oldtimer

It's been a long time since I have been on the board..Plan to come back often now. I may be able to offer some help after being 69 years in the business.

Paris has thousands of cameras for traffic control, but not one of their cameras aided police in the recent shootings. The main help came from a bystander with a iphone with a camera. Again I restate the need for proffesionals to take over the CCTV field. Just hanging a camera here and there isn't going to prove anything. It takes a long time experience of trial and error. I myself didn't want the job of working with goverment bodies as they think they know the answer. A perfect example was right in Chicago. The mayor has cameras all around his home and police sitiing in front and back. His son came home the other night and his 17 year old son was robbed and mugged and not one person saw anything. Right by his home. Cameras would have helped identify the individuals but no, the cameras were pointed in the wrong direction. By the way, they got some experienced individual that re directed the camera system the next day.

Samsung will announce or have already, announced the closing of their CCTV do it yourself division. Several other companies have found out, they can't provide quality equipment at those low retail prices. For years I have attempted to point out how at many times these systems are just a waste of money. A customer viewing them at a disdcount store, views them on rather small screens. They look good. But go to larger screens or attempt to print a picture, the quality if any had long gone. If someone is thinking of these cheap systems, think this over. Look around these discount stores, why haven't the stores installed the systems they sell. You will see they have gone to the proffesional type of equipment and relied on a qualified installer. CCTV does not involve just mounting equipment. Where and what type is the major factor including knowing the product that's being used. I guess that's it for being on the bandwagon today. But I like to speak my piece. Having been in the business for 66 years, I have seent it all.

As for choosing equipment, I would find a qualified distributor to work with. Put your own equipment list together and work with them. Don't always look for the cheapest. You will know what I mean in the long run. You didn't say what area you cover. Don't use wireless unless it's the only way to go. Many companies out there over rate their equipment. Make sure they give you atleast a 2 year warranty. I'm not sure we can recomend any supply company on this web site.

Samsung do it yourself kits are strictly for the amatuer. The quality does not come any way equal to the proffesional equipment. I hate to recomend any one company. If you are going to by any CCTV equipment, look at the specs. Some of these cheaper units have only a resolution of about 360 to 400 lines. You need something today of at least 620 . As for the pickup plate you should look for 1/3. The cheaper units are mainly 1/4. Make sure your lense is glass. In a very short time a plastic lens will give you problems. When you see those awful pictures on TV of actual holdups, that's mainly bad equipment. At times it can also be a bad installation where the cameras were placed wrong. Many think CCTV is simple. It takes a lot of practice and time to do the job correctly. Back lighting control is another factor to deal with. With the cheaper cameras with a fixed lense you are unable to accomplish this task. As for those do it yourself kits. They have destroyed the iundustry. To me is like a man being given a knife and being told at the hospital, operate on yourself. You know what the end result would be.

It looks as if you are stuck with your Samsung system. They will or have annouced the are getting out of the CCTV do it yourself division. Sorry you got caught with this junk. Remember this. If you bought it , say at a discount store. Look around the store. If the systems they are selling are so great. Why haven't they installed their own systems to protect their own stores?

The main thing to always remember. Never direct cameras into any kind of light. Make sure the area covered has plenty of light and never try to overwork the camera by wanting more coverage. At times wide angle lens defeat the whole installation. It looks like you have bought a complete kit. What make do you have and an interesting item, is what is the resale price in your country compared to the USA. Didn't I catch your name is Ryan? I have a grandson with that name. You go further, remember concrete like driveways act like a mirror and reflect light up. How many cameras are you installing? Lot's of luck.

Hey it's grand kids and great grandkids 8 grands and 61/2 great. We have heavy snowing here at present Temp is 6 degrees.Sorry I didn't acxknowledge your message sooner. I had problems logging in.

I haven't been on the Forum for several years. During this time I sold my business and have spent a lot of time in the hospital.To refresh some of my old friends when we posted years ago, I'm 90 this year and installed my first CCTV system in 1948. I can't believe how things have changed in the last 3 years. It's also amazing how the installing companies do not take care of their customers as we did years ago. If I run into an old customer, they all ask me to service their systems as the companies either I sold to or companies they call, do lousy work or don't follow thru. It's just good to be back.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I had trouble logging in. RCA made our first camera. It had a vidicom tube for pickup. It had a face plate of about 4 to 5 inches. If you go on the dealer section, I described it in detail, several years ago. The message is still there. That's for your message. It's snowing here very heavy and it's around 6 degrees.

I would say, stay within the country you opearte in. Even in the alarm business many companies have relied on overseas operatings to handle their monitoring. They experienced every kind of problem you can name. Mainly the way they speak. Some people in the USA cannot understand their way of speech.

A customer has 16 IP cameras (axis) and the recorder was stolen. His old one was mainly a server with milestone installed. What can someone suggest to do the most economical way. He has 2 IP PTZ and 14 domes with sound on some. He needs remote viewing. I hate going into a job, someone else installed. I just feel sorry for the guy.

