got_milk 0 Posted April 25, 2004 Ran across this group today in my research and would like to bounce some ideas off the group regarding a system I'm trying to design for a three location PC-based DVR system. Here's the basics: * 3 hair salons - #1 is 1 mile away from Central Office - #2 is 15 miles away " " - #3 is 50 miles away " " * 4 cameras needed at each site - One on cash register (would like future ability for POS integration) - Second on front door waiting/retail area - Third on rear door - Fourth outside rear outdoor parking area * Main objectives of system - Record cash register activity - Future integration with POS data - Track walk-out customers - Basic security (catch break-ins or vandals outside back of store) * Communications at each site - #1 & #2 - DSL - #3 - ISDN I'm thinking of a PC-based DVR system to record activity with a Dell 4600 that has a couple of big hard drive(s), i.e., 2 - 200gb+, at each site. Would like to have remote viewing ability from Central Office PC which has broadband/cable web access. Want ability to auto-archive of history, (perhaps remotely to the central-office). Would like system to be as maintenance-free and automatic as possible in terms of operation. What I mean by this is that I'd like it to be configurable such that I spend as little time as is necessary doing things like backups, etc. If I can set it up to do such tasks as infrequently and as automatically as possible, that would be my goal. In looking at this board, it seems that there is general agreement that GeoVision has some respectable and affordable options. I'm thinking the GeoVision 600-4 would probably do the trick for remote sites. Sounds like the Central Office PC would just need a fast PC with big hard drives and a CD or DVD RW for archiving history. For future POS integration, our cash register system is a Windows XP based software system written in Visual Basic with Microsoft SQL Server database. Not sure about what kind of cameras to get, dome, color/B&W, bullet, etc. Also, not sure if GV-600 is current enough hardware to allow POS integration. Should I get a newer board? Any suggestions or feedback on system design, components, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cctv_down_under 0 Posted April 26, 2004 You are Right, Geo will do all of this for you, the 600 series will work fine,, If I can give you some advice it would be the following, get 8 camera inputs instead of four, just in case you move a store or need an extra camera added... also this means that if you use the text overlay from the POS box that you can purchase from Geo... then you will have a nice clear spare input intead of pumping it over the top of your video. * 4 cameras needed at each site - One on cash register (would like future ability for POS integration) - Second on front door waiting/retail area - Third on rear door - Fourth outside rear outdoor parking area For your cash register there are a few things to take into consideration... firstly when you view a cash register you have two choices, you can view the notes and coins so that you can exactly check the transaction that occured with your own eyes, this will involve using a camera with around a 8mm lens , the problem is that to see the notes and coins you will only see them, not who is operating the till and although you know who it is.. you need to be able to proove it in court. The secod option is to use a wider angle like 4mm but this means you will not make out the notes but will see whom operates the till.. Lastly is a third option,,, use two cameras!! Things to note about tills are, most of the time a light shines directly into the till and some tills have a plastic cover to protect the keys or are stainless steel... many people use dome cameras for inside but they have several flaws with tills. Domes although cheap rarely have good enough back light compensation to help with reflected light from the register and because the lighting will change with shadows (operator) etc, it is better to have a dome with Auto Iris at least. If one thing in your shop is bound to move it will be the till... make sure you use a varifocal camera as if you use a fixed lens it may not do the job if you move the camera... my suggestion would be to buy a camera with a 2 to 10mm built in lens like the Ganz Spot cam.. the other reason I stear clear of domes is that if you place a dome directly above a till and look straight down on it, you actually can make another lens by looking through the curvature of the dome itself. I am assuming that you are in a shopping centre, but be carefull if you are not, and ae looking outside through a door.. you are usually sampling three types of lighting. outdoor, residual outdoor lighting when the door is opened and Fluero lighting, it is better to look back form the door into the same light source or if you must do it use a Wide Dynamic camera that is fully digital to allow for softening of white balanced areas.. if you do not do this you will have sillouhetted people waliking in the door.. once again place the cam on an angle to the door or facing back from the door into the shop and the Ganz spot cam should suffice. You will have the same issue with the back door, either keep it outside with a Day Night camera or do the same, as the door is opened loads of light comes into the room. Go for Day/Night cam from Sunkwang for the car park, this will turn to B/W on low light giving you awesome see in the dark options, you could also go for the Ganz Wide Dynamic camera here.. this would allow you to see colour in very low light which makes it easier to tell if the guy had red shirt or blue etc.. I hope this has helped. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidR 0 Posted April 27, 2004 Sounds like SkyWire Video would do it all for you, as well. http://www.astaskywire.com/products/SkyWireVideo/SkyWireVideoServer.asp One additional feature that may be useful--the systems at each store can send their video (at a reduced frame rate) to the central office, which can record there, as well. So you are recording locally in the store at full frame rate, and also sending video over the DSL/ISDN to the home office at reduced frame rate. Gives you redundant recording. Can also view live video from cell phone or PDA, if that is of interest to management. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qman 0 Posted April 28, 2004 This is a very interesting discussion as I'm as well looking to do a similar job of this type, 6 building all in different parts of the city. 6 diferent DVR'S, all must come in to the main office. The worse part? my wife is the one who's going to be doing the "looking back" at them, so it has to be at least, simple to use, I was looking at that CENTER V2 from Geo, but I want to see if there are any more options, the only thing that I require is that all of the units support Dynamic IP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted April 29, 2004 GE has the WaveReader 3.0 software that supports 64 total cameras in one window from multiple sites. Im using it now for 5 different sites, nice, but now I need a plasma TV that I cant afford! I tested it on a clients plasma connected as a PC monitor, and it was great, for live video at least. Rory Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cctv_down_under 0 Posted May 1, 2004 With Center V2, central monitoring station (CMS) can be deployed immediately because it brings multiple GV systems together into an integrated interface, allowing the operator to manage several systems from one point of control. The fundamental function of Center V2 is to attach video evidence with any alerts being sent to the Center V2, which helps the remote-end operator to determine nature of the alarm. Central Monitoring Features - Monitors up to 320 video channels - Real-time audio monitoring - Real-time I/O monitoring - Two-way audio communication - Remote PTZ control - Remote I/O control - Automatically popup live video when subscriber site's motion detection or alarms occurs - Twin-View support; allows video and event list to be displayed in two different screens - Supports 15, 24, 25, and 36 screen divisions Event List Features - Displays 7 categories of event messages, including motion events, alarm events, subscriber login/logout history, connection status, and etc... - "Bookmark" feature, allow user to highlight important events - Event list filters; an user-friendly event list search engine Recording Features - Auto record video events to local hard disk - Pre-alarm and post-alarm recording - Receive video attachment along with each event - HDD recycle feature, allowing non-stop recording Dispatch Server - Central managing up to 500 Center V2 servers - Capable of providing services for up to 10,000 subscribers - Auto connection lost recovery - Subscriber load balancing, distributes subscriber request across a group of Center V2 Servers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
