Hi all,
I currently have 5 x 700tvl analog cameras on site at our small wildlife park (in the UK), originally running back to a DVR system on coax + BNC cabling. The DVR has been damaged beyond repair, and so I'm going to take this chance to upgrade the system, and take it online. I need to keep my 5 cameras, but the rest of the system is up for debate.
This system is for public viewing more than CCTV security, so please bear that in mind. These are my key, critical requirements:
1) Deliver independent streams from each camera that can be viewed by anyone online, without the need for a username or password, or to have to download software, or be restricted to IE. These seem extremely archaic "features" that cripple many DVR systems (though I appreciate, being CCTV orientated, they are designed to be "closed"). Ideally, I will set up a Wowza VPS to take the load off of our upstream bandwidth. This means the system needs to be able to deliver streams in a supported format (http://www.wowza.com/products/streaming-engine/specifications) that can be sent to the Wowza server. The streams from Wowza will then be embedded on our site with Flash/HTML video players.
2) I still want all the functionality of a modern DVR system. Store and review footage, and display the live feeds in our visitor centre.
How I go about the above is where I need your expert advice! Point 1 seems the be the trickiest problem I'm facing, as DVRs just don't seem to cateer for open online streaming. Do I need to be looking at NVR for this, or do they have the same issue? I know I'd need to convert my analog video signals to digital, but there seems to be hardware that does that.
*edit* Wowza have a guide on how to stream from an IP camera, could I get to this point? http://www.wowza.com/forums/content.php?39
Budget is not really an issue, I'd like to hear any thoughts or ideas on what hardware would solve this for me.
Thank you in advance!