n00b, how to set up a CCTV system?

[Aszbaz 0]

Hi there, I mentioned in an introductory post I am interested in setting up a company installing digital CCTV systems and need some guidance - Stumbled upon this forum via Google.

 

Originally I was intending on using USB pinhole cameras with active extension cables and plugging them into a PC, using some soft of software to record each cam, however this seems very messy and unprofessional and I simply cant find any software which would support this.

 

What I need is to be able to install wired cameras without drilling (Clipping the wire into walls would be okay) and to have them recording 24/7 on a PC or some sort of digital recorder. The cost needs to be minimal - No more than £250 for the cost of the PC, cameras and materials (around 4- 5 cameras, most likely less). Im an IT technician by trade, so buying stable computer systems is not an issue, nor is installing large hard drives, for example, however like I mentioned I have no idea when it comes to cameras, software and installation.

 

Any help would be much appreciated and given back to the community when possible!!

 

Kindest regards,

Aszbaz

[Soundy 1]

I can't imagine putting together just a decent new PC for that price, let alone the cameras and software. If you're using a Windows-based software, the Windows license alone will eat up half that budget. At that point, you won't be able to include any but the cheapest junk cameras.

 

That may sound harsh, but if you're getting into the business, you might as well get off on the right foot: first thing you need to do is adjust your expectations.

 

The EASIEST way to maintain a single-wire system is to use IP cameras, a PoE switch to power them, and some NVR software. A number of IP camera brands include their own basic NVR software for free. And since Cat5e is available in a wide range of colors, if you insist on surface-running the wire, you can at least try to match it to the decor.

[tomcctv 190]

Hi there, I mentioned in an introductory post I am interested in setting up a company installing digital CCTV systems and need some guidance - Stumbled upon this forum via Google.

 

Originally I was intending on using USB pinhole cameras with active extension cables and plugging them into a PC, using some soft of software to record each cam, however this seems very messy and unprofessional and I simply cant find any software which would support this.

 

What I need is to be able to install wired cameras without drilling (Clipping the wire into walls would be okay) and to have them recording 24/7 on a PC or some sort of digital recorder. The cost needs to be minimal - No more than £250 for the cost of the PC, cameras and materials (around 4- 5 cameras, most likely less). Im an IT technician by trade, so buying stable computer systems is not an issue, nor is installing large hard drives, for example, however like I mentioned I have no idea when it comes to cameras, software and installation.

 

Any help would be much appreciated and given back to the community when possible!!

 

Kindest regards,

Aszbaz

 

 

 

Hi aszbaz. you have said you are an it technician. ??? your in the uk here ia a break down of costs. your £250 budget .

 

first off the cost of pc. £300 at least for a budget tower ............... thats it your budget has gone . just on pc

 

 

What I need is to be able to install wired cameras without drilling

 

you are going to find this to be a problem. if you are going to install you will need to drill. (what do you say to your custom if he wants a camera outside)

 

this all might seem hard to you but your looking at starting a cctv company buisness.

 

they are many BAD cctv systems out with your budget. what the industry does not need are budget installers.

yes it sounds hard but i hope it makes you sit back and think . if you are going to do it then do it properly. starting up a company costs money

[Aszbaz 0]

Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated. I never even took the idea of the windows licence into consideration!! I was thinking of buying cheap used systems, giving them a checkover and installing large hard drives into them and offering a 5 year warranty on the full system covering any necessary repairs. The systems I can get are about 1GB ram, 3.0GHz CPU (usually dual core) and include a full set up with mouse keyboard and monitor. The HDDs I can get my hands on are 1 - 1.5tb and cost roughly £50. I was thinking of using a 4 channel digital PCI card and buying some decent cameras for the set up. I understand you dont need budget installs in the trade, but im trying to offer decent quality and good service, which I believe is possible, I really just need to be pointed in the right track. Regardless of whether or not I get help on this forum, im doing this anyway, and it would be beneficial to the customer if you were to help me now rather than sell dozens of people crappy systems, right?

 

Regards,

Az

[Soundy 1]

Aszbaz, we can only offer advice based on our experience... it's entirely up to you whether you take it or not. Keep in mind, though, that this forum carries probably several decades' worth of combined experience in the field, a lot of it hard-won.

 

We're not here to tell you how to run your business, but we do have a bit of an idea what we're talking about, whether or not you like the answers we come up with.

