Starting over

[mlail 0]

All,

 

I could use some suggestions on what will work for my needs. I have some cameras that are wearing out and I am ready to replace them and the recorder. This will be for home use. Also I have been looking at the CNB web site, as well as

 

Views:

 

The driveway camera will be close to the peak at about 15 feet. There is a street light at the end of the drive about 30 feet away.

 

The front yard camera will view the front yard and view of the street. Will use to determine vehicle make, color…

 

Front door camera(s) will be strictly for seeing who is at the front door; I want a good picture of the persons face. Some feel that I should also have a camera shooting upward. No light at all usable at night.

Another camera in the garage, this will show if someone enters the garage. Standards 2 car garage…

I may way to add another camera or two to the side yard and rear yard.

Features that I believe I want:

Be able to archive the files on my home server

Masking feature that will allow me to block out tree movement

Motion detection

Be able to see at night well enough to provide identification to the local enforcement people

 

Camera questions:

What’s the real difference between ¼ and 1/3 CCD. Do the 1/3 CCD provides better low light?

 

DVR cards:

Codec issues – Is H.264 better than Mpeg , Mpeg-4 when recording or viewing?

Since a clear picture is needed, I was looking at no less than 540 lines.

For those who are curious my current card is a PV-148 8 channel card that produces poor quality images. One camera is a Sony DCL520, 520 lines, 1/3 Super HAD…

I am not hung up on a PC based system but I do have a gig network and have extensive experience with computers.

 

Here is one camera that looked interesting

http://www.discount-security-cameras.net/dls600v.aspx

 

Thanks in advance!

[hayden 0]

Hi,

 

In my opinion, for the driveway you need a camera with 6mm lens or a vari-focal 4-9mm lens so that you get a good view of the drive.

 

For the Front door, I would suggest an Eyeball camera with 3.6mm Lens. Likewise an Eyeball camera in the garage with 3.6mm Lens, mounted in the corner looking into the garage to avoid strong external light.

 

With any camera, to get good identification you need to focus on small area. I always recommend you have one camera to pick-up the details and use others for general observation.

 

Size of CCD does make a difference, the bigger the CCD the better it is. More surface to capture more light and detail.

 

I have no experience of this DVR card.

[mlail 0]

I have most of my cameras in place. The front yard camaera I chose was a 5-12 varifocal but after setting it up, I would have perfered a larger zoom. From the looks of things I want a 12-30 or better zoom. Unfortunantly we get stuck with trial by error and that only helps the vendors. Two questions:

1. Is there a web site that shows examples or has a table of each zoom level? So we spend less time guessing what is needed.

2. Any suggestions on a camera like this? I've looked at StarDot but they are more than I need Axis has many choices. My goal is to zoom in on car's, drivers, and tags where possible. The tags probably won,t happen.

 

Thanks

[Soundy 1]

I have most of my cameras in place. The front yard camaera I chose was a 5-12 varifocal but after setting it up, I would have perfered a larger zoom. From the looks of things I want a 12-30 or better zoom. Unfortunantly we get stuck with trial by error and that only helps the vendors. Two questions:

1. Is there a web site that shows examples or has a table of each zoom level? So we spend less time guessing what is needed.

No reason to go trial-and-error - use one of any number of lens calculators either online, or downloadable: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=cctv+lens+field+of+view

 

There are some good samples here but they really just show a comparison of different focal lengths - since you're dealing with different distances and areas to be covered, the examples won't really apply to you. Use a lens calculator to determine the proper lens for your need.