively most NVR's will have some sort of stream output but then you need some sort of device that can connect and display it (some media players, if you get lucky maybe smart tvs etc).
Click to expand...

I figure if the streams going to cloud are lower res than to NVR then I don’t mind. Complex has fibre and we could contribute a bit for the extra bandwidth.

However we could definitely set up some extra network between us. There are two entrances and 7 houses, and each set has ducting that we could use for network. It could get pricy, so there’s probably a balance of features that doesn’t hammer the price too much.

Thanks for the help!
 
Zook said:
, is it possible to:
Have some private cameras
Click to expand...
Yeh, possible kinky dude. :laugh:

Have some cameras shared, e.g. two of mine, two of theirs in some kind of pool
Click to expand...
Definitely kinky, pool sounds like a great attraction for peeps in bathing suits.

I'd obviously want to share some and not others.
Click to expand...
Jou rowwe bliksem! :ROFL:

Sites like camcloud.com seem to allow remote recording. $6 a month per camera, so not super cheap but might be worth the ability to share.
Click to expand...
Check out https://chaturbate.com/
 
Wyze are close to releasing outside cameras I believe, those could happily fit the purpose.
 
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