In a pinch..

[Camera Man 0]

Hello everyone,

 

I have stumbled on this site last night when looking at current model cctv cams and dvrs..

Here is the story:

My sister and her friends car were vandalized by my sister's ex-boyfriend. Her ex keyed every surface, including every window of her and her friend's car and sugared the gas tanks. Both cars are totaled. $40,000 in 2 vehicles... I am flying out to do some work on her house as a result next week and I need a little advise..

 

I am an electrician.. I have installed a Qsee system before with aftermarket cameras. It worked fine. This was a while ago though. What I am doing is putting up some emotion sensor floods and I want to install a 1 to 2 camera DVR system to cover her front drive. There is no way to get in her back yard due to row-styling houses with back to back back yards, all with fences.

 

Specifics:

The area of coverage of the front yard: The dimensions are about 30'wide x 15'deep

 

There is a street lamp but it is not very bright so I plan on installing a set of motion sensor set of floods with 2 x 90w halogen lamps. This will light the area well.

 

We want to be able to ID the guy if he ever comes over again and tries anything.

 

 

 

My questions:

I have read a lot here about the CNB VBM-24VF cameras. Will 2 of these be good coverage for the front yard? Will resolution be enough to ID anyone that enters the yard?

 

DVRs... Are Qsee all right?? I am open to suggestions.

I was looking at:

http://www.q-see.com/products/security-product.php?ProductId=283

My sister uses a mac computer and she travels a lot. I was looking at this unit because it is compatible with MACs and she would be able remote the system when she is on the road.

 

The budget is around $500 for a 2-camera system. If that isn't enough of a budget, let me know.

 

I am on a time crunch with this. I am flying out next week and was trying to order and install everything next weekend. I really fear for her safety. The police are not doing a thing. They will not even interview the guy...

 

If you have any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Thanks so much for your time and for this forum,

 

Tom

 

EDIT: Had wrong Qsee product in this post. Corrected..

Edited March 3, 2011 by Guest

[clarkep 0]

you could try some bullet cctv cameras there different ones some bullet cameras cover a small area and others cover a wider area also they all have a different quality picture the bullet cameras that cover a wider area are the better quality ones when it comes to their pictures but you will need their to be light to get a good picture as with bullet cameras they have not got infa red but i think you can get bullet cameras with infa red but your better getting flood light for extra security now when it comes to cctv systems you can get standalone cctv systems and pc based cctv systems i have a pc based system my self with windows xp it has a 1 terabite hard drive and 4 bullet cameras one of which is wireless and they are all set to record by motion detection also i have set my cctv system up so i can pull it up over the internet using internet explorer just by typeing in an ip address i can pull my cameras up from anywhere in the world and see what is happening back home on the cameras live or by watching what the cameras have recorded on previous days as well all whilst i am on holiday.

[Camera Man 0]

Thanks a lot for he response.

 

I do plan on having the front yard lit up really bright. I will search the forum for bullet cameras and see what turns up.

 

As far as a dvr, my sister only has a laptop so a dvr card and software wouldn't work for her so I will need a stand-alone dvr unit. I planned on setting it with her tv components so she can review things on her tv set if needed.

 

Thanks a lot for the suggestion.

[Birdman Adam 0]

I won't comment on DVRs other than make sure it can record all channels at D1 resolution (720x480), at least 5FPS each. This is the best in terms of resolution for analog. Compressions and bit-rate are other factors in picture quality, but others are better at recommending DVRs. Starting number of channels is 4 usually.

 

I think $500 for a DVR and 2 cameras is too small. A good analog camera will be start $100 and above (generally).

 

VBM-24VF will be great, especially at night. It will make good use of your lights. Motion-sensing lights are good, because they usually make the snoops look at the light when it turns on. This is your chance to get a good facial!

 

These cameras have vari-focal lenses, which means you can zoom in on your cars. This way anyone that messes with the car will be in perfect sight of the camera. On the other end, you can zoom it out to cover a wide area. This could work for watching a yard. Detail with people farther away won't be as good however.

[Camera Man 0]

 

I think $500 for a DVR and 2 cameras is too small. A good analog camera will be start $100 and above (generally).

 

VBM-24VF will be great, especially at night. It will make good use of your lights. Motion-sensing lights are good, because they usually make the snoops look at the light when it turns on. This is your chance to get a good facial!

 

 

LOL I will position a "Cheese" sign directly above the lights!

