Question regarding setting up a POE system

james28909

james28909

n3wb
Oct 19, 2025
5
1
usa
Howdy!

i am trying to figure out a few things here and having a hard time understanding the how part of most of it.

i am wanting to setup 4 poe cameras, but plan on adding more in the future. i was also trying to run my idea through chatgpt but that left more questions than answers i guess.

but the overall idea is to have 4 poe cameras (not sure which type i need) connected to a POE switch (not sure if i need managed or unmanaged or active or passive). i am wanting to connect the switch directly to the PC, which would effectively make it my "NVR".

besides which camera types and switch type, i am trying to figure out how to access the poe camera and assign them ip addresses or be able to configure them. if anyone could help, i sure would appreciate it!

EDIT: i am looking for cameras that do not have built in wifi or cellular capabilities. just strickly POE/ethernet. again, any help would be appreciated!
 
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The current best all around camera at this time is THIS.
You navigate to it's default IP address of 192.168.1.108 with a browser, and setup the cam that way.
The computer you use for setup must have it's IP range set to the same as the cam, or you won't be able to connect to the cam.
You don't need a managed switch, but don't cheap out on a POE switch, it's the core of your system.
This switch is a good start HERE.
 
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AND, remember, if you " go live" with 4 brand new cameras, you will have an IP conflict with 4 cams at 192.168.1.108. This is bad. :banghead:
plug in one cam and using Blue Iris, surf to the .......see video...its a right click to the gear icon that opens the menu box to see " add new Camera"
 

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are there any cheaper cameras? i have a budget of about 250-300 bucks and need to buy 3 cameras and a poe switch. the switch linked looks like a good one. it provides enough power for most any poe cam that i hook to it?

i guess all i need now is some cheaper cameras. they can be bullet style. if anyone has any suggestions please do share. i can and do not mind buying used either.

also, thanks for the suggestions this far!
 
There is a saying here "buy once, cry once"

Many of us have boxes of used cameras because we went the cheap way and quickly (but unfortunately after the return period) replaced the cameras with something better.

If you want to stand any chance of low light performance (when most of us are concerned), you need to be on the ideal MP/sensor ratio, which is anything in green.

Sure there are cheaper cameras than we recommend, but the perform poorly at night.

Doesn't do any good to have cameras if you cannot provide anything to the police other than what time it happened.


1757988646739.png
 
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i do have some IR floodlights that i plan on using to illuminate the area the camera will be facing. what i was thinking was a dual lens bullet cam or single lens or something. but anything that could fit into my budget would help. i know i will need at least two. one poitning at the other (i have neighbors with drones and they love setting off the alarm on the last camera i had which was a (nightwatcher turrent cam no wifi/bt/4g model)

i live in a mobile home. my plan was to use 3 cameras. two mounted on one end of the mobile home that are approx 20' away, mounted up in some trees and/or telephone pole) and one mounted on the other end facing back towards the other two. the two on the one end will be the main cameras, angles adjusted to be able to see all of my property and will also monitor the single camera on the other side, the third on the other end will basically monitor the other two cameras.

or i could put one on each end up high and one pointing out my driveway. my mobile home is approx 60' long. the ir flood lights i have cover a range of around 100-120 ft. im hoping that will illuminate enough so i will be able to see anything like a drone flying into the picture.

but yes, any extra recommendations would be very welcome, even if it is used equipement. also, any kind of pointers as to placement or mounting the cameras would be awesome. i just need to be sure that the camera i purchase doesnt have any kind of wirerless interface, and everything will be ran through an 8 port POE switch which will be connected to a dedicated offline pc.
 
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Your getting settings that are decided for you, not as much control over menu items that help tweak recording modes,
1760939542706.png
 
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james28909 said:
what do you guys think about the reolink RLC-810A?
Click to expand...

Reolink and BI do not work well together.

Reolinks suffer from firmware designed to provide a bright static image in low light conditions. But that comes at the expense of not getting clear captures at night.

Reolink gets lots of ghosting and blurring, and sometimes the invisible man LOL.


If all you care about is to look around, then probably ok. But if you plan to be able to use them in the event something happens and you need to get the police involved, think again....


