(Part 2) Best products from r/videosurveillance

A NVR is 10x more reliable and sooo much simpler to use than a PC. Overall a Hikvision 8 channel with drive costs ~$350 and includes power-over-ethernet ports, so you plug cams via ordinary patch cables straight into it. A PC is better than nothing, but personally, there is nothing worse than 'almost' getting video footage when a PC has rebooted and is stuck at 'Press F1 to continue'.....dedicated NVRs don't do dumb things like that.

• https://www.amazon.com/Hikvision-DS-7608NI-SE-Channel-Ports-Recorder/dp/B00DVODRJ8
  
  For redundancy, many Hikvision IP cameras record to a NVR AND can record to local storage (onboard microSD card slot). Hikvision makes cams from 1MP all the way to 10MP. If a cam has local storage, in some cases you don't need a NVR, since effectively the NVR is built into the camera. Most cams support up to 128GB micro-SD, which would save a lot of footage.
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cpAKA4SZ1o
  
  The most common Hikvision cam is the DS-2CD2132-I 3MP dome.
  
  
• DS-2CD2132 is an outdoor cam but would be fine for indoors as well. A dome is what you want for inside a store. About $125 each. These are rock-solid reliable, produce excellent video. Hikvision uses the Texas Instruments DaVinci processor for their cams, the same one the GoPro uses. The video is clear under all lighting conditions. (FWIW I own a dozen Hikvison cams)
  
  http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=1942
  
  For example, an expensive but versatile camera they make is their 360 degree fisheye. This device is simply awesome. Expensive, but could do the work of five of six cameras all in one.
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTiJ55ieBcY
  
  This is a $400 camera, but could easily cover a significant portion of your store with this one camera.

Some elitists will knock it since it isn't professional grade, but I found the Amcrest brand stuff on Amazon to be pretty easy to set up and reliable enough for home use. You might want to wait for Black Friday deals or whatever special deals they have going on this week though.

There are a lot of systems Amcrest sells, but all of them use the same mobile app, which I have found to be fairly easy to use and quick.

Not sure if you mean under $500 for NVR + 4 cameras, or for one camera and pay to add more later?

For INDOOR use, I would go with this camera: https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-Ethernet-Optional-Recording-IP2M-841EW/dp/B01H2JSC6U/ref=lp_7648105011_1_16?srs=7648105011&ie=UTF8&qid=1511290875&sr=8-16

It lets you pan/tilt/zoom to look around a room to give more coverage, kind of like some baby monitors except better resolution. Should work great, just don't use it outdoors as it isn't outdoor rated and it might gunk up from exposure to the elements.

I would use this NVR: https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-NV2104E-1080p-Network-Recorder/dp/B0723HGHPV/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511291166&sr=1-3&keywords=amcrest+nvr+poe

and this HDD:
https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Surveillance-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B071RM2HS7/ref=pd_bxgy_421_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KRHDZW54J592EW7DR50K

edit: Amcrest also has pretty good tech support from the reviews I have read, so that is another selling point for them IMHO.

I'm more experienced on the commercial side of Surveillance, but I'll try to direct you to the best deal I could find.

http://www.amazon.com/ZMODO-Surveillance-Outdoor-Camera-System/dp/B004Y3VKYO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1404222849&sr=8-5&keywords=Zmodo+8ch

Zmodo 8ch DVR + 4 Cameras

Looks like all you will need is a VGA Monitor, and since this is $100 under your budget, it shouldn't be a problem. Cameras plug into the BNC inputs in the back of the Zmodo DVR. Looks like it comes with a 500GB Hard Drive, which means with 4 cameras recording 24/7 you can probably hold footage for 1-2 weeks; longer if motion detection. Unsure on length of cable provided.
Hope that helps. I'll be able to answer some simple and general questions if you reply back, but I don't know anything about Zmodo or that specific model. Looking at the comments on Amazon, people were surprised by the solid tech support provided by Zmodo and the quality of the product given such a low price.

Cheers!

I know there's people here that may recommend something more top of the line but I myself have a Zosi
(cheap chinese) system that I find works very well for its price. They were the cheapest I could find that also had pretty reputable customer service and return policies (Haven't actually had to deal with that myself, so maybe take that with a grain of salt). Only down side is it doesn't come with it's own hard drive.

