Help! Computer technician working on a CCTV system!

[seanqc 0]

Hey,

 

So this is the first time I have to deal with CCTV. I'm a computer technician by trade and was recently called up by a regular client to have a look at his CCTV system.

 

Before I go any further, here's his setup:

 

-6 cameras

-Connected by coaxial to a pc that has two Ether10104 cards in it

-Nothing special about the pc it's connected to, just a run of the mill HP

-Absolutely no idea what kind of software was used to run the system, O/S was probably Windows XP, but i'm not sure

-The guy who set him up initially is no longer in business

-The computer has two hard drives, one that has the O/S and software (and failed), one that stored the video. The drive with the video has one DVR_Media directory, a Video subdirectory, then folders for each day of the week and camera. The actual .DVR files have filenames that would lead me to believe that the camera continuously records everything in 10 second clips.

 

He had been getting an error message when booting up his computer (SMART failure, which basically means his hard drive was about to fail). This is something I've often seen before so I figured there was a good chance the data on the drive was still good. I was hoping I could clone the drive onto a new one, and have it back to him within a couple days.

 

The drive was a little bit more damaged then I thought though, and I couldn't save any of the data on it. So now my only choice would be to reinstall XP, reinstall whatever software is needed to control the cameras, and configure it with his existing setup. I'm a little lost, so basically I would need a bit of help.

 

How easy would this be to setup? What kind of software do I need? How much time would it take me to set this up?

 

and btw, the client has no copies of the previous software and has no idea what it was.

 

thanks a million,

 

-Sean

[seanqc 0]

I've just come across the following:

 

Is this basically all I need?

 

http://www.wapa.cc/html/en/product/01/2010/0604/107.html

 

ty,

-Sean

[Soundy 1]

Looks like it - good detective work!

 

They look like some very basic low-end H.264 cards, based on the listed specs (CIF resolution only, max of 25/30fps across all channels).

 

You should have no problem getting the system up and running again with a fresh install of OS and software, but you might be doing your client a favor by suggesting an upgrade to a better system (Geovision or similar) that will give higher-quality video.

[seanqc 0]

Looks like it - good detective work!

 

They look like some very basic low-end H.264 cards, based on the listed specs (CIF resolution only, max of 25/30fps across all channels).

 

You should have no problem getting the system up and running again with a fresh install of OS and software, but you might be doing your client a favor by suggesting an upgrade to a better system (Geovision or similar) that will give higher-quality video.

 

Thanks for the advice, I was able to get his system back up and running. I charged $40/hour for 4 hours of work. Is that what this type of service normally costs? I'm thinking I could have charged a bit more.

[Soundy 1]

Timeframe sounds about right. Around here you probably could have charged double that

[seanqc 0]

Timeframe sounds about right. Around here you probably could have charged double that

 

haha, the economics of Montreal vs. Vancouver...

 

Just a heads up to any future computer technicians who may come across this thread, here's what I did to the system to get it CCTV-ready:

 

-Changed Power Options in bios to boot up on power loss, also turned off any power saving features

-Installed Windows

-Activated Windows

-Installed latest drivers

-Performed all updates

-Disabled Automatic Updates (to prevent any kind of rebooting)

-Disabled Power Saving features (except for turning screen off)

-Installed CCTV software

-Made sure port was open in Windows Firewall

-Set up the computer with a static IP (through the router)

-Made sure port was open in router (set up as DMZ)

-Set up dyndns on router to allow remote viewing (note: Was not able to test this from within their network, had to use a proxy to verify functionality)

 

that's all I can remember for now, good luck!

[amac_2000 0]

One thing I like to do, not required though, is set up a port forward in the router instead of DMZing the computer. I would do this for a system security standpoint, ie I forward port 3389 (remote desktop) to the IP of the computer I want to establish a RDC connection to. I also have port 8000 (iVMS-2000 default remote port) forwarded to the IP of my DVR. I also have my router setup to allow remote management. This way say I need to establish a RDC to my DVR computer instead of the other system I have setup I can remotely change the port forward to the DVR and so forth. Also this way severely limits how much of your DVR is exposed to the outside world (internet) limiting what hackers can find and get into. Obviously this will only work if you know or could obtain the port needed for the remote management of your dvr software. I just try to limit the use of DMZ's as much as possible when possible. Just my 2 cents worth that I like to pass along.

[rory 0]

Nlite Setup for PC DVRs:

http://www.bahamassecurity.com/software/cctv/dvrlite.asp

Its pretty heavily tweaked and components removed, adjust to your needs if required.

Also shows other post install tweaks.

 

For added security:

Enable Windows Firewall - add the DVR Ports.

Enable TCP/IP Filtering - select permit only for each one, in TCP add the DVR Ports.

Definitely never DMZ a Windows DVR.

 

IT always complain they cant access the DVR .. im like yeah so???

Its recording, the client can view it remotely or over the network, and the client can login and playback or backup. The DVR used to crash all the time when IT was in charge of it, now it just works.

IT need to keep their hands off my DVRS!!

[Soundy 1]

I'll suggest DMZ only for the purpose of testing whether port forwarding is the root of connection issues. If it doesn't work in the DMZ, then port forwarding isn't you (main) problem and you need to look elsewhere.