New to BI5 Looking for Input

[JayKing123]

I just downloaded the Evaluation Version and Playing!

I'm in the Process of building a new house and setting up for Home Automation and Cameras. I will have 6-8 Outdoor Cameras and probably a couple in the house as well!

I currently have 4 Nest Cam IQ Cameras outside of my garage keeping an eye on things but want to get away form the monthly charges and also like to play! I'm also installing Homeseer that will control most of my lights and things and will probably want to integrate the cameras somewhat. I did get the Nest Cameras to work with BI5 using the Public URL. I still get quite a bit of CAM Offline Errors...

Anyway was wondering what are the best Cameras that integrate well with BI5 and also with Homeseer and Amazon Alexa!

Thanks for the Input and I look forward to hanging out!

[TimG]

Hi JayKing123,

That's a lot of questions ! Let's have a go:

1. Take note of low light specs and compare them with different cameras. I have a Dahua starvis camera (See type in footer) that can see colour in the dark (with the IR OFF) when my eyes see nothing. My other cameras see nothing unless the IR is on. IR attracts spiders.
2. Nest cameras will probably keep giving you problems, and they could block the public address with a new firmware update.
3. Homeseer - I have a working HS3 system, and am presently testing HS4 Pro, but not to view the cameras. There is a plug in for BI, but it is not being updated at the moment. You can use a JSON Alert command in BI5 without that plug in, but you have to set up a virtual device to switch lights on and off. If you do go for the plug in, you have to add a different JSON command to the BI5 Alert, and then you can use normal Homeseer events. I use the Dahua "motion detected" to turn lights on in Homeseer - if it is nightime only, and for five minutes only. These run on the same pc, which also runs tv and media servers.
4. Alexa - I haven't integrated it with my system.

[JayKing123]

Tim,

Thanks for the Reply I was reading around and saw you had Homeseer and also were pretty active!

Cool about the Specs... I will start looking into them. I do not want to buy the cheapest by any stretch but i do not want to buy something i will never use... I want great resolution and as you stated i would like to have the best night specs as possible. Never thought about the Spiders with IR thanks!! Also i'm planning on a complete PoE Solution and i'm wondering if that is the right move. I was hoping to be able to rub just a single Cat6 Cable to each Camera. Thoughts?

I'm going to replace the Nest ASAP...

I had bought the HS3 3 years ago and had just started integrating it in my house and i decided to Knock the house down and rebuild!! LOL... So HS3 is in a box right now and i'm living in the Garage! Hope to be done with the New House in September! So far i basically have Every Light Switch is a Homeseer Switch. I have been checking out the HS4 Pro and wish i could participate in the Beta... I may pick your brain on Homeseer later!

[JayKing123]

Also another loaded question i assume...

Dome vs. Bullet?? Which does everyone like an why. I personally like the "Looks" of a Bullet and i'm trying to understand the difference between them as far as specs go...

[JMaher]

Hi JayKing123.
I also have Nest Cam IQ and Nest Hello door cam. I have had these cams working in the past, but on BI 5 I am getting "403 forbidden".
Any ideas, can you share how you configured yours on BI 5.

Regards
John

[TimG]

Dome vs. Bullet?? Which does everyone like an why. I personally like the "Looks" of a Bullet and i'm trying to understand the difference between them as far as specs go...

The turret cams like my Dahua are very popular. Domes can suffer from reflections, and bullets, I can't remember why I don't like them

Base it all on the specs. A good looking camera that missed the bad guys is a waste of money - even if it was cheap. Unless you know your lighting will be fine, then you do need to think about those low light specs. Bad guys tend to wander around in the dark.

And did you know how the bad guys can find cameras in a neighbourhood ? The camera on your mobile phone is very sensitive to IR, so if you look at a CCTV camera with it in the dark, you will see the IR LEDs on the camera. Also useful for checking if your TV remote control is outputting IR ! I told my local Police about that one; they were surprised but found it did work.

[TimG]

Also i'm planning on a complete PoE Solution and i'm wondering if that is the right move. I was hoping to be able to rub just a single Cat6 Cable to each Camera. Thoughts?

I have POE on two cameras at the moment, and so far so good. I would be wary of spending a lot of cash on a big poe ethernet switch though, as it would take all of your cameras out if it failed . I think a couple of smaller ones (8 way etc) would be better in my opinion - for a home system.

As for Cat6, if you need one, run two ! You will thank me in a few years time

[Matts1984]

Especially since you're building and have the ability now, I'd highly suggest running the Cat6 and go PoE. It's a much cleaner setup in my opinion and you can likely getting better remote capabilities (ie - physical power cycle) vs having a power brick somewhere. In my situation it would have been a much bigger problem to get power to my cameras without PoE.

While this is a BI forum, since it directly relates - my internal network (minus the firewall) is all Ubiquiti UniFi gear, including a 16-port PoE switch. It's another ecosystem that once you get started - you're hooked . Seriously though I highly recommend if you're looking for Prosumer grade capabilities.

[TimG]

Especially since you're building and have the ability now, I'd highly suggest running the Cat6 and go PoE. It's a much cleaner setup in my opinion and you can likely getting better remote capabilities (ie - physical power cycle) vs having a power brick somewhere. In my situation it would have been a much bigger problem to get power to my cameras without PoE.

Yes, I wasn't very clear there One cable (remember to install two though) and no power sockets required - it is clearly a much neater solution, and I will be using it for most (if not all) of my cameras in my next house. Do keep an eye on current draw per camera though - add them up to see if the PoE supply is powerful enough; if not you can add another PoE supply, so it won't affect you getting those cables installed.