This recorder was locked up and they ran a truck thru a wall to get to it. For the poster that mentioned maybe the previous installer might have thoughts of future destruction,. Police believe and so do I, that is who stole the unit in the first place. The customer said it never worked correctly from the start. This could be a good customer in the future and I want to get him back in service the cheapest way I can, but make sure it works. His insurance company is trying to tell him IP systems don't cost as much as he claimed. The adjuster said he could get a recorder for around $395.00 on the internet. What a great qualified man he is.

Thanks for the advice. Where I got that milstream from, I have no idea. I quess I was thinjking of several things as I typed. I do have equipment at a mall with that name.

I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW A COMPANY OR SPORTS CENTER CAN TURN A INDIVIDUAL LOOSE IN INSTALLING A SURVEILLANCE SYSYTEM THAT APPEARS TO BE RATHER COMPLICATED WHEN YOU ADMIT FROM YOUR QUESTIONS, YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WHAT SO EVER. BEFORE YOU GET DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO PROBLEMS, IF YOUR SMART, YOU WILL DROP THE PROJECT AND TELL THEM TO HIRE A QUALIFIED COMPANY TO DO THE JOB. THESE PLUG AND PLAY CCTV SYSTEMS ARE NOT THE TYPE OF EQUIPMENT YOU NEED FOR THE JOB.

I'll do that tomorrow, when I get back to the shop. Thanks for the fast responce.

We got another system to repair in the shop and when we repaired it, we get jerky action when even viewing live. It's a custom built server, of which we didn't build. The dealer gave up. It has the required system that Milestone requires, it uses AXIS cameras. We use about 50% or less of the bandwidth and the pictures are good. Much better the customer says than the original installer. We installed a video board in the repair. We have tried about everything to get a more fluid motion. Any advice out there, maybe you had the same problem.

Try to prefocus the IP's prior to taking them out. We have lines in our parking lot to determine the distance by feet. measure the distance you want to focus into, at the customers location and then make that adjustment at the shop. If you don't get it perfect at the installation, we use cell phones with someone at the monitor location and if they have been pre set, you only have to rock the lens back and forth with ease.

If some of you will remember, we had a job to redo a Ip camera system that the customer got raked over the coals so to say. In amounted to 14 AXIS domes and 2 AXIS PTZ. The system never worked correctly and the installing company wouldn't come back to repair it.I think their reason for not showing up, was tha fact they charged the customer $42,000.00 for the system and they got that money and hit the road. We had to build a new NVR for him, the one he had with the system was a HP with a sticker for Windows Vista, but it had a Windows 7 in the unit. Turns out the HP was several years old to start with.Included was 2 HD's. one a 500gb and the other 160gb. Certainly not enough space for a system this size. We were able to get the operating system off of one HD. Millstream helped us and AXIS helped us with the camera license. We had to work 2 days to get the system going after all this shop work. They used CAT5 and goofed up many of the connectors but when we turned it on, everything worked great along with audio that the customer didn't even know it was in several cameras. It's a shame that dealers like the one that installed this system even exist. It makes it hard for the honest dealers to make a sale. We only used around 50% of the bandwidth.

Good morning BPZIE.Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate them. One thing I didn't post this week, at least I don't think I did. Our anniversary for the company was 63 years On St. Pats day, March 17th. That first camera cost me over 18 grand wholesale. How things have changed. That all took place back in 1948.

What a disaster. One can't believe this has happened. When viewing it on TV it looks like a man made film like you see in the theatres. It will take years to recover in that area. Do we have any posters living over there? If we do, can we offer any help?

Does the camera BLC? If it does, try turning it off and on. The BLC could be working at the oposite light spot.

Plain and simple. Never face a camera into a light. Place lights to the side of a dome. above can be better. Never put a light under a dome. Reflection will occure in the dome. Remember, practice makes perfect. The area you intend to cover is very simple. Don't make it a hugh project. Put your light up in a temporary position and check it out.

The ACLU finally have made their long awaited complaint about CCTV cameras. They are saying the very complex CCTV in Chicago is an invasion of privacy. This matter will be taken to Federal Court for sure. The outcome will effect our entire industry. We have installed cameras for the police for years and Mayor Richard Daley wants more cameras installed where they cover every street corner. At present we have over 10,000 cameras in operation. Many of the street cameras flash a Blue light and are viewed in squad cars and at the local district station plus the gigantic 911 center. Plus local schools are viewed. This complaint by this stupid organization, has been a long time coming. The cameras in Chicago have caught murders in progress, dope deals by the thousands and more. If the court system rules against the cameras, this will effect every city in the USA.

We have many systems with as many as 140 cameras. But make sure you have multipal recorders and never put a certain section on one recorder "etc". Intermix the camera's on diferent recorders, so if a recorder goes out you still have some coverage in that area. Stay away from wireless. Stores especially grocery stores are at the present time subject to persons claiming injuries from falls and merchndise falling on them. Shop lifting is secondary. Times are tough and people are broke. Many resort to these fake claims. Chances are they will not constantly monitor each camera. The stored pictures are what they need mainly. One very large fast food chain we have as a client, requires 22 cameras on average. They told us, to go into court to respond to a personal injury complaint, it sums up to around 22 grand. If they have pictures to prove a fraud, the complaint is dropped at deposition time. Saving a large sum of money. We had such a case one time, when the system had just been turned on 20 minutes before hand. That settlement paid for the system.