Living The Dream: My 6x PoE CCTV Camera Set-Up

I always knew that ‘at some point’ I wanted a fully wired CCTV camera system, recording 24/7 instead of motion-only cameras that can often miss key events.

So when I moved house in 2023, I immediately set to work on running Ethernet cabling EVERYWHERE – including into my detached garage, and also my attic.

I then eventually evaluated and purchased a series of PoE (Power over Ethernet) cameras which are connected to my Synology NAS. I now have six PoE CCTV devices that are recording 24/7 to the Synology Surveillance Station, as I explore in this video.

I also show off how (and why) I wanted to run Ethernet everywhere, and why I chose Annke over some other camera providers. Finally I discuss my thoughts on the Synology Surveillance Station and I discuss some alternatives, such as BlueIris and just recording to a local SD card.

If you prefer text over video, please read on for the guide/transcript version of this video.

Video Transcript And Guide

My Dream..!

Hey everyone, we’ve all got hopes and dreams. Some people dream of getting their license, others want to save the world. Mine has always been to have a Power over Ethernet security camera system, streaming 24/7 to a NAS. I’m so cool. Seriously though: I’ve previously used Wi-Fi cameras to beef up my home’s security, but we all know that this will NEVER be as good as a proper, wired CCTV system.

So when I moved house last year, I ignored unpacking and set to work on running Ethernet everywhere – including through my backyard. Who needs plates and cups when you can have Synology Surveillance Station powered by a fully wired set-up, right? Of course, there ARE a couple of downsides to my set-up which I’ll cover soon, but firstly I wanted to briefly cover HOW (and why) I ran Ethernet everywhere.

Ethernet Runs

So my new house came pre-wired with RJ45 Ethernet wall sockets which meant that I could easily get wired Ethernet in various points around the house – noice. BUT I wanted to extend this into my garage and attic, especially because I barely had any Wi-Fi coverage outdoors, plus I knew that I always knew that I wanted security cameras around my property. So I started out by running CAT7 direct burial cables across my backyard and into my garage, which allowed me to add another Eero point there (and I show this process off in detail in another video):

My garage setup without the ground wire protecting the Ethernet
My garage setup without the ground wire protecting the Ethernet

Next up I ran some Ethernet cables up from my study, into my attic so that I could ultimately supply some PoE cameras there if I chose to. I was lucky that there was an easy “inspection point” in the attic which appeared to be backing onto one of the study walls (over there):

An inspection point in my attic
An inspection point in my attic

So I waited until my wife went out, and I started hacking bits of drywall off, and then I drilled some holes – and I was able to see my drill bit from the attic. Great – this meant that I could easily run my CAT6 cables. I dropped one of the cables down from the attic, and fished it through the hole with a small hook – mission accomplished. I then attached the other CAT6 cables to this with some packing tape, and pulled it up into the attic – meaning I had multiple Ethernet cables in my attic.

Various CAT6 cables in my attic woohoo
Various CAT6 cables in my attic woohoo

I attached a simple brushed wall plate, instead of trying to crimp a proper wall outlet. I then attached the Ethernet cables up to a Mercusys PoE switch and voila, I have powered Ethernet in my attic.

Running four CAT6 cables from my PoE switch into my attic
Running four CAT6 cables from my PoE switch into my attic

Which Camera To Buy?

I was now ready to choose – and install – a CCTV camera system. I had previously played around with “budget Wi-Fi” cameras and I say “budget” because they’re often fairly lower quality, sticking to 1080p resolution and low bitrates. Sadly though the PRICES of these cameras is often anything but “budget” – with a high up-front cost AND usually a high annual subscription fee. Plus most of these cameras don’t support 24/7 recording either.

So that left me with two main choices for a new camera set-up: a traditional CCTV system that records to a NVR or DVR box, OR cameras that support open standards like ONVIF and the Real Time Streaming Protocol so that I could stream the footage to a computer or a NAS. This second option was always my preference because I already had a Synology NAS which comes with a 2 camera Surveillance Station license, so I could test this solution out cheaply enough and see if I liked it. And then if not, I could always switch to a BlueIris set-up – or even record to a local SD card to tide me over. 

