Hello and a DVR card question.

[C.O.P. 0]

Hello people.

 

A little background as to what brings me here. I live out in a rural area but on a very busy road that runs through that rural area. My house is only about 15 from the edge of the road. My driveway (really a small parking lot) is the roughly 15ft (long) by 50ft (wide) area between my house and the road. Over the last six years, I have been the victim of numerous drive-by vandalisms such as rocks, eggs, paintballs, etc.

 

Recently, someone came into my driveway at night and removed (stole) both sideview mirrors from my jeep (via some kind of bat or club I suspect). This is the first time vandals have been bold enough to actually come on to my property! I reported it to the police but what can they do unless they get lucky? My wife and I figure it is time to get serious about a camera system.

 

Like many, I plan to do it myself if I can (I have been out of work a few years so my budget for this is not great.). We decided if we are going to do this, we want to install a system that will maximize our chances to catch the vandals... not just frustrate us with low quality images the police can't use. I started by looking at the various department and discount store packages. I didn't see much that I thought would do the job. I started doing some research and thus far ended up here as my primary source of information.

 

You guys are both a blessing and a curse! You're a blessing because I have read enough to know I would have been just tossing money away if I had gone with a package deal. You're a curse because the more I read, the more I want!

 

Ok, here are my 2 (fooled you with my title, didn't I?) questions:

 

1) Are GeoVision DVR cards pretty much a "standard" or just popular on this site? I ask because the Geo is pretty much the only card is see mentioned a bit.

 

2) A few of the package deals I looked at came with signs and labels warning of video surveillance being in use. Is it generally required to post such warnings in a residential situation or are they more of a deterant?

[Soundy 1]

Recently, someone came into my driveway at night and removed (stole) both sideview mirrors from my jeep (via some kind of bat or club I suspect). This is the first time vandals have been bold enough to actually come on to my property!

 

Friend of mine recently had his Jeep broken into... all they took was the ashtray. Doesn't take a lot of brains to be a crook, eh?

 

I reported it to the police but what can they do unless they get lucky? My wife and I figure it is time to get serious about a camera system.

 

Just keep in mind up-front that a camera system will do NOTHING AT ALL to *prevent* crime, at least not in and of itself. It can record crime, hopefully help police catch the criminals, and thus stop (at least temporarily) future crimes. It can sometimes be a deterrent... but given the intelligence of your average criminal/vandal, a lot of times they don't even see the deterrent, or if they do, simply don't care.

 

The point of this is, don't expect incidents to magically stop the minute the cameras go in!

 

That said...

 

Like many, I plan to do it myself if I can (I have been out of work a few years so my budget for this is not great.). We decided if we are going to do this, we want to install a system that will maximize our chances to catch the vandals... not just frustrate us with low quality images the police can't use. I started by looking at the various department and discount store packages. I didn't see much that I thought would do the job. I started doing some research and thus far ended up here as my primary source of information.

 

Well, you're on the right track so far

 

Ok, here are my 2 (fooled you with my title, didn't I?) questions:

 

1) Are GeoVision DVR cards pretty much a "standard" or just popular on this site? I ask because the Geo is pretty much the only card is see mentioned a bit.

 

They're pretty common (hence a lot more discussion about them), but I wouldn't call them a "standard". Actually, the cards themselves are pretty wide-spread; like many other DVR brands, they're based on a commonly-available chipset, and a number of other systems use almost exactly the same cards; the only thing that's "special" to GeoVision is the software that's bundled with them (and the fact that the cards themselves are tied to the software: the firmware is "tweaked" so that the GV software will only work with GV-branded cards).

 

You'd probably do fairly well with a GV system, for the price, but there are lots of others out there, many of them (IMHO) substantially better in both hardware and software. It really is an industry where you get what you pay for.

 

2) A few of the package deals I looked at came with signs and labels warning of video surveillance being in use. Is it generally required to post such warnings in a residential situation or are they more of a deterant?

