Security Camera Setup

I’m in the market for a surveillance system to secure some buildings. This is a story on how we got there.

Bought this dome camera: Hikvision 4MP DS-2CD2142FWD-I HD WDR IP Network Dome 2.8mm Lens

Previously bought this Synology DS216J NAS.

Thinking about buying this thing…

Though I had to download this thing: Hikvision SADPTool.

Needed to do activation and set a password:

I didn’t think I was going to need this initially since the Synology Surveillance Center found a generic camera, but now that I can see you’re supposed to activate the things first. After you’ve activated the cameras, the Synology bit can actually make heads or tails of what’s connected.

 

Good news is that after figuring out how to turn it on, setting a password, trying to use H.264+ encoding, tweaking motion detection settings, we’re recording! We’ll see what else can go wrong next as we try to add more cameras and/or do something useful with them.

A beautiful view of the inside of the laundry closet: