WRS_Mark

Is wireless bad? No, not in and of itself. There are some very good high-end systems using wireless. Exactly. I have a local customer with a 6 year old Trango transmitter/receiver setup and the only work it has required thus far is some contact cleaning and replacement of the power cable to the receiver which is mounted on an 65ft high tower. Transmission distance is about .5 miles and the things works flawlessly. I never performed the installation but the company that did the job did it right.

Of course buyers love a long warranty. For CCTV equipment I find a one year warranty is fine. Assuming that you are using quality, name brand equipment if the DVR fires up and is operating correctly it usually will continue to operate for years if it is kept free of dust, coffee doesn't get spilled on it, no one knocks it over, my English Mastiff doesn't cover it in drool or eat it, etc. Same goes with cameras. For outdoor cameras, as long as they have good quality O-ring seals and sealant around the wiring harness making it tough for water to enter it, the camera should be fine (I demonstrated how weatherproof a bullet camera was to a customer by hitting it for a few minutes with 2600psi of water from a pressure washer from all angles). Indoor cameras without some type of sealant should not be placed in humid or dusty conditions. Again, if the camera works and has a clear picture it's probably going to work for a very long time. Even here in the frozen Great White North the only time I had one of my cameras fail in the last year was out at an acreage. The camera had no power to it for a week while the property owner was away during a cold snap (-40c at night) and when he came back he hooked up the power to it while it was in the -30c range. The camera now works until the temperature gets back down to -38 to -40c and then blacks out. Not exactly a warranty claim.

My apologies for my lack of details and thank you for mentioning it. The 4 cameras for the daycare, which is within the church are to transmit via wireless to the control room located perhaps 50ft away. A frame rate of 5fps@640x480 is more than enough as the intention will be to allow for remote viewing. I had considered going all ACTi, however, 4 Mega Pixel cameras in a fairly small area would be absolute overkill, not to mention of little use for people logging into the system to see what their children are up to. The only place in which the 1.2MP camera can be justified is on the stage and this will only be used to transmit to the DVR and from the DVR to another monitor. And in regards to asking the opinion of PROFESSIONALS only, if I didn't care who answered me I might as well just go down to the bar and ask around for opinions there. I actually wouldn't mind going the analog route which I have a great deal of experience with, but I just am not convinced the transmitters I normally use will not suffer unacceptable interference.

Good point. I have yet to notice any amount of improvement in picture quality over a MPEG4 DVR such as an EB1304NET SATA if the cameras are say, 420TVL domes or similar either. I think that unless you are going with higher end equipment the whole H.264 is more marketing than anything. But I stand to be corrected.....

Depends on the type of installation. If it is something simple like a 4 camera system with suspended ceiling, I just quote a flat rate plus an hourly rate should there be any complicating issues. Same with homes. If it is an industrial installation or a large commercial building, it is hourly. I burned myself a couple of times when I started in this business and know a lot better now. Same with mileage charges for out of town installs (I get a lot of those). And if it is a situation whereby you must stay overnight, check local hotel rates and factor those in with the costs for meals then quote a flat daily rate.

Great video. I saved it to my favorites to send to clients as an example of why it is a better idea to go with a low light camera instead of an IR whenever possible.

Yeah, I can understand that. You gotta advertise a lot. It isn't necessarily expensive because there are a lot of free web ads available. It's just difficult coming up with an effective ad. Took me months to come up with one that is kicking a$$ at the moment.

I was going to start a new thread for my first post but after reading this one I just had to comment. Anyway, Hi all. My name is Mark and I got into the CCTV business in February. I have a lot of experience with PC's and have spent the bulk of my working life in the construction industry and yep, it's tough to attract people willing to pay. They want the best equipment but they want it given to them. For a first year company I am doing well. The bills are being paid and that is about as much as I can ask for these days with the economy and all. I found an excellent supplier of high quality equipment and I have done a lot of advertising whether it be online, in the local newspaper or just posting my services on bulletin boards wherever I go. Residential customers are generally a waste of time so far, with small stores taking too much effort for very little profit. Where I have had success is with larger companies, construction firms and small towns. Farmers have a keen interest in video surveillance as well. Just remember: Look after the customer. If it takes a while longer to do the job right, just do the job right. Even if you cannot justify charging for all the time you put into it. If you are an owner-operator with low overhead, you can do it. There is absolutely nothing that will nuke your business faster than a job done poorly. Half of the jobs I have picked up so far are from referrals. That tells me something. And be on time or even early for customer appointments. The ones who are going to buy from you will buy from you because they realize you respect them enough to show up on time and organized. Still, it is a PITA