Yesterday I was once again asked the question, what is the difference between the video surveillance systems that I talked about, and which one is better to choose. I will try to tell you about the differences, pros and cons of each type.
First of all, you need to understand that the main purpose of a home / country video surveillance system is to remotely watch that everything is in order.
Do not hope that video surveillance will protect you from intruders and capture their faces with high quality. In the event of any incidents, cameras may or may not help. If we get lucky.
The simplest option is a single camera recording to a microSD card.
If there is no Internet where the camera will be installed, you can install the camera into which the sim card is inserted (https://ammo1.ru/29848).
There are cameras with a built-in Wi-Fi router (https://ammo1.ru/29174), allowing you to organize a simple video surveillance system by connecting additional Wi-Fi cameras to a router built into a 4G camera.
If there is Wi-Fi where the camera will stand, you can use the Wi-Fi camera. I reviewed a camera in a metal case (https://ammo1.ru/26950, https://ammo1.ru/26952), which can be installed both outdoors and at home. For indoor use only, many Wi-Fi cameras are sold in plastic cases (including Xiaomi).
Advanced option - multiple cameras and a recorder.
The advantage of such a system is that the records are stored on the hard disk or memory card of the recorder, which can be "hidden" far enough from the cameras, for example, in a barn, in an attic or in a basement in case dachas. This increases the chances that the records will be saved after the visit of intruders (a camera with a MicroSD card can be torn off and taken away with them).
The simplest, but most expensive version of such a system is a ready-made kit with POE cameras (https://ammo1.ru/29029). Of course, a similar kit can be assembled in parts by purchasing a recorder with a built-in POE hub and POE cameras (POE is a technology that allows you to connect cameras with one UTP cable, through which both data and food).
A cheaper option is cameras and a recorder without POE. Such cameras can also be connected with one cable, but you have to separate the power and data wires and connect them through separate connectors, in addition, the permissible cable length will be less, since in the case of POE the supply voltage of the cameras is 48 volts and the losses in the cable are small, in the case of "POE on the knee" the power supply is 12 volts and the cable may drop 3 volts and more. (https://ammo1.ru/26964).
In addition to the recorder and cameras, this option requires an Ethernet switch (switch).
Almost all registrars connect to the Internet only by cable and do not support Wi-Fi even through external adapters.
Most DVRs can only write to SATA media (hard disk or SSD). There are separate models that can write to microSD memory cards or USB flash drives (https://ammo1.ru/26874).
In general, to build POE video surveillance, you will need the following:
- recorder with built-in POE switch and power supply;
- hard disk or SSD-disk (if it was not in the registrar at the time of purchase);
- POE cameras;
- cables with RJ-45 connectors;
- a source of wired Internet (router, router with SIM card or router with USB modem).
To build a traditional IP video surveillance system powered by UTP cable, you will need the following:
- registrar;
- hard disk or SSD (or USB-flash drive or MicroSD card for the registrar with their support);
- 12 volt power supply, or better, a power supply unit with a backup battery (https://ammo1.ru/29956);
- cameras;
- homemade cables with RJ-45 connectors and power connectors;
- connectors Wago 221 or 222 for connecting the power supply of cameras from the side of the recorder;
- a source of wired Internet (router, router with SIM card or router with USB modem).
Such a system has been working in my dacha for three years (https://ammo1.ru/27040).
I will analyze a few common questions.
Motion recording.
It makes no sense to continuously record everything that the cameras "see". Such a recording will take up a lot of space and during loop recording, old recordings will start to be erased too quickly. And even with continuous recording, it is very difficult to find and track the right moment.
As a rule, the video surveillance system is configured so that the recording is carried out only by the movement in the frame. But at the same time, fragments will be recorded when tree branches sway, birds fly by, insects crawl into the camera, day and night modes switch.
Cameras and recorders with support for human-frame detection have appeared relatively recently. When this option is enabled, recording will occur only when a moving object similar to a human figure appears in the frame. A huge plus of such a recording is that only those fragments where there is a person in the frame will be recorded and it will become much easier to find something important. Minus - if animals, birds or a passing car do something wrong in the field of view of the camera, this will not be recorded.
Clouds.
All modern cameras and recorders work with various cloud services. Thanks to this, you can view video from cameras on a smartphone located anywhere in the world. Significant volumes of data are transferred through the cloud only at the time of viewing, so the total traffic consumption is low (1 GB per month is usually sufficient). Nothing is stored or stored in such clouds. The most popular Chinese cloud is XMeye, SIM cameras use CamHi cloud.
There are paid cloud services that store data from cameras, including motion recordings (for example, iVideon), in which case the traffic volumes can be very large.
Each camera or registrar supports its own cloud, and cannot work with others (sometimes there are camera firmware that allows you to change the cloud service).
Wi-Fi or cable.
Many people want to build a suburban video surveillance system with cameras connected via Wi-Fi. Better in my opinion do not do this: the power cable still goes to the camera, and do not pull the combined power-data cable more difficult. Connecting cameras via cable is better and more reliable, and most outdoor cameras do not support Wi-Fi.
Registrar with or without housing.
You can save a lot if you buy a board instead of a ready-made registrar on Aliexpress. Large electrical junction boxes are perfect for housing.
If you need to organize video surveillance with one camera in the country, in the garage or in an empty apartment, install one 4G camera. She even has a power supply in the kit - plugged into the network, installed the application, set it up in five minutes and use it.
If you want two or three cameras for the same applications, install a 4G camera with a built-in Wi-Fi router and 1-2 cameras with Wi-Fi.
If you want to build a more advanced video surveillance system at home or in the country and do not want to deal with all the intricacies, buy a ready-made POE kit.
If you want to save money, you will have to figure it out a little and make a system with "POE on your knee", as I have at my dacha.
All my articles and reviews about surveillance: https://ammo1.ru/tag/видеонаблюдение.
© 2021, Alexey Nadezhin
For ten years I have been writing every day about technology, discounts, places of interest and events. Read my blog on the site ammo1.ru, in LJ, Zen, Mirtesen, Telegram.
My projects:
Lamptest.ru. I test LED lamps and help figure out which ones are good and which are not so good.
Elerus.ru. I collect information about domestic electronic devices for personal use and share it.
You can contact me in Telegram @ ammo1 and by mail [email protected].