Tegguy 0 Posted July 18, 2011 First of all thank you in advance for the help. I recently purchased a home and there have been a couple auto break-in's in the past couple months. There are not fences between neighborhoods and that is how they are getting through by simply cutting through yards. I plan to put up a fence but my neighbors do not. I'd like to design a surveillance system to monitor the outside of my house and the inside. I was thinking of about a 6 or 8 camera setup. I would put one on the side of the house that would face the area they come from (almost complete darkness) and one monitoring my backdoor (same light conditions) and I was thinking one watching the front door (same light conditions) I also wanted to put one monitoring my driveway (low to no light conditions). I'd like to put one in my garage and one or two inside the house. I plan to use a computer based setup as I have a ton of spare PC's. I really know nothing about any of this stuff and am having trouble finding the information. I'd like to keep it around 1500 but might be willing to go more. I'd need cameras and software. Also I plan to install and configure everything myself. Advice/Opinions/Suggestions are all welcome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Birdman Adam 0 Posted July 19, 2011 Analog or IP? If you want a 6+ camera system for $1500, its probably gonna have to be analog. Others can recommend you a good DVR card... These are usually PCI-express (although PCI are surely available as well) cards with BNC inputs. Some have audio and alarm IO as well. These cards are coupled with VMS. (Your DVR software). There are options for all OS's. As far as specs for the PC, many rather basic computers are up to the task, but a couple musts include sufficiently fast hard drives and a processor that can chew through all the video in real-time. RAM is not a big deal, and neither is the video capabilities. With 6-8 cams, a single SATA drive could surely handle it with room to spare. Although you may consider some RAID configuration... I'm not sure a P4 would like this job, so forget the older PCs. Any dual core will be fine. As far as cameras, I can strongly recommend CNB's True Day/Night cameras with the Monalisa chip. I have used the VCM-24VFs, and they are great bang-for-the-buck. Sounds like you need good low-light viewing. Camera signal can travel down RG59 coaxial cable, or down a pair inside cat5 cable using baluns at each end (this is cheaper!). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tegguy 0 Posted July 19, 2011 What is the biggest difference from analog to IP? other than the obvious. What price range would I need to step up to IP camera's? The PC I will probably run a 3 or 5 drive raid 5 setup with 1.5 TB drives in a server I have available. I suppose I should say the 1500 does not include building a computer but does include about 150 for hard drives I do need good low light viewing and good distance on at least 2 of them I want this setup to be easily viewable over the internet Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tegguy 0 Posted July 21, 2011 Anyone else have an advice? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 190 Posted July 21, 2011 I'd like to keep it around 1500 but might be willing to go more I was thinking of about a 6 or 8 camera setup. I would put one on the side of the house that would face the area they come from (almost complete darkness) and one monitoring my backdoor (same light conditions) and I was thinking one watching the front door (same light conditions) your main problem is your budget. bad light conditions will need extra lighting. like eco pir lights i would say look at Analog with your budget. you could take a look at avermedia hybrid cards and use both analog and ip cameras and add to your system when your budget allows. but i would start with your lighting first. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HTElectrical 0 Posted July 22, 2011 If your lighting is almost complete darkness then the VCM-24VF probably would not be a great camera, even though it does have a decent Lux rating. Your going to have to either add external lighting, IR illuminators, or IR cameras. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liveinxs 0 Posted July 22, 2011 If your lighting is almost complete darkness then the VCM-24VF probably would not be a great camera, even though it does have a decent Lux rating. Your going to have to either add external lighting, IR illuminators, or IR cameras. my whole system is comprised of VCM-24VFs, 8 cameras, and for those areas where there is ZERO light, i use the CNB MIR1000, these IRs are cheap. and put out a lot of light... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tegguy 0 Posted July 22, 2011 your main problem is your budget. bad light conditions will need extra lighting. like eco pir lights What kind of budget would I need for a decent/good setup? for just the cameras Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ak357 0 Posted July 22, 2011 my whole system is comprised of VCM-24VFs, 8 cameras, and for those areas where there is ZERO light, i use the CNB MIR1000, these IRs are cheap. and put out a lot of light... Can you plz post sample pix from your CNB cams Thx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liveinxs 0 Posted July 22, 2011 my whole system is comprised of VCM-24VFs, 8 cameras, and for those areas where there is ZERO light, i use the CNB MIR1000, these IRs are cheap. and put out a lot of light... Can you plz post sample pix from your CNB cams Thx I would strongly recommend this link http://lmgtfy.com/?q=basic+electricity+101 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tegguy 0 Posted July 24, 2011 I'll repost this because i think it got buried What kind of budget would I need for a decent/good setup one analog setup and one IP setup? for just the cameras Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thewireguys 3 Posted July 24, 2011 my whole system is comprised of VCM-24VFs, 8 cameras, and for those areas where there is ZERO light, i use the CNB MIR1000, these IRs are cheap. and put out a lot of light... Can you plz post sample pix from your CNB cams Thx I would strongly recommend this link http://lmgtfy.com/?q=basic+electricity+101 ??? he was looking for sample images from your cameras. I would like to see too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Campbell 0 Posted July 25, 2011 my whole system is comprised of VCM-24VFs, 8 cameras, and for those areas where there is ZERO light, i use the CNB MIR1000, these IRs are cheap. and put out a lot of light... Can you plz post sample pix from your CNB cams Thx I would strongly recommend this link http://lmgtfy.com/?q=basic+electricity+101 Wrong thread? