Hi, my first post- go easy- :shock: I have a problem choosing kit. Can you steer me in the right direction? Based in UK & building a PC based GV 1480 system for a residential property as a hobby as well as a security measure.

I now need to select exterior cams that are high spec day/night yet more unobtrusive than body cams in housings.

My issue is; I want the quality of branded body cams with day / night features, IR pass/cut filter etc yet don’t want the property to have a commercial CCTV look about it due to both the cameras & the housings available looking commercial & generally large.

Naturally have a budget & want the best cam for the money available. :? I’ve seen a vast range of smaller cams, yet all seem to be OEM and do not offer the spec /quality of body cams, something like Extreme EX 26 or EX27’s look ideal, yet I cannot find a retail pricelist for extreme products in the UK to even know if they are in my ball park.

I'm starting with 6 to 8 exterior cams initially (4 high spec and 4 med spec required-budget dependant) all need vari-focal lenses, property has exterior lighting already so don’t need IR but would like it (again budget dependant)

Any ideas / advice appreciated, thanx in advance; also any references for authorised dealers from the UK would be appreciated. Yet to purchase GV1480/cams/cable/power supplies etc

P.S. I’ve spent hours so far amassing knowledge from this forum so thanx to all involved, otherwise I as a newb’ I would not have got started at all.

Your problem is not an uncommon one, the problem is that most full body cameras (now do not flame me) are larger than dome cameras because they have more electronics in them, the only chance you have is to recess the camera in some way...there are commercial recessed mounted dome housings available...these appear only slightly larger than your standard dome camera becuase the camera sits back in the cavity of whatever you mount it in if you have an awning or eave that allows for a cavity you can mount the camera in the cavity of the roof and have only the lens protruding below the eave and the bubble cover is small, if you can imagine a noraml camera and plastic bubble with a box section on the top of it that sits back in the roof, this box section has the CS mount built into it...so for all intents and purposs it looks like a slightly bigger dome but u still get the ability to have a full body camera recessed!

freeflyer, if need extreme cctv prices in the UK PM me and Ill find a retailer for you. The IR company in the UK is Derwent but Extreme recently opened a base in the UK also to supply and support all their products. The IRs are actually originally made by Derwent and Extreme then aquired Derwent.

The price maybe out of your ballpark but we wont know until you let us know ..


PS. CCTVgeek im not following you though it may seem so :lol:

Thanx Rory & CCTV Geek NZ (Nice signature Kiwi - a man by my own heart :lol:

I talked to Derwent and they say they don't supply direct - only through resellers, however I must say the resellers I have talked to have been less than helpful :roll: what is it with these guys attitude?? Do they not provide for the SME (Small to Medium Enterprise?) :?:

Derwent say they are going to send me info on extreme products & don’t -twice now, Seems like they & the resellers don't want any new business to me! It’s no wonder so many UK businesses are relocating abroad!

It’s part of my remit as a Company Director / Consultant to look into new areas of client interest (& keep my business going) and IT / PC based CCTV has been mentioned to me by nearly 100 existing clients across the UK in the past 18 months alone, with over 75% of these clients stating that their local “security” providers had little or no knowledge of IT / PC based CCTV & could only offer a completely separate CCTV system altogether, (which is always way over their budget) or IP cameras, which if we are honest we all know are not good enough yet to take on analogue and are massively overpriced for the results you get. (Figure this out-. If I only made UK£2000 profit on each of these jobs and only got 50% of them, I’d of been UK£100,000 profit better off by now! Nuff said?)

NOTE; many of my clients are SME’s themselves and already have in place IT systems & PC’s with the space and bandwidth to use & they simply DO NOT WANT A SEPARATE CCTV INFRASTRUCTURE to be created nor the have the budget for it, they want to add to the existing equipment they have in place and still want the quality of analogue cameras but need to be able to spread the CCTV data / images across their current PC infrastructures, otherwise CCTV is not an option. This is where systems like Geo & Aver fill that gap precisely. There IS money to be made here!

So I have decided that my business is going to put some money into this and perform R&D on PC based CCTV, with the aim of providing this as a service to our existing & future clients, I find the “trade” attitude a bit shocking for anyone trying to get involved really, even more so as there is such a big gap in the market waiting to be filled by someone like me, so anyone out there in the UK that may be interested in giving me some advice, pointing me in the right direction or getting involved, send me a mail. I am sure it will be mutually beneficial)

Should our R&D go as swimmingly as I expect, I will be putting myself into retraining mode & taking some courses, I will only perform the back end / consultancy service & we will no doubt employ either another small Company or maybe just employ experienced engineers/ technicians for the rest.

Best regards

FreeFlyer