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Introduction A few years ago, my wife and I decided that we needed a modern Internet-enabled CCTV security system. We didn’t know much about home security or cameras at that point. If we were not DIY-enthusiasts, we would have probably gone the and bought a.
But being the DIY and tech-crazy people we are, we decided to do it our way –, learning by doing, using excellent IP cameras like the. Today, we have a DIY CCTV home security camera system that we chose and set up ourselves based on months of research. It is ultra-reliable and has high-end features such as interfacing fully with our HomeSeer HS3 home automation system, yet is very affordable. We often get questions about our DIY CCTV setup, such as how we are able to view our home security cameras securely from anywhere in the world.
So we thought we would share our journey with you, our readers. We will list our security camera setup and how we are able to safely and securely connect to our home from just about anywhere. Also we will go into not just a list of the different devices that form the system but also how they all come together to help us achieve our specific security goals. Our Home Security goals were:. Be able to simultaneously view multiple cameras in a split-screen view.
This could be from a tablet while indoors and from our mobile phones and laptops remotely. Be able to record motion-detection clips and have the option to at record at least 2 weeks worth of 24/7 video footage. Be able to inform whenever motion was detected so that I could take action such as turning on lights. Get motion detection alerts by email with snapshots within seconds of the intrusion. High enough resolution to get a clear picture at day or night. Online security is paramount so we need a fully local solution. No cloud-reliant stuff for us!
We do not want to port forward cameras or activate P2P leaving the entire network vulnerable to hackers and botnets. Push notifications – a nice to have if it doesn’t compromise network security. The system should be flexible enough to grow and change according to our evolving needs. All of this should not break the bank! The End Result Here is a screenshot of how we live-view our IP cameras from our laptops and on the TV. Our DIY Home Security System – QNAP QVR Client for Surveillance Station We can also access the cameras from our smartphones using either the tinyCAM Monitor Pro app or QNAP’s VMobile to access the NAS NVR’s clips archives.
Whenever motion is detected by any of the IP cameras, the QNAP NAS informs my home automation system: This shows you how to connect QNAP Surveillance Station to Homeseer HS3. Eventually I plan to write how-to guides to replicate my entire smart home system setup. Now let’s see what the security camera system part of our home network looks like. Our DIY Home Security System Network Setup. DIY Home Security System – Logical Network Topology A topology is a representation of how a system is connected together.
![System System](/uploads/1/2/5/3/125383225/893319305.jpg)
Network topologies may be either physical or logical. A physical network topology shows the actual physical layout and the connections between different elements. A logical network topology shows how they are functionally linked to each other.
The topology above is a logical representation of our home surveillance network. We have three Hikvision IP cameras, and a Reolink C1 Pro recording 24/7 to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system from QNAP. NAS devices today are much more than just network storage, they are more like mini-servers.
Generally they run their own Linux-based operating system that is accessed through a web browser. Common uses for a NAS are centralised network storage, as a backup target, as a VPN client/server, and as a DLNA server for streaming your media across the house to multiple devices. The Intel-based we use has multiple roles as well. The main role is to be our DIY NAS Network Video Recorder (NVR). This is possible using the NAS’ built-in Surveillance Station software.
So the QNAP records full resolution video streams from my 3 Hikvision cameras and a Reolink C1 Pro to its internal hard drives. You could get a but as I said, we had other uses for the NAS. As mentioned in our goals above, we didn’t want to forward ports from the cameras to the Internet. The alternative to forwarding ports from the camera to the router and exposing them to the Internet, is to so that you can dial in securely.
For this you need an Internet-facing device in your home network that can act as a VPN server. Most modern routers can do this, but since we use an ISP provided DSL modem-router this is not an option. So the second role for our is as the VPN server for the entire home network. The QNAP software has a built-in VPN server that supports all the major VPN protocols. I chose the OpenVPN protocol as it is widely accepted as the most secure protocol at the moment.
