Tesseract

Application is to monitor 6 gates at an apartment complex. Looking at using day/night ip box cameras with a QNAP VioStor 8-ch. NVR as it seems to be the best deal going for something I can actually cram into a reasonable size NEMA 4X box (all equipment will be located outside - no choice in the matter). I want decent quality cameras - not high end nor low end. The distance from camera to gate ranges from 40' at the closest to 96' at the farthest so I want to mount a 6-60mm variofocal lens on each camera to let me zoom it to the right width. There are a bewildering number of cameras out there and most of the IP cameras look like toys, despite their prices. I'd like to keep the cost of the camera, lense and outdoor housing, if needed, to around $450. One cameras that falls within the budget and seems to have the desired resolution/features is the ACTi ACM-5711N. Have I made good choices, all things considered, or could I do better. My main requirement for this setup is not so much quality of image but quality of service - in other words, I do not want to have to constantly reboot this stuff because it locked up. Other questions: is it correct that when you use a dedicated NVR you don't need to use the crap video recording software that comes with the camera (as long as the NVR and IP camera are compatible?) Is a 1/3" progressive scan CMOS chip really worse than an interlaced 1/3" CCD? Thanks for the help so far, folks.

Hey all - first post here. An property manager of apartment complexes asked me to do some research on the equipment needed to set up a good quality surveillance system (to monitor 4 pedestrian and 2 vehicle gates). I'll post my other questions in the relevant forum but for now I am trying to find a decent DVR for up to 8 cameras. One problem, though, is that there isn't a maintenance room or the like to put the DVR in so I need to find one that can be mounted inside of a NEMA 4X (plastic, weatherproof) box on the outside of one of the buildings. I have found two "wall mount" DVRs, the Neugent SP-3008 and the Shuttle RO-RS-1240RH. Unfortunately, I don't know much about either company and it appears that the Neugent is not available in the US. Given that the DVR will be mounted in a box outside it will only be accessed through the internet and it will be a big pain in the posterior to "reboot" it if it locks up, gets a virus or something, so high reliability is a requirement. I was thinking that a Linux based system would have the edge in that department?? Finally, do I have to get a wall mount type of DVR or could I mount a "regular" DVR on its side/vertically? Thanks for any suggestions!

Consider what it says to potential customers, though: if Axis charges 3x more for their outdoor housing then why not the same for their cameras? Whether true or not, this implies that everything else they sell is overpriced. If/when ACTi sends me a video I will post it to the sticky thread here. they do have some clips up on their site, just not from the particular model I am interested in. That said, I just strolled over to Axis' website and they don't seem to have any demos of their cameras up, either...

I, too, am looking closely at the ACTi cameras, especially the ACM-5711. I've requested sample video or images from day and night time from this camera from ACTi... waiting on them to respond. As an aside, is it just me or is it flat out ridiculous that there isn't sample video for every single CCTV camera made out there? Anyway, Axis may have a good reputation among you folks, but I look at the 211 and think, "wtf were they thinking putting this otherwise decent camera in a crappy, weird size box so you have to buy their ridiculously overpriced outdoor enclosure?"

Well, the title of the thread is, "DVR w/ web access in a NEMA box?" so it looks like I already figured out that I need a DVR (NVR, actually) that can be used in a harsher environment than an air-conditioned office... Now, can anyone suggest an actual NVR? Surely there's something out there that fits the bill, I just haven't come across it yet.

Hey folks - second post here. Got an apartment complex where a bunch of gates need to be monitored. It just so happens that I can cover all of the gates with cameras mounted on two buildings, but those buildings are 130' apart with a concrete parking lot in between them. We've gotten bids from "professionals" that want to do directional boring underneath the entire parking lot. That's pretty much a non-starter just from permitting fees alone (~$5000 and 3-6 months). I figure there must be a good wireless link that can be used in this sort of situation. We would prefer to use analog cameras (better quality for the money) and avoid the 2.4GHz spectrum because there are at least 16 Wi-Fi networks active in the complex (and who knows how many microwave ovens, which operated at 2.45GHz usually). I was considering using, for example, a 1.2GHz 1.5W 8-channel transmitter/receiver pair from pinecomputer (link not posted) for each of the 3 cameras. I figure with 8 selectable channels I ought to be able to find 3 that don't interfere with each other (two of the cameras will be mounted neat to each other and the third will be about 75' away). The budget for this is fairly flexible given the alternative

