tswirka

I have the following scenario: A dance school with 4 separate dance rooms. What we would like is to install a camera in each room and set up 4 separate monitors in a common viewing area for the parents to watch their kids dance. We need to have the ability for each monitor to display one room only, IE., Dance room 1 displays on monitor 1, dance room 2 displays on monitor 2, etc., plus a central monitor than can view all of the cameras. The only information I have been able to find on how to do this involves a lot of equipment and cabling. Since we are not trying to utilize an existing camera system (we have to purchase all new), is there a system that has this type of functionality built in? Or would we have to use a basic camera system with one video output and add all of the equipment necessary to accomplish what we need? Also, we do not need DVR capability. This system is strictly for viewing and recording capability is not required. Thanks in advance.

Ok, I am throwing myself on the mercy of the board members. Boogieman, if by chance you are still monitoring this topic, I can't seem to get my fat head around your suggestion of using the Fire Stick on each TV to display an individual channel from the DVR. I'm not understanding how the Fire Stick "talks" to the DVR system. ZR1: The only difference between what we are trying to do and what you proposed is that there will not be any TV's in the dance rooms. the TV's will be in one central location. That's why I'm thinking the Fire Stick idea will work fine, if I can just understand how it works exactly. Would anyone care to assist me with this?

zr1: Thanks for all the great info. I appreciate the time and effort.

Boogieman: She is a He. I didn't expect anyone to make a trip and install anything for free. I am not employed by the dance school. I don't think a public forum is a place for name calling, so I will not post anything further here. I guess I should have kept "Thanks for confusing the he!! out of me" private.

To: the toss: Thanks for the info. Boogieman: Thanks for confusing the he!! out of me. ak357: Thanks for nothing. I guess I'll go elsewhere to find out what I need.

OK, now that I understand that.... Back to my 1st original post from 7/6/2015. I was hoping to have a central monitoring station also. I guess 1 of these options would not give me a central monitoring station like I would get with a DVR system. It looks like you're suggesting just going from camera directly to the monitor. If the owners don't want (or need) a central monitoring station then they might go for this. Once again, based upon what I was originally looking for, a DVR system seemed like the right way to go.

Boogieman: I wasn't seeking a sub par solution. A solution was recommended to me by the 1st person (the toss) who responded to my original question and that's what I worked from. I was trying to get more info on that option. When you suggested an IP camera, I didn't realize that were you suggesting that instead of a DVR solution. The old location of this dance studio had the same setup, except only 1 room had a camera. All we were trying to was to expand on that. I guess if I understood that you were offering me a different solution I wouldn't have kept asking you the same question. ak357: Budget could be as high as $1,500. I'm doing this research for the owner. It's ultimately up to them how much they want to spend. We are located in Daytona Beach Florida.

Well, ak357, according to the toss, I can do exactly what I originally asked. (Have you read this entire post?) He said that I needed a DVR that has "monitor outputs for each channel" The question I posted today was that I couldn't find a DVR with a "monitor output for each channel" I am assuming that this is not a standard feature on every DVR system because the toss made sure to specify that that is what I needed. My only problem now is finding one. None of the DVR's I have found have this as a listed feature, that is why I was asking if this feature "monitor output for each channel" is called something else.

Thanks for the info, that's good to know. I'm still stuck on the original question on the DVR though.

OK. The cameras will be in dance rooms, so people will be watching kids dance. It doesn't have to be high quality, just good enough to make out the kids. The rooms are well lit. 2 of the rooms are 18' by 31', one is 20' by 60' and one is 20' by 20'. It doesn't necessarily even have to be in color, depends on how much of a price difference there is between color and B/W cameras. We won't need to record anything, so recording does not factor into the quality question. No close ups, no zooming in, etc. We just need each camera to show the entire room, or as much of it as possible. The only thing I can think of that we definitely want to avoid is choppy video.

Thanks, but I was asking about the DVR itself. I'm being told that I need a DVR with a monitor output for each channel and I can't find any DVR's that have that feature in its description, unless it's called something else.

Hello again..... So I'm looking for a DVR with a "monitor output for each channel" and I can't seem to find one. Is that what the feature is called or is it called something else? I understand the solution I just can't find the right equipment. Thanks

Thanks for the info guys. We have no particular budget, just trying to find out what the options are. The only place I got my info was from searching the Internet (which is how I found this forum). I was hoping that the solution would be a DVR with a monitor output for each channel but I couldn't find any (guess I'm not searching the right way). Since you guys obviously know this stuff better than me would you have any recommendations on brand names for the DVR systems and / or cameras? Thanks again.