Calling all experts!!

[silverh20 0]

Hey guys, I'm going to be setting up a surveillance system for a small restaraunt and wanted some input/opinions given the circumstances. any help is appreciated.

 

here's the deal on what i need:

 

indoor use

4 cameras to start but with the ability to add more

wireless (cant run cables)

nightvision

access via iphone

dedicated dvr or cheap pc as dvr

 

this setup will run on a schedule and only needs to cover a week at most. as far as range is concerned, its a small place so not concerned too much.

 

 

soo with all that in mind, what do you guys recommend? its for my friends small business that just opened last year and since then theyve already lost $6,000+ due to theft!!

[Soundy 1]

Hey guys, I'm going to be setting up a surveillance system for a small restaraunt and wanted some input/opinions given the circumstances. any help is appreciated.

 

here's the deal on what i need:

 

indoor use

4 cameras to start but with the ability to add more

wireless (cant run cables)

nightvision

access via iphone

dedicated dvr or cheap pc as dvr

 

this setup will run on a schedule and only needs to cover a week at most. as far as range is concerned, its a small place so not concerned too much.

 

 

soo with all that in mind, what do you guys recommend? its for my friends small business that just opened last year and since then theyve already lost $6,000+ due to theft!!

 

If you're going to do this, do it right from the start, or you'll end up putting money into a cheap system, and suffer more losses before you discover that it's not sufficient.

 

"Night vision", first of all, is a misnomer at best in CCTV cameras - in almost all cases, it refers to a camera that adds IR LEDs for semi-invisible illumination. In cheap cameras, it's used as a workaround for the fact that the cameras simply have poor low-light performance; instead, get cameras that will work well with very little light, such as CNB's Monalisa domes (VCM/VBM-24VF for vandal-resistant domes, DBM-24VF for non-vandal indoor domes).

 

Forget about wireless. It WILL NOT work well until you get into substantially more expensive, purpose-designed systems. All of it operates in the same consumer bands as dozens of other wireless devices and are prone to all sorts of interference, and can be easily viewed by someone outside with the proper receiver.

 

Remember too, that even with wireless transmission, you still need to power the cameras, so none of them are truly 100% "wireless" - given that point, you're better off to simply hard-wire the video as well, and avoid future problems.

[silverh20 0]

thank you very much for your input. with your recommendations in mind, say i choose 4 of the CNB's Monalisa DBM-24VF, should i run them back to a dedicated dvr or a pc? i need to have iphone remote access as a feature still..

[jxk716 0]

I just installed a 4 Channel Dahua DVR; it had software for Iphone and other mobile devises and is very easy to configure. I used CNB VBM 24 VFs on siamese cable back to the dvr and a standard 4 port power source (24 VAC).

[tomcctv 190]

thank you very much for your input. with your recommendations in mind, say i choose 4 of the CNB's Monalisa DBM-24VF, should i run them back to a dedicated dvr or a pc? i need to have iphone remote access as a feature still..

 

 

 

like soundy has said wireless never works. plus people tend to install wireless cameras to the closest power point just for ease of install and not where the camera should be.

 

most CNB will come UTP if you state it when you order i.e DBM-24vf UTP. then you can just run cat5 to each camera (for video and power) and just use a balun at dvr end.

 

many good and bad budget systems out there. but you can go wrong with either dahua or avermedia 4 way. both do good iphone remote viewing.

[rory 0]

They might need IR though, many stores are pitch dark indoors at night and wont add lights, not even the monalisa can see without some light. That said in that case we normally use Turret IR Domes. CNB does have them but as long as they are 1/3" CCD most brands will work for indoors, even color IR works fine in most indoor cases, but depends on the camera as some color IR just suck. But even then one wont need the IR for every camera, put some high res color cams on the cash area, entrance, etc, then just the basic IR cameras for general views.