All others have been compromised either by the government or by hackers. Our ISP’s DSL modem-router is physically the center point of the network as all the devices are connected to it either directly or through switches. The QNAP’s OpenVPN port is forwarded to this modem-router. No other port forwarding is present.
The modem-router is configured with Dynamic DNS (DDNS) and so is always accessible from the internet using a friendly name, instead of the public IP address which ISPs change every so often. We use a VPN client on our Android phones or laptops to connect to our home network via OpenVPN, the QNAP NAS acting as the OpenVPN server for the entire home network. This lets us access all our network resources as if we never left home, live-viewing and reviewing recorded footage is so easy.
Accessing the security camera system while at home The QNAP NAS’ Surveillance Station can be accessed either via the web interface or the Windows QNAP QVR client software that you saw above in the screenshot. The app on our smartphones are all configured using the local IP address of the QNAP NAS and Hikvision cameras. At home, we just open the app and it simply works.
Accessing the security camera system from outside the home Outside our home network, I simply need to connect to the VPN server (running on the the QNAP NAS), and all the apps and the QVR client on the laptop simply continue to work. This is the detailed process: So I use the OpenVPN client on my laptop or phone to connect to the NAS. Once connected, my PC is virtually part of our home network. So our Hikvision cameras are not directly exposed to the Internet.
Our QNAP NAS is, but this is a far better option because the QNAP is built for this purpose and has attack defeat measures such as IP exclusion, automatic IP bans based on rules etc. Which the cameras simply don’t have. Also the VPN server allows me to access the date on the NAS without hassle – my laptop or smartphone will think that they are in the local network. So all network drives automatically re-connect and the experience is seamless in terms of recently used files etc. Read: Full Equipment list We set ourselves a challenge of putting together a modern Internet-enabled CCTV security system at a reasonable cost: IP Cameras. Stunning Full HD 1080P Video at 30fps. Record and Playback via local microSD Card, Amcrest or ONVIF NVR, FTP Upload, and Blue Iris.
Amcrest Cloud Video Recording Service Available. This is a Power Over Ethernet (POE) camera and requires a separate POE Injector or POE Switch to operate. A power supply and a POE injector are NOT included, and are sold separately. We recommend purchasing a TP-Link POE Injector or POE Switch if you currently do not have any type of POE power supply. Free shipping.
QNAP NAS TS-253A with a 3TB WD Red hard drive (WD30EFRX): You could go the EasyDIY route of using a or the ProDIY route of using a NAS for recording video streams from your cameras. We were attracted to the NAS option because a NAS can do a lot more than just be a dumb external hard drive.
Read: NAS offerings from the major vendors such as Synology and QNAP have extremely powerful software running on them that makes them more like computers. So we use the NAS as the NVR, a VPN server, backing up our laptops, phones, and as a DLNA server. The QNAP TS-253A we chose is an affordable yet powerful NAS that is the hub of our surveillance system and an integral part of our home automation system.
From my round-up of, you can see the choice was between the TS-253A and the Synology 416play. We settled on the QNAP because it had slightly more powerful hardware, more features such as HDMI out ports, and 2 extra camera licenses over the Synology 416play. Both Synology and QNAP are great brands and both claim to be able to send push notifications to their respective mobile apps, but I haven’t tested this on our QNAP yet as I am not a fan of push notifications. Read: Read: Network Switches Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) Switch. You can never have enough Ethernet ports! The Netgear GS-308 8-port gigabit switch is an unmanaged switch.
This means there are no settings to configure, it is truly plug and play. It has a sturdy metal chassis, auto-sensing 10/100/1000 Mbps port support and excellent real-world performance.
It also has LED activity, link speed and status LEDs per port. I have been using it for over 6 months now and it has been super reliable. Highly recommended plug and play switch for setting up your home surveillance network! A CyberPower BRICs BR650ELCD (Line-interactive UPS – 390W/650 VA) to protect and power the entire system (13% load for all the above kit + a couple of other devices).
