Home CCTV - NAS or NVR?

TonyM

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I'm completely new to this subject so any advice would be welcome.

I'd like to install one or perhaps two CCTV cameras at the front of my house. I already have a Synology NAS which runs software that can control ONVIF cameras and store recordings on its internal drive. I understand I can do this with cameras wired direct into the router, or with Wi-Fi cameras on the router network.

We already keep all of our important files on the Synology NAS, and access is limited to our home network for security reasons. We don't use any of the cloud storage or Internet file sharing services on it.

Will the security of our files be reduced by connecting CCTV cameras to the NAS, either wired or wireless? If the cameras are wired, isn't there a network cable sticking out through our wall that gives access to our files?

I do have a number of security features turned on within the NAS. No default admin or guest accounts, just the two of us (I'm an admin).

Would I be better off buying a separate NVR that I can keep in a safe place?
 
I agree that a separate NVR solution would be the best approach for security as well as having a dedicated HDD of one or more terabytes to hold weeks or more of files.

As for concerns about a network cable sticking out through your wall, this is usually addressed by installing your wiring inside some form of conduit. The conduit also protects from the elements.


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Thanks for the replies.

Reading reviews on a number of dedicated NVR products, the quality and support seem to be frequent issues.

Since I like the Synology products so much, I suppose one option would be to buy a second NAS to use for internet facing functions, separate from my personal files. I could use that as a NVR, and also for cloud storage like backing up photos from my phone. Maybe.
 
BTW Tony, speaking of using conduit to run CCTV wiring, I failed to mention one of the primary reasons it is used on surveillance systems. Not only does it prevent anyone from having hardwired access to your network from outside the house and protect the wiring from the elements, but it also precludes the possibility that some crook can come along and easily cut your CCTV cabling before they rob your dwelling.
 
Past few years I've been using Synology SurveillanceStation and have no complaints with reliability or functionality. Next time though I would probably go with an NVR.
Remember that you will need much more than just cameras and NAS/NVR.
Don't forger about UPS, POE switch, ethernet surge protectors (if wired cameras)
Some companies also charge extra licensing fee for each camera.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I can see this becoming another 'small camera' hobby....
 
If you want better security you will want to buy a UPS so your cams will record for awhile after you lose electricity.
 
Funny thing, after i moved to this city years ago, then the past 3 years or so i have experienced power outages lasting a good 15 minutes or so, and every year it is in relation to the annual ( well they call it culture ) get drunk out of your mind week.
And i don't get that cuz if it was a regular thing them needing to tap into something every year, why the hell don't they put in a switch and a outlet so they don't have to black out half the town.
But other than that power outages i have no experience with, at least not lasting more than a few minutes after a lightning strike in a bad place, and those are rare.
It is also i assume one of the reasons all the big tech companies are building one or more server farms here.
But sadly i just learned only one of all those data centers will have their heat recycled ( as much as 650 Danish homes use from one data center ) the other ones just do it the stupid way and make heat for the birds.
To be honest i don't get their are allowed to waste energy like that, you have no chance in hell getting permission to build a regular house that waste energy and heat like that, so to me it just prove there are a secret ruling elite that have it all their way, and Denmark are not really that little green energy wonder we claim to be.
 
Reading reviews on a number of dedicated NVR products, the quality and support seem to be frequent issues.
You would probably find the quality and support issues mostly go away when you buy a professional security system instead of a home security system. What is the difference? A home security system is built with a price point in mind. It has to be sold for a low price for the mass market and its components and overall quality are chosen with that goal in mind. Some cheaper security systems use plastic camera bodies. An intruder could (theoretically) reach up and break the security camera away from its plastic mount with just a little effort.

A professional commercial grade system is built to last doing its job well for a decade or longer. The good news is most electronics die a quick death or last a long time. If the electronics make it through a 12 month warranty (testing) period they should continue to work for many more years until they finally reach their MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures). One piece that is always missing from the literature is the MTBF rating.

Why do you think some systems cost $250 for 4 cameras while other systems cost over $1,000 for 2 cameras? Service costs and higher quality costs are included in the price of the high priced systems. Many generic dash cams come with zero support and often have crappy build quality. Decent grade dashcams have some support and mostly decent parts. SG comes with a price premium for its premium build quality and their outstanding support. Security systems follow these same models.

