captainvideo 0 Posted September 18, 2014 hello everyone, im a retired Verizon field tech . I have always had a passion for any electronics , computers , home theater , videography , photography , audio recording , fishing , and playing my drums . this past fall/winter my brother in laws church started getting vandalized . first the gutters and downspouts , then the metal grates over the basement windows ,then landscaping etc . he asked me if I knew how to and could install a video camera system at his church . I said I think so since I was a professional wire installer for 25 years . i did some research on equipment and options and I found a local supply house . we bought a 16channel hd-sdi dvr and a selection of 10 dome , bullet and turret camera's all 1080p . power supply and 3 1000' spools of Siamese cable(its a big church) , compression tool and bnc ends . I should have got the handheld installer monitor. it took me 9 days to install and tweak all 10 cam's , dvr , ethernet , 4 office computers , several smartphones , p/s , 4 1080p video monitors 2 of which had 100' , (1) 75' , and (1) 50' hdmi cable runs . as well as a 180' line audio cable from the sanctuary audio mixer to the dvr to play video and audio of sunday mass on all the monitors and eventually on their website for people who could not make mass. did I mention that it is a very big old historic church built in 1891 . anyway , the job went well without any problems at all . everything worked as planned and with 1 remarkably quick 15 minute call to the dvr manufacturers tech support , everything was configured and working properly . wow ! tech support and 15 minutes don't often appear in the same sentence . I finished everything on a Friday back in June . 2 days later on Sunday evening I get a call from my brother in law to please come to the church and show him how to use the dvr because someone broke in to the storage garage behind the church and the cops were coming to investigate . after reviewing the video , 5 minutes after the last person left the church at 12 noon on a busy main road the (perp) walks out of his front door across the street from the church and goes into the church backyard , breaks the lock off the garage door and proceeds to rummage through the garage for 20 minutes . then he went home and got a shopping cart and made 4 trips back and forth over the next 2 hours . the cleaning service showed up at 630pm and found the garage open . the cops came and when they saw the video they said "WOW THATS REALLY CLEAR" and then "YEA I KNOW THAT GUY,HE LIVES ACROSS THE STREET" which I confirmed already . the cops said that most of the time you CANNOT positively id someone from video surveillance footage but this was the sharpest footage they have seen . they went to his house and he did not answer but they found all the stuff in his backyard . they arrested him 2 days later . wooohooo ! so that was my first install and now im hooked ! I have installed a half a dozen systems since then and so far nothing has come close to the church's 1080p hd-sdi system . but most others have been customer supplied pre-bundled systems from big box stores . I have been visiting this forum for quite a while and found a lot of great info here . this forum helped me make the right choices for the church's equipment and I want to say THANK YOU ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lowpro 0 Posted September 19, 2014 Nice job! " title="Applause" /> Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
captainvideo 0 Posted September 19, 2014 thanks . it turned out quite nice , even though there was many long tough dirty sweaty Siamese cable runs , it was actually almost fun working at a retired pace with no deadline and no boss . the church could never afford to pay for an install like this one and the cheapest estimate they got was $450 a camera plus equipment and materials . honestly , it was one of those jobs that you would instantly at least double your labor charges and not feel too bad if you didn't get the job . I kinda felt like a proud father when we caught the dirtbag . who steals from a church ? its amazing what some people do for a few dollars worth of metal ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shockwave199 0 Posted September 20, 2014 You're a good man Charlie Brown. I'll bet the man upstairs was watching...through one of your cameras. Z3xun-B-qCw Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boogieman 1 Posted September 20, 2014 Nice work...Good catch.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bradyboyy88 0 Posted September 21, 2014 I am glad to see your system actually helped someone , so nice job! This side of technology is becoming more retail everyday so now everyone can afford a cctv solution of their own and even help others afford them.If you dont mind me asking, after the 12 or so jobs you have done, what is your go to dome and bullet camera you use? Also, what was your lighting solution did you go with for nighttime at the church? Welcome to the forum by the way ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
captainvideo 0 Posted September 22, 2014 I really cant say that I have a (go to) anything just yet .I can say from my limited experience that the 1080p hd-sdi bullet and turret camera's definitely have a slightly better picture than the dome cam's . I think the dome cam's clear glass slightly degrades the picture . I like the dome and turret cam's for the way they mount because you can make an extra large hole in the soffit if need be,and the cam base covers well and will still hold strong. the hole size is more limited on the bullet cam's because the base is smaller and the mounting screws are much closer to the hole so there is less chance of a strong mount and a greater chance of accidentally putting a screw in the Siamese cable . the bullet and turret cams are so much easier to adjust the position as well as zoom and focus than the dome cam's . the only problem I had with the turret cam's was that one of them was wall mounted on brick and needed to be turned to its maximum angle . at night the ir led's would reflect off the brick and kind of wash out the image . a little tweaking and zooming pretty much eliminated the problem. so as far as lighting solutions . some were considered but ultimately we got all the existing lighting working properly and didn't need to address it any further . as a matter of fact , several cam's never switch to b/w and record in color 24/7. so I can only say that I am very happy with the cantek hd-sdi dvr and camera's that I used. they seem to have much better quality than any of the (all in one box) systems that customers purchased at Costco etc... I do have one (go to) lens and that's varifocal . I think that may be a rookie thing though . im pretty sure dahua makes cantek for my local supply house. canal alarm or 123security on long island . nice guys , nice displays at the store , very knowledgeable , no problem helping out a rookie with many questions . they also seem to have the best prices I can find . next week I will be installing my first hd-cvi system. cantek catchcam 4 .cant wait to compare it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bhawan 0 Posted September 23, 2014 HD-CVI is a reliable solution for a low-cost HD solution Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