I got a cheap yet reliable UPS which is officially compatible with the QNAP NAS. If the power fails or supply voltage is outside the tolerance, it informs the NAS which is programmed to shut down gracefully. I also have a schedule to turn it on automatically every morning, which ensures the NAS will turn itself on the next morning if the power fails and it shuts down. I believe the UPS has paid for itself. On several occasions, the NAS has informed me that it had shut down as instructed by the UPS. Software The QNAP NAS comes with a free standalone NVR application, the QVR client. It supports all the features a good NVR has and it works very well.
We use app on Samsung Galaxy E5, Samsung Galaxy A5, HTC One M7 and a Nexus 7 tablet. The tablet is our dedicated IP camera monitoring screen.
Storage capacity needed for QNAP Surveillance Station: Initially I recorded all my 3 external IP cameras 24/7 at 6Mbps bitrate and 10fps. This meant that the 1.5TB I had set aside was good for 8-10 days of CCTV footage for all 3 cameras put together. But I have since realised I don’t really need 24/7 recording and that replacing hard drives every year is no fun. Are rated for no more than 1 year of continuous operation.
So now I just use alarm recording which places markers on the timeline so that I can jump directly to motion events. The amount of storage you need depends on the quality and frame per second settings. After 3 years of experimenting with various quality settings, I have settled at 2Mbps and 6fps as we couldn’t see any improvement with higher settings. I have also set the Surveillance Station app on the QNAP to use only 1.5 TB (out of the 3TB available). So it automatically overwrites older recordings to maintain the 1.5TB quota. You can also specify number of days instead. Conclusion We hope this article gives you an insight into how you can set up your own DIY home security camera system.
If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to get in touch through the comments field below. A quick note: This article may contain affiliate links from Amazon and/or other platforms. This is how we pay the bills and ensure an ad-free distraction-free experience for you. If you click on one of these links and then purchase something, we will receive affiliate income for referring you.
This goes towards the costs of hosting and running this website and does not cost you anything extra. Thanks for understanding! Also note that Hikvision and Dahua do not consider certain platforms including Amazon as an authorised seller, but personally we don’t mind the often lower costs. Hi Daniel, Great site and thanks for sharing your setup. I’m actually looking at a similar setup. Due to time constraints, I may choose to go first with a NVR and later switch (or add) either a NAS or PC running something like BlueIris or ZoneMinder (I have no experience on them, my comments are only based on internet research).
Ideally what I wish I could do is not only have a local storage for footage but also an offline (ie cloud) storage solution. But given the cost, I would only store the footage triggered by an alert, not the regular footage. Ideally I would send it to something like tarsnap as it’s easy to do from the manage/automate from the command line. The question is then: do NAS or solutions like blueiris allow me to copy specific files only (different name or different folder for alert triggered footage)? I suppose this is not a solution with an NVR unless an NVR can be accessed via ftp/scp.
Thanks, J.F. Awesome site and thanks for sharing your config. It helped answer some of the things I had been researching. Wished I had found your site sooner than later as it would have save me a lot of time. You mentioned you record video 24x7x365 and it retains for a week. I’m sure you’ve considered it, but what are your thoughts on pro’s and con’s of recording motion only instead of record everything?
Initially, without knowing the con’s, I’d think your retention could go up at a minimum 3 weeks. Thoughts and thank you again. Hi Steve, Thank you and glad that I could help. I have not been posting much lately due to our first baby but I will soon start updating the blog more often. In fact he is helping me type this reply ? Great question about video storage – I would say it mostly comes down to 3 reasons – personal preference, how motion detection works and the risk. Personal preference – I started out recording just motion detection clips to my NAS NVR, just as I do on the Hikvisions with SD cards inside. But sometimes I felt like I wanted to see a bit more of what happened before and after the motion detection event.