Excellent plan, cachecreekcctv (and not just because it was the direction I was going, anyway ). Fortunately, the box containing the DVR (or NVR), etc., will be mounted on a wall that faces North and is shaded by a huge oak tree so at least I don't have to worry about solar heat gain. On the downside, it regularly hits 95F here anyway. On a side note, I can personally attest to keeping electronics equipment out of the sun! In my first year of college I worked for an access control company. One of their clients was FPL (now Progress Energy) and one of the sites was an automatic "peaker" power plant - one that runs on natural gas and kicks on when needed to supply peak power demands. They put the control box with the computer and card reader right at the main gate... out in the open, mounted on a post, for the sun in all its Florida glory to shine upon. Everyday around 1-2pm the system would start glitching - reporting door alarms, randomly operating the gate and door locks, etc. Since I was the FNG, and a smart-a$$ engineering student to boot, the lead tech thought it would be hilarious to send me out there to fix it, as everyone else, including the owner, had been out there and all the only solution they came up with was to replace the Westinghouse-Schlage "brain" every couple of months. Of course, the problem was the temperature - I measured 140F inside the cabinet at 1pm on the day they sent me out there. And because I was an engineering student with little practical experience at that point, I of course came up with a somewhat "Rube Goldberg" kind of solution: I used a thermoelectric heat pump assembly, like the kind in portable fridges and coolers, to cool the cabinet down without having to suck air into it. To the total amazement of the owner, and very much the chagrin of the lead tech (who hated me from that point on), my contraption kept the box at 90F or below and only cost about $300 in time and materials (they weren't paying me much... $7/hr).

How about the QNAP VioStor-201 series? I can't post a link (5 days??? That's a bit extreme...) but the manufacturer's site is the obvious one... Frankly, I don't see why a NVR should cost even as much as a low-end PC since all it has to do is run a program that routes data from IP cameras to a hard drive - not nearly as tough a job as a DVR has (all that digitizing and compression and stuff). Google turns up prices of around $1000 for the bare NVR (without any hard drives installed). Anyone tried the VioStor-201 NVRs. Good, bad, ugly?

Thanks for the reply, thewireguys. That last question about the progressive cmos vs. interlaced ccd wasn't a typo, it was more of a which is the more important rule to follow: "cmos is always worse than ccd" or "progressive is always better than interlaced". Hmmm... Axis is the best, huh? What about Mobotix or IQinvision? (Ford or Chevy...) But are you saying the ACTi cams are junk? I mean, it's not like I'm trying to get away with using that Q-See 8 cameras + DVR package at the local compusa for $800... I thought you could get a decent IP camera for $350; if you can't, then they are way overpriced compared to the equivalent resolution/sensitivity analog camera!

They are pricey and they are hideous, but they do have some compelling features like a built-in DVR and PIR motion detector. What would be a good storage server to use with them (6 cameras total)?

Hey Mike - thanks for chiming in. Fortunately, the wall I can mount the box on faces north and is completely shaded by a mature oak tree so it receives no direct sunlight. Another good thing is power is available on this wall, along with internet access (cable tv distribution). That said, after reading through lots of posts here and talking with Charlie at Wireless Network Products I am considering going with IP cameras and a Network Video Recorder instead of analog cameras and a DVR... So many choices!

Funny you should mention that.. I was coming to the same conclusion myself. Charlie at Wireless Network Products suggested combining the 3 IP cameras with a switch then using a pair of 5.8GHz wireless APs to make a bridge over to the other building. Now I need to find a good Network Video Recorder and a router/gateway to connect to a good cable modem. Complicated stuff, but it sure beats directional boring underneath 130' of concrete.

Thanks, scorpion. You are just across the state from me (I'm in Tampa - I suppose I should update my profile). I am also contemplating going with all IP cameras and using a network video recorder, hopefully he can help with that type of setup as well.