cctothetv

If you want HD quality video, you need to go with megapixel cameras. If you go with megapixel cameras, the DVR you bought is useless as it will only record SD video and probably has a max of a 500GB storage capacity when you will need at least 1TB for a decent amount of record time before overwrite. Based on the DVR you chose, you probably won't want to spend the money for megapixel cameras so I wouldn't expect to have HD video. Unfortunately, a megapixel camera is really the only way to go if you want to cover every break-in point with only 4 cameras and have facial identification. Facial identification can be attained through analog cameras, but you will need a lens to zoom in. Once you zoom in, the person's face will be closer, but you lose a bunch of area that you will want covered. I.E. You have three windows on one side of your house, but only one camera to cover all three windows. If you are not zoomed in with a lens, the perp. can break into the window farthest from the camera and you won't get a good shot. If you zoom into the farthest window, you might lose video of the closest window because you are zoomed in so much. In my opinion, the camera is usually the easiest part, but DVR settings, camera placement, and lens choice are extremely important if you want media that can be submitted as evidence in a court of law. If you are in a high threat area and you are serious about catching or prosecuting a criminal, you should look to spend $2500-3000 for a 4 channel system and get it professionally installed. Otherwise you have a glorified nanny cam.

Those are very handy when you want to get away with a cheap install. You can plug one 1 amp power supply to power up 4 non IR cameras (usually 100-200mA) and not have to use a box or have 4 different power supplies. The only problem is if your one power supply goes out, all four cameras stop working, as opposed to using an individually fused box or four separate power supplies.

You might want to try Eclipse. They have two exclusive products that are right up your alley, ECL-598HIM for an IR bullet and ECL-NUBIX8 for a stand alone DVR with built in POS awesome client software. Even though they are relatively cheap for the quality you get, $1500 will get you a DIY Q-see system from Costco that will most likely break after 3 months and will be useless when trying to submit evidence for investigation and especially for prosecution..

Sounds like you need a higher focal length. 12 or 15mm

At 8' object distance you need a 4.8MM 1/3" format lens at the least to see an 8' x 6' field. If you are recording at 480 tvl, you should be able to see what items are being purchased except maybe very small differences like what flavor a pack of Tic Tacs are.

Spending $700 on a new surveillance system is like spending $70,000 on a new house or $7,000 on a new car. Ask yourself what quality of house/land can you get for $70,000 and what quality of car can you get for $7,000. This will give you an idea of what quality a new surveillance system you will have for $700. The idea is to spend 10% of the value of you want to protect. Like someone mentioned, it is the least expensive form of insurance.

Wiz, with this industry growing exponentially, more and more people are expecting a Mercedes for a Kia price and to have all the video forensic abilities that CSI and other entertainment media misrepresents. I know more and more installers are just ignoring those one-time, one-channel jobs. Or they will tell the consumer to just buy a system at Costco or Fry's and just charge them for installation. Of course, mention that they are on their own as far as service and warranty is concerned. You can get LCDs monitors really cheap online from reputable online-only companies. You can PM me for prices on professional CCTV monitors.

I'm referring to that quote.

Rory, why are you having problems getting the 596? I can't PM yet, but please contact me. It should not be a problem.

After doing more research, it seems the highest true resolution possible for an NTSC color analog camera is about 460 tvl. This includes the highest composite resolution minus the reduction of resolution because it is color. So these companies are claiming that the DSP increases the resolution by 40-140 tvl. What is the difference between active tvl and DSP tvl? Even though an analog system can only display 480 tvl, when the signal is digitized in order to be recorded on the hard disk, even more resolution is lost. Does the DSP compensate for this resolution loss due to conversion?

It really is a disservice to consumers that mass merchandisers and companies like Q-see and Swan (who are vendors of mass merchandisers) market their products as if they actually would protect your valuables or prosecute a perp. Actually, it is a disservice to many aspects of a community, from the consumer, to the professional installer, and law enforcement. It would definitely be in your best interest to replace the entire system and have it professionally installed by a CCTV expert. This will avoid wasted time in court or with police.

There are multi-port baluns available. Most cost effective would probably be using 5 4-camera baluns in which you use one pair for each camera.

The Eclipse SAVIX unit is great for that sort of thing. You can connect 16 16-channel DVRs to have 256 cameras on the CMS simultaneously. It is MPEG4, but has flawless live streaming and amazing PDA Windows Mobile steaming. PM for more info. Their Nubix series stand alone DVRs are coming out with (maybe already available) a 64ch CMS client software.

Yeah, using a video capture card uses a ton of resources and limits the use of other video applications or high memory consuming programs. Because of this, you should have a dedicated PC if you are serious about protecting and/or prosecuting. Thats why a stand alone is usually better IMO. You can get a decent MPEG4 remote accessible 4 channel stand alone for around $500 and it will most likely come with client software which you can use to burn media off the DVR to your PCs CD/DVD burner or archive on your PCs hard drive.

An example of that: a few years ago Pelco OEMed the Eclipse Nubix4U and called it the DX4004 I believe after Eclipse was selling it for well over a year already.