An example – I sometimes get people ringing the doorbell and walking away. Now the Hikvision cameras record 30 seconds before and after the motion trigger. In the unlikely case that it is a burglar casing my house, I would like to know whether he came in a car, what colour the car was, hopefully a plate, and where he parked. With the 30 sec pre and post record, I may or may not get all of these details. But with the NAS recording 24/7, if I want more details than just the pre and post record images sent to me by the Hikvisions by email alert, I can log into the NAS and check out the full video. I am happy with the last 10 days of recording on the NAS for now (1.5 TB space allocated), but I can easily up it to 20-30 days by getting a bigger hard drive.
![For For](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/8b/07/9c/8b079c38c7bc88102abf456c5d017897.jpg)
How motion detection recording works – Since the NAS provides a pre-recording feature, it means that it is actually recording everything it is receiving from the camera, holding on to it for the duration of the pre-record (1 min in our example) in case motion is detected. If there is no alert it has no reason to save the clip and it deletes it. This happens on a rolling basis. My only concern with 24/7 recording was that I would wear out the hard drive quicker – but then if it is in any case recording everything for the pre-recording feature, I cannot do any more harm by recording 24/7. Hope this reasoning makes sense! Risk – If for some reason, the motion detection didn’t trigger, there is a risk that I may miss important footage. A small risk but worth considering anyhow.
These are my thoughts on the matter ? Daniel. Hi Kristian, Thanks and I hope you found the posts useful. I really like the QNAP software because its stable and simply works. One thing I dont like however is that it is very slow to export clips if I ever need to do so. Its much faster to just browse to the share where the recordings are and just copy the file I need. Yes, the share I use for the QNAP surveillance centre is set to a limit of 1TB (on a 3TB drive).
This is good for 10 days of storage for each camera running 24/7 @ 1080p, 6Mbps bitrate and 10fps. I use QNAP’s PC surveillance software to live view and review footage. Its a good piece of software and scrubbing through video is quick and efficient. I dont use the web interface although that’s pretty decent too. I recently upgraded the NAS to QTS 4.2 and am now testing the new surveillance centre app version. There is also a mobile app for surveillance centre – its not very polished but gets the job done.
Do let me know what else you would like to see on the blog – I am looking for content ideas! Daniel – I have a setup quite similar to yours – QNAP TS470 with twin Seagate 2TB drives set up as Raid 1.
I have 4 cameras (a mix of Panasonic and D-Link units). I have set the cameras to record. How do I get the QNAP system to send me an email alert (and a jpeg) when an alert is triggered. The Panasonic cameras can trigger on sound, motion or infra-red. I used to run Blue Iris on Windows and am looking for a similar alert capability? Any ideas or clues or tips?
We live on an acreage and are away often so security is an ongoing concern. Thanks loads. Hi Ron, You can make the QNAP Surveillance Station send you email alerts with snapshots – however its far from straight forward and depends on how well your cameras are supported by QNAP. I have spent a lot of time trying to make it work the way I want, and this is what I learnt: When you add a camera and turn on motion detection alerts under the “Configure Alarm Recording on the QNAP NAS” section, the NAS will login to your cameras and attempt to set up motion detection rules in the camera.
Then when the camera sends an alert according to the rules defined by the NAS, Surveillance Station will receive them and then respond accordingly (start recording, put an event marker on the timeline, send email snapshot, send an SMS alert etc.). So the first key point is that your QNAP NAS actually doesn’t do any motion detection, it relies on the camera to do it. So you wont find any configuration options for those rules in your NAS – you will find it in your cacmera settings. This method is smart because your camera will usually have more advanced motion detection methods such as line detection, intrusion detection, PIR motion sensors etc to which the NAS can theoretically respond. I say theoretically because there is a downside – the NAS’s ability to respond to those alerts depends on how well QNAP supports your specific camera make and model. I have Hikvision cameras. The NAS will not respond to any motion detection alert other than the basic motion detection.
So it ignores the line detection and intrusion detection alerts that I love because it cuts down false alerts massively. So then, assuming your camera is supported by QNAP partially/fully, how can you control the motion detection rules? First activate the motion detection rules in Surveillance Station for each camera. Then login to each camera and fine tune the rules, for example you can change the detection area.