It's a good starter system, though. From there you can slowly upgrade to more prestigious cameras or DVR once you get the hang of it.

Before I got that, I was looking into the Samsung SNH-1011 , which is just a standalone wireless (still powers by cord, Just data is wireless) camera. It looks pretty nifty.

Good luck!

Those cameras are nice but so expensive and then add to that the cloud subscription and you are adding even more expensive

I recently ordered 2 of these (see link below), after having owned the C1 lite and being really happy with it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T7NX6SY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_tE9oyb4R29R41

Having had up to 5 foscams inside my home over the last 5 years, I have been really happy. These new cameras however have built in micro SD ports allowing me to basically set them up and leave them alone. No need for a cloud, no need for a dvr box or blue iris. If there is ever an incident at home all I have to do is pull the SD card or login to the camera and pull that specific video. Effortless and cheap. I know I know, a lot of people have complained about security issues with the foscams but I keep a pretty good eye on my network traffic and have yet to notice any threats. I also make sure to have latest firmware installed.

My point and personal opinion is, look for cameras with built in SD card port. You will save on cloud cost and maintenence and to live view on your phone all you need is a free dns account and a little bit of Port forwarding on your router. Good to go.

Thank you very much for that information.

I ended up picking up this unit on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G7QZ41A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't get it for a few days yet, but I might try my 802.3af 48w injector this afternoon. I've been scared I would great it!

I see this unit you recommend here on amazon as well https://www.amazon.com/Microsemi-PD-9501G-48VDC-Gigabit-Midspan/dp/B00OT68KF8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1512065388&sr=8-2&keywords=Microsemi+9501

I'm now debating if I should order it as well or try the first unit (:

Thanks again for taking the time to comment

thank you for the list

I am still researching DORI and differences between cameras, but from what I gathered so far here is what I need:

• blue iris $70 (with a phone app)
  
• pc (since it only supports windows) likely i7-6700 something like this
  
• PoE switch: something like this
  
• router, I have an old lynksys with dd-wrt which should do it
  
• several very long ethernet cables with some couplers
  
• most likely also a UPS
  
• ONVIF, PoE cameras
  
  the last bit I am still looking at. I am not ready to spend several hundred dollars per camera (one of your examples is Dahua 2MP Starlight which seems to be super expensive). While I understand it might be much better than the rest, I'd like to see if I can be in a $50 to $100 dollar range per camera. Is there any such cameras you can recommend?
  
  I can see some (ONVIF, PoE): Hikvision 4MP, ONWOTE 5MP, ONWOTE, 4X Optical Zoom Autofocus, Amcrest ProHD, GW Security 5, JideTech PTZ, etc. but I am not sure how to gauge the quality.

I have no experience with the EZVIZ brand, but the system you linked is an old-school analog - I would steer clear of it. Their "good" PoE digital system with 8 cameras runs over $1,300... a bit overpriced in my opinion:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016CY2YYC

Working within your budget, I would instead start with something like LaView's 16-channel 8-camera 1080p PoE system - I have installed LaView systems and they work fantastically. They give you everything you need including all the cables for $950 with FREE shipping on Amazon (see link below). This is a highly expandable system - it comes with a 3TB HD but you can add three additional hard drives in the future if you want. It comes with 8 cameras, but has capacity to add 8 more in the future for a total of 16. If you have a tight budget, it's much better to invest in a true digital PoE system and expand it as you go, rather than get locked into one based on a cheaper but obsolete technology.

https://www.amazon.com/LaView-Camera-Security-Channel-Surveillance/dp/B00KXB6E9C/

https://www.amazon.com/LaView-Outdoor-Weatherproof-100ftCables-Included/dp/B014K5WPA8/

https://www.amazon.com/AXIS-M3045-V-Network-Camera-0804-001/dp/B01CPTC95M

this one fits in the palm of my hand

You could get one of these, and monitor it via any web browser:

http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-Indoor-Wireless-Viewing-Detection/dp/B00T7NX6SY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454111636&sr=8-1&keywords=Foscam+indoor+wireless

62 bucks, not prohibitive at all.