Designing an IP CCTV system with 20-30 cameras

[JoeShmo 0]

to tie the POE switches together, it would be nice to use something that does SNMP, so you can monitor bandwidth. Otherwise, you can get pretty much any generic gigabit switch, just don't go TOO cheap, stick with a known brand; 3com, linksys, dlink, smc, adtran, procurve, cisco, etc.. I generally would search google shopping for "gigabit switch", and sort through the vendors that way. 4 loaded 8 port switches are seeing around 20mbit/sec and 2000 packets per second on their uplinks each. So you can do the math there, and make sure the switch you get can handle the packets per second. Typically, thats the part that whacks on switch CPUs is the packet count. If the bw and pps are not even listed in the description/specs for the switch, I'd say don't use it.

 

For alternate software, I'm waiting to hear back pricing for ONSSI, but I'm a little leary of places that do not publish pricing.

 

Depending on knowledge levels of people, and comfort, you could go with something free, such as "ZoneMinder". I've installed it, and gotten it running under Linux, but still playing with it to see if it'll work out for our setup.

If this is one of those things where you set it up, hand it over, and leave, I'd suggest going with one of the "bigger names" (Exacq, OnSSI, Milestone, etc..) and get the full support, so you or they can call someone for real support.

If this is a friend, and you'll be pretty much maintaining the system, and they don't mind retaining you for a time, and you will maintain it, then it might be ok going with a ZoneMinder setup, but make sure everyone understands that there is no official support (at least that I know of). You post a message on the ZM forum, and hope someone answers in a reasonable amount of time. Sure, good $$ savings, but you "pay" for it when theres problems that you are at a loss for when you need to fix.

 

For the price comparison of Axis 211A vs the Arecont 1300, it was about the same price after you figure in the lens. At around $500 per cam, it still seems a little on the high side. Make sure the camera itself will do motion detection, as alot of the software out there these days will not, and relies on the camera coming back and saying "hey, theres motion, go ahead and record now".

Another trick I use for camera selection, is look at as many recording software packages you can find, and check what cameras are supported. You should be able to narrow things down when you see that theres just a handfull of cameras that seem to be supported by all the recorders. Axis is of course one of the most well known, although personally, I have not been too impressed. Their management software is handy though, to keep all the firmware up to date, and monitor when a cam stops responding...