Picture of my Synology DS220 plus NAS
Picture of my Synology DS220 plus NAS

When buying the actual cameras, I already knew that companies like Reolink and Annke have a fairly good image quality, support a good mix of open standards AND are often available at a good price. Annke are owned by HikVision, who are considered a good professional camera company – and some people say that Annke are fairly similar to HikVision inside – so I opted for them. One of Annke’s 4K cameras was on sale at the time, so I purchased this and installed it in my garage to test it out:

A picture of my Annke C800 4K PoE camera installed on the roof of my garage
A picture of my Annke C800 4K PoE camera installed on the roof of my garage

This is a Power over Ethernet camera meaning that I could hook it up to a PoE injector or switch, and then supply a single cable (Ethernet) to the camera, which supplies both power and internet connectivity. This makes the install process fairly straightforward.

Doubling Down On Annke

This camera streams to my NAS 24/7 which means that it never misses anything, BUT I can also easily jump to when motion has been detected which kinda gives me the best of both worlds (I don’t need to trawl through loads of footage to actually find motion). It’s all pretty much perfect, so I decided to buy five more Annke PoE cameras to go around the roofline of my house (and also garage).

Installing two PoE Annke cameras
Installing two PoE Annke cameras

Because my soffits are black, I ideally wanted a black PoE camera but unfortunately these aren’t too common. Luckily Annke recently launched the AC500 though, which records in 3k resolution and has a black option – so I purchased four of these. Two would be for the side of my house, and two at the front to cover the full view. You CAN get dual lens cameras to cover the same wide area, BUT they’re usually more expensive than buying two cameras separately, and they’re often only available in white.

Installing My Annke Cameras & Initial Thoughts

So I had my new AC500 cameras, and I got to work installing them. I BRAVELY got out a ladder, and I climbed up 7 metres during a THUNDERSTORM to install them. Kidding. I just opened my windows and drilled the necessary holes from the safety of my upstairs windows. Work smart, not hard. I used the right screws for PVC soffits and while some people worry that simple screws can be yanked out by a burglar, these cameras are so high up that this wasn’t really a concern to me.

Two of my Annke cameras mounted high up
Two of my Annke cameras mounted high up

I then used a 20 millimeter drill bit for the central hole, which is where the camera’s Ethernet plug fits through. Then I pushed the plug through and mounted the camera to the back bracket. Next up I “just” had to go into my attic, find the camera’s Ethernet plug and connect it to the CAT6 cables that I ran earlier. It wasn’t fun. There’s this thing called insulation and it’s ITCHY.

CAT6 cables running over the insulation in my garage
CAT6 cables running over the insulation in my garage

Plus if you breathe it in, it can make you cough a lot. So it’s best to wear a facemask – but then my glasses fog up and I can’t see anything. Catch 22. In the end, though, I was able to plank on the attic timbers and this allowed me to fish the Ethernet plugs out from the soffit tray and then I hooked up the CAT6 cables.

The cameras Ethernet plugs connected to my CAT6 cables
The cameras Ethernet plugs connected to my CAT6 cables

Et voila – my PoE switches BURST into life and I could see both data and power being supplied to the camera. I set them up in the usual way (which was a mix of using the initial Annke web-based software to activate them, and then the Synology Surveillance Station to drive them through the NAS) and I soon had multiple 3k cameras recording 24/7 to my NAS.

I’m really happy with these Annke cameras – both the image and audio quality is pretty good, especially because these are mounted 6 or 7 meters up on a roofline and they’re fully exposed to the elements (such as rain and wind).

Footage from one of my Annke security cameras
Footage from one of my Annke security cameras

It’s also really easy to download clips, and there’s some nice features like being able to drag and zoom in on a particular area of a clip. They record in good quality during the day AND nighttime, and I can nearly always pick out any detail that I need to – from both people and objects. There’s nothing worse than investing good money in a camera and not being able to see who someone is, for example. Equally I can easily see details on items, such as this text on a box in my garage – and this is clear in both day and night-time recording modes. I can also read car plate numbers (which are going past) without any real issues too, which is always a good test of a camera’s image quality.

