jdowning

Hi all - yep! Just a one time setup and that should be it hopefully. It's the one main point of entry to my yard so I'll want to be able to identify faces. I plan to have 4-5 other cameras in the yard but would you recommend one for faces or one for wide angle/number plates? Lighting isn't a problem - I don't really want infrared. As from what I've seen, it just blurs out peoples faces. I can put in a few extra motion sensor lights in the yard. Do these type of cameras need a lot of light? Thanks for all your help guys - don't know what I'd do without you! Jack

But don't you have to put an extra wire to control that through to whatever location? So would a 24mm lens roughly get a good picture of that gate without any bad image quality? Also - can a CAT5 cable powered via baluns provide power for a housing+body camera? Thanks all!

Hi all! Thanks for your replies! Sorry - I phrased it wrong, I didn't want a camera which I can zoom in remotely - just one that can 'zoom' in a lot! Sorry, I'm not good with the technical language. For example - I can't get a camera to a physical location close to this gate so I'm going to need to get a camera (I'd prefer to do a body+housing camera, not the built in ones) which can zoom right up this yard and get a face if possible. This is the picture of the chimney I'd mount the camera on (around 3 metres from ground). And around 20 metres up the yard, here is the gate: http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/7876/photo20092011164434.jpg Gate width is around 3 metres. Roughly - what type of lens would I need for this? Thanks so much for all your help, appreciate it.

Thanks for all your replies everyone! Just wondering - I'm finding trouble getting a CCTV camera to a gate entrance of my building. If a housed camera was put up - would it have no problem getting a clear image of the gate 20 metres away, camera will be around 5 metres from the ground and the gate width is around 3 metres? Thanks very much Jack

Hi all, Just wondering if this would support D1 recording and PTZ control The picture at the back in the description doesn't show much. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apollo-Zeus-16-Channel-1TB-DVR-H-264-Internet-Iphone-/230668031548?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item35b4e2d63c#ht_3100wt_922 And is this a good price? Regards Jack

Hi there, I'm looking at getting one of these to help reduce cabling. http://www.hunters-wholesalers.co.uk/16channel-passive-video-transceiver-hayvb16-p-51668.html If I get this - do I need a receiver or can I just put the pairs at the other end straight into a balun for the DVR? Regards, Jack

Hi Jack is this for your other post (resturant) just in cost alone of that Transceiver . will buy all baluns and 600m of cat5. remember you can get 4 video inputs on 1 cat5 Hi there - yes, but I have all camera cables running to a garage. I only have four CAT5 cables from that garage over to this house for the DVR thus I'm looking to run four wires from one transceiver to run all cameras. I don't mind paying a bit extra! But would I need a 'receiver' as well? Thanks v. much Jack

Hi all, If I'm correct - I'm better using housed and body cameras if a target is far away? Dome cameras won't cut it? Could I get a good face view if a target is 20 metres away if I'm using one of these cameras? http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/cctv-camera.htm and which lens should I use? Gate is 20 metres away, camera is 3 metres from ground and gate is 4 metres wide. Jack

Hi all, I've been broken into twice recently - we own a restaurant here and we're putting up cameras. First of all - is this DVR ok? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-Channel-2TB-DVR-HD-series-HDMI-720P-H-264-D1-REC-/370438255032?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item563fd731b8#ht_992wt_922 And these are some pictures of where I want the camera to be located. The first photo shows where it'll be mounted and the second shows what area it should be covering. Thanks very much! Also - is it better to have housed cameras / dome camera? With IR/without IR? Thanks, Jack! http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/6623/img0578gc.jpg http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/8897/img0579yt.jpg http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9483/img0580ob.jpg http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/4955/img0581o.jpg http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/4374/img0582wd.jpg http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/5843/img0583bu.jpg http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8076/img0584wp.jpg http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/2530/img0585k.jpg http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3427/img0586ch.jpg http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2690/img0587h.jpg http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/7417/img0589ka.jpg http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/764/img0590h.jpg I want the camera to cover the gate only which is 20 metres away, camera is around 4 metres from the ground and the gate is about 3 metres long. thanks so much - i don't know where to start. jack

Thanks for the suggestions! Isn't 0.15lux not great though? Shouldn't I be aiming for around 0.000x lux? Also - I used a lens calculator and it said I need a lens of 34.7 millimetres for the gate which is 20 metres away, the camera will be 4 metres from the ground and the gate will be 3 metres width. What camera would I need for that? a dome wouldn't do it, would it? I don't have a clue so please guide me! Thanks for your help everyone Jack

Hi all - thanks for all the replies! Are very helpful! Are the dome cameras the best? And can anyone link me to any of these cameras which would be useful? Thanks to Numb-nuts for the link! http://www.onlinesecurityproducts.co.uk/cameras.html Obviously when the place is closed there won't be much light so of course I'd put in some lights which light up when motion is detected. I hear 'lux' is important - which lux should I be aiming for? And roughly what type of lens would I be looking for? (mm) And how would the cameras be wall mounted? thanks so much for all your help and for the kind comments on the building! Jack

Hi there, I own a restaurant and will want to be putting a CCTV system in. If I use CAT5 cable (exterior), I should put a balun at the end of the camera. I'm just wondering - it's a bit of a hassle to bring all the wires back to the DVR in one. Is there any way I can bring all the CAT5 cables from the cameras into a garage, a distribution point there & then a few cables going underground to the DVR in the house? Thanks Jack

Oh God, it's like you all are trying to teach me a different language!! Camera to a balun, CAT5 connected to single balun, short coaxial (less than 0.5 metre?), going to another balun I'm confused! sorry for not understanding.

