Renovating house and in need of CCTV suggestions?

[knezz 0]

Greetings all:

 

I’m renovating my 3 story townhouse. As the walls will be open I would like to mount 5 video cameras to start.

 

1. 1st floor interior dome with smoked glass = 60’Lx30’W viewing area

 

2. 2nd and 3rd floor interior dome with smoked glass = 16’x4’W viewing area each

 

3. First floor exterior rear - weather proof dome than can view at night (I will also be adding a motion sensor flood light). As parking is tight in the city it will serve as an open driveway – no gate. I would like the dome to have smoked glass so that the point of the camera can’t be seen but I don’t know how that will affect viewing in day or night? The viewing area is about 30’Wx30’L

 

4. 2nd floor exterior front - weather proof dome than can view at night. It will be mounted on eave which is above the 2nd floor ceiling height pointing down at the front door. The height down to the front door is about 30’ and 30’W.

 

My budget is about $1,000.00 (Not including PC and hard drive). I have a PC and can add a 2TB drive. I don’t want to have to change batteries and very little reoccurring maintenance. I would like the recordings to be activated by motion as not to record “non-activity”. Also, I will be using an Ademco Vista 20P alarm panel. It would be nice to be able to activate recording of all cameras if the alarm is activated (wish list).

 

Not wanting to change batteries and adding unsightly power outlets where I want to locate the cameras, with limited knowledge of video security camera systems, I would think that I’m limited to coaxial with dc power leads?

 

Can someone suggest a solution including items for a PC but I’m open to separate DVR units.

 

BTW I have Windows XP, Vista and 7 available to me.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Regards.

[Soundy 1]

This should be a good start for all your camera needs: http://tinyurl.com/2dr9ewc

 

There are both indoor and outdoor/vandal-resistant versions for both surface and flush mounting... image quality is outstanding for the price, and low-light performance is among the best you'll find anywhere in the price range.

 

There are a number of PC-based systems you can put together yourself - GeoVision is a popular one (watch out for greymarket clones if shopping on fleaBay). You DO want to dedicate a PC to your surveillance system, and ideally install your OS and software on a separate drive from your video. Most should allow you to take trigger inputs from your alarm panel to initiate full-motion record on selected or all cameras during an alarm.

 

Typical design is to home-run both power and video, although you can optionally power cameras locally with the appropriate transformer. You can also use Cat5e or Cat6 to carry video and power, which if you're pre-wiring a new house or a reno, can save on cable costs, as you can use the same wire for network, phone, etc. (it will work for alarm as well, although I know a lot of alarm guys don't like it, and local codes may prohibit it). It means you only need to bring in one type of cable, can pull multiple runs to each area of the house, and figure out later which you're going to use for what.