Thanks Ryan. Unfortunately, I don’t have a choice in installers…I have to use the one provided by the builder.
I was told that Cat5e alone would be $125 and that Cat5e+Coax would be $225…go figure. I may get in there after hours when the framing is done and run an 18/2 or 18/4 myself! :o
Dexter,
I went back and forth on this trying to decide what to do. We are currently building and I wanted 5-6 cameras. I’m running my own Cat 5 cables for my network and sound system. What I decided to do was buy a separate system for my cameras due to the cost of cameras. I bought a box of 8 cameras swann from sams. The cameras are indoor/outdoor night vision with motion sensors. You have to use a different app on your phone but at $499 it was the smart option. Other cameras not only do you have to run cat 5 cable but also power. Plus it has a built in hard drive to store video.
David, did you run your own BNC cable to connect the cameras to the DVR unit? If not, what cables did you run/pre-wire for them?
Martin,
Yes I ran the included bnc cables. Just ran them through the attic and out to the over hangs. They are 60 feet each. I had two runs that were longer but I only needed 6 cameras. So, I order a pack of 10 female to females off amazon for around $4 and pieced two together. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A6CWCQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
David, are you planning to connect these to a central monitoring station?
No I figure if the alarm goes off or I get alerts just have to switch apps to see whats going on. Recording will happen automatically. The high cost of most zwave cameras $100-$200 and needing to get power to each spot was the deciding factor in me going this route instead.
Thanks.