mattaggie

Currently we have no cameras in our front parking lot so I need some advice on what kind of camera to put there. My confusion is over License plate camera vs standard outdoor IP MP camera. We have a 3MP camera for our back area and while it gives a great picture, I noticed that I am unable to read any license plates. But my question is, does a license plate camera function well at showing you the scene other than the license plate? Or do I need a good IP camera plus a license plate camera? Most of our issues occur during the daytime but of course if something does happen at night, I'd like the camera to give a good image of that as well. So I guess my question is how well do license plate cameras capture events other than merely the plate itself. I use Geovision cameras.

I know you said IP camera, but don't forget the simplest way of viewing a camera is an analogue camera going directly to a TV. And they do make HD analogue now. So he just turns on a TV and there is the picture.

you want to click on the icon that is the paper with the magnifying glass, then video/audio log (F10). This opens the program you view recorded events in. Then you pick the camera and the time you want to play. I've never used anything program other than Geovision, as I too am new to IP cameras. While there are a lot of things I do like about Geovision, I don't find their software to be very intuitive. You can always call/chat/email the geovision office in the USA (Im assuming you are in the USA) for more help. If you call, the person that answers the phone can help you, pretty amazing these days. http://www.usavisionsys.com/

I use Geovision. Very happy with it, but cameras are kinda pricey. Never had one fail though.

I use Geovision cameras and software. A few years ago I was new to the world of security cameras and was told to get a Geovision DVR card, so that married me to Geovision. Geovision seems to make very nice stuff, Ive had no issues with their equipment. But they also seem a bit costly compared to say Hikvision, which I notice is what a lot of people use here. So for example a 3MP outdoor bullet camera. Hikvision DS-2CD2032 is $85 on Amazon. Geovision UBL3401 is $385. What makes the Geovision $300 better? I'm sure Geovision provides better support, so that's something. The Geovision cameras often seem to offer more bells and whistles on their cameras like SD card slot, audio/video connections, etc. Are the sensors better? Lens better? Better picture? All I want is an IP camera to connect to a NVR. That $300 difference is $3000 if I want 10 outdoor cameras. So any thoughts on "premium" brands vs not so premium? Is it worth it? I don't really have any complaints about Geovision, just seems like their cameras are expensive. I am using them in a retail Hardware/home improvement type store.

There is no point to a gigabit POE port. POE implies that you are connecting one camera to the port. That one camera is only using around 3-10 MBs per second, depending on all the settings. So a 10/100 MB port is more than enough to handle the data from one camera. The 1000MB ports on an NVR will not be POE and will be used to connect the NVR to the network or a PC for viewing.

I was under the impression that all non-Geovision cameras require you to pay a license fee. And Geovision does not appear to make any outdoor wifi cameras. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can give you a work around.

I use Geovision software, so Im stuck using Geovision cameras unless I want to pay a license fee. That's a good idea about rotating the image. I'll have to try that. Thanks for the replies.

I used to think that 2MP was better than 1.3MP because it showed more detail of the imagine. But after reading about IP cameras for a few months, now I think that was wrong thinking. The 2MP does not show more detail of the same area, but shows more area (mostly horizontally). Is this correct? The reason I ask, I am installing cameras in a retail store. Aisle are pretty narrow. One camera will be centered above the shelving, thereby showing 2 aisles. I should just use 1.3MP cameras as the 2MP camera would only add more horizontal space to the image, which I don't need. I'm thinking to get more detail on the narrow space, I should place cameras further away and zoom in. Just wanting some clarification on my understanding of the benefits of more MPs.

I don't need it to log every plate into the software that comes through. I just want to be able to read the plate if I'm researching an incident. And there are 4 exits from the parking lot, so it sounds like I would need a LPC camera pointed at each exit. Would an higher MP regular camera be able to get plates in my scenario? Obviously vehicles will be moving slowly and usually stop before entering the road. I'm confused as to what a 5MP camera does vs a 3MP. My current 3MP cannot read the plate (Im sure it could if I had it zoomed into a specific spot, but its covering a wide area. Would the 5MP camera allow me to zoom in from a large frame more? Or does a higher MP just add more area covered and not more detail?

What software are you using for DVR/NVR? Usually the software suite has a program you can install on other PCs for viewing. Also, you can go directly to the IP address of the server from other PCs in the office.

