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tekbwoy

advice please on new system

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have been reading this site for an hour now but haven't quite found what i'm looking for, so thought i'd ask for guidance.

 

warehouse needs 2 wireless cameras. distance from warehouse to office is approximately 120ft. in between the warehouse are 3 walls (2 brick, 1 stud wall) and a car park. the office and warehouse cameras are on the ground floor. there are 3 offices on the 1st floor which i know use wireless networks.

 

we want the cameras for day/night vision. to be set to record motion detection. pc dvr set-up preferred. we would prefer simultaneous recording once motion detected. we would like sound recording for both cameras, but will suffice with one if that's easier.

 

any ideas on what kit i should be looking at (we are based in the uk). also, what fps would be appropriate? is there any url where you can calculate disk usage per video size and fps?

 

budget is not great (circa £500-750 for cameras, receiver and dvr card)

 

many thanks in advance

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Welcome to the forum.

 

I am not even an expert at this stuff but I can tell you that you are not going to find a good wireless ( day/night or not) system for 500-750 pounds (930-1400 USD).

You might get a wired system using a stand alone, Nuvico 4 channel or similiar for around 800.00 USD plus 300.00 each camera.

 

Use this thread for storage requirement estimates:

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4149&highlight=storage+calculator

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perhaps i should've said 'constructive' criticism!!

 

would you not agree though that it represents value for money?

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I've seen simular systems in action. So I will repeat my comment: Trash. Those systems have a high failure rate. Add into it the problem of interferance on wireless systems and you end up with something that just doesn't work. So if is going to be down more then 30% of the time I would consider it a waste of money.

 

It is cheap but that doesn't make it "good value for the money" it's more of a "when what ever you were protecting gets stolen and you have no video because it didn't work now you lost the items and you're out 150 pounds on the video system as well" kind of situation.

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You're going to need more power going through 3 walls than those little spy cam systems will give you. You'd be better off running cable to the cameras so you can be sure to get the video as Thomas stated and to save on the headaches of radio interference, tuning the receivers etc. In the long run, you'll save money and time. Of course that is my own humble opinion...Good Luck with your project.

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Yeah if the home is brick or concrete then its a good luck scenerio .. i played with some of them recently and i gave up .. and thats not something i normally do .. give up that is .. Those are basically toys is all.

 

Running wire for cameras is alot less work in the long run.

 

Wireless Video typically requires the TX and RX to be mounted above anything that can block the signal,. eg. walls, trees, bodies, anything that absorbs water, etc

 

Wireless Video typically requires line of sight.

 

In the case of walls the only thing that you would really want to use, if anything, is 900 mhz. And if there is steel or AC duct in/between those walls/signals, then it wont work.

 

Other common interferences are cell and cordless phones, and ofcourse, rain. Its not worth it unless you really have no choice, but if you dont have a choice, then you would want some higher end Analogue Wireless gear such as Video Comm, Trango, etc.

 

Also remember wireless video still requires power.

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If they already are using a wireless network and you can plug into that then something like this might work

http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/productlist.php?CatID=24&FamID=15&ProdID=281

 

The only wireless I have seen go through walls is 900mhz or uhf band like these

http://www.videotransmitters.com/index.php?SCREEN=view_catalogue_level2&id=9&prod_ID=5

but the video quality isnt very good. If your budget is what Thomas has translated then you are pretty much S.O.L.

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It is highly doubtful that those wireless units will work in such a difficult situation. If the company will allow you to buy them with a money back guarantee then you might want to give them an in field test.

 

You would be better off trying to use twisted pair baluns and if possible find unused pairs of wires already running in the building. Wireless video through several walls is extremely unreliable. Plus if it is very powerful and not scrambled, anyone with a compatible receiver will be able to see the cameras.

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tekbwoy,

 

In their own inimitable styles, all the guys have given you some very good advice.

 

Wireless in a warehouse environment is never a great ide, or to put it another way, it may be a great idea, until you try and make it work

 

In the UK, 900MHz is not a licence exempt frequency for video transmission; so if you did try anything other than 1.2GHz, 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz, you could end up in seriously deep do do's.

 

The power output quoted on some of the gear you referred to may well prove problematic, and as there are only four licence exempt channels available on 2.4GHz, you may possibly risk picking up somebody elses signal, or more likely scramble their's, in which case you may well find yourself struck off their christmas card list.

 

As has already been suggested, hardwiring would be the most appropriate trouble free technique, and you would save yourself a small fortune by not having to buy bucket loads of aspirins.

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