thoughts on this system

[jason1234 0]

I am looking for a system for my new office. I came across this one while browsing my local ads. I want to know your thoughts on it. I am looking at purchasing a system in the next day or so, whether it be online or in store. Here is a link to the system..

 

http://bit.ly/zsz3Ds

[brianparkes 0]

Are your camera views going to be only inside, or outside too? If they are only inside, do the lights get turned off often so you would need the IR options? If not, you could probably find something a little cheaper if you went with cameras that don't have the IR option.

 

The DVR with only 1TB of memory with all 16 channels recording at best quality without motion detect might only give you 5-7 days of recording. Is that enough for what you want, but if you want longer storage before rewrite, you might want to see how much they charge for the additional TB of memory. If you stick with only the 8 cameras with the package, 1 TB should be enough for a full week.

 

If you consider that purchased individually, each camera usually runs right around $100 new, and you can expect to pay $300-$500 for a DVR like that, with the rebate it is a good price. It looks like you will have to purchase the cable separately, though if those 60' cables aren't enough. Once you start running up and down the walls and around corners, it eats up that length kind of quick, so depending on how big your office is, you might need to pickup some cable (it looks like the cable they supply is a BNC/Power siamese cable, and I've found pretty good prices for that kind of cable at bulkcctvstore.com. Make sure to pick up some BNC ends and female to female BNC adapters to extend any cable runs. If you have to purchase cable, make sure the BNC ends match the cable size (RG59 for example). The twist on BNC ends work just fine and are like $0.50 each on that site.

 

Bottom line, I don't see anything about this product and price that would deter me from using it for an office setting. The one thing I don't see mentioned is if the DVR will put a "watermark" on the video. If you ever do catch something criminal on the video, most law enforcement people I talk to say that without it, a lawyer could try to argue that the video footage could have been tampered with and make it inadmissible in court. Of course that depends on where you live, too. The one time I purchased a DVR that didn't have one, I called the manufacturer and asked them about it and they sent me a software patch to give me one if you are concerned.

 

Good luck

[jason1234 0]

Are your camera views going to be only inside, or outside too? If they are only inside, do the lights get turned off often so you would need the IR options? If not, you could probably find something a little cheaper if you went with cameras that don't have the IR option.

 

The DVR with only 1TB of memory with all 16 channels recording at best quality without motion detect might only give you 5-7 days of recording. Is that enough for what you want, but if you want longer storage before rewrite, you might want to see how much they charge for the additional TB of memory. If you stick with only the 8 cameras with the package, 1 TB should be enough for a full week.

 

If you consider that purchased individually, each camera usually runs right around $100 new, and you can expect to pay $300-$500 for a DVR like that, with the rebate it is a good price. It looks like you will have to purchase the cable separately, though if those 60' cables aren't enough. Once you start running up and down the walls and around corners, it eats up that length kind of quick, so depending on how big your office is, you might need to pickup some cable (it looks like the cable they supply is a BNC/Power siamese cable, and I've found pretty good prices for that kind of cable at bulkcctvstore.com. Make sure to pick up some BNC ends and female to female BNC adapters to extend any cable runs. If you have to purchase cable, make sure the BNC ends match the cable size (RG59 for example). The twist on BNC ends work just fine and are like $0.50 each on that site.

 

Bottom line, I don't see anything about this product and price that would deter me from using it for an office setting. The one thing I don't see mentioned is if the DVR will put a "watermark" on the video. If you ever do catch something criminal on the video, most law enforcement people I talk to say that without it, a lawyer could try to argue that the video footage could have been tampered with and make it inadmissible in court. Of course that depends on where you live, too. The one time I purchased a DVR that didn't have one, I called the manufacturer and asked them about it and they sent me a software patch to give me one if you are concerned.

 

Good luck

 

Most of the lights will be turned off at night, except 1 or 2. We will have some of the cameras outside and inside. In the beginning we won't be using all 16 channels, but we may or may not add more cameras. Thanks for your reply.