Standalone NVRs

[joec999 0]

Hi,

 

I'm new to the whole IP camera/NVR scene.

 

I've installed many analog CCTV systems in the past and am considering installing a new mixed system of 12 to 14 cameras including megapixel and standard def IP cameras as well as a standalone, dedicated, hardware NVR for use in a commercial installation. There is no requirement for remote viewing or internet access as the monitoring and reviewing of video will be entirely on site.

 

Day/Night license plate capture for vehicles at a standstill or low rates of speed is a primary requirement.

 

Here are some of the things I'd like members to weigh in on:

 

1. Opinions or experiences with various manufacturers hardware NVRs that support anywhere from twelve to sixty-four camera systems in a mixed megapixel/SD camera system.

 

2. Opinions or experiences on various brands and models of IP megapixel cameras and preferred video formats (H264, Mjpeg, etc) for license plate capture.

 

As i said, I'm quite new to IP surveillance systems and may not even be using the terminology correctly, so please feel free to correct me.

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

[zikronix 0]

That could be a place he could goto if he was looking for shifty sellers of elevator cameras. Or they could visit those manufactuers sites, instead of some shifty spammer who plugs their own site.

[buellwinkle 0]

When you say license plate capture, are you just talking about recording video that contains visible license plates or what is called LPR, which is an OCR scan of the plate (convert to text) and then act on match, for example, if a plate matches, alert a guard or police? Also, do you want to capture plates in the day only or at night and if at night, what sort of lighting exists. Just in general, when I spoke to many people selling LPR solutions at the ISC West trade show earlier this year, the consensus was that the Axis Q1604 with a telephoto lens, maybe a 5-50mm or 25-80mm lens along with a Raytec RM100 illuminator provided a good clear image suitable for LPR. Then LPR software varies from maybe $800 per camera on the low end for say Geovision to as high as $5,000 per camera with Milestone XProtect somewhere in the middle.

 

These days, most camera companies make good affordable 720P, 1080P, 3MP and 5MP cameras, better than just a year or two ago. Since commercial projects require a certain level of expected service and support, I'll leave out the low end brands. For me, the best bang for the buck is ACTi cameras, good service and support, decent prices, wide variety of camera choices and they provide free NVR software that is very good, free for up to 16 cameras, pay after that. The next step up would be Axis and Mobotix, both good cameras, both European companies, I use them both, both have excellent service and support but are good for different reasons. Axis has the widest range of camera models and anything that starts with a P or Q will be good in your situation. Mobotix has a more limited choice of cameras, but their cameras are built to last, no moving parts and they have an NVR solution built in, so no real need for an NVR, you can just write to NAS disks directly. No other cameras I've installed have stood the test of time like Mobotix but I won't kid you, they are not the easiest to setup and has a quirky interface.

 

There's other brands, Avigilon on the higher end, closer to Axis/Mobotix in price but requires a personal relationship with the manufacturer, not something many installers want when it's easier to go to a large distributor. Messoa, Vivotek, Geovision, Brickcom from Taiwan, mixed reviews on their support/service. If you want WiFi cams, the Brickcom's have the best radio I've used.

 

Then there's American brands, Stardot, Arecont, IQEye, have not wowed me over the years.

 

As for hardware NVR's, not that familiar with many of them. I prefer a software based NVR.

[joec999 0]

Thanks for the reply buellwinkle.

 

The customer simply wants to be able to review video after a drive off and hand over the video clip to police. No OCR necessary. For the most part, there will be no operator to interact with the system unless video needs to be reviewed.

 

I anticipate no more than twelve cameras in the system with maybe six of those cameras monitoring/recording eleven fueling lanes (one camera per two side by side lanes) day and night with supplemental IR illumination and the other six cameras for indoor monitoring/recording.

 

If we can mount cameras on the fascia of the front of the building the distance from the cameras to the pumps are about eighty feet. If that's not workable then it may be required to put the cameras at the roof peak which adds about another 35 feet or about 115 feet from camera to pump.

 

I'm currently talking to ACTi about their KCM-5611 outdoor 2MP cam and their ENR-2000 sixteen channel NVR. Some of the limitations of this NVR is that it only supports H264 and a maximum recording throughput of 48 mbps. I've read in other forums that MJpeg is preferred for license plate capture so I don't know if this will be an issue.

 

Your thoughts appreciated.

 

Joe