CYANiDE

Dahua/Hikvision are manufacturers. The companies they OEM their products to tend to be the ones that will sell packages. Where are you located? I may be able to help you out.

I would figure out a way to mount the camera low as close to license plate level as possible. Will make it much easier to grab plates that way. Also for the IR, use a 940nm illuminator. Are you looking to actually have a system record these plates or just the ability to be able to see them from recorded video?

The heated/wiper part is usually where it gets more expensive. I have used a Bosch MIC 550 on commercial jobs and I love it. Has a ton of accessories and features but it is definitely over your budget. You can get a Chinese IP PTZ for like $700 but not sure about any heating or wiper capabilities.

Pick up a Swann system from costco. They are about $1200 and are simple to install if that's what you are looking for in your range.

Could you give me more information on the camera you linked? What is the difference between CCTV and IP? I saw similar style cameras on Amazon for a bit under that price range and the shipping was free unlike the $20 on the Alibaba one which I believe are all overseas products. Is it not possible to connect a camera to your pc? I see you mentioned purchasing pc software. I was under the assumption there was a way after reading different guides on it such as http://smallbusiness.chron.com/connect-cctv-camera-computer-60833.html . You can use a PC but I wouldn't bother doing that unless you have a dedicated setup. In some cases you can plug in to your home PC but will lose video if you lose power to the PC or turn it off. Where are you located? I would go with some Hikvision TVI cameras, Hikvision DVR, 1TB HDD, a spool of copper siamese cable and you can have the system installed for not too much money. PM me if you need any more assistance since I rarely get on the forums.

Start by setting a budget and go from there. Hunting for the cheapest thing will cost more in the long run. You can get decent cameras for $50 a pop and a DVR for $80.

How do you suggest he run cat6 cables from each house to one NVR for streaming? I guess wireless cams would work if he can get them all to connect to one network (can use additional routers as bridges as well). Im going to assume that each house has internet...one camera streaming over the net is no big deal...but with cards in each cam he probably wont even need to do that... Wireless cams are a horrible idea... But you are also assuming each person is going to want to have holes drilled and cables ran through their homes. Also, the addition of if a persons network drops the camera does also. I would never suggest wireless cameras to a customer but it might be a solution here. I was under the impression that he is looking to centralize the storage and viewing of cameras (pulling data into one location). I would prefer to keep everything in one network to minimize complexity. But yes, cams with local storage are always the quickest and easiest solution.

How do you suggest he run cat6 cables from each house to one NVR for streaming? I guess wireless cams would work if he can get them all to connect to one network (can use additional routers as bridges as well).

Buying Hikvision direct will be tough unless you have a resale certificate / tax ID.

I would go with Hikvision's new HD-TVI stuff and a DVR. Quality is excellent for the price. How large is the bird box? You should be able to get a plain old bullet camera right up to the hole.

Unique problem you have here but not impossible. I would go with solar panels on the top of it (if you don't think they will be vandalized) to a battery in an enclosure in the container. I would go with a wireless camera so that you can connect directly to a Wifi hotspot (Verizon and several cell providers offer this for a monthly fee). The hotspot can just be permanently charged and stay on all the time. However, with the data rates charges and limits this might prove expensive. Any reason you can't just go with local storage?

For future-proofing, I would definitely go with an IP based system. I would say that your budget may not be enough. Remember you have wire run limits and assuming you were planning to run the camera from each house to one switch or NVR you will encounter problems. I would go with cameras at each location and have a Ubiquiti radio at each camera (they are about $100 each) and have it aimed at a central station. This way all you need to do is get power to a switch at each camera and then buy POE cams and the radios are POE as well. Without a diagram with distances and specific mounting locations it would be difficult to design a system.

Well, depending on the type of cable and the draw of your device, you could have had a large enough drop in voltage from your power supply to the device. Glad you got it sorted though!

What is your budget? How many cameras do you want? How far from your home is the bird box?

26.4V will not hurt anything. You will be fine.

Are you hooking this up to a basic DVR? You can get a 1000TVL camera that is good to well under -20F in your price range.

Depends what kinds of customers he is looking to do. Most residential and small business will not want to pay for the equipment that Tri-Ed/Anixter etc sell. Find someone that sells rebranded Dahua or Hikvision in your area.

It really depends on what you are looking to get out of the system. For a basic system you only want to check once in a while, a DVR with a Hard drive will save you money versus a NAS.

What is your location? Honestly, Dahua/Hikvision is proven and cheap enough that you should just cough up the $100 for a basic DVR.

Those things are ancient. 99.99% sure they are plain old BNC analog cameras. Any DVR should work for them.

There are several ways to tackle this design. You could use a Ubiquiti wireless radios if you want a camera far off in the property. It would just need power. For lots of outdoor land, I would recommend a standalone IR illuminator. I'm in the Northeast. Let me know if you have any other questions - feel free to PM me.

Not sure where you are located but here is a great source for Samsung stuff from an actual authorized reseller. I use these guys for some of my customers. http://www.soltechsecurity.com/RJ45-(CAT5e)

Contacts, REX, Reader and lock run back to the controller. You will need a lock power supply to trigger the strike/lock.

I didn't even check the date. I guess the guy above me responded and this showed up under "New Posts" for me.

You really need to narrow down what you want out of the system. Wide Range + License Plate Recognition + analog cameras is going to be tough. The first thing you need to do is set a budget for the system. I would also suggest going with an NVR. You can get 3MP cameras which will be very sharp and leave yourself open to other options. For a business I would always suggest going with a local dealer. If cameras go down, you can always have someone to reach out to. If you insist on DIY (really not that tought) getting equipment and running cable is not that difficult. I sent you a PM, please check your messages.