photomm 0 Posted October 7, 2005 Hi, I need to install a new security camera system to detour thieves at my place of residents. I was wondering if someone could give me a quote on the materials, to install myself. I was looking at 2-3 cameras (outside) alot of area to cover. I would like to use my exsisting computer 3.02 G Pentium 4 512 DDR memory, 160 Gig HDD. So I need DVR card with some room to add cameras with real time recoding. If this is not the place for this question I would appreciate it if someone can point me in the right direction. Thank You in advance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jisaac 0 Posted October 7, 2005 well photomm give us some more information on your location. what are you trying to see? Are you going to mount your cameras on the exterior of your house? How far from the house is the object you are trying to see or where would it be? How is the lighting at night time? Also and I am sure everone here will agree without getting into the whole embedded vs pc based dvrs discussion again, is that you dont want to use your existing computer that you probably use for other things than a surveillance system. For one video takes alot of resources. If you are going to go with a pc based dvr only use it for your video recording. First get us the information requested above. Then we will be glad to be of any help. isaac Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
photomm 0 Posted October 7, 2005 I would like to mount the cameras on the exterior of the house. I want to moniter anyone around the perimeter of the house to about 80-120 feet out from the house. Our house was broken into and the thief was casing our place before they broke in, and we could not catch them. So, I want to prevent that from happening again. The lighting at night time is not very good, I am using those sodium vapor yard lights (one at each end of the house). As far as the DVR, I think I will go with an embedded DVR networked back to my PC. I could also build a new computer dedicated to the surveillance system. I not sure how that will work so I am open to suggestions on any part of the system. Thank You. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jasper 0 Posted October 7, 2005 Might be cheaper to get a big yard dog or a small one, they are great alarm system and deterrent, just a thought. Get yourself a good sign that says “Premises monitored by Video Surveillance†Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jisaac 0 Posted October 8, 2005 how high would these cameras be mounted? When you say not good what do you mean? How is your house shaped? If you put a camera on each of the four corners of your house would you be able to see all corners? Or is it not square? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted October 8, 2005 What they ^ said and then .... ----------------------------------------- What Kind of Recording Length are you looking for (such as 1 day, 7 days, 1 month, etc) Are you interested in just networking to the DVR to review playback, or would you like to also have files such as AVIs (such as to take the HDD and play them in another computer?) Are you going to require this to be viewed over the internet, and if so, what type of internet connection do you have, and are there any other computers on the same connection? Are you interested in Real Time Playback, and at what quality level? (eg. 4 cameras at real time will require 120fps/pps, and high quality would be 640x480/720x480) Would there be any other users besides yourself, or a single user is fine? (for network connection, and also local viewing) Do you have any requirements for viewing the cameras on your Home TV? Are you more geared towards a Stand Alone DVR System, or a PC based? How is the Surge, Brownout, and Power Outage situation in your area? Is there anything else I left out that you have your mind set on, as far as the system is concerned? As for cameras, do you require vandal resistance? You mentioned Lighting is low, is Color a priority in the day time? Also, when you say Yard Lights, are these just the little bulbs that go at ground height? Is there no other lighting on the building? If you want color in the day, is it possible to install additional lighting for night time? If you are interested in a day Night camera, which switches from color to BW, would you also like infrared, and to what distance? If using Infrared, are there any walls or bush that the Infrared can reflect off? What height are you looking to install the cameras at? What is the shape of the house? Is this a single or multiple storey house? Can you use the Attic Eave or wall under the Eave, or will this have to be mounted elsewhere? Cheaper Day Night cameras dont have filters that block out IR day time effects such as from the sun, this causes off colors in the day time, and these are typical in cheap day night cameras. Are you looking to spend on a True Day Night camera that blocks out these IR effects in the day time, or would the cheaper one suffice? What kind of weather conditions would these cameras be subjected to? Do you require discreet cameras, or are you interested in cameras that will stand out? Do you have a basic idea of the budget for this application? You mentioned installing them yourself, are you confident enough that you can handle the job at hand? If not we can give you a local installers contact. Approximate distance from camera Field of View to Object for proper identification is 50 feet or less depending on the requirements of identification. You mentioned Monitoring is 80-120 feet, are any facial features required, or will general observation will suffice? ----------------------------------------- Rory Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cctv_down_under 0 Posted October 8, 2005 Well, here comes a long post (in the vain hope that young Herman will let me into the dealer section)? Firstly I have to agree with jisaacmagee, placing a card into your home computer is hardly ideal for security and having a dedicated machine can eliminate a whole lot of probems. I am glad you mentioned what areas you want to look at, keep in mind that viewing longer distances is akin to looking through a set of binoculas this means the further you look the smaller the scene you can cover, therefore the further you look the more cameras you need to use to cover larger areas, as for sodium vapour lighting this is possibly the hardest of all lighting for CCTV to use, the main reason is the colour temperature of that lighting will throw all your other colours out so you will not have accurate colour representation unless you go for cameras that support this, I know that prisons have been having this problem for years as sodium lighting is popular in penal situations. As you can see there are a lot of things to take into consideration for example many of Rory's questions are quite valid, I have been doing CCTV for a long time and the best advice I can possibly give you is to not do it yourself, CCTV is not like home audio or video it is an exacting science, you may just want a simple video footage of your suspect but the courts want much more, to prosecute someone you need strong evidence and beleive me after you have been robbed you WILL want to prosecute so I would task a proffesional to at least quote your premise. CCTV is an area that requires complete profesionalism and your system can be spoilt by the smallest most simple thing, therefore for the extra money I would ask a good proffesional to provide you with a quotation. Come on Hermy Let me In!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted October 8, 2005 im behind you, you have showed your knowledge already good looking out ... PS. Im still getting undercut by people i know that are doing the job for less, guess how I feel about that, plus they are getting some joe blow that is not even a legal resident here and has no experience in CCTV just will work for nothing as he is illegal here for good reasons, to install the wire and cameras, and using cheap gear. Mind you they are still not charging that cheap, I would still work for their price but they are greedy and only care about their own pocket ..Arghhh. And to think that person is supposed to be my friend .. Its noone on this forum btw, it is a local here. And no our imigration dept couldnt care less, they never heard of answering the telephone! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
