Hello,
I'm from the IT world, so I've got a little bit of a grip on the networking side of things. But when it comes to Security Cameras I'm at a loss.
Some backstory....
I've been put in charge of a project that will encompass over 10 different sites, with approx. 140+ cameras total spread across those sites. The directive has been to upgrade all existing analog cameras to new digital cameras to facilitate forensic research after an event has occurred. The systems are not going to be live monitored, just reviewed daily checking events. The sites range from industrial buildings, hotels, office buildings, self storage locations, and even a personal residence. We've already determined that we're going to utilize the CompleteView software from Salient Systems to get all the locations on a similar NVR platform. We've been conducting walkthru's with our local security company that has been excellent in providing assistance with recommendations and 'gotchas' that we might encounter along the way. I've been visiting the sites with a light meter during the evenings to ensure adequate lighting in the areas where we're replacing existing analog cameras and any areas we anticipate adding new cameras. I've also been visiting the sites and measuring distances to help our security company determine correct framing of access points.
The question becomes this.. My higher ups keep saying, "We want to be able to read license plates, and see faces." For this they've got in their mind that more megapixels for both of these scenarios is better, while I'm not so sure that more is necessarily better for each application.
For the license plates, I've done some research as to creating choke points to be able to capture that information. Multiple cameras covering the license plate and then a wide scene to get make and model. Which would work great for the storage locations as they are gated access already. But for the other locations, we're pretty much trying to cover wide areas of parking lot.
I'm thinking that those that I report too have watched a too many CSI episodes and expect to be able to use a digital image to zoom in across these parking lots ( up to 200' away ) to read license plates and get a crisp, clean image of a persons face.
Here's the offerings suggested for indoor and outdoor cameras from our local security company.
Outdoor:
5MP Axis P3346VE
3MP Axis P3346VE
1MP Axis P3346VE
Indoor:
3MP Axis P3346
1MP Axis M3204
I'm trying to determine if we actually need ungodly MP cameras, and if so are there less expensive alternatives that work as good/better than those offerings here but still retain compatibility with Salient.
Thanks.
