New setup advice please

[Freightdog]

I am looking to replace my cheap and cheerful cameras with some that actually work and noted this discussion was broadly what I was after. I just wanted to be sure this would work in the plan attached.

The camera at the front would be North facing about 2.2m high, 2m from the door and on a soffit about 1m out from the wall. I would need good resolution out to about 11m to cover the whole front garden, and the two way audio to remotely talk to people at the door.

The rear camera would be South facing, 2.5m high and directly above the garden gate. Covering the garage and driveway and access to the oil tank, again good resolution to 11 or 12m, and the two way talk would be good for deliveries.

The final thing is I'd like to use them with a Qnap NAS (453D running QVR Pro I believe). Would these cameras and their audio, motion and other built in senses work okay with this system? My current system is so slow that by the time I've got the app running to see who's there, they've gone already. I'm hoping the HIK ones are a lot faster??

I appreciate any advice that anyone could give.
Cheers

This is what the image would include at the rear, my only concern is the proximity of the walls and tre IR reflection.

 

[Kyle]

Hi @Freightdog

I would check the level of compatibility of HIkvision's AcuSense with your Qnap NAS with Qnap Support directly. This thread mentions that they are not on the Qnap compatibility list and that they can only be added via the ONVIF option, meaning may lose some of the more advanced features (VCA / Motion Detection / AcuSense). We haven't tested the two together so can't say for sure - video and sound should be fine:

Connecting to a HIKVISION DS-2CD2386G2-IU from my NVR (QNAP VS-4008 PRO)

You do also have the option of installing a microSD card into the cameras which will definitely allow you to use all of these advanced features (and send notifications to the Hik-Connect mobile app), and just use the NAS to store your continuous recordings.

Both the DS-2CD2346G2-ISU/SL and the DS-2CD2386G2-ISU/SL (the 8MP equivalent) will allow you to speak to / hear someone in real-time using the two-way audio that's built-in when connected to the Hik-Connect mobile app, but only Hikvision devices can be added to this app, so you will need to add the camera directly, rather than your NAS device.

Your suggested positions look good, though It looks like you have selected a 2.8mmn focal length in the attached plans, which will cause you to lose clarity in your image beyond 5(ish) metres. These do give a wide coverage which seems to suit your needs, though, so I would be inclined to consider the higher resolution model to help with this loss of detail at the spaces further from the cameras.

For this rear camera, you're right in that the walls will cause issues with IR reflection and cause overexposure. You want to keep as much of these out of the shot as possible, so the camera would benefit from being mounted higher (if possible) and perhaps also from a 4mm lens - but there will be a bit of a blind spot right in front of the camera if you mount at this height with a 4mm lens:

This is what the image would include at the rear, my only concern is the proximity of the walls and tre IR reflection.

 

[Freightdog]

Thanks Kyle for the detailed info. Just spent the weekend pouring over specs and compatibility again

So what I understand is, if I use the camera with the app on android, put an SD card into the camera, I get all the motion, line-cross, Accusense features of the camera working as advertised. I can use two way audio through my phone and receive motion alerts. I could then use the QNAP to store these event recordings should I need to review them later.

I can live without the features in QVR Pro so long as it records the events. My goal is to receive notifications when I'm away from home or in the workshop so I don't miss deliveries, or can receive them remotely. I also would like to feed the live view to an android tablet in the house that we use for home automation (Hubitat Elevation) via its IP.

Would all this work with those cameras?

Again, thanks for you help.

 

[Kyle]

No problem at all. Cross-compatibility is rarely a straightforward subject in CCTV systems!

So what I understand is, if I use the camera with the app on android, put an SD card into the camera, I get all the motion, line-cross, Accusense features of the camera working as advertised. I can use two way audio through my phone and receive motion alerts.

Exactly, all of this technology is within the camera itself, but you do need to make sure that any recording device you connect is also compatible with these technologies. Recording to an internal microSD card means that you can use all of these features, though. You would also be able to add the camera to Hik-Connect and receive event notifications with the microSD installed.

I could then use the QNAP to store these event recordings should I need to review them later.

We don't have enough experience with QNAP to say either way here, I'm afraid. Continuous recording will certainly be possible if both are compatible, but you'll need to check recording on events only with QNAP directly, as this will depend on if the NAS device can interpret these events from the camera footage (AcuSense makes is more complicated still, you may have luck with a G1 ColorVu camera) - hopefully, someone with more QNAP experience will chip in with some more helpful input!

To summarise - I can say for certain that you be able to record event periods only to the SD card and continuously to the QNAP (provided both are ONVIF compliant), and can, of course, export these event recordings remotely from a PC if need be. Event recording to the QNAP will depend on this level of compatibility, though.

 

[Freightdog]

Thanks Kyle, that's all great info. I think I'll get the cameras sorted and set-up with the app and look into NAS vs NVR some more before I decide which way to go.

Cheers.