What have I done? I decided QNAP ignoring the Hikvision’s advanced motion detection rules is not something I can live with.
So I set up my cameras. The NAS records 24/7 on a cycle of 10 days.
Hopefully QNAP supports your cameras fully and you find that the NAS recognises all motion detection triggers (sound, motion, PIR infrared). Hope this helps.
Hi Jerry, I am also thinking of getting a Hikvision NVR as my primary NVR and then using the NAS as a secondary backup location. Hikvision NVRs actually have only the basic motion detection ability. They don’t do any advanced motion detection themselves such as Line crossing, Intrusion detection, face detection etc, which Hikvision calls VCA (Video Content Analysis).
The NVR relies on the cameras sending specific VCA triggers to start and stop recording. Also note that not all Hikvision NVRs can recognise VCA triggers meaning they will just ignore the Line crossing, Intrusion detection, face detection etc. So you have to get an NVR which supports VCA. According to this manual for the 7600 series, these support the VCA feature. I am planning to get the 7608 model myself and intend to use the VCA features: My QNAP surveillance station software can detect only the basic motion detection alerts from the Hikvision cameras, it simply ignores all the VCA event alerts.
I am not sure about Synology, sorry. Thanks and you summed it up well.
Hikvision is a brand that is targeted primarily at businesses and white-labelers, not homeowners. But their stuff is worth the extra money – you can pick and choose very high resolution cameras and at the same time not be tied to a particular brand for example. The mainstream market has always a year or so behind Hikvision in the past but the gap is narrowing. For a few years there were no retail brands that could do 3 megapixels for example, but now you have Reolink with 4MP capable cameras. Daniel Based on the great info you have been providing, I recently purchased a system (QNAP TS-231+, TP-Link TL-SG1008P, one Hikvision DS-2CD2T42WD-I5(4MM), and two Amcrest ProHD 1080P POE PTZ (IP2M-841EB)) So far, things are setting up nicelyexcept OpenVPN and Vmobile (QNAP’s mobile surveilance streaming app).
I have setup myQNAPcloud and can access Qmanager/Qfile/Qget/Qvideo/etc. But, Vmobile just returns a connect error. So, I started working on VPN server, thinking that will help me find a mobile app (I have iOS devices, so tinyCam Monitor Pro is not an option). Have you considered writing a “how to” article on setting up OpenVPN server and configuring the mobile OpenVPN client? And have you had any success getting Vmobile to connect? (If so, that would be another great article for us who are trying to self teach this stuff.) Thanks!
Last night I was able to get vmobile to connect while my mobile was attached direct to the network via WIFI. When I turn WIFI off and use cell data (LTE and/or 4G), the connection method is via xxxx.myqnapcloud.com and vmobile will not connect. All the other QNAP apps work using the cloud connect, but vmobile does not. So – to get around that, I need to setup VPN sever and VPN client so the mobile thinks it is on a direct connect (via the virtual connect rather than the cloud connect). I’m hoping vmobile will then work on the VPN connect. I am stuck on getting all the parameters set for VPN server, and then I need to get the VPN client configured. I’ve been reading up on UPnP as another way to use xxxxx.myqnapcloud.com as the connection method (by enabling UPnP Port Forwarding).
But, the myQNAPcloud utility on QTS 4.2.2 indicates it can’t find a UPnP router on the network, even though I can see that I have UPnP and NAT enabled on the router. So – I’ve missed something somewhere. Also – I’ve read that using the UPnP Port Forwarding is not that secure. Hi, I will put together a step by step guide when I get time. With the year end approaching I have not been getting enough time to blog! I dislike both cloud and uPNP, but uPNP is far more dangerous than using the QNAP cloud. The reason is that uPNP for never intended to be used on external networks such as the Internet.
I keep it disabled on my router and all devices that support it. UPNP is how insecure or compromised(hacked) devices can ‘dial home’ to their manufacturer or even used by hackers to spy on you.