 

They're mostly for deterrent, but such signage IS required by law in some areas. Here in British Columbia, for example, you're not required by law to inform people they're being recorded by audio OR video, and video is admissible in court without such notification, BUT audio recorded without others being notified is NOT admissible as evidence. You can record it, but you won't be able to use it later in court, unless there's signage informing people that they're being recorded.

 

That's here. You'll need to check your own local or regional laws for what's required there.

 

Beyond all that: if you need quality video, your first concern before the DVR should be the cameras themselves. If your initial video is shyte, the way you record it will be irrelevant. The biggest problem with "package" systems is that none of the cameras and lenses are particularly suited to any specific need, but instead just designed for general all-around use with easy mounting and wide views.

 

So, you need to figure out what you need to see, and where you can put the cameras, and go from there. Unfortunately the shape of your driveway doesn't lend itself well to "choke points" - tight areas that anyone entering has to pass through, allowing you to have a tight, detailed shot... like the front door of a store.

 

Then you can look at the lighting situation - street lighting, backlighting, etc. - to determine the type of camera necessary. IR cameras are common for low-light, but in most instances, the use of IR is, IMHO, a cheap hack workaround to use cheaper cameras, instead of simply using better, more expensive cameras with good low-light support. If the area is dark at night, I would recommend a quality camera, along with a good motion-activated floodlight or two. One, visible light will always provide better picture than IR; and two, the lights themselves snapping on can be a huge deterrent on their own. Someone creeping around in the dark wanting to avoid being seen will be startled by 1000W or so of halogen floods suddenly bathing the area in light, and is just as likely to simply bolt.

[C.O.P. 0]

Thanks Soundy.

 

I started out thinking I would only need/want 4 cameras for my property... 2 in front and 2 in back. I am now leaning toward 6 or more after yet more reading here.

 

There is NO lighting except what I provide.

 

I am thinking 2 mid grade IR bullets that reduce headlight glare (I may be a little bit of a pioneer and try the Samsung SIR 4160... it would be focused further down the road so I don't think it's wide angle IR problem would matter.) to try to catch license plates. The good news is there is roughly 200 feet of straight road on either side of my driveway. The bad news is most cars are traveling 50+mph. I was thinking 1 camera on the left of the driveway pointed right about 4ft off the ground (to maybe help with faces also) and another on the right side pointed left. My hope is the cross cover will help protect each camera and give me double the chance to get the license plate. The fact that the camera should have decent view of the plate for several seconds coming or going should help even if the car is going fast, correct?

 

I want to place 1 or 2 more cameras to capture faces but the problem is the front of my house is VERY low... as in about 6.5 feet from the ground to the gutter. Normally this would probably be wonderful because I could mount a camera right under the eve and it would be roughly face height. The problem is my jeep. I often park it right in front of my house parallel to the road. It would block the view of any cameras toward the middle of the house. I was thinking maybe a dome under the eve of both front corners with cross coverage again or a camera on the peak looking down to get general coverage (I'd be out of luck if they wear a hat though.).

 

There's my 4 cameras (maybe more depending on feedback). Since it leaves me with no side or rear views (not a priority to me at the moment) I guess I will have to go with a card that can handle 8 cameras and buy the other 4 later (if only I was a millionaire!).

 

In short (too late for that I guess), I don't plan to go with cheap cameras but I can't afford top of the line stuff. I was guess-timating roughly $350 for each license camera and $150 each for the other 2. I then figured roughly $700 for the 8 camera card. This isn't firm. I don't mind going up or down on the $$ a little if it means better performance.

 

Once it warms up a bit here, I will take some photos and post them.

[tsd 0]

Hi There,

 

with license plate and face capture it has never been easy with analog camera no matter if you using Geovision many factors come in to get the result you want.

 

having said that you can make you life easier with best quality image with just 2 camera one in front and one for back by using arcont vision digital IP Megapixel Camera

 

good luck