Camera System for 60sqm computer lab and 300sqm library.

[mozone 0]

Hello folks,

 

I am a college owner in Sudan. One of our buildings is in need of a Camera Security System. The building is a 3 story with (11) 60sqm computer labs 10X6 and (1) 300sqm Library 20X15. Only the equipment in the labs and the library needs to be protected. Also the building has a wireless network system.

 

I would appreciate it if I got some help on system components that I need to purchase and some recommendations on manufacturers.

 

If you need any additional information please let me know.

 

Thanks in advance guys,

 

Mo,

[Soundy 1]

Your labs would probably be fine with one camera for the whole room - put it in a corner above the door with a wide shot to cover the whole room, and you're set. Use something in a ~2MP H.264 network camera and you should be able to safely run them all over your existing network (nominally looking at no more than 2-3Mbps per camera; use VBR and you'll only get significant traffic when there's activity - I'd hardwire them in though, rather than go wireless).

 

For the library, you might want 2-3 cameras - it depends on the layout and what areas you want to protect, whether there are tall book shelves blocking views, etc. Standard tight shot on the door, like you'll commonly see in retail, might be a good start, then an overview of the checkout counter.

[mozone 0]

Thanks Soundy, that helped a lot.

Quick clarification, is the "wide shot" field adjustable on all 2MP H.264 network cameras? or do I need to purchase a camera with a wide shot capability for the lab? please elaborate on the wide shot concept.

 

Also since the 2MP H.264 is a "network camera", does that mean I don't need to buy a DVR for recording?

My questions are silly but I don't have much knowledge in this

[Soundy 1]

Quick clarification, is the "wide shot" field adjustable on all 2MP H.264 network cameras? or do I need to purchase a camera with a wide shot capability for the lab? please elaborate on the wide shot concept.

 

Well, you'd probably want to look at a dome camera, to keep it unobtrusive and resistant to tampering... most dome cameras, analog or network, come with vari-focal lenses, meaning you can adjust the focal length and thus the field of view.

 

One of the IP domes we use regularly comes with a 2.9-12mm lens - at the 2.9mm end, it covers almost a 90-degree angle. This is an example of this camera on about a 7'6" (2.3m) ceiling:

 

 

So something like that in the corner of the room would show you pretty much the entire room.

 

2MP refers to the resolution: 2 megapixel (1600x1200) - regular analog video maxes out at about 720x480, or 0.3MP. For your needs, it's probably a good trade-off between resolution, and bandwidth (there are cameras commercially available up to 29MP, but that would be a HUGE hit on your network).

 

H.264 is one of the encoding and compression methods used and tends to have the least impact on the network (Motion-JPEG and MPEG-4 are the most common others).

 

Also since the 2MP H.264 is a "network camera", does that mean I don't need to buy a DVR for recording?

Correct: you would use an NVR - network video recorder - in its simplest form, just software that receives the video stream and writes it to disk. Some cameras can also send their video directly to shared network storage; some even record the video internally, meaning you only need to access the camera when you want to view the video.

[mozone 0]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks again, so I did a search for a 2 mp, varifocal 3-12mm lens, h.264, and vandal resistant dome network camera as recommended by u.

and found this camera:

http://www.heivision.net/index.php?ctrl=product&act=detail&goodsid=156

Any opinions about this product is welcomed.

Not sure about the price of this camera yet. I have a budget of about $150-200 per camera. 15 cameras are needed.

Any suggestions on the NVR specs needed?

 

 

From what I understood The IP cameras benefits is that it process the video in the camera. So the saving is that IP cameras replace the long runs of BNC cables from the camera to the DVR. with short network connection from the camera to the network outlets.

[Soundy 1]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks again, so I did a search for a 2 mp, varifocal 3-12mm lens, h.264, and vandal resistant dome network camera as recommended by u.

and found this camera:

http://www.heivision.net/index.php?ctrl=product&act=detail&goodsid=156

Any opinions about this product is welcomed.

Not familiar with the brand at all. Someone else here may be. The camera used for the picture above is this one: http://www.3xlogic.com/prod/1617/vsx-2mp-vd-2-megapixel-indooroutdoor-vandal-dome-daynight-ip-camera

 

Not sure about the price of this camera yet. I have a budget of about $150-200 per camera.

That's pushing the lower end of the scale... you might find some "okay" 1-1.3MP cams for that.

 

15 cameras are needed. Any suggestions on the NVR specs needed?

That will depend somewhat on the software used. Avigilon is popular here for being able to run on minimal hardware. Something that combines the VMS (Video Management System) software into it will require more power.

 

From what I understood The IP cameras benefits is that it process the video in the camera. So the saving is that IP cameras replace the long runs of BNC cables from the camera to the DVR. with short network connection from the camera to the network outlets.

Correct.

[mozone 0]

Called supplier of the 3xLOGIC cam above and they quoted $577.32 per cam. That is much higher than budgeted for.

 

Is this a reasonable price?

Are there any other affordable solution?

 

Any help with this will be appreciated. As the cameras need to be installed soon.

[Soundy 1]

Called supplier of the 3xLOGIC cam above and they quoted $577.32 per cam. That is much higher than budgeted for.

 

Is this a reasonable price?

For that camera... yeah, that may actually be a little on the lower side.

 

Are there any other affordable solution?

 

Any help with this will be appreciated. As the cameras need to be installed soon.

As I said, $150-$200 is pretty low-end of the scale for multi-megapixel cameras. You might find something in a 1MP-1.3MP Acti or Vivotek in that range, but I'm not familiar with either brand, so I couldn't give you and specific models.

 

You can get some decent analog cameras in that price range, but that would require either home-running a cable for every camera, or adding IP encoders to plug them into the network.... which in itself will add $200 or more to each camera location.

 

Honestly, I don't see any way to achieve the coverage you need for the price you want, and maintain any level of image quality. You could get really cheap VGA IP cameras for probably <$100, but those will likely come with fixed 6mm lenses or so, which will give you a fairly narrow field of view - you'd probably need three of them to cover an entire room, which negates all your cost savings tight there.