QNAP cloud – I never tried it because the QNAP openVPN server has been flawless and is very very fast. There is no middleman – my phone connects directly to my home network. Also by just using one app (openVPN client), my phone then is literally inside my home network – I can do everything as if I am am at home, plus all my internet traffic is routed over my home router (not public Wifi for example).
I recommend using only the openVPN protocol because all other VPN protocols have been compromised by various governments and so safe to assume hackers as well. The is very good and should help with configuring the openVPN server. Some tips – default settings should be good, except under advanced settings use UDP (not TCP) and a random port (not 1194). Then get a dynamic DNS for your home router (noip.com is free, paid ones also exist). Then port forward that specific UDP port from router to NAS. Then download the QNAP configuration file and open it with the official openVPN client app, enter your dynamic DNS settings and login details and off you go.
That’s about the gist of it. Thanks for the additional insights. I too have now disabled the myQNAPcloud services, except for the myQNAPcloud DDNS service. I believe is serves the same purpose as noip.com.
Every 15 min the myQNAPcloud DDNS service checks the WAN IP and if it sees a change, it updates the WAN IP associated with xxxxxx.myqnapcloud.com (where xxxxxx is the name I selected for my NAS). This allows me to use “xxxxxx.myqnapcloud.com” as the server IP in the OpenVPN profile. I had some other challenges getting the OpenVPN client to work on my devices. Some key points for setting up on the mobile devices (applies to iOS and Android): Go to Settings for OpenVPN and change Protocol to UDP (it defaults to TCP); enable “Force AES-CBC ciphersuites”. Both of those items took a while for me to figure out. Once set, OpenVPN connects flawlessly. I also have the OpenVPN client running and working a couple of laptops.
That setup was very easy. Thanks again for your comments and insight. Hi Daniel, I own an older Avertx system. It has its faults. It fails a during searches. I bought a new model and its crashing all the time.
Avertx is aware of the problem and I am waiting for a firmware update. I am considering building my own because the original unit was never rock solid. I would really hate to buy new cameras. The Avertx ones are mounted on the house and they are really very nice. They are 2 megapixels with night vision and they are POE.
Do you think I keep these cameras and still build they rest of the system you have? Thanks Kim. Hi, All the cameras just need to be on the same network as the NAS. The PoE switch should be directly or indirectly connected to the NAS (via another router/switch).
Is the NAS otherwise accessible – are you able to access the NAS management page from your PC? Also if your NAS has more than one network port, make sure you are using the right one. My QNAP TS-231+ has two ethernet ports, I only use the first one and this has to be selected in QNAP Surveillance Station. You can use the second NAS ethernet port exclusively for surveillance station but its a bit trickier to pull off.
The only other thing I can think of is – are you using a managed or unmanaged PoE switch? If unmanaged, its plug and play. If its managed, you may have to configure it. Also are your cameras individually accessible from your PC? Kind regards, Daniel. I see the problem now, A.M is right – my network map was not intended to show the actual connections, but I will correct it to make it reflect the actual connections. My PoE switch is not connected to the NAS – it is connected to the ISP modem/router.
If you have put the NAS in between your main Netgear PoE switch and your other router, it explains the problems you have been seeing. The NAS cannot pass through the camera traffic to the rest of your network.
So if you want the cameras to be accessible throughout the network, don’t put their PoE switch behind the NAS (don’t connect them directly to the NAS): Cameras - PoE switch - main Netgear switch. If I understood correctly, you’re connecting your unmanaged PoE switch to your QNAP (and NOT to your main netgear) and then you’re unable to access your cameras directly from the browser on your desktop? Which QNAP model do you have? On my TS-251, I don’t think the QNAP will bridge network packets from one RJ45 to another by default, and I’m not sure if it’s possible to configure it to do so.
