equate975

Hello guys. I am pretty new to CCTV. My main field is just computer/server management for SMB. Right now my employer is remodeling one of his restaurants, and wants me to put in a CCTV system. Attached is the new floorplan we are going to have, and some rough estimates for camera placement and angles I would like to cover. The ceilings will be 12 feet high, all other dimensions are on the plan. It looks like I am looking at 8 cameras total, 6 standard cams, and 2 PTZ. Could someone recommend what cameras I should look at? I did some reading and have a rough idea what a "good" camera is, but I am still not sure about the specifics. What I really don't like is I can't see what each camera looks like. I don't want to spend $1500 on cameras and have them all look like garbage. As for the DVR card, I think I may just go with a geovision 8 camera card of some flavor. I would expect that the final card would be matched up with whatever cameras I decide to get. Any help would be great. Thanks!! EDIT: I can't link the floorplan, I don't have enough posts for it. If you go to tinyurl dot com slash 34eo7f you can see it.

Ah forgot about this thread! Anyways, $1500 would be just the cams and DVR (should have clarified that) the PC, wire, install time, ect... wasn't in that. Even with the $1500 its just a ball park. Even $2,000 wouldn't be bad. He just doesn't want me to spend like $10,000 on a system.

Looks pretty good, do you have a sample video of it in action I could see? Also, are you mostly in low light too? Thanks!

Ah thanks for the info guys. I guess I can do without the PTZ, I didn't look up how expensive they were. I have to redesign my idea I guess anyways, my employer didn't like the size of the cameras I picked out. I guess the idea is to make it "stealth" so the customers don't look up and see a camera right in their face. He showed me a system he found (some random embedded deal he found in a magazine that was a grand) with little bullet cams with IR for night. Thats along the lines he wants to go. My main concern is how far out bullet cams can see. Plus its going to be a low light environment. I agree with the geovision card, I did some reading and they seem to be the most popular and decently priced. From what I can tell it looks good to me. Could you guys recommend a bullet cam (or minidome should work fine) that I could use? One issue I need to overcome is the night vision. If I get cams with IR, do I have to use IR all the time? Since its low light mostly all the time, I don't want the IR to always be on. One Idea I had was to get cams without IR, then get some of those IR floodlights so to speak, that you plug into the wall and they emit the IR. I could just control them with a timer or something, so the IR will turn on after we are closed. Unless you can control the IR through geovision on a timer or otherwise. Again thanks for the help! Edit: Just an idea, would buying a card and camera package like one of these be good? [edit by mod - store links removed]