Prewire cable

[Tanooki 0]

So I'm finishing parts of my house and want to run prewire for CCTV beforehand and I still don't know what system I'll be using. I was thinking of running an RG6 and Cat5e to each spot.

 

Do I need anything else?

[Kawboy12R 0]

I'd probably run cat6 (but cat5e is fine) and use baluns if I settled on analog to start, but you're definitely thinking of future-proofing in some fashion by running both. There are advantages to running both just in case over using baluns with the UTP. As for anything else, the wires are probably fine but leave slack for jiggling the mounting position a little (or maybe a lot) after the cams are installed, plus enough for drip loops.

[Tanooki 0]

What type of cables/how many per camera would I need if I'm doing IP cameras?

[bigglebowski 0]

What type of cables/how many per camera would I need if I'm doing IP cameras?

 

Cat5 or Cat6, your choice, you can google the differences if you need to know. Since its IP you can actually run many cameras over one cat5 cable as long as you have the appropriate switch on the end of the cable. Most IP cameras are powered via the cat5 cable by using the POE (power over ethernet) protocol, so no need to run power cabling.

 

If you are wiring an entire house having cat5 run everywhere is not a bad idea since you can adapt it to do many things like video, sound and IP.

[Kawboy12R 0]

If you're doing network cameras, basically one camera per cat5/6 cable back to a switch similar to this, and then run one cable from the switch to your NVR or computer. You can stick the switch in a closet, basement, the garage or wherever makes sense to you and then run the single cable to the NVR.

 

If you're doing analog cams at the start via baluns, you'll have to run all of your cables to the DVR instead of a switch, and that'll be where the monitor is without some special effort. You could always run cat 5 from the DVR to your home network and then use the DVR's remote viewing software to view it on other computers on your home network or the internet as well, and then replace the DVR with a switch and use the same topology if/when you switch to network cameras. You'll just appreciate the DVR and monitor someplace easy to access and operate rather than sticking it in a closet and forget about it like you could a switch.