In case anyone is looking to do a simple DIY CCTV install at home/work I thought I would post a little review of my first dabble with CCTV and the pros/cons of the budget (sub £180 all in) four channel setup I've installed.
To start with, the DVR; I got a four channel networked DVR with App based remote access for iOS/Android (and BlackBerry I think) from Maplin. The DVR comes with one Camera and a handy 5-way power splitter. They are £179.99 I think, however, Maplin have B-grade ones for sale at a bargain £89.99!
It all seemed brand new when it turned up, just the camera stand missing which Maplin promptly sent out after a quick email to them.
The DVR itself is made by 'Sentient' who are a Chinese company from what I can see. It is easy enough to set up, which is convenient as the manual is not really worth the paper its pigeon English is written on! You must set up port forwarding on your router if you want to view remotely - this DVR works on port 34567.
The IR camera is OK, picture quality could be better though. I purchased a 1/3" Sony 48IR LED camera from EBay too and the picture quality on this is very good for the £20.99 price!
All cabling was done via pre-crimped shotgun cable running power and video (BNC connectors) from the camera back the the DVR and 5-way power splitter. The only downside of this is you need bigger holes in walls etc. to get the crimped ends through! That and I have some spare length in the cable but that's not an issue. 4 cables x about £4.50 = £18
To finish it off I have now ordered another Sony camera at £20.99 and a smaller camera for £9 as the range on this only needs to be short to look down from above the back door.
So that's £158.97 for all the kit and cables, maybe about another £10 spent on cable ties, trunking, etc. In my case I ran a long Cat6 from living room (router) to home office (DVR) which probably cost another £10 including faceplates etc.
I'm really pleased with the setup so far for under £180.
Cons. of the DVR are as follows:
- limited to two Apps currently, both leave a bit to be desired if I'm being fussy as the official App VS500 on iPhone does not have an ipad version, can only view one camera at a time and only saves one DVR setting. There is a new App that I'm playing email tennis with the Chinese manufacturer about at the moment. This is MVS500 and has all the missing features, I just cannot get it working at the mo; will update when I do as they are waiting for their developers to return from Chinese New Year
- firmware is clearly a Chinese translation in some places, still does the job though
- all viewing and config. etc. from a computer must be done in Internet Explorer as it is ActiveX based
- the fan on the DVR is noisy so not suited to e.g. Living room where my router is
- needs a cabled Ethernet connection, not wireless, not an issue in my opinion though
I'll post some screen shots etc. too once I get back from the car seat shopping trip I'm off on now...
To start with, the DVR; I got a four channel networked DVR with App based remote access for iOS/Android (and BlackBerry I think) from Maplin. The DVR comes with one Camera and a handy 5-way power splitter. They are £179.99 I think, however, Maplin have B-grade ones for sale at a bargain £89.99!
It all seemed brand new when it turned up, just the camera stand missing which Maplin promptly sent out after a quick email to them.
The DVR itself is made by 'Sentient' who are a Chinese company from what I can see. It is easy enough to set up, which is convenient as the manual is not really worth the paper its pigeon English is written on! You must set up port forwarding on your router if you want to view remotely - this DVR works on port 34567.
The IR camera is OK, picture quality could be better though. I purchased a 1/3" Sony 48IR LED camera from EBay too and the picture quality on this is very good for the £20.99 price!
All cabling was done via pre-crimped shotgun cable running power and video (BNC connectors) from the camera back the the DVR and 5-way power splitter. The only downside of this is you need bigger holes in walls etc. to get the crimped ends through! That and I have some spare length in the cable but that's not an issue. 4 cables x about £4.50 = £18
To finish it off I have now ordered another Sony camera at £20.99 and a smaller camera for £9 as the range on this only needs to be short to look down from above the back door.
So that's £158.97 for all the kit and cables, maybe about another £10 spent on cable ties, trunking, etc. In my case I ran a long Cat6 from living room (router) to home office (DVR) which probably cost another £10 including faceplates etc.
I'm really pleased with the setup so far for under £180.
Cons. of the DVR are as follows:
- limited to two Apps currently, both leave a bit to be desired if I'm being fussy as the official App VS500 on iPhone does not have an ipad version, can only view one camera at a time and only saves one DVR setting. There is a new App that I'm playing email tennis with the Chinese manufacturer about at the moment. This is MVS500 and has all the missing features, I just cannot get it working at the mo; will update when I do as they are waiting for their developers to return from Chinese New Year
- firmware is clearly a Chinese translation in some places, still does the job though
- all viewing and config. etc. from a computer must be done in Internet Explorer as it is ActiveX based
- the fan on the DVR is noisy so not suited to e.g. Living room where my router is
- needs a cabled Ethernet connection, not wireless, not an issue in my opinion though
I'll post some screen shots etc. too once I get back from the car seat shopping trip I'm off on now...
