New System To Match Existing hardware

[archik100 0]

Anyone?

[Soundy 1]

Soundy,

 

If so, what what resolution/FPS combo should I be looking at?

 

I'm looking to get the most I reasonably can from my cameras.

 

In other words, what minimum model would fit my needs?

 

That depends on your needs. So far, we don't know what they are, so it's hard to say. And to be sure, you need to define the difference between what you actually NEED, and what you THINK you need (aka WANT).

 

Frankly, given the hardware you list in the first post (four cameras), 60fps total is probably more than enough. I can't speak for how others deal with it, but with the Vigil and Video Insight hardware, the total frames are divided into "banks" of 30fps, and it can be split up any way you like within those banks.

 

Example: on a 60fps card, the odd-numbered channels are one bank, the even-numbered channels another. So you could put all four cameras on the same bank, and give each one 7.5fps; or give one of them 10fps, two of them 6fps, and the fourth 8fps; or any other combination adding up to 30fps.

 

Or you could just put them on channels 1-4, meaning two cameras on each bank; you could then assign them 15fps each; or 20 fps to one and 10 to the other; or 29 and 1... or whatever is suitable. At 15fps per camera, most people would be hard-pressed to tell it from standard 30fps anyway.

 

In any of these cases, resolution is independent of framerate: you can run a single camera at 30fps and full D1 if you want; you could run all four at D1 and 15fps.

 

But then let's get back to NEEDS: running them full-out is going to chew up a LOT of disk space, especially if you don't use motion recording. It's also probably not necessary to have that high a framerate. It's NICE, it's PRETTY, but it's probably not NECESSARY. So you can play with the settings, monitor the disk space over time, and adjust them as necessary to find out what works best to balance "smoothness" vs. retention time.

 

But ultimately, it's up to you to decide what's best for your situation.

[archik100 0]

I see.

 

As far as catching a criminal is concerned, its the capture resolution that matters more than FPS, unless he's pretty fast.

 

That means that 15 FPS is acceptable to me, if it doesn't look to bad on the viewing screen.

 

Is this a good example of 15 FPS?

 

Thanks!

[Soundy 1]

Honestly, unless people are RUNNING through the door on a regular basis, 3-4fps should be more than enough to capture clear face shots. In my experience, a subject is in-frame of a typical ID shot for about 2-3 seconds, so even at 1fps, you would end up with 2-3 individual images of the person. Are 30-45 individual pictures really required to identify someone?

[archik100 0]

Perfect, thanks!

 

Sorry about bothering you, but just one more question.

 

Is one video output enough for two viewing screens, or do I need a card that has multiple outputs?

 

Thanks!

[Soundy 1]

VGA or standard composite monitors?

 

If you're talking about a PC's VGA output, you can use one video head with a VGA splitter, or a dual-head VGA card (same as you would normally use to extend your desktop across two monitors).

 

With a composite output (RCA or BNC), you can just use a T-connector or Y-cable, although an active (electronic) splitter is generally preferred, to avoid signal loss and a reduction in quality.