CCTV

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Hi chaps,

I've been asked to spec some general CCTV equipment for a business. It just needs to cover outside part where about a dozen vehicles are kept (probably one or two cameras would be fine). They need it to record any movement (I think some can do this, so the hard disk doesn't fill up right away?).

I've had a quick look and can see you can get IP cameras and such but also ones that can plug into a PC. So I guess if I supply a basic PC with a large HD, this would be the more simple option?

If anyone has any experience on a similar set up, it would be grateful.

thanks
 
the linksys wvc54gc , these are wireless and provide high frame rate. it records movement and also emails notifications.

there is also a d-link model that can do 360 degree turn, which is also wireless

i dont think there are any HD monitoring solutions avaiable. unless you buy a logictech webcam and programme to monitor.
 
I've been looking to do something similar, but the cameras for outdoor use tend to be far more expensive, will the cams be mounted outdoors?
 
If it's outdoor cameras, then to do the job properly you want IP66 rated housings.

Software wise, out of the applications I've used, I'd suggest ViewCommander or Luxriot.
 
Ebay

Stop before you flame me.

I have just installed a 3 camers PRO setup at my house for under £600. using the right gear.

I'm using 3 ENEO colour Camera's in dennard heated housing and being recorded onto a Panasonic WD-hj500 16 ch DVR.(which retailed @£2500 3 yrs ago) which is networkable


look under catagories. under security and narrow search to used equipment.

That way you shouldnt get many cheap nasty Hong Kong bits.

If your lucky you could get a 365 DVR which will record 200mhz across all channnels
Although to be honest 5FPS is all you need.

Mine has 2 140gb HDD and will record non stop in a main and slave format.
1st HDD records from 20 may-30 may
2nd records from 25 may - 4 june

That way you get extra time to realise you need to playback and find a recording.

As you can see I can get at least 10 days in super fine quality continuous recording.

HTH
Matt
 
So basically the DVR will house the hard disk and acts as a central point for the cameras to connect to? And if its network ready, you could use a PC to view the recordings etc?
 
You could look at something like the Vivotek 7142.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/246785/vivotek-ip7142.html

I've installed a few of these and would say the review is bang on.

Had a read up and they look worth investigating more. A few Q's if you don't mind.. how long is the power lead? If its short I'll have to use PoE which is handy but PoE switches are quite expensive. And what sort of recording software does the PC need or can it be set up to email images? If so, do you need a hosting account or anything?

thanks
 
My spare is 7142 is out at the moment, so I can't look to be sure but IIRC there's a good 3" or more of slack on the leads.

Vivotek do offer their own CCTV software:

http://www.vivotek.com/products/software/recording_software_st7501.php

I've not looked at it, so can't say much about it. I think it's FOC with the cameras. If you're buying software, ViewCommander would be my first choice these days. Luxriot isn't bad though.

The manual for the 7142 covers how to make the camera do things after an event (eg motion detection). You can have it send the images via FTP or e-mail.

NetGear do 8 port switch with 4 POE ports, the FS108p, which you should be able to pick up for sub £100 (ex VAT).
 
if someone has some spare time. would be nice to see some setups posted up on here with pics.

by the way i remember reading somewhere it is possible to send sms notification, to alert motion detections. which software was this ?
 
Thanks for the info, Chris. I would be quite interested in expanding what I do to include CCTV stuff as it is quite similar to IT/Networking it seems.
 
ACTI do some cameras which aren't too much more expensive than the Vivotek but have better image quality (IMHO). They also have their own NVR server software which is a bit over-complex in my book but the don't work with the ViewCommander software. The next release of Luxriot supports them apparently.

Mobotix have a great feature set and top image quality but are pricey (compared to Vivotek). Axis have a good range and the new H264 CODECs offer some bandwidth advantages. The Axis boxes which take in a traditional co-ax CCTV camera and turn it into IP are good for migrating older stuff.
 
ACTI do some cameras which aren't too much more expensive than the Vivotek but have better image quality (IMHO). They also have their own NVR server software which is a bit over-complex in my book but the don't work with the ViewCommander software. The next release of Luxriot supports them apparently.

Latest LuxRiot supports a wide range of both ACTi and Vivotek cameras. If you have this particular interest, I suggest that you drop a line to [email protected] and request latest beta (which is on its latest testing stage and thus not on the website).
 
Duke,

Just wondering did you finally get your system up and running and if so, what equipment did you settle for?

I need to setup a similar setup using IP camera's so I would be interested to see what you ended up with. I had thought about using the QNAP NVR-104P Network Video Recorder but at nearly £500 the business that wants the setup thinks its too pricey. :rolleyes:
 
It didn't go any further, they (client) changed their minds before I'd even quoted.
 
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