securitymonster

If you want good percentage of capturing plates, you'll want the Extreme setup like mentioned, its a little more spendy but its the best out there. I have a few customers using a long range infrared camera with a 5-50mm lens and they are getting decent results. In oregon the plates are very distinct and the IR reflects off them nice. It maybe captures 15% of what the Extreme setup will.

the problem is Swann is bottom of the barrell

I have used these units and they work great. So far they have been very reliable. They are basically Samsung DVR's. The only drawback is only 2 available slots for hard drives. Also, make sure you adjust your frame rate down to get any kind of decent storage. with 16 channels, 60fps total, and a 250gb hard drive, you might get 3-4 days worth of storage. These units do have JPEG2000 compression, CD/RW Backup, Networkable via Client Software, Real Time Recording, Motion Activated Recording with masking, DDNS, VGA (optional), and a few more features. Let me know if you have any more questions.

I have a customer with a B/W camera looking at a license plate from about 60ft. The glare off the license plate from the sun whites out the plates. Is there anything we can do with this camera or do we need another camera? Camera: Ganz FCH-62 Lens: Computar 5-50mm

yes a Dell will work, but make sure the computer has the requirements the card needs. Some vendors sell cards preconfigured on Dell machines. Don't go cheap on the card, if you want to save money buying a dell, then so be it, but spend good money on a card or you will be kicking yourself in the butt later.

Those pictures look familiar!

Those cameras should work fine. The less you spend, the shorter period of time the camera will last. (meaning you get what you pay for) You probably want a lens between 3.4mm to 6.0mm, anything in between that will be fine for you. Also, the headlights from your car at night should be enough light for the camera to see so you may not need an infrared camera. A cheap IR camera will probably give you problems when it thinks there isn't enough light when there really is. wherever you purchase your camera, make sure you can send it back if its not the camera your looking for!

Thats the first time I saw that footage. Man, Tyco Fire & Security must feel stupid. The video obviously looks time lapsed but I can see where the family not dealing with video all day couldn't tell. And who the heck still sells time lapse VCR's?

Hello Jeremy and welcome to the forum, The combo package you are referring to seems to be just fine. The camera is rated at 0.5 lux, so you'll need to have some exterior lighting provided for the camera. I haven't used that particular camera before but the camera specs seem to be good. I know the computar lens is great, I sell a ton of those. And as for the housing, its your standard clam shell housing and should work just fine, just be sure to get the heater/blower combo. Altronix power supplies are very popular, they have a good reputation. If you have some 12VDC cameras, you can use this 24V AC power supply and before you hit the cameras, you can use a 24V AC to 12V DC converter if you want. They are around $20 each. Good luck and let us know how you like the setup.

You could always call Panasonic and ask their tech support. Chances are its a digital day/night as the b/w lux rating is 0.15 which isn't too good for a day/night. Why not use the WV-CP480? I've also used the Ganz ZC-NH255N and the ZC-NH403N day/night cameras, both were good. The 255N was suprisingly good for the money.

Yes, if you just want wide angle, get the 4mm lens. 3.6mm 6.0mm 8.0mm 12mm 16mm

Yes, a 4mm is wider than a 9mm. I think VST knew that, he just needs grammer check... Also when comparing cameras, make sure your comparing a 1/3" sensor to a 1/3" and not a 1/4", and vice versa.

Need a new "work" van? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevrolet-Astro-Surveillance-Van-Chevrolet-Private-Investigator-Owned_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6159QQitemZ4646633034QQrdZ1 or http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Born-Free-Minuteman-Surveillance-Vehicle-Nightsight-200_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ50059QQitemZ4647848068QQrdZ1

Exactly, and solar panels get spendy

the camera will be more of a determining factor on the type of video evidence you want. The standalone basic MJPEG dvr will probably keep you happy for awhile, but once you get used to it, you'll wish you splurged and got something with some more functions and features. But I guess we all have to start somewhere!

GE seems to be the favorite on the board here. You can take a board camera and fabricate your own hidden camera. I've had customers use things like cereal boxes, plants, pictures, posters, lotion bottles, etc.... Its pretty easy to hot glue the board/pinhole lens to just about anything. Hiding the wires is the hard part.

Not safe for work due to some banner ads. Dude beats up and steals some homeless lady's money. http://poststuff4.entensity.net/060206/media.php?media=idiot.wmv

just hook up a 12V infrared illuminator to a seperate solar panel with a backup battery. Does it absolutely have to be incorporated?

They aren't too bad at all, the big thing to keep in mind is that you'll have very little features and that you'll also get very little record time. Even with a big hard drive, when they say you get 5 days, figure you'll get 2 if your lucky. Other than that, they are fine.

There are a few differences and some of those are: Composite Video Input and/or BNC Input Higher Contrast Faster Refresh or Response (Rise to Fall) Higher Brightness Looping Inputs When your buying from somebody, be sure to ask them why you shouldn't just goto best buy or circuit city and buy an LCD television instead, if they are truly selling a security LCD, they should give a some valid answers and possibly a demo.

The problem with most "covert" cameras is that they are equipped with 3.6mm wide angle lenses. So you have to be strategic when placing the camera in the first place. You can check out ARM Electronics for some covert and I have had good experiences with KJB Security as well. KJB makes a really cool american brass mantle clock that is awesome! www.armelectronics.com www.kjbsecurity.com Another thing is that if you client thinks the theft is internal, identifying somebody will be much easier as this person works for them, the 380 tv lines will probably be sufficient enough for this.

$500 is not enough for a good PTZ. A budget PTZ will start around $1200. You will often times save money with 2-3 fixed cameras on a corner of a building compared to a single PTZ camera.

If you have a couple usb hard drives that you'd like to transfer video over and store, then this USB option will work great for you. That DVR is okay, there are many different variations of that same unit. Some of them have a horrible search function thus making it very hard to find a particular event to playback. Before purchasing, ask what their return policy is! Always remember, you get what you pay for and even when your on a budget, make sure you do your homework!

You could always go steal something and return it to them at the time you present your quote!

Check out video insight for PC based solutions. I haven't used thier overlay hardware but was browsing thru their info the other day and noticed they have a Cash Register Overlay Program and also multiple interface cables for different registers. Thomas will be able to answer more on this.