GrouchoBoucho

i'd be willing to bet each camera used in those shows probably costs three times what op's entire system cost.

I think your right. "Newbies" can't sign anything yet...haha. I'll wait and see. I looked everywhere and didn't see it...thought I was going nuts...thanks for the help. take care.

I think u need 25 posts

how many dozens of times has this question been asked and answered here?

It must be me, cause I read that he already used rg59 for some cameras and is running cat5 for this long run. He never mentioned IP or ethernet. So, who gave him bad advise?

everybody else?

the term you're looking for is 'video analytics', and yes, it is fairly commonly available these days. check some of these videos:

http://www.puretechsystems.com/video-library-video-analytics-object-left-behind-video-object-detection.html

wow, the n00bs abound. so much bad advice here.

first of all, the spec limit for ethernet is *100m* or *328 ft*, not 300m. it's the same whether you use cat5e or cat6. a switch will not help at that distance - you'd need at least five of them, one every 100m. *if* you're using ip cameras. the limitation is for *ethernet only*. it's not a limitation of the *cable*, it's a limitation to the design of *ethernet signals* (we used to run token-ring networks on cat3 to 150m+).

second, if you're talking about analog video, then yes, you can simply twist wires together to splice. or you can terminate the runs in keystone jacks and use a short patch cable. or terminate them in rj45 plugs and use a coupler. or put a plug on one end and a keystone on the other. it really doesn't matter. just make sure you use only *one pair* for video.

third, at a distance of 500m, you need to use active baluns at both ends.

fourth, do not even attempt to power the cameras over that wire; at that distance, it *will* fail. you need to find a way to power the camera locally.

nevermind

Are there any drawbacks to IP over analog? A decent analog camera like a CNB is $100-$150 each. The IP images are insane, not sure I want to put more money into my analog system here, and insted pick up a Costco kit, additional cameras are $300 for 2.

dahua has a four-channel nvr with built-in four channel poe switch - used with dahua cameras, you just plug them in, and the system auto-configures. i've seen it selling in a package with four cameras (mixes of 1080p and 1.3mp), cables included, for under $1500.

thanks but the problem is not speed or hdd itself, my question is about the external hdd circuit (i mean sata to usb3) which should work permanently, i mean are external drives (the circuit) meant to work 24/7/365?

 

and another question my seagate backup+ desktop drive temperature is always about 44 c. is that normal?

have done this plenty of times. some systems have been running with an external usb drive for years.

Those brands are what you might consider for residential applications, not saying they wont work for you, but they are less of a commercial solution.

that's a polite way of saying "they're toys".

 

Some people on here really like the Q-See brand, particularly the ones made by a company called Dahua because of their good picture on an inexpensive camera. This brand may be less likely to be fully supported by the better software solutions.

+1 for dahua as a lower-cost option... the trick is finding a suitable reseller outside of china, as dahua require resellers to re-brand their equipment... so it will almost always have a different name on it.

 

where are you located?

 

 

Do you have to buy a thousand of them or something to get the Dahua?

nope, you just need to find the right brand names. they're re-sold outside of china under a variety of different labels by a wide range of vendors, some good, some not so trustworthy.

btw, since you're looking at ip... they do make some really excellent megapixel cameras, nvrs and hybrid dvrs, including a four-channel nvr with built-in four-channel poe switch: just plug in the cameras, and they auto-configure to the recorder.

A higher than needed amp rating will not damage cameras, provided it is regulated, which any proper CCTV supply will be. (Cheap wall-warts often aren't.)

regulated has nothing to do with it - that only limits the voltage. a 50a power supply would be just as safe, regulated or not, as a device will draw only as much current as it needs.

 

But with an unregulated supply the voltage can rise at low loads, which could damage the device.

true, but that has nothing to do with the power supply's current capabilities.

and frankly, there are very, very few cheap cameras out there that won't nicely handle an unregulated supply. it's only the last 2-3 years that switching power supplies have become really common; before that, the vast majority of individual 12v supplies were unregulated. it was only the crappiest cameras that ever had an issue with this.

Hi Friends

ZMODO S16306SV is a very long range infrared bullet security camera and i think it is perfect for any types of outdoor long range video surveillance and security applications which is high ratings security camera.

A higher than needed amp rating will not damage cameras, provided it is regulated, which any proper CCTV supply will be. (Cheap wall-warts often aren't.)

regulated has nothing to do with it - that only limits the voltage. a 50a power supply would be just as safe, regulated or not, as a device will draw only as much current as it needs.

What you should really be doing is gathering info on perhaps three installers, have them come and walk the property and give you an estimate. Choose the highest rated one, not just the lowest price. If you don't really know anything about installing, here's some likely scenarios if you do it yourself-

 

- You'll buy cheap crap that won't work

- You'll buy expensive stuff and you won't get the most out of it

- Either way you'll be installing it all and YOUR ass will be on the line

- You'll curse the day you took this on when the installing gets tough- and it will

- You'll be the one who has to keep after it, maintain it, and fix everything always

- The words 'I thought you knew what you were doing'- get used to hearing that

- Thousands will be spent with marginal results- that works against your job security

 

Study up here and read so you're not completely ignorant when you interview installers. That's fine. But let professionals install it- my opinion. It seems easy to do, and yet it's never completely straight forward. You're gonna spend the bosses money either way. Spend it wisely on a pro who'll install it right and who'll support his job after the fact if there are issues.

 

My two cents. Good luck.

this is all excellent advice.

also, make sure to get itemized quotes and bring them back here so we can all rip them to shreds.