What you mean a missing hand isn't normal LOL :lmao: (plus look at the blur on the face and he is barely moving and this should be ideal indoor IR bounce and it struggles):



1708801531582.png




How about missing everything but the head and upper torso :lmao:

The invisible man, where can he be. Thank goodness he is carrying around a reflective plate to see where he is LOL (hint - the person is literally in the middle of the image at the end of the fence holding a rectangular reflective piece of metal)

I've seen better images on an episode of ghost hunters :lmao:


1708801585568.png





And of course, this is an example from Reolink's marketing videos - do you see a person in this picture...yes, there is a person in this picture.... Could this provide anything useful for the police other than the date and time something happened? Would this protect your home? The still picture looks great though except for the person and the blur of the vehicle... Will give you a hint - the person is in between the two visible columns:



1708801599328.png



Bad Boys
Bad Boys
Watcha gonna do
Watcha gonna do
When the camera can't see you


Here is the unofficial Reolink thread.

You can see all the attempts people have provided to demonstrate the quality of Reolink, and they are all a blurry mess at night or missing body parts or other messes.

We have challenged someone to provide a clean capture of someone moving at night with a Reolink and as you can see with 20 pages, nobody has yet to provide a usable image with motion at night.


Reolink: Deconstruction of a dangerous misleading youtube review "Finding the BEST 4K Security Camera NVR Package (Reolink vs Amcrest vs Swann)"

Most will say these don't cut it. There is also much talk in that thread about the issues of Reolink and BI.
 
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james28909 said:
Howdy!

i am trying to figure out a few things here and having a hard time understanding the how part of most of it.

i am wanting to setup 4 poe cameras, but plan on adding more in the future. i was also trying to run my idea through chatgpt but that left more questions than answers i guess.

but the overall idea is to have 4 poe cameras (not sure which type i need) connected to a POE switch (not sure if i need managed or unmanaged or active or passive). i am wanting to connect the switch directly to the PC, which would effectively make it my "NVR".

besides which camera types and switch type, i am trying to figure out how to access the poe camera and assign them ip addresses or be able to configure them. if anyone could help, i sure would appreciate it!

EDIT: i am looking for cameras that do not have built in wifi or cellular capabilities. just strickly POE/ethernet. again, any help would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

Welcome @james28909

DO NOT trust ChatGPT to give you the right answers on this.

Start with one good 4MP varifocal IP PoE camera with a 1/1.8" lens, a quality cat5e/6 awg 23 or 24 cable, and a small PoE switch .. setup a test rig and start learning.

Search the site here for info.
 
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james28909 said:
are there any cheaper cameras? i have a budget of about 250-300 bucks and need to buy 3 cameras and a poe switch. the switch linked looks like a good one. it provides enough power for most any poe cam that i hook to it?

i guess all i need now is some cheaper cameras. they can be bullet style. if anyone has any suggestions please do share. i can and do not mind buying used either.

also, thanks for the suggestions this far!
Click to expand...

It's going to be a challenge to get a good setup at that price point.

Time to ask yourself what your functional needs are for security cameras, you're going to have to make compromises one way or the other.

If you need good low light capability you will need to spend more money.
 
Jimmyjames said:
@looney2ns


I am relatively new to ip cams. What makes the empire cam the best? Thx.
Click to expand...

In a nutshell:

Empiretech is Dahua OEM.

Dahua makes cameras for many brands.

In various tests, Dahua cams tend to perform the best.

In the US, to buy Dahua you have to go thru authorized dealers or buy thru Grey market and typically cost 2-5 times more (paying for the logo) than Empiretech.
 
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Jimmyjames said:
@looney2ns


I am relatively new to ip cams. What makes the empire cam the best? Thx.
Click to expand...

Hi Jimmy,

Hikvision and Dahua are the top 2 makers of security cameras in the world ( they are based in China ).

They each make tons of different models.

Some models are better than others, and the challenge is determining which models are better for your purpose.

Unfortunately, in the USA the major brands of security cameras give you less options of models to pick from - and often you get poor quality results for a higher price ( example, small sensor on a 8mp 2.8mm lens cameras which looks nice in the sales brochure but performs poorly in low light )

Andy of Empire Tech here is able to provide us the better models at competitive prices.

For many of us, we have tried numerous more affordable / cheaper cameras and found the results to be poor in low light. ( see the various Reolink threads here, or the cloud cameras .. )

For me, the best result is to have a core IP PoE system with at least a few top quality cameras covering the most critical points. ( I have older cameras covering the back yard for example )

I've augmented with with a few cloud cameras for alerts and mobile viewing for the family. ( as my core system is isolated from the internet, easier for me to deal with - with some effort I could make it accessible via the internet. )
 
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@mat200

Good to know that Hikvison is highly regarded. Most of my experience so far has been with Hik/ LTS. Based upon what I've seen in the field so far I've assumed that this is somewhat the standard. I've established a relationship with LTS and they have been great.
 
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