Ok so is this how it can work?? individual power going to cameras individually Balun at camera end, CAT5 to another balun. balun to this: http://www.henryscctvcentre.com/cctv/twistpaircomponents.htm 8 baluns plugged into the 8 x video inputs 2 CAT5 cables running back to DVR underground specific pair for each video is hooked into balun at DVR end can i do that? I'd like for the 8 camera video cables to run into a point in the garage and only for maybe 2 wires to go back to the DVR for simplicity? will this work? thanks!

Hi guys, I'm setting up a camera system and want to insert all the wiring for my cameras first of all and then get the cameras. One question first however - why do most businesses use housed body cameras on the outside of their buildings if they are not infrared? What I'd be looking for: 1) 1 x Body Housed Camera 2) 1 x PTZ Camera 3) 3 x Vandal Dome Cameras with wall mount. So, what I'd need altogether is: 1) External CAT5 cable 2) What type of power should I put to these cameras? What cable should I use? I can't use the CAT5 as they are infrared cameras and won't support it. 3) 5 Pairs of Video Baluns 4) 8 channel DVR 5) Brackets for cameras Can you guys elaborate on what power I should put and which CAT5 cable please? Thanks for all your help!

Hi there, thanks for your reply - appreciate it. For this camera: http://www.onlinesecurityproducts.co.uk/informer-ptz-domes/informer-ptz-dome-cctv-camera-samsung-500tvl-mini-dome-100x-zoom-38-38-lens.html would it get me the distance I need with a clear picture? and which type of lighting would I need at night?

either will do as 10x or 22x is the distance. What distance would each of these go up to respectively?

Yes, however I am having troubles getting the wiring over to the original location therefore I have decided to move it closer to the DVR. I know it has a lens but which type of zoom would I need for those dimensions away? (x10 optical zoom, x22)? Thanks Jack

Hi guys, I have another question. I'm finding it very hard to get a wire to a PTZ camera I want so I'm wondering what type of zoom lens I need (is 10x too little)? I'd be looking to see at an overall area but the PTZ camera would mostly stay at a location pointing at the gate. The camera is 20ft of the ground, the gate is around 10ft wide & it's 36 metres away from the PTZ camera... would much light be required to get a good view at night? Thanks! Jack

These DVRs all seem to run at 6/7FPS - not the full 25/30fps. Will that still be sufficient?

I have absolutely none in mind - wouldn't I be better buying a non-D1 DVR and then waiting about a year until the prices go down? Jack

£250 is a very good price. you will get most (except PTZ) for under that. cat5 is the cable you need to ask for comes in 305m reels (dont go with cheap stuf) mostly comes in gray or black in the UK. your local city electrical factors will be best. (CEF) what type of budget do you have for your DVR. having good cameras and then using a bad dvr is a waste of money. Well that all depends, I don't want to go overboard if you get what I mean. Would I have to be looking at a full D1 camera for all cameras?

Hi guys, thanks for all your replies. I'd like to be spending no more than £250 per camera - any less would be good however I don't want to do a mickey mouse job. Sorry for my explanation of 'body housed cameras'. I was talking about body cameras with a housing. Would you recommend them rather than the dome? Would these body ones require much light at night to get a good, clear picture? What sort of camera would I be looking at? And do all these body cameras fit into most of the housings? For the UK, if I go into a cable supplier, what type of cable should I be asking for the power... I think I want to wire it out of CAT5 incase I need to use more pairs in the future. What work would be required to the power cable to get the cameras going? Thanks very much for all your help, really appreciate it. Jack.

Hi everyone, Great forum you have here - been very useful. I own a business and we have outhouses which have been broken in to twice over the past several weeks. It's a restaurant here with accommodation also. I would like to setup a CCTV system myself as the price an installer has given us is quite hefty. I don't mind paying a little of a premium for a good quality system but I just think that I could do the wiring myself. Firstly) I'd like to have a PTZ camera in the yard - it'd be mounted up quite high. For this camera listed at: http://www.onlinesecurityproducts.co.uk/informer-ptz-domes/informer-ptz-dome-cctv-camera-samsung-500tvl-mini-dome-100x-zoom-38-38-lens.html Would it be a good quality camera? Most of the time - I would want it to look at a gate (entrance) which is about 5 yards wide & the distance from the camera would be about 20 yards. Would the 10X optical zoom cover that length with good quality? And for that camera - is it better to have a black covering around the camera so people don't see where it's pointing? Secondly) I'd like to wire the cameras using CAT5 cable. I know that IR cameras & PTZ cameras should have their own dedicated power source & this is fine, I'll run power up to them cameras... however, if I wanted to run a PTZ camera using CAT5, what would I need? I'd need a video balun at both sides, but how would I control the power? And say if I had two PTZ cameras, how would I connect them to the DVR? I don't want to daisy chain them as they'd be too for apart. Overall, would you recommend PTZ cameras? A man on a CCTV website didn't recommend them to me and he recommended a few static cameras would be better. Thanks for your help, I'm desperately in need of it! Jack

Great help - has cleared lots up for me! So can you verify this is correct? I think I'll run a power cable to the cameras directly. Just a quick question - would I need an 'active' or a 'passive' balun for each of the cameras and what's the difference? Say I have 4 cameras (2 PTZ, 2 normal) The normal cameras: From DVR: Balun connected to CAT5 cable going to another balun which is plugged into the camera. The power is sourced locally. Same for the second normal camera. The PTZ cameras: From Camera: RS485 connected to a pair of the CAT5 cable (used by video as well). This is sent back via the CAT5 cable. Because of the 2x PTZ cameras, the equivalent CAT5 cables on either end will be stripped and joined together (positive and negative?). The positive will go into the + on the DVR and the - of DVR. Also - one other question. A lot of outside buildings have normal CCTV box cameras with housing. Can you get these to work with infra-red? How would I do this? I'd like to have it as a visual deterrent. You've all been a great help - thank you!