What are these IP Cameras all about? Better than analog cams

[johnny916 0]

What are IP cameras and what's the advantage of using them? Any drawbacks?

 

How many of you are installing these over regular cameras?

[rory 0]

Moved to the IP camera forum.

[thewireguys 3]

Have a look here.... viewtopic.php?f=19&t=11322

 

Well low light is not as good as analog but getting better and better.

 

Cost if your comparing IP Megapixel to 50$ bullet cameras.

 

Systems are more complex and you need IT skills.

[Soundy 1]

One thing to keep in mind is that IP and MP are two different thing: IP stands for "Internet Protocol" (more properly, the full term is "TCP/IP") and is just a transmission method; some IP cameras are standard low resolutions as well.

 

MP stands for megapixel and refers to resolutions over one megapixel (typically 1280x960 or higher). Analog video at 704x480 is barely 0.34MP.

 

The one major limitation of analog video, is the analog video standards themselves - NTSC simply doesn't allow more than 525 lines of vertical resolution (625 for PAL). You can't transmit a higher resolution without abandoning those standards, which would pretty much void any compatibility or interoperability between cameras and recorders.

 

The primary way to get around this limitation, is simply to digitize the high-res video inside the camera, and transmit it over a network connection... functionally, not much different from streaming a movie or a YouTube video - data is data is data. So IP video largely came about as a way to achieve higher resolutions than analog would allow.

 

Initial cost of megapixel cameras is generally higher, especially when you compare to the kind of cheap cameras available online... but an IP video *system* is not necessarily more expensive once everything is factored in.

 

For example: what is the cost of a *good* DVR card? If you're using all-IP, you don't need that; you only need software that can receive and record the video stream from the network.

 

What is the cost of cable? If you have a lot of long runs to deal with, you could potentially save a lot with the ability to run numerous cameras over a single link. Say, for example, coax and Cat5e both run 25c/ft (for the sake of easy calculation). If you have half a dozen cameras in an area 200' away from your recorder... that would be 6 x 200 x .25, or $300 worth of cable to run one coax from each camera to the DVR. With a network setup, you run each camera into a nearby switch, then one run back to the DVR. If you figure the cameras are no more than an average of 30' from the switch location, that's 6 x 30 x .25 or $45 for that wiring, $50 for a run from the switch to the DVR, and maybe $50 for the switch itself (eight-port gigabit will do nicely), for a total of <$150.

 

There you've just cut that part of the cost in half, and that doesn't even take the labour into account - pulling six loooooong coax lines means either having six boxes of cable to pull them all at once, or pulling them one or two at a time, or staging them all out into big coils on the floor before pulling them into place... none of those are very pleasant options.

[johnny916 0]

Thanks guys, so I guess it's safe to say that most DVR units aren't compatible with IP cameras because of the resolution, and second, how on earth would you put together a nice DVR display, record, and setup screen if using all IP cameras?

[Soundy 1]

Thanks guys, so I guess it's safe to say that most DVR units aren't compatible with IP cameras because of the resolution, and second, how on earth would you put together a nice DVR display, record, and setup screen if using all IP cameras?

It has nothing to do with the resolution, it has to do with how they're connected. DVRs use some form of capture device to take in the analog video and digitize it, then record it to disk. With IP cameras, the video is digitized in the camera and then transmitted via the network. In concept, it's not much different from viewing your DVR over the internet.

 

In an all-IP system, you would use what's typically known as an NVR - Network Video Recorder. There are also units that have both analog capture hardware, and can record IP video streams - these are usually called "hybrid DVRs".

[thewireguys 3]

Thanks guys, so I guess it's safe to say that most DVR units aren't compatible with IP cameras because of the resolution, and second, how on earth would you put together a nice DVR display, record, and setup screen if using all IP cameras?

 

DVRs that can recored analog and IP cameras are call hybrids.

[fa chris 0]

Thanks guys, so I guess it's safe to say that most DVR units aren't compatible with IP cameras because of the resolution, and second, how on earth would you put together a nice DVR display, record, and setup screen if using all IP cameras?

 

with some software you could turn your personal computer into an NVR, record all the data from a camera that's simply plugged into your switch on your home network, display it on your monitor, and do whatever else. It's all much easier and much more flexible than an old fashioned specialized DVR with proprietary capture cards in them.