I am in the market. Not interested in the “service” systems with a monthly charge. Anyone have any experience with any systems? Interested in the range of the cameras from the DVR and dark picture quality the most. HD seems like a minimum requirement.
Sam’s Club.
You’ll get what you pay for. If you go with a small hard drive dvr, compare to one that you can add a external hard drive for additional storage. Most of what I deal with is very high end. Ip cameras will give you typically better quality and zoom/image captures. You need to get into $$$ a lot of features. As you shop, see if any have motion sensors or open/closures for other integrations like dialers and other security tools. You can set a lot of them up for remote access or to have them text you during an event
i have a dropcam from the apple store and it works awesome, can view it from smartphone, was out of town and could view from place from my phone, love it! i believe it was 199.99 and came with some cloud storage for the first 6 or 12 months 
I just bought one off of ebay that has 4 camera and DVR that stores up to 30 dayshttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Zmodo-8CH-960H-Network-DVR-4-Outdoor-700TVL-Day-Night-Security-Camera-System-1T-/360773170367?pt=US_Surveillance_Security_Systems&hash=item53ffc1b4bf. It is the corded system, I was going to go with wireless however you need an outlet near by so I figured that the cord was just the same. I really like it. I put it all together and works great. It has pretty good night vision about 30 feet. I do have a motion light that when that trips you can see as far as the light goes. Do look at where it is shipping from there a lot from over seas that will take up to 30 days to get and you will need to pay extra charges too.
I have a zmodo system I bought on ebay 3 years ago and am very happy with it. I payed $319 shipped to my door for a 1 tb system. Mine can have up to 8 cameras ,but only came with 4. I just looked and you can get an 8 camera system with a 1 tb hard drive for under $300. Very reliable system.
zmodo
This is the ebay seller I bought my system from.They have several systems available.
I have the Iris home automation system from Lowes with security system, outdoor camera, lighting controls, etc. You can also add indoor cameras.
The Iris system works on your PC and for only $10 a month you get full access to all your home automation and sensors. You can check the cameras, see who came and went, and control lights and other goodies in the house.
Since it’s cloud-based, storage is not limited by chip or HD size. Worth considering, depending on your needs and situation.
Another handy-dandy low budget outdoor solution is a trail camera by the side of the driveway. Works great and snaps a very clear picture of anyone who comes up the driveway. License plates are totally readable and usually you get a good picture of the driver of the car.
Grouse
Randy, sounds like you have some experience with the type of system I am looking for. I need remote access, event notification, motion detection, and IP (wireless) cameras. For cameras will probably due, but might expand to six. The range of prices I have seen start at $1K and go up as high as you want to go…
Care to share any brands or dealers you might recommend?
Hey Grouse, what kind of range do you get from the wireless outdoor cameras? The Iris system looks interesting if it meets all me needs. Seems to have a lower buy in cost, then they get you with the $10/mo. But the fact of the matter is the equipment will be obsolete in 3-4 years so probably will replace anyway.
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Randy, sounds like you have some experience with the type of system I am looking for. I need remote access, event notification, motion detection, and IP (wireless) cameras. For cameras will probably due, but might expand to six. The range of prices I have seen start at $1K and go up as high as you want to go…
Care to share any brands or dealers you might recommend?
I3 is the most common system that I have been working with. I don’t get too overly involved in the generic components, as many of them are now of higher quality. If your shopping IP cameras, just compare the specs and make sure you have multiple streaming. In addition, make sure your hard drive has enough storage for the amount of streaming video and buffer for the time allotted you want.
If your getting into something very critical where detail in the image is a must, beware of time lag and how the image is recorded. Again, much more than what is considered for typical home security systems. I3 does offer some small basic systems that maybe suited. We have done some retail stores with 6 cameras and their DVR with a couple portals connected to door alarms
I get more involved in the BIS or CMS applications where real time data is needed to understand traffic and money. How many people walk through the door, what departments they go to, how many seconds they spent in a isle looking at product, and how much money was spent.
http://www.i3international.com/index.php/en/business-intelligent-solutions/the-technology
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Hey Grouse, what kind of range do you get from the wireless outdoor cameras? The Iris system looks interesting if it meets all me needs. Seems to have a lower buy in cost, then they get you with the $10/mo. But the fact of the matter is the equipment will be obsolete in 3-4 years so probably will replace anyway.
The range mostly seems dependent on how many walls are between the Iris base station and the “device”, (camera, sensor, etc). The camera is at least 75 feet from my base unit, but only one wall is between the base and the camera.
But range is not really a show stopper because–and here’s the great thing about the Iris system–there’s a device that you can add to solve this if it’s an issue: A range extender module. I’ve read online that people use these range extenders so they can have sensors out in remote buildings and garages hundreds of feet away from the control unit.
While the $10 a month charge is an extra expense (optional, by the way, you don’t HAVE to pay it), I think it’s totally worth it because you can use your smartphone to see/know everything about your home. Each sensor and other device has a built-in thermometer so you can see the temp outside, inside, in the garage, etc. You can also see who comes and goes by viewing the system data and the cameras.
You can also assign separate alarm codes to different members of the family, so you can see when the back door opened and who punched in their code. All of this is online so you don’t have to go back to the computer.
I didn’t add the door locks, but those will be next on the list along with more cameras outside.
Grouse
Hey guys thanks for the information and ideas! Looks like I have some homework to do…
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