Laptop for CCTV?

[fdan4817 0]

Someone in another division of company approached me about setting up one or two wireless cameras with a laptop as the monitoring PC. The main feature needed in the software in this scenario is motion detection.

 

The person who asked me about this said that it is possible they could make a desktop system work, but for space reasons a laptop would be more convenients.

 

What kind of camera/software/computer combo could work in this situation?

[Thomas 0]

Your going to have to go IP based. One glaring problem comes to mind. File storage space. You need to select software that will let you write to a file server, because that laptop drive is going to have next to no storage.

[fdan4817 0]

That is a good point.

 

However, I should have explained more about the situation. What I was told is that the area they want to watch is one that is only accessed about every 3-4 weeks. Otherwise, there is no activity. That is why the motion sensing is so important.

 

If they go with an IP based camera, do the cameras come with appropriate software? Usually the software is packaged with a DVR card.

[Thomas 0]

It depends on who you're looking at.

[rory 0]

You could use a 4 channel USB DVR, its a small box that attaches to your USB port and uses the Laptop as the DVR, you could simply velcro it to the top of the laptop.

[fdan4817 0]

I wonder...

 

Since space is an issue and all this is doing (I think) is monitor one or two cameras, would a small stand-alone DVR be a possible solution?

 

Can these be configured remotely (via the network) or do you have to have a monitor attached to the DVR to configure it? Also, am I correct that once it was set up it could be monitored remotely via the network even without a monitor attached? That is, hook a monitor to it long enough to set it up and then monitor from the network after that.

[baywatch 1]

You can get a 4 camera card for udb 2.0 port with motion detection. The motion detection works pretty good and it can be networked.

The video settings are very basic, you can not adjust each camera individually but if the lighting is about the same its not a problem.

Its reasonably cheap here in U.K. (don't know about US).

 

http://www.grand.com.tw/en/product_form.asp?lwk_series=51&lwk_product=e-010&lwk_page=

[fdan4817 0]

You could use a 4 channel USB DVR, its a small box that attaches to your USB port and uses the Laptop as the DVR, you could simply velcro it to the top of the laptop.

 

Can you send me a link to an example of this or recommend a particular one?

[baywatch 1]

Sorry its not a card but a box as Rory explained. Weve used these O.K.

[fdan4817 0]

You can get a 4 camera card for udb 2.0 port with motion detection. The motion detection works pretty good and it can be networked.

The video settings are very basic, you can not adjust each camera individually but if the lighting is about the same its not a problem.

Its reasonably cheap here in U.K. (don't know about US).

 

http://www.grand.com.tw/en/product_form.asp?lwk_series=51&lwk_product=e-010&lwk_page=

 

 

This may be just what he was looking for! Thanks! I will research pricing/availability here in the US.

[rory 0]

Try places like Sams Club, electronic stores, etc.

 

Rory

[fdan4817 0]

Thanks, rory.

 

baywatch's link gave me the info I needed to know what I am looking for.

 

I did a search on shopping.yahoo.com for that specific one and then did a search for "usb dvr 4-channel" and found several different variations of the same thing, including some that come with wireless hubs/receivers and/or cameras.

 

Thanks a ton!

 

This forum has extremely helpful for pretty much everything I have asked.

 

Thanks to all!!!