Home CCTV Advice Required

[modd1uk 0]

Hi guys, ive posted this on a local computer forum in the UK but had no response.

 

Basically im an IT tech, who knows nothing about CCTV. I have a pc system spare that would be perfect to use as a recorder, but im unsure as to which PCI card to get, which software to use, and what sort of cameras i should be looking at.

 

I had had vandal problems at the front of my house, so would like to set up 3 camers, one facing the entrance to the street, one in front of my house, and one facing the exit, so if anything happend ide stand a good chance of seeing what happend.

 

Could anybody advise me on what sort of stuff i should be looking for, im based in the UK so pricing will be off, but a general idea would be great.

 

Thanks in advance guys.

[tomcctv 187]

Hi guys, ive posted this on a local computer forum in the UK but had no response.

 

Basically im an IT tech, who knows nothing about CCTV. I have a pc system spare that would be perfect to use as a recorder, but im unsure as to which PCI card to get, which software to use, and what sort of cameras i should be looking at.

 

I had had vandal problems at the front of my house, so would like to set up 3 camers, one facing the entrance to the street, one in front of my house, and one facing the exit, so if anything happend ide stand a good chance of seeing what happend.

 

Could anybody advise me on what sort of stuff i should be looking for, im based in the UK so pricing will be off, but a general idea would be great.

 

Thanks in advance guys.

 

 

if you wish to build a good little system then take a look at the avermedia nv3000 pci card.

[Birdman Adam 0]

If your a linux kind of guy, I'd suggest Zoneminder. It's a free (although very professional) recording software that is very sleak, and can run on pretty much any PC. You can couple it with a capture card from Bluecherry. (Just google 'em).

 

I'm using it as my surveillance server now and it has worked flawlessly for almost a year now. You can plug in any analog camera you want to the bluecherry card. Or, if you have IP cameras, Zoneminder can be easily told to capture from them over the LAN.

 

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22080

My first post in my thread above has some example images and videos that Zoneminder recorded. I have it set to record motion, which works quite well.

 

Right now I'm using cheapy cameras, but will be getting better ones soon. (That's the reason the video is pretty low res)

[Henry-f 0]

Something to bear in mind if you're building a DVR from a computer is that the hard drives won't be AV grade drives designed to run 24/7 with a high churn rate of data.

 

By the time you've bought and fitted a video capture card and the right software etc you may find you haven't saved agreat deal over a stand alone DVR designed specifically for the job. Our 4 camera stand alone DVR is £150 and features h.264 compression, remote access via t'internet or your local network, motion sensed recording (with split hard drive for motion triggered / normal recordings), VGA and BNC outputs and so on.

 

If you need any advice on CCTV systems then cast your eye over our website, it's designed to answer most questions people have. If there's anything specific not covered just email or call.

 

All the best.

 

Henry

[tomcctv 187]

Something to bear in mind if you're building a DVR from a computer is that the hard drives won't be AV grade drives designed to run 24/7 with a high churn rate of data.

 

By the time you've bought and fitted a video capture card and the right software etc you may find you haven't saved agreat deal over a stand alone DVR designed specifically for the job. Our 4 camera stand alone DVR is £150 and features h.264 compression, remote access via t'internet or your local network, motion sensed recording (with split hard drive for motion triggered / normal recordings), VGA and BNC outputs and so on.

 

If you need any advice on CCTV systems then cast your eye over our website, it's designed to answer most questions people have. If there's anything specific not covered just email or call.

 

All the best.

 

Henry

 

 

Henry. you might find this a bit hard on you. but you are just like a bot. one of the forum rules is DONT list prices. the other is people look for info. and the one thing forum users are going to say and stand by is always buy a brand name.

 

as far as H/Drives any good drive will do the job WD/seagate/ hitch. i have a system in wv that been running for 6 years on the same WD drives.

 

now the op has asked questions on how to build his own and the aver 3000 card is simple to fitt and will be much better than anything on your site. plus he will have a hybrid for future add on.