Newb from North Texas

[rmanTX]

Hey all, just registered.

Last home we had, I used 2 Foscam wifi cams on BI
Current home (for 2 more weeks) 4 Foscams on BI

Really, really hate the unreliability with the wifi, so I set up an access point to extend my range... got a little better, but for whatever reason recently 2 cameras stopped connecting. With the upcoming move I gave up..

Had a new home built and have 9 external drops, so will be getting some POE cams as the budget allows. Also a (separate) skybell to interface with my security system. Not my first choice, but the only integration option available.

Skybell will be nice for front door face capture, will also have a POE (dome?) to monitor the area for packages, etc.

The cameras are all around 8' up. Did quick research while house was being built and that seemed to be the max height to still get some good facial recognition.

Anyhow, just wanted to introduce myself. open to suggestions with cameras and software. My buddy does this on the side, but most of his stuff is a little more on the pricey side.

Oh, and lastly, wondering what everyone thinks of a 4tb drive for 24/7 recording on 9 cams. If I can squeeze 2 weeks in there I think that would suffice.

Sorry for the long-winded intro. I have a tendency to ramble

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[mat200]

Hey all, just registered.

Last home we had, I used 2 Foscam wifi cams on BI
Current home (for 2 more weeks) 4 Foscams on BI

Really, really hate the unreliability with the wifi, so I set up an access point to extend my range... got a little better, but for whatever reason recently 2 cameras stopped connecting. With the upcoming move I gave up..

Had a new home built and have 9 external drops, so will be getting some POE cams as the budget allows. Also a (separate) skybell to interface with my security system. Not my first choice, but the only integration option available.

Skybell will be nice for front door face capture, will also have a POE (dome?) to monitor the area for packages, etc.

The cameras are all around 8' up. Did quick research while house was being built and that seemed to be the max height to still get some good facial recognition.

Anyhow, just wanted to introduce myself. open to suggestions with cameras and software. My buddy does this on the side, but most of his stuff is a little more on the pricey side.

Oh, and lastly, wondering what everyone thinks of a 4tb drive for 24/7 recording on 9 cams. If I can squeeze 2 weeks in there I think that would suffice.

Sorry for the long-winded intro. I have a tendency to ramble

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Welcome RmanTX.

4TB is a good start, get what you can afford - there should be a few deals coming up for BF.
Bestbuy had a WD external USB 8TB deal for iirc $140... lots of people opened that up and installed as an internal. Some of the HDDs reportedly were WD Reds.

If you need low light cameras do take a look at the Dahua Starlight line, in particular the varifocal turret is very popular - IPC-HDW5231R-Z

It's easy to get swamped with information here, so I wanted to share some notes with you

Please check out @giomania 's notes:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I have also made notes which are a summary of a lot of the reading I've been doing here,:
Looking for some advice and direction!

Have fun joining us here.

 

[gwminor48]

Hello and welcome from Richardson. I tried the Foscam wireless early on too, tried adding access point and changing wireless channels, nothing helped. Must have been something in the neighborhood interfering at times. I know our microwave oven always shut down our wireless, maybe neighbors had microwave or something else that interfered. Good to hear you are going with POE. Even with wireless you have to have a power cable so why not POE instead? You will be very happy you chose to leave the wireless behind.