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kaysadeya

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Posts posted by kaysadeya

  3. Posted · Edited by Guest

    On the subject of backyard (and front-yard) deterrence….

     

    PoorOwner, I’m in a worse situation than you with my backyard because there’s no fence on one side and there’s a gap in the fence on the other side. There’s also no fence between the front yard and the backyard. The reason for this is to allow the deer to roam freely through our yard. My wife won’t even consider the idea of fencing our yard, so that’s not an option.

     

    So the objective with my installation is to have a very obvious CCTV presence in the back and side yards, but a low profile in the front. I have five standard cameras in housings covering various angles in the back, two standard/housing cameras on one side, and an older B&W bullet covering the other side, which is less exposed to through traffic.

     

    Because we have deer passing through our yard day and night and we want to be good hosts to the deer and not annoy our neighbors, it’s not practical to use motion-activated floods. So I installed two VITEK VT-IR1-110 illuminators, which are perfect for the job. They have a 65 deg spread and two cover the periphery of the backyard very well. When something goes bump-in-the-night, we can check the cameras to see whether it was a deer, raccoon, skunk, or some sort of malicious teenage bipod. Thankfully it’s almost never the latter, but knowing that is the objective.

     

    Keeping a low profile in the front yard is more challenging because that’s where quality images are the most important. In the front, I have two Samsung 721 CS-style day/night cameras in Pelco housings. To make the setup even “louder,â€

  11. Posted

    I was wondering how many of you professional installers/dealers have a CCTV setup for your own residences. The impression I get is most of you don’t have any or much of a residential CCTV system. Is this because you don’t see the need, you don’t want to create a buzz with the neighbors, or that it's just too expensive?

  13. Posted

    All BW cameras will pick up Infrared Light.

     

    Rory, I have a B&W board camera that's completely blind to IR light. It’s a covert outdoor camera mounted behind a sheet of special glass originally designed for photographic use with enlargers. Either the glass itself is filtering the IR light or the camera doesn’t pick it up.

     

    I've had if for about 6 years and have long forgotten the brand and specs.

  17. Posted

    You're correct to be concerned about B&W in bright lighting situations. In my system, I’ve found that my B&W cams just can’t deal with lighting that is half sunlit and half shade. Smear all over the place! I have color cams (regular, not day/night) that cover the same area and they perform much better under the same lighting situation.

     

    My B&W cams have a lot of adjustment options, so I’m hoping that I have yet to discover the correct combination. (It’s just that my cams are about 15 feet in the air and the terrain underneath is very “ladder hostile,â€

  19. Posted

    If you can get a card that will work on your existing computer, then that's probably the best way to start. I was upgrading from a timelapse VCR and was looking for something a bit more powerful. When I was researching PC-based solutions, the GeoVision cards seemed the way to go, but my existing computer (which has plenty of power for most things) was not powerful enough to host a GeoVision card. I calculated the cost of a new computer and the GeoVision card would be more than a dedicated DVR. Plus, I’d need to spend even more for another card to get a real-time display, which is a feature I think most dedicated DVRs have as standard.

  21. Posted · Edited by Guest

    A few differences between a bullet and CS camera that come to mind are:

     

    * No auto iris (an important feature when a camera is used outdoors)

    * No backlight control or other types of adjustments

    * on many you can't change lenses or adjust the focus

     

    The downside is that the CS cameras are more intrusive and require a housing if used outdoors. The upside of having a housing, however, is that it’s already there if you want to upgrade to a better CS camera in the future.

     

    There’s a place for all types of cameras. But when it comes to versatility, I can’t find a better value than a used B&W CS camera.

  22. Posted · Edited by Guest

    I've worked enough bank robberies to know that "bank" does *not* automatically equal "good CCTV".

     

    One which side of the camera was that?

     

    But seriously, what you say about the need for camera quality is completely true. But some of us homeowners just can’t justify a huge CCTV budget, so we have to set priorities and work within limited parameters.

     

    What I'm talking about are pretty decent used B&W cameras that are still for sale new for around $150-$200 with AI lenses that are still for sale for around $100+. Relative (and I emphasize RELATIVE) to the deal you can get on a DVR, used cameras in general are – at this point in time – a screaming bargain.

     

    In my system, I have used CS cameras, new and older bullet cameras, and new $400 day/night cameras. (The older bullet cameras I've had for years and they're still working fine.) If I had the budget, there’s no question that I’d rather have the day/nighters everywhere. But it just doesn’t make financial sense, so I “settleâ€

  23. Posted

    Can't argue with the value of a good camera. However, a person on a tight budget might find it best to spread out the cost of the system over months or years. At this point in time, it’s hard to find a good used DVR, but there are plenty of good used cameras on the market. I suspect this is because businesses upgrade their CCTV hardware every few years and, because they can depreciate their old hardware, they basically give it away to the people who sell surplus hardware. You don’t need to spend much time on Ebay to see this trend.

     

    So the result is, you can buy a good, used professional-quality camera for less than you’d pay for a cheapy budget camera. These cameras are out of banks and other commercial establishments; so if they were good enough to monitor those locations last year, they’re good enough for my backyard this year. Because DVRs in general are relatively new, the same value opportunities do not yet exist when shopping for a DVR.

  24. Posted

    PoorOwner,

     

    I've posted this before but will repeat it here. I've discovered that the best approach to building a CCTV system on a budget is to first get the best DVR you can. You can buy used B&W cameras and decent-quality housings (brand new) on E-bay. If you know what you’re looking for and careful with your bidding, you can put together a professional-quality camera/lens/housing combination for less than $80. The cameras wouldn’t be state-of-the-art day/nighters, but will do the job nicely.

     

    So, for example, with $1000, you could budget $800 for a DVR and $200 for two used B&W cameras. With B&W cameras you’ll also have the option to add an IR illuminator to your system should you later decide that you need nighttime coverage.

     

    Eventually you may want to upgrade to quality day/night cameras, but you can take your time and wait for them to become more affordable.

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