Hello,
I've recently started getting into cameras/networking and am finding it very interesting. I'm glad to be part of this community.
I've been asked by a close friend to design a system for her business. She has an established system which is okay, but the quality is by no means excellent; she would like HD cameras.
She needs roughly 16 cameras. I haven't investigated what cameras to obtain yet, I would like to initially do a plan regarding what other equipment is needed plus the pricing.
I initially was going to get a Synology DNS, but was told for that amount of cameras it's best to use a PC.
So this is what I have come up with.
-Gigabit PoE switch, with at least 18 ports (one cat5 cable goes from the camera right into the switch)
-PC (quadcore, SSD for OS and software, heaps of enterprise HDDs for the video footage)
-Milestone XProtect Express as the video software
How I think it works:
Cameras go into switch, computer goes into switch, you do some initial setting up with Milestone and you've got a working system; simple as that!
My questions are:
-Am I on the right track?
-For 16 cameras essentially operating 24/7 how much storage do you think she'll need for around 1 month's footage?
-She has monitors around the premises showing some cameras, how can I go about that with this system? With the DVR that's currently being used there are ports that push a particular signal out to these monitors through AV cords.
-Is Silverstone reputable? Any other software recommended?
Thank you all for your assistance. This is my first ever system, I hope it turns out okay.