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liveinxs 0 Posted July 25, 2011 ??? he was looking for sample images from your cameras. I would like to see too. ok, now that your asking, i will work on it, when i get a chance... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tegguy 0 Posted July 25, 2011 Once again I'll repost this because i think it got buried by the other unrelated questions What kind of budget would I need for a decent/good setup one analog setup and one IP setup? for just the cameras Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shockwave199 0 Posted July 27, 2011 Hi- having just about completed my home install and just above a clueless newbie, I would suggest a stand alone dvr and and eight camera system. I originally planned on four cameras, but VERY happy I went with eight. You'd be surprised how easily you can put eight cameras to work, even just residential. And frankly, it gets a bit addictive too. What I have learned is that it's best to put together the pieces of the system separatley. I can only speak from experience with a Q-see dvr, but my eight channel has been absolutely flawless since the moment I turned it on, and it has weathered power outages and all. Love this thing. I remotely view via the internet and it's great. I like the dedicated dvr as opposed to a pc card. I like gear that's designed to do the job specifically, as opposed to involving a computer. But that's me. I've also come across cameras from gadspot [dot com] and I am very pleased with the quality for the price point. I have one and I'm in the process of replacing all my q-see cameras with them, in different varieties according to where they're placed. My gadspot camera has endured heavy rain, lightening storms, and power outages and keeps on giving me a fine picture day and night. So a ballpark breakdown of a DIY system installed by yourself could look like this- DVR with 500 TB HD installed- 250.00 [look on amazon for the Q-See QS408-5, the user pictures are mine and I have a video review as well in the review section] You can put a 1 TB HD in there as well, and even hook up a usb external HD for archiving- any size you choose. I'm assuming you have a computer screen to hook up to. Eight cameras of at least decent quality for viewing day/night 60- 100 bucks. Let's say 75 bucks a camera. I can already hear the pro installers laughing at this one, but you can be very happy with gadspots in this price range, imo. Check my thread for gadspots in the security camera forum here for pics. Cables are tough. You're mostly gonna use 60- 100' lines and there are varying qualities out there in the premade variety. Let's say, shopping around, you come up with shielded 100' lines for 25 bucks a pop. Cheaper lines are less, heavier lines where you install the BNC & power connections yourself is more. UPS- you seriously need a ups with surge protection to plug the whole system into. I went to staples and picked one up for 50 bucks on sale. So in all ballpark- 1,100 bucks. If you need some odds and ends, make it 1,200 or so. If your budget can handle a bit more- put the money into better cameras where needed for near dark conditions. But that budget can give you a nicely viewable system and depending on how you install the cameras, it'll give you useful evidence captures. You have to break your ass installing the whole thing but in the end, this is a realistic budget for a DIY install with budget gear that gives good results. Of course with anything, your mileage may vary. Good luck! Dan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bdubbin 0 Posted September 2, 2011 Once again I'll repost this because i think it got buried by the other unrelated questions What kind of budget would I need for a decent/good setup one analog setup and one IP setup? for just the cameras Hi Tegguy, I'm a pre-newbie (not even a newbie yet!)... found this a good read (.pdf file): http://www.aventuratechnologies.com/newsletter/DOCS/Aventura_Newsletter_02_Analog_vs_IP_Cameras.pdf After reading this I'm not currently considering IP cameras. Who knows what I'll read about tomorrow, though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thewireguys 3 Posted September 2, 2011 http://www.aventuratechnologies.com/newsletter/DOCS/Aventura_Newsletter_02_Analog_vs_IP_Cameras.pdf ^^^ Prime example of don't believe everything you read on the internet. "to date, WDR has not been applied to any IP high definition megapixel camera" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 190 Posted September 2, 2011 http://www.aventuratechnologies.com/newsletter/DOCS/Aventura_Newsletter_02_Analog_vs_IP_Cameras.pdf ^^^ Prime example of don't believe everything you read on the internet. "to date, WDR has not been applied to any IP high definition megapixel camera" to be fair that is an old artical before WDR was used in ip Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bdubbin 0 Posted September 4, 2011 So, based on these two replies above, can I consider the article accurate for the time period in which it was written (2009)? Are there any other significant technological changes in the past 2 years? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted September 4, 2011 They seemed to forget that analog uses CMOS also. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thewireguys 3 Posted September 4, 2011 So, based on these two replies above, can I consider the article accurate for the time period in which it was written (2009)? Are there any other significant technological changes in the past 2 years? Megapixel, WDR, Analytics............... just better cameras and they keep getting better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