For a the retail store I work at I bought a Geovision DVR card 1480 16 channel. So far I have installed 8 Bosch analogue VDC-260V04-20 cameras. The Geovision card came with a GV-CB220 2MP IP camera. I plugged the camera into our switch and am recording it on the DVR PC. Needless to say I am blown away by the image quality difference between analogue and 1080HD. I went with an analogue system because of camera price and my lack of network knowledge to manage the system. I would like to add about 10 IP cameras to the system, I just don't know how all that data moving around will affect our network. Storage isn't an issue. We use a 48 port TP-Link TL-SG1048 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit switch. The PC that is the DVR has a 10/100/1000Mbps LAN. There is nothing else on the network that is using heavy data, just web browsing. I am currently recording the lone IP camera at 1080 and 30FPS. I could probably go down to 720, but would like to keep the 30FPS. My plan was to get an 8 port PoE switch to plug the cameras into, then plug that into the 48 port switch. But is that too much data going to the DVR PC? Another idea was to use various PCs around the store as a DVR for like 2 IP cameras per PC. I could put the PC and the 2 cameras on their own switch to isolate the data movement? I appreciate any guidance.

I am trying to set up a second NIC card. I don't have enough IP cameras connected at this point to "need" the second NIC, but I'd like to get it set up properly now for future expansion. NIC-2 will only be connected to a switch with IP cameras attached. Installed an Intel NIC PCI card. That was simple enough. My confusion is on the IP info to give this second LAN. NIC-1 is: IP: 192.168.1.X Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 Gateway: 192.168.1.254 I've researched enough to know to put NIC-2 on something like 10.1.0.1. But what should the subnet and gateway be? Can someone tell me exactly what numbers to put for NIC-2?

For your purposes, you MUST get IP megapixel. You are wanting to see the details on paper money, analogue simply will not do this reliably. Analogue works fine for seeing big things, like where a person walks, if they pick up a large item, vehicles, etc. In my retail store, our old system is analogue. When a customer would steal a display power drill, you couldn't technically see them put it in their jacket. You knew they did it, but even with a camera located very close and zoomed in, the details of the theft were always impossible to make out. And drills are bigger than paper money! If you simply cant afford IP cameras right now, save up. Also, you don't have to do buy them all at once. Put 2 cameras in each store now, and then 2 more next year, etc. I can tell you want to get analogue because of the cheap price, but Im telling you, you are going to go to a lot of time and trouble to install the system and then not be very happy with the results.

I am very new to the CCTV world. I started researching about a year ago in order to install a system into the retail store I work at. I chose to go with analogue because I was able to understand how the system fit together (camera wired to a DVR card in a PC). My impression was that IP was A.) too expensive and B.) required knowledge of networking. I bought the $1000 16 channel DVR card from Geovision and 8 nice Bosch cameras. Installed the cameras, everything works fine, nice picture. Then I hooked up the $200 2MP IP Camera that Geovision throws in with the DVR card. WOW! WHAT A PICTURE! I could have bought 5 of these cameras for the price of the DVR card. I think a previous commenter hit the nail on the head when he said that people chose analogue because they don't understand and are intimidated by IP. That was definitely me. Now that I have a basic understanding of how IP cameras work, I would never recommend analogue. It is a lot of trouble to install any CCTV system and the system is usually left in place for many years. If you "cant afford" IP now, save up for it! I'd rather have a great IP system in a year, than an analogue system today. Analogue isn't "bad" and its not that it cant accomplish the task, but if you are going to the trouble to hang a camera and run wire, why not get the best result?

What FPS would you recommend? This is a retail environment so I'd need to be able to see a customer slip something into their pocket, jacket, purse, etc.

The NVR/DVR is a brand new PC I built. Intel i7, 16GB RAM, LAN is a gigabyte and our main 48 port switch is gigabyte. I used an bandwidth calculator and using H264 it doesn't seem like it would be an issue. H264 seems to make a lot of difference over Mpeg. From reading around on this sight it appears in hindsight, I should have gotten a motherboard with 2 Lan ports. One port to connect to PoE switch with cameras, and one port to connect to store network. Is this correct? Can I add another LAN port using a PCI card? Is that even necessary?