jestermaroc

Hello Smith, Looks like an exciting project! Hikvision are great cameras for a very reasonable price. However, I see that you plan on using the same camera model for every location? I would recommend that you pay careful attention to the individual requirement of each camera and location, that way you can custom spec the lens and quality of each. Your client will thank you later I promise you! Secondly, I would recommend that you purchase smaller PoE+ switches and then simply daisy chain them together. You will save a lot of labour this way, since you do not have to lay cables for 40 cameras to a central location. Something like the TP-LINK TL-SG1008PE which has 8xPoE ports or even the budget Tenda TEG1009P which has 4xPoE ports. You will find that you often install a couple of cameras close together and then again a couple some distance away. Having to lay a few cables to connect your switches is a lot more efficient, and you can easily lay and connect extra cables for redundancy. I would also recommend Milestone VMS. Yes, you do need to purchase software and camera licenses, but you will get a fantastic product which is scalable and you can add LPR module to the suite. Cheers, Jester

My telepathic abilities are growing in strength! I agree Milestone is not perfect, but you won't find a software suite that is perfect though. Yes, setting up the servers is not for the faint hearted, but Milestone has excellent guides on how it should be done. The help function inside both the management application as well as the Smart client is wonderful. Adding cameras can sometimes be a pain, just keep at it. I once had to re-add a camera 5x to get it on the server. Remember, Ovif is still a work in progress and with hundreds of cameras on their database there are bound to be a hiccup here and there. Still I have found my local based support staff to be very friendly and knowledgeable. Hmm, never knew their forum is closed, though I have never used it before. I normally just log in and search through their knowledge base if I cannot find appropriate help within their help files. Internal storage/NAS is always the way to go in my opinion because of reliability and security. If your drives are recording a lot of data your external USB drive will quickly fail as it was never designed for surveillance. The amount of write cycles will be way above what it can handle. Look for a Western Digital Purple (best imo) drive or Seagate Surveillance drive. These are designed for 24/7 recording. I have drives that are approaching 150 petabytes of data on their write cycles (one is on a 13 camera system).

Hi Hamada, I would recommend Milestone Essentials VMS simply because of the usability of the software. You can upgrade it with so many modules to accommodate any unforeseen future need. It is very stable, easy GUI, and the mobile app is fantastic. Lastly, it is very easy on system resources. Pricing will be lower than what Bluewinkle (RIP, sad to see you go mate) lists on his review if you are a integrator or reseller. PM me should you wish to know what the pricing structure can be. Lastly, I would strongly advise against using an external HDD as storage. 16 megapixel cameras recording simultaneously will struggle to transmit the data across a 3.0 USB cable or eSata (read up on required IOPS for your needs). Not to mention what happens to your valuable evidence should the drive be dropped. Cheers, Jester

Correct Salimbaba, Loco M5 on one side and an access point at the control room/server room. A good option for the access room would be a Rocket M5 with a Omni antenna. For a good explanation of the point to multi point setups you would need, have a look at UBNT's knowledge base. https://community.ubnt.com/t5/airMAX-Configuration-Examples/airMAX-Configure-a-Point-to-Multipoint-PtMP-ISP-style-Access/ta-p/449755 Cheers, Jester

It seems I am late to the party . What option did you eventually implement? If it was me I would absolutely have gone with the UBNT wireless link as long as the area isn't saturated with wireless in the 5Ghz band. Cheers, Jester

Hi TSHERV, If you have a IT department within your business I definitely feel you should be able to install an IP surveillance system yourself. Just be prepared for a few hiccups along the way, so if you do not like to iron out a few issues have a professional do it for you. Having said that, it is really difficult to recommend a system for you based on the information you provided. But let me start by answering some of your questions first: 1) What kind of distance / range does a typical IP camera have? Well, it depends on what kind of detail you want to capture. A typical 2-3MP camera can easily monitor your staff working 20-30m (62'-93') away. But if you are trying to capture any detail you will need to place them at an angle to capture close ups of staff working, I would not recommend more than 10m. 2) What's the difference between a dome and a bullet camera? Most domes are meant to be used indoors and generally have a wider field of vision. Their lenses are generally hidden behind a plastic or glass lens cap which makes it hard to figure out where they are aimed at. They are much more difficult to tamper with as in moving them with a broomstick etc so they face away from their target coverage area. Bullet cameras are generally waterproof/dustproof and made to be used outdoors. They also have better IR illumination, but have a narrow field of view. 3) Does anyone have a recommendation for a system? Without having a good grasp of your budget is is difficult to recommend something. HIKVision have good budget IP cameras. For budget builds I prefer installing software like Milestone or Exacq for easy access and customization potential in terms of intelligence from the system. 4) I have a Costco nearby. Are the AvertX systems any good? Would these type of systems serve our purpose? I really do not like the premade systems that you can buy at Costco etc. They are generally of very poor quality. If you are looking for a small budget system with lets say 5-15 cameras you can easily purchase a small PC to act as your server. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkServer-TS140-70A4000HUX-Computer/dp/B00F6EK9J2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1398069475&sr=1-1&keywords=Lenovo+ThinkServer+TS140 Install 2x2TB enterprise Western Digital or Seagate HDD's. Have your IT department run the cables and install a few PoE switches to power the cameras. You should be able to do all of this for around $6000 excluding labour. Jester