 

Well her front yard is about 1 1/2 car length. That is why I thought 2 cams would be good. One directly above the garage door where she parks and one for an overview of the front yard placed right by her front door for more facials.

The other idea I had was positioning the cameras spaced apart pointing in an "X" crossing pattern..

 

Thanks for OKing the cameras.. Man, I was looking at bullet cameras and just started getting a headache (seriously) reading specs, searching here and over the internet for footage and reviews.

 

As far as frame rate, that is what i read. Well i read 7fps is kinda standard... it seems the Qsee does the resolution and the frame rates. I may be ok... The Qsee Dvr is surprisingly inexpensive though which worries me. I cant afford to fly back and forth to maintain the system.. lol

[Birdman Adam 0]

I wouldn't get the Q-See. May live up to the specs, but other aspects of quality such as compression may not be the same.

 

Another reason I like vandal-dome cameras:

 

You can cover her yard fine with one of those cameras. Adjust the zoom until the whole yard is barely within view. Walk around in the yard to see if identification is good. Test your lights too!

 

For a front-door shot, make sure camera is near eye-level, and have lens at its widest. That way you can get face shots better.

[Camera Man 0]

Adam,

 

I searched and found a thread here on that actual DVR..

 

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23194

 

Seems like a decent one for the money.

[Soundy 1]

You could take a look at Dahua for a DVR brand - Rory (another member here) really likes them, and he generally knows what he's talking about

 

Can't go far wrong with the CNB cameras, either - as Adam suggests, one wide shot on the area, to capture general movement/actions, and one tighter shot for greater detail, should suffice.

 

The next step from there would be megapixel, but that comes with a fair bit of additional cost.

[rory 0]

Another reason I like vandal-dome cameras:

 

LOL .. not the burning it on fire !

ooops now they need to try find a new polycarbonate cover

[rory 0]

DVRs... Are Qsee all right?? I am open to suggestions.

I was looking at:

http://www.q-see.com/products/security-product.php?ProductId=283

My sister uses a mac computer and she travels a lot. I was looking at this unit because it is compatible with MACs and she would be able remote the system when she is on the road.

That Q-See DVR is actually the entry level Dahua DVR.

Basically its minus HDMI and Alarm IO, otherwise the same, in fact it is very small compared to their others.

Works with PC, Mac, Nix, most mobile devices.

You can get all the software for it right from Dahua's website instead of using the older Q-see software.

[Birdman Adam 0]

Now that I read the review that DVR seems fairly good.

 

Here's a better youtube video of the vandal-proof testing. More realistic i think:

 

[Camera Man 0]

Hey, Thanks for all the replies.

 

I wound up getting the Qsee and a 1.5tb hard drive to load into it.

 

I couldn't find any Dahua DVRs in the US.. well I did find a couple but I could not find any specifications at all on them other than what was listed on the vendor's website.

 

 

rory, What is Dahua's website? For the life of me I can't find it..

[Camera Man 0]

Another reason I like vandal-dome cameras:

 

LOL .. not the burning it on fire !

ooops now they need to try find a new polycarbonate cover

 

 

That cracked me up too. I suppose if you used plenum rated cabling you would be able to see a building burn to the ground with one of those cameras!

[rory 0]

rory, What is Dahua's website? For the life of me I can't find it..

www.dahuasecurity.com

[Camera Man 0]

Now that I read the review that DVR seems fairly good.

 

Here's a better youtube video of the vandal-proof testing. More realistic i think:

 

 

 

 

Booooooorrrrrrring!!!

 

Liked the other one better.

[Camera Man 0]

rory, What is Dahua's website? For the life of me I can't find it..

http://www.dahuasecurity.com

 

 

Thanks a lot.

[bpzle 0]

just a warning from a similar situation... this guy went cheap on the original investment... now has to start over.

 

viewtopic.php?f=53&t=24622

 

obviously any system can deter crime... but if thats the only goal save some cash and buy some used, broken gear! the only one who would know the difference is you! or the police when they come knocking for evidence...

 

and if you anticipate the ladder happening, invest more.

[rory 0]

Now that I read the review that DVR seems fairly good.

Fairly good? Blows away most of the high end DVRs.

Ive used a TON of DVRs over the years, and tested alot of software, this has features many dont, even from the big brands. The only thing lacking in the Dahua's are better search features, but maybe Im just picky And oh yeah, MJPEG instead of H.264