Those brands are what you might consider for residential applications, not saying they wont work for you, but they are less of a commercial solution.

that's a polite way of saying "they're toys".

Some people on here really like the Q-See brand, particularly the ones made by a company called Dahua because of their good picture on an inexpensive camera. This brand may be less likely to be fully supported by the better software solutions.

+1 for dahua as a lower-cost option... the trick is finding a suitable reseller outside of china, as dahua require resellers to re-brand their equipment... so it will almost always have a different name on it.

where are you located?

sure... soon as you send me a couple dozen cameras to play with, i'd be glad to.

it should... although ummm... that listing isn't really clear *which* of those lenses they're selling... or if it's a set containing *all* of them.

Ohhh I didn't realize motion recording is actually more CPU intensive than continuous recording. But now that I think about it, that makes sense.

that partly depends on the recorder and how it implements motion detection. on the systems i use, it's a very minimal performance hit.

 

also, many cameras have their own motion detection, and the nvrs that work with them just take the signal from the camera... so again, it's little or no actual performance hit on the nvr end.

This depends, how NVR do motion recording. If NVR use motion recording, based on motion detection from camera - it's like no aditional load on NVR.

isn't that what i just said?

If NVR has it's own motion detection - processor load will increase dramatically

this is not necessarily true.

but also depends on stream from camera - compression format (mjpeg, H264, MPEG4, etc.), and on incoming video stream resolution and frame rate.

and also on how the recorder does its motion detection, how well it's coded, etc.

once again, systems i work with do their own motion detection with both analog and ip cameras and see very little effect on performance.

any board-camera lens with m12 thread should fit that. find them just about anywhere, including ebay. keep in mind that opening the camera to change the lens *will* void any warranty (assuming they come with one) and may damage the weather seal. also, 12mm will give you a tighter shot and better detail on distant objects, but the ir range will be the same and distant objects may not be illuminated fully.

We would like to set up cameras around the office so that when motion is detected, it will call his iPhone and allow him to see and speak back and forth with the "intruder", or from his home computer.

this is a bad idea - his phone will be going off all night. if they're ir cameras, every bug flying past will set it off. car headlights through the window will set it off. it will take him until about 2am the first night it's running to get sick of it and throw his phone through a wall.

a better solution would be to tie into motion sensors or even into the alarm system, so the phone alerts are activated only be an actual person, or by the alarm system going off.

He wants to see who is coming and going and when, among those who have access codes to the monitored security system, as well as if a burglar comes through a 3rd floor window.

what he really wants is a proper dvr system with cameras monitoring the entry points or keypad locations, so he can see who's entering what codes when... ideally something that can interface with the access control systems so the two datasets can be sychronized.

We would like wireless cameras that have an ethernet port with POE so we could use them anywhere in the office depending on how close a switch or power etc. is.

don't forget that no camera is truly wireless - you still have to power it. there's no point having wireless if you're using poe - at that point you're already plugged into the network anyway.

unless you're trying to catch cleaners going into people's desks or something, there's no reason to be moving cameras around. determine the key coverage locations and just mount the cameras there and be done with it.

Continuous live viewing over the iPhone/computer would also be desirable for this or if he ever wanted to check in on the office to make sure we all aren't goofing off.

almost all systems these days support live viewing... some will push alerts and video to the client app when an alarm happens, some will allow playback as well. i don't recommend *continuous* live viewing as that will chew up his iphone's data plan within a week or two.

The thing that makes this a bit of a pain (and out of my tech knowledge) is that he also wants to have an outdoor camera pointed at the parking lot which is across the street and 1-2 doors down, maybe 150-200 feet away from the nearest corner of our building.

this is probably the easiest part, as long as there are no obstructions to the view. a proper camera with a suitable lens is required, you won't have much success with a cheap packaged system here.

Anybody know if there are any off the shelf systems that do this, or any custom assemblages you can recommend? As for cost, I'm not sure he'd want to spend $500 per camera, but not go too cheap either.

there are no package systems that will fit *all* the requirements. a custom design is almost always your best bet, but will require far more info than you've provided. actual layouts of the site, the floorplans, the location of the parking lot (a google maps satellite view usually helps), etc. are necessary (if anyone claims to be able to sell you something without seeing this, run screaming).

Ohhh I didn't realize motion recording is actually more CPU intensive than continuous recording. But now that I think about it, that makes sense.

that partly depends on the recorder and how it implements motion detection. on the systems i use, it's a very minimal performance hit.

also, many cameras have their own motion detection, and the nvrs that work with them just take the signal from the camera... so again, it's little or no actual performance hit on the nvr end.

there are basically three ways to do it:

1. you need a test monitor that supports ip cameras (axis makes one, for example, but it only works with axis cameras)

2. you need an ip-to-analog video decoder. most will only work with their own brand of cameras though (again, axis has one that only works with axis cameras).

3. you need a camera with an analog output port. this is most likely how you've "seen it done". some (maybe half?) ip cameras have this feature, but not all.

You could dispatch one active repeater at any edge then it could be reach 300m.

wtf?

and no, you don't typically need something massive like an i7 - with most systems, recording takes very little processing as all the nvr needs to do is receive the stream and write it to disk. it's the video *de*coding on the vms side that's processor-intensive.

i did discover with mine that the focus was off slightly with the pinhole lens - it's spring-tensioned, no locking screw, so it can wander with handling. image quality improved a fair bit with the focus tweak.