Hikvision camera selection advice please - AccuSense, ColorVu, IR, white light etc?

[Loftus]

Hi all

been lurking around here for a while and now need some advice please.

I would ideally like colorvu turrets in 8mp accusense with speaker, microphone and flashing LED, but aware 8mp is not available yet; darkfighter do exactly what I would like.

we live in a very rural area and there is zero ambient light, no neighbours and no street lights. We do have some PIR security lights and don’t mind adding more, I really like the colorvu technology but concerned that without ambient lights it would be a waste of time??

would I be correct in thinking that darkfighter would be in colour if we had security lights coming on Anyway? And would the range of visibility in infrared be greater than colorvu? Would it be worth waiting for the 8mp colorvu turrets???

Lastly due to the layout of the property I need the cameras to operate via my Wi-fi, can get power to all locations but CAT would be a real headache, what recorder would be suitable and do all gen2 ip cameras have this facility?

many thanks

 

[JB1970]

I'd avoid the ColorVu for the reasons you've stated - no ambient light. Range is definitely better on IR. I'd recommend the AcuSense turrets but get them in 4mm if you can find them as the 2.8's have a hideously wide angle. The DS-2CD2386G2-ISU/SL where you need the two way audio/flashing light and the DS-2CD2386G2-IU where you don't (microphone only)

Avoid the G1 Darkfighters (2385G1). If you want to use events then AcuSense should be considered a basic requirement. I wouldn't wait for an 8MP ColorVu turret as it may never come - they never released one in the first gen so it's not guaranteed.

WiFi is going to be an issue as most cameras don't support it natively and the ones that do aren't worth looking at. There are numerous options to get around it such as WiFi extenders that feature a wired port, Powerline adaptors etc. But by the time you've set all that up it may be less of a headache (and more reliable) to cable it.

 

[Loftus]

Hi JB1970

really appreciate your reply two of the Cameras are going on a building across a drive way so getting POE there will be a problem, I do however have power and a BT wifi extender disc in there which gives a strong signal; will the camera you have mentioned be able to connect to the disc via Wi-fi only or would it have to be plugged into it?

cheers

 

[JB1970]

Hi JB1970

really appreciate your reply two of the Cameras are going on a building across a drive way so getting POE there will be a problem, I do however have power and a BT wifi extender disc in there which gives a strong signal; will the camera you have mentioned be able to connect to the disc via Wi-fi only or would it have to be plugged into it?

cheers

No - practically all Hikvision cameras are Ethernet only so it would need to be connected by cable. Generally there are few professional cameras that support WiFi natively - it tends to be the consumer models that support it. If your BT disk has a wired port you can connect to that. Alternatively you can get an extender from the likes of TPLink. They’ll often allow you to set a mode enabling it to simply connect to the existing WiFi without extending it, allowing you to connect your wired camera. For ease you would loop the connection through a PoE injector, so you’d just have a single cable to the camera. In your case if there’s two cameras on that building, the adaptor could connect to a PoE switch then cable both remote cameras from there.

One thing to consider. If you’re adding the cameras to your WiFi then they’re on your LAN and consuming WiFi bandwidth. A better way to do it would be to cable your local cameras direct to the NVR. For the remote ones use a wireless bridge. You would take a cable from one of the NVR ports to the bridge on your house. On the other side, the remote end would connect to a PoE switch that goes on to connect to the cameras. This would keep all of your cameras isolated from your LAN and normal WiFi.

 

[Loftus]

Great info there many thanks