Pay attention to the technical specifications. Some systems have no audio. Others have audio on only one channel. Others have audio feed on all channels. Some systems are advertised as a 4k system BUT only include lower resolution cameras such as 1080p. buying a system with to few cameras is a mistake. It is much cheaper to buy a 8 channel security system with 8 cameras included than it is to buy a 8 channel system with 4 cameras included and then to buy 4 more security cameras. You could buy a pair of 4 camera systems for less money than buying just one system with 4 cameras and then buying 4 additional cameras to have a total of 8.

As you specifically asked about NVR's you need to know what your internet UPLOAD speed looks like. Your download speed could be fantastically fast but your upload speed might be insufficient for this particular application.
 
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As you specifically asked about NVR's you need to know what your internet UPLOAD speed looks like. Your download speed could be fantastically fast but your upload speed might be insufficient for this particular application.
Thanks for the general thoughts on 'you get what you pay for', much like dashcams etc.

I'm not sure I really want all the web enhanced features offered by some systems. My upload speed is only 1Mbps at best anyway. I simply want to have one or two cameras at the front of the house, saving video to a hard drive in a separate enclosure. My NAS has plenty of spare capacity and RAID redundancy, plus it runs surveillance applications so I can optionally view live or recorded video from within my home network. My initial concern was whether running ethernet cables to the exterior of the building has the potential to compromise the security of the personal files we have stored on our NAS. I've come around to thinking that a dedicated NVR solution is not only better in that regard, since it is completely separate from my personal files, but also because it is designed specifically for that purpose and thus should perform 'better' than a one-size-fits-all NAS.
 
Old thread I know but I installed CCTV around my house around 6 months ago and went with Blue Iris for the surveillance software running on a Windows 10 desktop and currently have 6 Duhua 2Mp Starlight cams. I too have a NAS but I wanted the NVR and all cabling in the loft. Also on some NAS each cam is licensed separately so the costs soon add up.

I’ve been more than happy with Blue Iris, I only run it in a simple/basic config but there is loads that it can do should the need arise. For example I have cloned 3 of my cams and have applied different motion detection rules to the clones and the real cams.

The Starlight cams also have really good low light performance which is something I was specifically after. When I purchased my cams there was only the 2Mp cams but since the last few months 4Mp versions have been released so I’m planning on replacing the 2 front cams with the 4Mp versions at some stage.

None of this was cheap, my system came to around £1500 installed, £500 of which was to run all the cabling, I supplied all the hardware.
 
We bought a Swann NVR system about 3/4(?) years ago. It uses POE so there is just one ethernet cable running to each camera.

Reliability has been good, the power supply (48V) failed 6 months back and so we got another one. Other than that it has always recorded fine. With have 6 cameras + 2TB drive and get around a weeks worth of recordings.

The smart phone app can be a bit flakey away from home, it uses P2P to connect to the main box. I think you can switch to a dynamic dns service though so I might try that when I get round to it, but we mostly view footage using the PC app (bigger screen)
 
Just realised a thread is worthless without pics [emoji3]

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Thoughts on UNV vs Hikvision and Dahua?
 
Never heard of the UNV, have a hikvision setup at work, they're popular but I don't get the hype, nothing outstanding about it
 
Not looking for anything elaborate as of now. I think it should suffice for the time being, till we reconstruct within the next year or so.

Is 1080p enough? lol
 
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That NVR is a hybrid so does both ip and analog, is there a specific reason why you want both?

In terms of resolution, most cams look the same in the day in terms of overall picture quality but what separates the good from the bad is how they cope night time.

Although you say temp solution and I’ll get better later why not spend that temp money on a good starting point and then build upon that later?

When considering and NVR you also need to look at its capabilities in terms of throughout for recording, no point getting an NVR and 4K cams if the NVR can’t cope with the demands of the cams.
 
That NVR is a hybrid so does both ip and analog, is there a specific reason why you want both?

In terms of resolution, most cams look the same in the day in terms of overall picture quality but what separates the good from the bad is how they cope night time.

Although you say temp solution and I’ll get better later why not spend that temp money on a good starting point and then build upon that later?

When considering and NVR you also need to look at its capabilities in terms of throughout for recording, no point getting an NVR and 4K cams if the NVR can’t cope with the demands of the cams.

Yes and no, going with an analog setup but may add one IP cam covering the gate and parking area. His earlier quote was for a different DVR but that supported only 15fps@1080. The hybrid model was suggested when I asked for minimum 25fps.
 
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