If you want to be able to get to your cameras directly from your desktop, you probably need to also connect your PoE switch to your main netgear. Connecting your PoE switch directly to the QNAP only allows surveillance station on the QNAP to retrieve video from your cameras, and only if you have the second port on the QNAP set up correctly (e.g. You’ll need to have static IP addresses on the cameras, or need the QNAP to run a dhcp server serving that port.) In the configuration you have, you would presumably be able to view video that the QNAP has retrieved, but you won’t be able to connect directly from your desktop to your cameras. That sort of configuration can be a good thing, as it also prevents your cameras from talking to the outside world but it’s more complicated to set up, as Daniel mentioned. I think what you want is that your QNAP and your cameras should all be plugged into some switch that is also connected to your main netgear. Based on what Daniel said, I suspect this is what he has too, although the diagram in the article makes it look as if he has one cable from the switch to the QNAP, and another from the QNAP to the router.
Hi Daniel Interesting write up, thanks. I have the same setup with a synology NAS and an assortment of Foscam up cameras, which works fine, up to a point, and here is my question. The problem is the system is always on, because it’s not practical to go into the NAS and enable or disable every time I leave the house or return. Have you found any way of arming/disarming the system with a key ring type clicker/controller or rfid tags? I have searched widely for such a solution but without success – which leaves me with a surveillance setup but not a security alarm. Hence I am not able to use SMS notifications etc.
Hi Daniel fantastic – I have been struggling with this problem for several days and you may just have solved it. I’ve taken a look at the Vera and other alternatives that popped up on Amazon when I selected it. Looks like the Vera is compatible with more devices than either the Samsung Smartthing or Apple home. Thanks for the link to the blog post – I need to digest the material – I have no experience of home automation so this is all new.
As far as I can see, Vera is able to control the camera for motion detection, send an alert and specify where the recording will restored. Is that correct? The Smartthings by comparison appears to only offer the option of storing recordings in their cloud – for which a subscription is required (I tend to want to avoid storing videos on 3rd party servers in the cloud for security reasons – and would prefer a solution that does not involve paying monthly fees. Anyhow – many thanks for the tip – I will explore further Regards Giles. Hi, Surveillance Station will cost me $480 for my additional cams and QVR Pro is still Beta but I am using it. It supports 64 cams and license is valid till year end.
I believe renewal will cost the same as well so what I have done was used Virtualization Station and created a VM that runs Windows 7 and can access my cams, in order to install a free application that is enabled to record to NAS. I am ready to replace the Windows VM with Ubuntu if that kind of application is not available on Windows. Unfortunately Zoneminder does not support Windows. Blueiris is expensive as well.
Does anyone know of such an app on any platform? Thanks for commenting. I do care and doesn’t closed circuit only mean that it is not publicly broadcast. The technology used to form the ‘circuit’ whether it is VHS, analog, or digital IP is irrelevant, isn’t it?
And if you look at my circuit it is not broadcast outside my home network. Technically since I use a VPN to connect to my home network from outside, my external device becomes part of the internal network (closed circuit). But I think we should also agree that the term closed circuit was created for an analog world where there was no Internet. CCTV is just that these days, an abbreviation for anything that is used for surveillance, even if it is broadcast to a command center (police control room for example)! Just started researching options for a home surveillance system and finding your blog very helpful.
Something I am not fully appreciating yet is why you need two switches (i.e., the Netgear and the TP-Link)? Can you not just use the PoE switch? In other words, cameras into the four PoE ports while the QNAP and Internet Router connect to two non-PoE ports (or 2 non-PoE ports for QNAP and 1 non-PoE port for Router if doing link aggregation).
So the 8-port TP-Link with 4 PoE and 4 non-PoE ports should be enoughWould that work? Separately, I am not able to reply to the above conversation involving Dick and A.M., but I have learned that the two ports on the QNAP are intended for link aggregation.
In other words, you can connect the QNAP to two of the ports in the same switch for a more robust signal (I think). Does that sound right? Thanks for taking the time to document your setup, I have a Qnap 453a setup with 4 dlink camera’s at a building site.
Power is provided by a solar system and internet via a 4G modem. I can view my camera’s on the dlink app and vmobile while at the site, but once I leave i can view on the dlink app but not vmobile even after changing vmobile to the myqnapcloud address for the NAS. I can use myqnapcloud to log into the NAS and download the video files recorded on the NAS.
