new residential system recomendations

[jack in oz 0]

Hi All,

I guess this could go in both the camera and DVR forums but I'll just place it here.

 

I want to install a 4 camera + DVR system at my house. The cameras will most likely be analogue (non-IP) to save cost and will be mounted externally (IP66 or better).

 

I'll be using Cat5e cable + baluns as I already have the stuff going everywhere in my house and also out to my garage where one camera will be mounted.

 

Initially I want two cameras. One will be pointed at the swimming pool to allow me to monitor the kids from inside the house (range 20m). The other will be mounted to the garage and point down the driveway (range also about 20m). I want this camera to be good enough to identify any potential intruder and record car licence plates both day and night (my boat is parked in front of the garage and is not easily secured). I will add additional cameras as the budget allows.

 

Nice, but not essential: the ability to monitor the cameras from a laptop or iPad inside the house over the WiFi network.

 

The DVR will be rack-mounted with the RJ45 patch bay that all my Cat5e cables terminate at.

 

I would appreciate any brand/model recommendations for both the DVR and the cameras. As I'm in Australia and most posters on this forum seem to be in the UK or USA, we should probably stick to the larger manufacturers like Panasonic, Sony, Bosch, etc. Budget is whatever is required to achieve my goal without overkill.

 

Thanks in advance.

[blake 0]

We would need to know what your camera and dvr budget are.I see you want to be able to get license plate identification.Is this just to get a picture of a vehicle that turns into your driveway?License plate cameras have a very specific need because they need to cut thru the headlight glare at night to read the plate.I'm in Ga where front plates aren't issued or what if they remove their plate so that you can't get it.Think like a thief to layout your system and it's requirements.

[jack in oz 0]

OK, thanks for the feedback. I guess I was thinking about daylight, but I hadn't considered headlight glare at night.

[bcarusi 0]

I'm new but I thought I would share - (I posted in another thread about my home setup as well) - Last year I put in an Aposonic R22 that I bought from a dealer in Houston - (can't recall the name off the top of my head) - but is was about $250 for the 8 channel version.

I happen to have a long driveway, and a brick mailbox with a light - my kludgy solution was to use a wireless camera with a receiver in my garage where I converted back to analog to feed into the dvr. The wireless camera (with IR) points back up my driveway toward my house so I cna see the whole house front plus catch license plates of cars that pull in my driveway. I suppose that a thief might not be gracious enough to pull up in my driveway, but it was the only solution I could come up with. I've had good luck with it being able to grab license plates. I was actually considering putting another camera pointing up the street to catch cars driving by as I live near the entrance to the neighborhood.

Just a thought.

 

BC

[34Ford 0]

BC,

 

I would like to hear more about your wireless to analog camera setup.

 

Course this may be hijacking this fellows thread.

[bcarusi 0]

Well, noone complained about the slight change in topic, so I'll continue until "nudged"...

 

I got the wireless camera system from Sam's Club - frankly it was on off-brand but it works pretty well. The cameras have about 30IR LEDs and they say they work on 2.4GHz - the two cameras and the receiver were $180 (I think that was actually high for the quality) - but the "receiver" is just a small stand alone unit that puts out composite video - so I just ran my video cable from my R22 DVR that I got from amperordirect.com and the receiver feeds the DVR.

 

The only problem I had was power out at the driveway, so I tapped into the 110 wire running to the light on my mailbox, inserted an outdoor plug, and power the camera from there. Camera actually has audio as well but I havn't found a need for that out at the driveway.

 

That same website has a great intro to security systems tutorial as well as a walkthrough of a commercial installation start to finish (that I actually copied closely at my Church) - all that is kind of hard to find, it is under "resources" in the security section.

 

Quality of the picture? not bad - I can clearly make out license plates and when there is not a car int he driveway it is a great view of the front of the house, but the quality is not as good as the hardwired dome cameras I have most of the rest of the house. I chose the 1/3" sensor cams for about $80 each from the same place.

 

Only camera I regret is one I picked up from a street vendor at the night market in Hong Kong - funny how you really get wrapped up in how much you save when you get a $10 camera... But it came with a free watch

 

BC

[jack in oz 0]

Hi bcarusi,

no prob with thread drift. It's all good info. You were lucky to have 110V in your letterbox! I'm not so fortunate.

 

I'll check out the technical info on the website you mentioned.

 

Gotta love those night markets in Hong Kong. If you go back, Appliu St in Sham Shui Po is a good spot for electronic stuff.

[Campbell 0]

As an Aussie installer, integrator, etc etc. I felt I should let you know that most state laws prevents the use of cameras for surveillance outside your own personal property unless accompanied by signage. I'm based out of Sydney, and I get a few requests for it.

[jack in oz 0]

Thanks Campbell.

[34Ford 0]

Oh, I was more curious how to take wired cameras and make them wireless.