Reading a plate number of a passing car
Reading a plate number of a passing car

Surveillance Station Thoughts

So far this all works really well. The Surveillance Station is a nice app which you can naturally access on a PC or laptop (either in a browser or via a separate software application that you download), but you can also download the DSCam phone app (on here) and watch your clips there. All the camera feeds are snappy and high quality. Because I’m relying on a hardwired Ethernet based set-up, it’s also really reliable and I never have any issues with missed recordings.

In the process of running Ethernet cables into my attic
In the process of running Ethernet cables into my attic

Since recording these clips, I have set up privacy masks on various areas to protect my neighbor’s privacy, but I wanted to firstly show what things looked like with the full field of view enabled.

Another neat feature of the Surveillance Station is the monitor center, where you can easily create a customized view showing off as many of your cameras as you would like. You can naturally show this on a TV screen somewhere in your house or place of work, and if you find that it’s taking up too much bandwidth, you can always dial it back to medium or low quality streams. Or if you’re displaying this on a 4K screen, go for the highest quality and you can make out pretty much every detail at a glance.

Synology Surveillance Station monitor center showing 6 camera feeds
Synology Surveillance Station monitor center showing 6 camera feeds

It’s a really sweet set-up and it’s so much nicer than what a typical 1080p Wi-Fi camera system tends to offer you. Synology Surveillance Station actually has a TON of features, including setting up triggers for potentially suspicious behavior, facial recognition, extra video encryption and more – I’ve barely scratched the surface to be honest.

Downside Of Synology For CCTV

So there ARE various benefits to using Synology for this, but equally there’s some downsides. Many Synology NASes only support two cameras for free, meaning that you THEN need to buy an extra camera pack – this cost me around £40 per camera for the extra ones which I actually don’t mind because it works out a LOT cheaper than some cloud subscription fees, but you need to factor in the price of these – especially because a Synology NAS can easily cost you hundred or even thousands of pounds (or dollars) in the first place.

Alternatives To Surveillance Station?

There are some alternatives though. Firstly I could have just popped an SD card in each of these cameras, and either configured it to record every time that motion is detected – or set it up on a schedule, so that it records continuously in the night but on a motion-only basis during the day (for example). This would have been a very low cost option overall, but naturally I wouldn’t have as much power or flexibility as the system I’ve got right now. Another option would be to buy a cheap PC, install BlueIris on it and then stream my cameras to this.

Screenshot of the BlueIris webpage
Screenshot of the BlueIris webpage

Essentially I would then be making my own surveillance station. This can work very well, but it typically requires more customization and tinkering than a solution from Synology or similar. Plus even if I purchased a second hand Dell OptiPlex or HP EliteDesk, it wouldn’t have worked out much cheaper than buying a Synology NAS. 

What Would I Change?

So would I change anything? Well at first I was concerned about whether my NAS would be overloaded by having six cameras streaming 24/7 to it, but right now, CPU, RAM and disk usage are all fine.

I have no lag or missed recordings anywhere, and the other functions on my NAS (like file syncing and backup jobs) are running without issue. So that’s great – I’m really happy with this set-up.

I could POTENTIALLY look to get larger capacity drives because right now I “only” have 4 terabytes of storage for my six cameras and all my other files, but this is still enough for one to two week’s of footage per camera so that’s OKAY for me right now. Finally I’m conscious that right now I have EVERYTHING on a single NAS – my files, and camera recordings. I could eventually get a second NAS and have one dedicated to “file stuff”, and another as a camera box. But again, right now things work fine so there’s no need to spend any extra money here.

My Synology DS220 NAS with two internal drives connected to a network switch
My Synology DS220 NAS with two internal drives connected to a network switch

And that wraps up this video – if you enjoyed it, please click the thumbs up button. Please also subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already, and thank you for watching!

cropped A picture of me Tristan
About Tristan Perry

Tristan has been interested in computer hardware and software since he was 10 years old. He has built loads of computers over the years, along with installing, modifying and writing software (he's a backend software developer 'by trade').

Tristan also has an academic background in technology (in Math and Computer Science), so he enjoys drilling into the deeper aspects of technology.

Tristan is also an avid PC gamer, with FFX and Rocket League being his favorite games.

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