Soundy

BTW, just installed a Vivotek IP8162P yesterday... pretty impressed with the results:

Don't get too hung up on the temp specs - remember that electronics generate their own heat and tend to keep the cameras themselves pretty warm inside, especially if you're powering them over PoE (most cameras, the step-down process throws off a LOT of extra heat)... so as long as they're running, the cameras tend to stay nice and toasty on their own.

Regular NTSC video (like watching TV) is 30fps. As far as surveillance, you usually won't even notice a difference at 15fps. Remember that the higher the framerate, the more storage space it's going to take and the more bandwidth it uses. http://www.panasonic.com/business/security/demos/PSS-recording-rates.html

Not with their ethernet extenders, unfortunately - worked with a number of their balun and connector products and always found them a good value. Veracity is something of a pioneer in the field, so they're probably a good bet for this as well.

That's messed up - you need to put big spikes on the fence to drag along the sides of their cars when they push through. The right cameras will do extremely well with very little ambient light. Generally, in a (semi-)public space like that, if there's enough light that people can move about safely, there should be enough for the proper cameras to work with. If there isn't, you might want to worry about liability issues if someone trips in the dark. Cameras should always be hardwired for power and video if at all possible. Even "wireless" cameras still need to get power from somewhere. Battery packs still need to be replaced or recharged regularly, which most often means large solar panels. There are a couple models of cameras that record to internal hard drives... several more that can record to internal flash memory (SD card). Most types record to a computer or standalone recorder, and again, most often it's hardwired, not wireless. That's kind of up to you. There may be solutions ranging from $1000 to $10,000 and up. It depends on a wide range of factors, including how many cameras you'll actually need, what level of quality they need to be, how much light there is to work with, distances involved, ability to run wires for video and power... You're already here Words to live by.

The last three "incidents" that I gave the police plate videos for, the cars were all stolen specifically for use in another crime - they grabbed the cars, did their crimes, then ditched the cars down our street. Even the car they used to getaway from the ditched crime vehicle was stolen. Giving the police the plates allowed them to return the cars to their owners faster... that's it. Actually, I guess it didn't even really do that - I just had to report that the car had been dumped; they got the plate from it when they arrived. The only one that was of any use was the final getaway car, and again, all that did was tell them it was yet another stolen car.

Something like this, maybe - claims up to 1km for power and ethernet over RG6: http://gemelec.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=704&category_id=68&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

If OP would like to check out a demo of Vigil, he can drop me a PM.

I am surprised you did not offer Vigil Apparently he's already got the Avigilon VMS, so what would be the point? Smart enough to have selected a VMS that didn't support all the customer's existing cameras?

Waiting for the Avigilon guys to start telling you how much happier you'll be replacing all the cameras with Avigilon.... in 3... 2... 1...

That depends on the camera. Almost all IP (network) cameras have a built-it ability to VIEW them via a web browser... many will also include some sort of minimal recording software. Analog cameras don't include software because they require additional hardware to connect to a computer.

Having done exactly what the OP is looking to do, several times... don't get hung up on which pair you use, or matching twists, or anything like that. Balanced video over baluns REALLY isn't that picky. Solder if you really feel like it, but that's overkill - I've generally used beanie connectors (gel-filled type for outdoors) and never had a problem with them. As far as signal degradation over the length of the run: if you're using a single pair for power, chances are the voltage drop will be such that the camera stops working, LONG before there's any noticeable change in image quality.

A 180 at that signpost might be a suitable option instead of two or three others for an overview of the lot, but you'll still need something at the driveways to ID. Fact is, it will be pretty close to impossible, regardless of cost, to cover the entire lot with the resolution needed for facial ID; you're just not going to be IDing people in that area. What you need to do is get a "decent" overview of activity so you can full track movements of people and vehicles in the lot, then capture the vehicle ID at the choke points: the driveways that everyone must use coming and going. If you need additional detail on people, your best bet is using the choke points that they must go through: the mall doors.

There's no way you'll do it with a single camera, not if you want any sort of identification possible. You're looking at probably at least three cameras at that location to get decent coverage of the lot... then I'd suggest another for EACH entry/exit driveway, ON the building, with a tight view on the driveway to catch plates coming and going - that's your best bet for actually identifying any vehicles.

Vivotek would still be usable, similar to Arecont, as you'd be able to access the configuration page in whatever browser, and watch the results via the RTSP stream in ZM, VLC, or whatever.

Interesting - I have a Vivotek cam here on my bench, Chrome just tells me I'm missing a plugin, but doesn't tell me what it is. I CAN get to the configuration pages, however, just no live video. Only a guess mind you, but no harm in trying- search for and dl the IE tab plugin while in chrome. This is how I get web app in chrome to see live video for my dvr. When you type in the address it still won't show feed, but hitting the IE tab button will bring it up. Then I save that bookmark to the IE tab and it will open automatically when I go to that bookmark. Might not help you at all- just a stab in the dark. Not that worried about it myself - I have IE Tab, but that won't do the OP any good in Linux.

Be pretty much the same effect as shining a flashlight at a camera - you might get some glare, depending on how it strikes the other camera, but there won't be any damage or anything.

Interesting - I have a Vivotek cam here on my bench, Chrome just tells me I'm missing a plugin, but doesn't tell me what it is. I CAN get to the configuration pages, however, just no live video.

Just because you look at a video like that and think, "I wouldn't know that guy if he smacked me upside the head", doesn't mean that someone familiar with that person won't recognize him. I've seen some pretty bad pictures and videos of friends and family, even some I haven't seen in person in years, and I can recognize who it is by a number of traits, including movements and mannerisms. Sometimes when there's a crime but no name to put to it, a crappy video is all it takes for the police to get a name from a member of the public... and that may even be enough later for a conviction, if that person is able to convincingly testify that, yes, that person in the video is the person you have in custody. Computer-based identification may be in its infancy, but the human mind is an amazing tool...

The power supply itself is more than sufficient (seriously, a 500mA adapter is not going to solve the problem if the 1A isn't cutting it). The WIRE may not be - the thinner and longer your power run is, the more voltage you lose, especially when the camera is drawing more power (such as when the IR turns on). How long is the power run, and what size is the wire?

How about instead of worrying about IR (which is overrated and more often than not just a cheap workaround for a camera with crappy low-light performance), consider the area you're covering, and try a camera with better low-light capabilities? Or, you know, just add a motion-activated flood light or two, which will give you a better picture with ANY camera than IR will?

That's asking a lot of one camera. You might consider a ptz. You might cram all that into one view, but it's doubtful much more than your dead center shot will give you decent detail. Not for his price range.

You maybe right. But think about this. The more judges and jury's are exposed to higher quality video do you think they will be as likely to prosecute on poor quality video? Yes. In my opinon video in & of itself is not going to convict anyone. But, it can help when trying to identify someone and see events that took place. Video is not the only evidence used to solve a crime. I really don't think prosecutors are going to present a case to a jury where the only evidence is lousy video. That doesn't make sense. Bingo! More to the point, it would be highly unlikely that a prosecutor would present a case where the ONLY evidence is video, lousy or otherwise.

Yes. No.