 

For example: I'm sure your customers will love you for offering a five-year warranty; there are very few DVR manufacturers who offer any more than one year on hardware. However, I can pretty much guarantee you'll lose your shirt that alone, especially if you're using low-budget computers and parts, which are far more prone to premature failure.

 

Your hard drives, for example, stand a decent chance of failing within three years, especially given the duty cycle of a standard DVR hard drive... and most drive manufacturers' warranties are only one year, so it's likely you'll end up having to replace a number of hard drives out of your own pocket within that five years.

 

Budget fans are sleeve-bearing type and will probably get noisy, if not fail outright, within a year, especially in dusty conditions... prepare to make two or three return visits on your own dime to replace those within the five years as well.

 

Of course, dust clogging and failing fans will lead to overheating, which can cause premature failure of motherboards, CPUs, RAM, and especially hard drives... cleaning the system may not be a warranty item, but your customers WILL expect you to cover the failures caused by these issues.

 

Remember that DVRs are not like your basic desktop machine that you fire up now and then to read email and write a couple documents and then put back to sleep... they're typically running 24/7, chunking a lot of data through, wearing out mechanical parts (like fans), generating constant heat. It's a torture chamber for PC components.

 

As for your cheap four-channel card: browse this forum for people who've installed cheap cards or cheap standalone units and found when the time came that the video wasn't sufficient. You go too cheap, you end up with customers who are happy they have something recording... until they need to view the results and find they don't measure up. There are numerous other threads about cheap cards that come with cheap software that experience no end of problems - crashing software, BSODs caused by crappy drivers, and so forth. You'll be running around like crazy just supporting these things for their entire five-year warranty period.

 

Forget about your potential customers for a moment and think about what you're getting yourself into with this business plan. I suspect most here will agree with this assessment and have some horror stories of their own to add... it's up to you whether you want to take it all to heart.

[rory 0]

Hi there, I mentioned in an introductory post I am interested in setting up a company installing digital CCTV systems and need some guidance - Stumbled upon this forum via Google.

 

Originally I was intending on using USB pinhole cameras with active extension cables and plugging them into a PC, using some soft of software to record each cam, however this seems very messy and unprofessional and I simply cant find any software which would support this.

 

What I need is to be able to install wired cameras without drilling (Clipping the wire into walls would be okay) and to have them recording 24/7 on a PC or some sort of digital recorder. The cost needs to be minimal - No more than £250 for the cost of the PC, cameras and materials (around 4- 5 cameras, most likely less). Im an IT technician by trade, so buying stable computer systems is not an issue, nor is installing large hard drives, for example, however like I mentioned I have no idea when it comes to cameras, software and installation.

 

Any help would be much appreciated and given back to the community when possible!!

 

Kindest regards,

Aszbaz

 

They already have this, its called cheap consumer kits.

Also being in the IT industry does not automatically mean one can build and setup a DVR, a business or home PC is completely different.

[rory 0]

and it would be beneficial to the customer if you were to help me now rather than sell dozens of people crappy systems, right?

 

Not really. It would be more beneficial to them if we were to point you in the direction of another industry if this is the way you feel, and direct them to someone that does this business every day of the week. Most of us live this industry, eat, sleep and you know ... its our entire life. If you arent in the industry yet then you really should learn some more about it first, get out there and get some hands on experience, see if its something you even want to do first. Pick up a drill and learn how to use it, you WILL need it if you want to compete even in the budget jobs - I do alot of budget jobs and with most applications cameras still need to be mounted on surfaces which require drilling holes. If you dont want to do that, then at least factor in the cost to sub the work out. Otherwise one still needs to know how to use cutters and a screwdriver and the basic electronics at the least.

 

Cheap or 2nd hand PCs with cheap DVR cards will not a stable quality system make - yes they CAN work, and in cases of extreme poverty it is all some can afford - but they need to realize it is still just a piece of crap and may and most likely will crash frequently. Dont expect the cameras to be much to write home about either, if lucky you might find something "okay" but in 99% of cases they are not even worth mentioning. We test ALOT of cameras to find something that works "good enough" in most cases, and even then they get discontinued or can have issues in certain applications. IMO one should start learning the high quality more expensive cameras first, learn the basics of focusing and setup of cameras under different lighting conditions.

 

In any event I think with your above statement you probably wont find too many eager to assist. First you need to show them you are ready and willing to learn with hands on and not just expecting to jump right in thinking it is a walk in the park.