I can use the VPN to access another program I have installed on the NAS but vmobile does not want to play. My 4G router reports a private 10.x.x.x IP from the mobile network, the noip for the NAS reports a real public IP but I am unable to access the NAS via the public IP. I have seen adverts for fixed public IP sim cards but they require a 24 month subscription and I am using a PAYG sim, which suits my £20 budget. So any advice on a cheap solution to my issue. Thanks for this information. I’m strongly considering setting up a system just as you have it.
Mainly I cannot find a store bought surveillance system that gets consistently good reviews. Your use of a NAS is a godsend. It looks like you’ve been using the QNAP ts-253a for a couple of years now. Would you change anything? I’ve read through many of your email replys but not all. I’ll delve deeper tonight while at work.
It looks like (email response dated back in 2016) you require about 1.5 TB of storage to keep the last 10 days worth of “film” from all 4 cameras running 24/7/365. Am I reading that correctly? Thank you for your work. I ran across your blog a week ago, saved it, but thought your DIY was too expensive. The more I look at store bought systems the more your system makes sense. With the NAS having much more ability than a dedicated NVR I think I can spread the costs to make much more sense financially. Thanks again, John.
Hi John, thanks for dropping! I have been using the TS-253A for over a year now and I’m very pleased with it. Instead of rigid partitions, I use the shared folders concept where each shared folder can use as much space as it wants on the 3TB WD RED hard drives I use. So I have set a limit of 1.5TB of storage in the the Surveillance Station app.
This equates to around 10 days of storage. The only downside to using it as an NVR is that it doesn’t support the advanced motion detection methods of the Hikvision and Dahua cameras that are crucial for reducing false alerts. But I record 24/7 anyway, so it doesn’t bother me too much. A dedicated NVR with redundant storage is very expensive – a NAS with redundant storage can be had for a fraction of that cost (as long as you don’t need more than 4-6 cameras). If you need more than 4-6 cameras, the total cost starts rising due to the extra licence per camera model QNAP and other NAS manufacturers follow.
But as you have realised, a NAS can do so much more. The TS-253A also supports one-click virtual machines, so I have set up a Linux Ubuntu virtual machine to play round with as well. I run my OpenVPN server on it, apart from using the HDMI output to view my cameras on the TV. At the moment, the TS-253A gives the best bang for your buck because of the included 4 IP camera licences.
Hey Mike, I briefly looked into it but didn’t like the 14 day-only access to recordings. An additional $399 gives you the ‘gold’ license which removes that limitation and gives you 16 camera channels. I need only 4 channels, so the standard Surveillance Station app is best for me. Additional camera licenses are $50 each, so I would need to have at least 12 cameras before the $399 gold licence becomes a better financial choice.
Of course having the option to go up to 16 channels in the future is also what the $399 buys you. Daniel, This write up has given me the confidence to skip over the box kits and try to mirror your setup. The information is extremely well laid out. I’m hoping to start running wires the week before Christmas and then start assembling the components.
1st, is your system cat5e cable? I happen to have 2 rolls of that but don’t want to install it if it’s not sufficient. Unsure if I should just go by cat6 or if for all foreseeable uses the cat5e is enough. 2nd question, is additional camera licenses from qnap only good for 1 year and need to be renewed / purchased again or is it lifetime? Again thank you for the inspiration! I’m extremely excited to get this project started.
Hi Daniel, Thank you for making this post, this has inspired me to build my own system vs purchasing a box setup. I’m hoping to start running wires in the next few weeks then put together a Amazon order of goodies! I have a few questions before I start. 1st, is your system cat5e? I have 2 spools around that I could use but want to make sure I don’t limit myself by not doing cat6. 2nd question is are the extra qnap camera licenses a yearly subscription or is it lifetime? 3rd is are there any components you would not use and do differently from the first go- around?
Again thank you for the information and inspiration that you have given so many people.