Moving to HD IP slowly

[zgebis 0]

We have a current CCTV system which was just "renovated" so to say, before the new HD standard became popular. This system is on a 4K square foot home. The current system is running 960H cameras and recording at 960H quality. All the cameras and recorders are new and probably have plenty of life left to them. They have insurance coverage for about 4 more years. A majority of cameras are outside two of which are PTZ cameras one is a GE legand which has a Ethernet port. The cable ran to each camera was the standard cable with BNC connectors but NOT shielded RG59 or even RG59 its just the standard thin power and video cable all in one.

 

We would like to transition to the HD standard but I dont want to even think about running new wiring and an SDI system will not cut it because the cable is too thin. Most of the wire is in PVC pipe and its glued and lots of bends, just seems like a nightmare to rerun. What I was thinking and this might be crazy, was to install IP Cameras but instead of using wired Ethernet I would use Wi-Fi cameras that could go outdoors and just let them plug into the existing 12v jack located at every camera location.

 

Now we do have a high performance router and access point. The specs on the router and access point are: Dual high power 2.4GHz amplifiers, dual 5.0GHz amplifiers and dual high gain antennas, 620MHz internal processor, and 10,000 Sq Feet coverage, 600mW. We get great wifi speed and signal even about 1000 feet away from the house. So capacity and range should not be an issue.

 

I was thinking about going with a hybrid NVR with ONVIF feature. This way all the video feeds (analog/ digital) would still record to the same recorder. I was not planing to make the jump overnight. I was thinking about replacing cameras as they started failing with the new Wi-Fi IP cameras. The sad thing is that we do have some IP cameras currently that do not record to a drive instead just record on a sd card on the camera and some just dont record and are just used to check in on the property. We have full outside coverage and about 85% indoor coverage of the entire property.

 

My biggest fear is that the antenna jack on the exterior cameras will rust. For example: http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v3/1203481156_2/Onvif-H-264-IP-Camera-Wireless-WiFi-Outdoor-1280-720P-P2P-Plug-And-Play-IR-Night.jpg

 

Has anyone ever attempted to try what I am thinking about doing? Again this would not be an overnight transition, but I would slowly move to the digital standard so I would expect that problems would show up before the entire project was finished. Also am I correct that if a camera says it has ONVIF and the DVR has ONVIF there should be no capability problems?