securitymonster

What are you trying to accomplish? Whats the application? I have good friends in the RFID business and I can pass this info along if you'd like. PM me your contact info!

A clover DVR is bottom of the barrel. I would never suggest purchasing them for video surveillance as you will not get the quality and reliability you need for video evidence. ICRealtime puts out a Flex series DVR that is very impressive. The 8 channel retails for about $1,999. This unit will give you the recording quality you are looking for.

We have used a variety of mini pocket style DVR's. Alot of them claim to record audio with video and its normally one or the other. However most applications don't require audio when using a pocket DVR. Feel free to PM me on any questions. I can point you in the right direction with the equipment. Your likely to get SD recording that supports up to 4GB cards, which in turn will give you about 3-7 hours of recording depending on your settings. The best resolution you can record is normally about 640x480. You can expect to pay $399-$799 for the units depending on features such as motion activated recording, built in LCD, rechargeable batteries, etc.

a bullet camera with 480 tv lines sounds like an inexpensive camera. Its probably not a true day night and the B/W evening picture your getting is most likely a digitally filtered shot which returns alot of noise on the picture and less clarity. What model cameras and DVR are you using? Identifying strangers from 40ft is also a tough task in itself. If they are neighborhood regulars, you might be able to identify but if they are from outside the neighborhood, your best bet is going to be vehicle description. I would also more focus on your immediate property and identification rather than the street level.

We have used those cameras a few times from Extreme. They are excellent quality and the picture is great too! it would be ideal for your front door application. It might look a bit funny but so does the dome above the door!

there are a few DVR's out there that support Java based remote viewing which is great for a Mac. One that we have used for Mac users is Video Insight. you can check out a demo at www.demovi.com

If budget allows and with 170 houses I would assume you have some room to move, I would run Extreme CCTV LPR's with an overview camera. Another option would be Pan/Tilt/Zooms with motions tied to presets and then let the PTZ autotrack. Of course if your just looking to see what car or person came in the gates, you could get away with an inexpensive camera. Just remember you get what you pay for and your best video shot only begins with what you see initially. My 2 cents would be to install only a professional system, and speco is not professional. The last thing you want to do is implement this video system in hopes to give 170 homes some peace of mind to only find out it doesn't perform as everybody anticipated.

We haven't used the EL-450, however we did see them at the show and the magni-axis was an interesting idea. The picture quality at the show was good but that was in a very well demo style environment. ICRealtime cameras have been good for us. We typically use the ICR540VD vandal dome when a customer cannot afford the Panasonic cameras. Do you have any sample shots from your EL-450? How did you like the magni-axis?

Quality control at KT&C is not very good. The N600 camera is a decent camera for the money, however, I have recieved 24V cameras in housings with a 12V sticker on them and vice versa. They have a 2 year warranty and they are good about it, I wouldn't worry about throwing the wrong voltage to a camera as they will take care of you. And to my knowledge, last time we used those cameras, they were NOT dual voltage, you have to specify 12V or 24V when ordering.

Check out http://j2ksupport.com/ for help on the JPEG2000 DVR's

This looks to be an OEM camera, the 420 TV lines is entry level. This might work inside a garage or a small dark room but I would not recommend this camera for outdoor use if you plan on using the video for evidence.

What is your application? What are you trying to capture on video and at what distance?

Looks like an ARM camera that you might have got via Security Cameras Direct? Honestly, those cameras are garbage. I have a client on a budget that we used this camera for. We put it at his gate and its only 75 feet away. Well, it worked great for about a week and then it failed. We requested a replacement, and the replacement failed. Then we requested a 3rd, it had some issues before we could even get it setup. All in all, we went through about 5 of them both AC and DC versions. The camera is garbage! We ended up replacing the unit with a true day/night camera with a day/night lens and added an IR illuminator. It has worked flawlessly for almost 2 years now. My recommendation would be to send that camera back if you have the option, it should have a 12 month warranty, and get into real equipment. Your camera most likely has an internal power supply issue which is very common in those inexpensive cameras. Just an FYI, your replacement setup is going to cost 2-4 times the cost of that camera.

I would suggest RG-59 with cat5 for the PTZ control.

Yes, you can control the system that way as well, sorry. You just sometimes end up spending a few extra dollars with the added hardware.

For standalone units, you can also look into ICRealtime. The Flex series 8 channel with the R30 upgrade is an incredible unit. MSRP is around $2,796.00 but you can normally find it far less than MSRP, closer to $2,400.00

Yes, however you will need to be using a Panasonic DVR for this to work. The CP480 series cameras in both the box and dome style are always going to be your best case scenario but also the most expensive. We try to push those to all of our clients but sometimes budget just doesn't allow.

Panasonic WV-CF284 Panasonic WV-CF284 Panasonic WV-CW244S Panasonic WV-CP254H & Panasonic PLZ29/27 Lens w/ Videolarm ACH13HBWM Housing Very standard with just about everything these days. If you like geovision, great. It can be a personal preference. If you have had a geovision setup for awhile and no problems, then you can stick with it. We personally stick to standalones, either Panasonic or ICRealtime. Its going to be preference for you. The geovision will save you money if you build your own PC, however you may have more service issues with geovision vs. a standalone. If your interested in surveillance at night, the WV-CF284 cameras are not true day/night cameras. They are simple day/night cameras that provide "OK" images at night. They also have adaptive black stretch technology that helps in high contrast situations much like the light coming through the glass doors/windows. A day/night replacement would be the WV-CP254H but this is not a dome camera, its a box style that will need a dome ceiling mount enclosure and adds to the overall cost of the system. The WV-CW244 is a color only vandal camera that is great for warehouse applications but does not see at night very well. An immediate solution would be the WV-CW484S but its going to be 2 to 3 times the money. If your most interested in catching burglars after hours, you may be more interested in a perimeter intrusion system with video verification that will dispatch the authorities to apprehend. Video surveillance is great but if you get too broad of a shot at times, it will be difficult to identify for arrest/prosecution.

Yup, $5K is a good number. If its a cheap system, around $2,500 If its a professional system, around $6,000

Ultra VNC works and we also use www.logmein.com for access to PC based machines. Its also free!

Have you contacted the camera manufacturer or geovision?

Sorry, I meant the Extreme CCTV "Wizkid" line. The WZ16 is the same as the KPC-N600H from KT&C

We used to use the N600 units from KT&C and they were decent. Good picture quality but the only issue I had was the longevity. It seemed the first few we had were a bad batch and fried after 2 months of being installed. Those were the 12V versions. We then warranty replaced those for the 24V version and we had much better luck. They are still kicking 2 years later. The daytime image is great and the nightime is sufficient. The IR does not extend as much as they claim, nor does anybodies, thats always marketing! Its a good camera for the money. I believe extreme cctv sells the same (N600) camera under their own part number for about $150 more!

Don't sell the cheap stuff, otherwise he won't be your client for very long. The problem with standard motion activated recording in adverse weather is that it will most likely be recording all the time due to the weather. If we were quoting a system like that, it would be no less than $3,800.00 installed. And if the potential client didn't want to spend that much, they would goto costco and buy a $1,200.00 system, install it, and then call me 6 months later to install our system. Depending on how much protection your looking for, you need to decide how to setup the recording. Is this residential or commercial? What is the goal for the application? Will the video be used for prosecution or just to verify events?

You need the camera master 2 from FM Systems. FM Systems Website - LINK