IP video camera transmission

[jduarte 0]

Hi, I work in the computer industry(I'm computer and network technician) but I do sometimes do some analog video camera installations. I got into this field by accident. My landlord was having some security trouble in one of the buildings he owns. To make the story short, I ended up installing around 24 analog video cameras total in three different buildings. Since he did not know much about video quality he bought a cheap video system. He does not like this analog video system anymore and he would like to replace it with a new ip digital video system. He thinks that by switching to this new technology he will eventually be able to watch his buildings on the internet.

I do not know much about ip video cameras, I've been talking with some people about it and I have come accross some terms like ip video camera, ip over coax, etc....but for right now I would like to have some feedback on a very specific set of questions :

1.- Am I gonna be able to use the same coax cabling already installed ?

2.- Am I gonna be able to power these cameras when cable runs are very long(500 feet) ?

3.- Am I gonna have to assign ip addresses to all diferent ip cameras ?

4.- Am I gonna need some type of device to bring the video signal from one end to the other when again the cable run is very long ?

 

I need to start this project right away therefore any help would be really appreciate it..ThankU

[Owain 0]

Most modern analogue DVRs have network connections for remote viewing already.

 

1. There are IP-over-coax solutions, but usually you would install Cat 5/6 ethernet which can often carry the camera power as well.

 

2. Max length for ethernet will be about 300 ft; IP cameras use various flavours of Power-over-Ethernet and the distance depends on the PoE type and the camera.

 

3. Most cameras will use DHCP and get an IP address automatically, so just set up a DHCP server with the appropriate network address ranges.

 

4. IP cameras use IP over ethernet - it's all just packets. You will need to calculate network bandwidth, but many IP cameras can have on-board storage so you can view over the network in low res and store high res on the camera. Cameras will do periodic uploads to FTP server or NAS (which can be cloud based).

[GrouchoBoucho 0]

1. you can use any number of ip-over-coax adapters... be prepared to pay from $100-$400 per run for this capability. some models will also run poe power over the coax, but since you already have power to the camera locations, this shouldn't be a requirement.

 

2. contrary to owain's answer, cat5/6 cable length is not normally a consideration for poe. ethernet spec limits you to about 100m before you get potential signal issues; poe spec is broad enough that you'd have to go far beyond 100m before you saw significant voltage loss.

 

in either case, if you're using ip-over-coax adapters, these generally claim ethernet connections of anywhere from 500' to 1000' or more... and again, if you have power to the analog cameras already, then you don't need to worry about poe.

 

3. yes. you can use dhcp, but i recommend either manual ip assignment, or allowing the cameras to pull addresses from the dhcp server, and then locking them in as 'static' in the camera settings. otherwise you run the risk of camera ips changing over time, which would result in cameras dropping off the system, or changing their order in the vms.

 

4. the video signal is digitized inside the camera and simply transmitted as network data. no extra hardware is required. what you *will* need is to replace the dvr with an nvr (network video recorder).

 

now, here's something to consider:

 

He does not like this analog video system anymore and he would like to replace it with a new ip digital video system. He thinks that by switching to this new technology he will eventually be able to watch his buildings on the internet.

switching to all-ip *just* to view it over the net is stupid.

 

first of all, any decent analog dvr is viewable over the 'net already.

 

second, configuring the network and cameras to allow him to view each individual camera remotely from off-site would be a major headache. setting up remote access just to the dvr(s) is much simpler, and much easier for him to manage on the remote end.

 

third, the main reason for going to ip is to get past the resolution limitations of analog video. if you want to take advantage of better resolution, then great, go for it... if all the boss is worried about is better pictures and internet viewing, then keep the existing infrastructure, upgrade the cameras to better analog cameras, and upgrade the dvr(s) to better dvr(s)... or better yet, upgrade to hybrid dvr(s) and you'll have the option to upgrade cameras to ip gradually, instead of having to do them all at once.

[techno76 0]

Hi....Yes, there are several systems on the market today that allow ethernet over coax. The one that I'm familiar with is the EthernetStretch product from nitek. I recently used it on a job and found it relatively easy to install. I chose it for a few reasons. First it required no setup. By that I mean I did not have to install any IP addresses or do any network configurations. That seems to be true with most of the units out there. Although several do require setting up switches and pushing buttons to establish communication, the nitek did not..Also of interest to me was that most of the systems forced POE power onto the coax. This is not in keeping with the IEEE802.3 standard. I am aware of some cameras such as the panasonic outdoor domes which do not like POE power which is non-standard compliant. The model I used for my job was the EL1500C, here is a link to that unit

http://www.nitek.net/products/networkextenders/EL1500C.htm

I only needed to install for cameras over the existing coax and that is why chose the single camera set. They do have some larger systems which actually includes a built-in layer 2 switch. I am not sure if anyone else here on the board tried one of their switches and maybe they can better comment on that product. I hope this is of some help to you. Please let us know how your job works out....

[the toss 0]

I thought this guy was a "computer & network " technician. I would have thought that he already had the answers to most of his questions.