techgeek

Hey all..new to the forum although I have been a lurker for a little while. I have some older Lorex analog cams (2) installed and currently (1) ip cam and I am looking to finally get them the ability to record and be viewable from internet / etc. I have a pc laying around that I wanted to drop a dvr card into which would handle (digitize) the analog cams but wanted to inquire if there was software that would handle both types of cams? I was looking at picking up a cheap dvr card from ebay / amazon etc and using some type of aftermarket software hoping it would pick up both the analog and ip cam? I also wanted all cams to be viewable from the internet which I am sure the software would handle. Any assistance would be greatly appreciative on how I can accomplish this task. Thanks.....

All- New to the forum but have been lurking around quite a bit. I am somewhat of a newbie when it comes to ip cams and surveillance as a whole. Currently I have some older Lorex analog cams and want to upgrade my system to ip. Features I would like to have is PTZ (for the driveway cam), POE, and good at night. Right now I am about at my wits end because our current setup is pretty much useless at night. I can’t see hardly anything! I do know that POE is most likely the way to go and I will not be doing wireless (want a constant secure signal). I also have an older pc laying around that I will be converting to a NVR due to a lot of the components were given to me. I was planning on running some software such as Blue Iris and recording the data on a 500GB HDD. I will be attaching pics to this thread so you can see first hand of my exact situation. First pic will be of the driveway that I would like to cover the back of the house all way around to the front of the garage where the personnel door is located. I was thinking of a PTZ cam for this situation so I don't have to have 2 separate bullet cams for this location? Second pic will be of the front porch that is fully covered and protected quite good from the elements other than the birds…LOL. I was thinking of just replacing with a bullet cam since I only need to cover the front door and some of the walkway leading up to the front door. Driveway Pic: Front Porch Pic: Thanks for any assistance you can provide! Michael

Thanks for the info about PTZ cameras cheap vs. expensive and there durability. Any comments suggestions for camera choices as mentioned in previous post?

Soundy- Thanks for the advice....after thinking about it for awhile, the PTZ may not be such a good idea because of expense and also it involves moving parts which theoretically could be a potential weak spot over time with breakage. Also like you said the monitoring aspect of it all. I think I will just stick with 3 separate bullet cams for the areas. I may need to slide the back of the house cam down a little bit anyway to get a good view of the doors I need to cover on the back of the house. So at least there won't be two right on the corner of the driveway (eyesore). Also, any suggestions from anyone on a good overall IP cam (with POE, good night vision, somewhat affordable)? Currently looking at the Acti ACM-1231 and the Axis M-1114-e (although the axis is most likely going to be out of the price range). Anything else to consider.... That question not only goes to Soundy but also anyone else knowledgeable about the subject:) Thanks, Michael

Soundy- Just a few more questions that I thought of and I was hoping you or someone else can assist me with answering them. Back to the original plan of just picking up a separate dvr pci card for my pc running windows OS. I am looking at several different options of picking up a relatively cheap card from amazon, ebay, etc but my number one question would be: How do I know if that card or dvr software that comes with the card would pick up my IP cam on my network? And, could I use another aftermarket dvr software with those cards such as BI or Active WebCam, etc? Thanks.....

Soundy- Thx for the explanation...that makes sense. Do you have to buy a specific encoder from your particular analog camera company or can you use a general encoder and use with any brand analog cam? And, for the NVR, I assume this is software that is loaded on the machine to record the input from the IP cams? What are some decent companies to go with? Thanks......

Soundy- Thanks for your assistance...I really appreciate it. I do plan on moving to an all IP based setup eventually...maybe 2 years maybe 5 years....just depends on time and money (and both are short right now...LOL) I do not fully understand what "encoders" are? Like what type / brand / etc I would use in my current situation? And I assume using these would fully incorporate both analog and IP into one solution? You also mention NVR software, any recommendations on what would work for my particular situation for fully incorporating both analog and IP cams? Sorry for all the questions....I am a bit of a novice in case you can't tell but want to learn. Thanks....

Thank you for your assistance. I was looking at the product page and was confused about "1 channel IP camera support"? Does this mean it will only support 1 IP camera? Sorry for the stupid question but I may potentially add more IP cams later on. Thanks.....