Help needed on a system design: Kalatel DVRMe 10ct + ???

[andyman 0]

I am in need of a little help. What I have currently is a DVRMe 10ct with 640gigs of drive space hooked up on my network at home. I have currently 1 camera in the garage (sony fixed focus) and 2 cameras on my roof pointing down the road to the left and right (again cheap cameras).

 

Here is what I want and if you guys can tell me what to buy I'd appreciate it. I want to try to spend as little as possible BUT I don't want to buy things twice..

 

For the 2 fixed cameras outdoors (located on the 2nd floor, outside) I want a camera that can capture images clearly at nite and day. I think I want about 75ft in each direction, maybe 100. Slight wide angle would be nice, I don't want to be telephoto'd too much since these are fixed. In general I want to see whats going on. If I can capture license plates or face that would be great but I know I won't get that since the subjects will be too far. We have 1 street light in the area so its not completely dark but I would need a low lux camera. Perhaps a day-night camera? Again I don't want to spend $500 per camera.

 

Next I want 2 PTZ cameras. One for the garage and one for the outside of the house to complement the 2 fixed cameras. The PTZ's need to work with my Kalatel. Do I need to buy anything special to do this? Do I need a controller? This is where I'm a bit fuzzy. The requirements for the PTZ on the outside is similar to my fixed cameras except I want to pan, tilt, and zoom. The second PTZ is in the garage. That one doesn't need zoom but it needs to talk to the Kalatel. This one can use IR to illumunate the garage since my garage is fairly small (1 car). This PTZ also complements a fixed camera already in the garage.

 

So since the Kalatel supports RS485 which is an RJ45 connector, does the kalatel simply plug into most ptz cameras or do I have to buy seperate controls which then hook up to the motors in the PTZ cameras?

 

andy

[SeanMort 0]

I'll answer the control bit of your question. There are two ways to control PTZ's/domes normally. If you are going to use a GE/Kalatel PTZ or dome product then it simply connects directly to the DVR's RS-485 port, and this can then be controlled via the WaveReader software application (if the DVR is networked to a home PC), or an external GE/Kalatel Keyboard (also connects to the DVMRe). Choice is yours, but the WaveReader solution isn't going to break the bank. Second is the choice of PTZ product. There are a number of PTZ & dome products that have the ability to connect to the DVMRe. What you need to establish is if the dome or PTZ supports the GE/Kalatel (Digiplex) protocol. If it doesn't then GE makes a variety of protocol converters called a ProBridge that connects between a specific PTZ or dome make, and the DVMRe, and translates the control data to and fro (get the make/model before you buy it and find out if it is compatible via this forum, or from GE). Personally speaking, and costs aside, I would look within the GE range for a PTZ or dome camera to suit your application. They make a nice little economical dome camera that is cost effective and will probably do the job for the garage. It also makes things less complicated for the layman. As for the cameras you need: not knowing the outside light levels at night I would nonetheless opt for using separate external IR lights (and one in your garage) with decent Day/Night camera types. Rory ??