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Home CCTV System with DVR

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October 26, 2013 4:42:39 AM

Hi,

I'm in the market for a CCTV system for my home, but I'm not sure what option to go with. There's some kits and a la carte options, but I haven't seen as many reviews or comments on the setup I have in mind. Here's my main needs/wants right now:

Four cameras (I could go two at the bare minimum)
Night vision (or high visibility in low light)
DVR
The ability to easily grab video footage and copy it to my PC for editing, archival, etc.


My budget is $200, but I'd prefer to spend less if possible. If needed, I have a SFF ThinkCentre M57 I could dedicate for this purpose. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Zmodo has some solutions in my price range that I think may meet my needs. Is Zmodo a trustworthy brand?

Thanks

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October 26, 2013 5:05:02 AM

Zmodo is "OK". I have a similar quality system from Lorex. 4 camera, DVR, IR, etc, etc. I got it on sale for ~$160 a couple of years ago. It has been on 24/7 since, with very, very few issues. Linux based OS, but I've not seen a need to go in and try to modify anything.

At this price point, what you're going to run into is image quality. In daylight, beyond about 15 feet, a car license plate is too fuzzy to read. It works, but don't expect CSI-level quality.

Another tricky part is the motion detection. It is very hard to get the sensitivity right. Turn it down too much, and nothing trips it. Up a little too much, and a passing cloud triggers it.
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October 27, 2013 7:42:24 PM

Thanks for letting me know. Some of the reviews I read brought up the image quality issue as well, so I'm guessing that will be hit or miss depending on the model. I certainly don't need 24/7 HD footage, but if I ever do need to rely on the footage, it has to be of worthwhile quality.
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October 27, 2013 7:50:19 PM

bba1973 said:
Thanks for letting me know. Some of the reviews I read brought up the image quality issue as well, so I'm guessing that will be hit or miss depending on the model. I certainly don't need 24/7 HD footage, but if I ever do need to rely on the footage, it has to be of worthwhile quality.


Somewhere in this mess of files, I have a composite image I created of a license plate at various distances. Shows the relevant clarity of the cameras typically included in such a system.
If I can find it, I'll post it here.
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