40-60 Camera System; Advice Needed on Camera and DVR

[lakesarecool 0]

Hi,

 

I'm the IT person for a manufacturing company and we're looking to install anywhere from 40-60 Cameras across our two buildings next door to each other that are on the same LAN.

 

The goal of these cameras is to be able to record our work flows and improve them, deter internal theft, external security, etc.

 

I was hoping to get some advice in terms of what cameras to go for and what DVR can handle our requirements from the experts.

 

We were looking to potentially getting all the cameras from China; specifically the Hikvision IP Camera DS-2CD2332-I for everything. We don't really need anything overly amazing and the price is right at $100/camera, unless there's some US/Canadian Supplier that would match it with this volume that someone knows of.

 

In terms of the DVR I honestly have no idea, but we're trying to avoid the $50 per camera software that's out there.

 

Thank you very much to anyone who is willing and able to help!!!

[Boogieman 1]

You can use those cams with hikvisions vms for free. Or use a hikvision 64 cam nvr or two 32's...

[lakesarecool 0]

Does anyone know what type of processing and graphics power Hikvision VMS would require for 70 Cameras? Is it considered a reliable solution? It seems the hardware based NVRs are limited in their bandwidth capabilities and RAID capabilities unless going higher end so I'm seeing if I can work a software solution within our budget.

[thewireguys 3]

Just remember you get what you pay for and there is a reason some VMS software is free.

 

I would also recommend you order the cameras from a authorized US distributor and don't order direct from China. Hikvision is starting to shut this supply chain down, lock the firmware and will not support these cameras in the US.

 

A 40 - 60 camera IP system is not a small system and if this is your first time installing one you will need support at some point.

[Billy_ICU 0]

A bit of advice... It is common for "higher ups" to install systems like these without ever consulting the guy who works on the shop floor 8 hours a day. Or the security guard. Or the local police. Or the person (bean counter?) who would notice employee theft and know what specifically was being stolen.

 

And then cameras may show an entire area, but you may not be able to see the "one corner" where all the employees are stealing you blind.

 

With that said, tell a few people, who are involved with the various things you want to cover, what you are planning to do, then ask for their suggestions / input. I'll bet you get some good suggestions.

 

And buy a couple of sample cameras. Connect them and see what you can see with those specific cameras. Maybe a long range camera would be best for one area - maybe you want to see detail of some manufacturing process and nothing more of the room. And maybe elsewhere a wide view camera which can see everything might be best.

 

For security learn about "choke points" and how big a person's face needs to be in a video to get "facial recognition".

 

And lighting can be an issue. A street light shining into a camera can wreck a night image. But some cameras have "backlight compensation". You also may need to relocate the camera.

 

Basically you don't know there is a problem until you mount all the cameras and then see one does not have a good enough view, or another can't see very much at night, etc.

 

FYI - There are retail camera systems which incorporate the items being scanned at the cash register along with a view of the employee doing the scanning (into the video). So that might be of interest for you - not for cash register transactions, but perhaps something manufacturing related. Or for security, you can incorporate an employees card access information into the video.

 

The following shows all sorts of neat new stuff - retail - to give you an idea of what can be done...

http://www.axxonsoft.com/materials/Axxon_POS_Intellect.pdf

 

This is good general reading...

http://retail-surveillance.com/news/

 

Laws...

http://www.rcfp.org/rcfp/orders/docs/RECORDING.pdf

 

Covers facial recognition...

http://www.bsia.co.uk/app/images/publications/109-installation-cctv-systems.pdf

[lakesarecool 0]

Thank you everyone for the helpful advice. The person completing the installation internally is experienced with installing large CCTV setups at a previous employer so we are hoping to leverage that to save on expenditures. The primary purpose of the system is mainly for viewing the production environment to look for efficiency improvements, security is secondary.

 

We have gone ahead and purchased the cameras but are still looking for an NVR solution that won't break the bank with a $50 per camera charge + hardware, anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks again.

[Boogieman 1]

It would help a TON if you told us what cameras you purchased?

[CYANiDE 0]

Thank you everyone for the helpful advice. The person completing the installation internally is experienced with installing large CCTV setups at a previous employer so we are hoping to leverage that to save on expenditures. The primary purpose of the system is mainly for viewing the production environment to look for efficiency improvements, security is secondary.

 

We have gone ahead and purchased the cameras but are still looking for an NVR solution that won't break the bank with a $50 per camera charge + hardware, anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks again.

 

Assuming they purchased the Hikvision cameras stated previously, I would go with a good VMS. I would say Blur Iris, but you would need a super computer to run 60 cameras on that software.

 

Any half decent VMS will charge a license per camera, it's simply how they make back the money for their software.

 

Personally, I would have gone with a US distributor for the cameras and paid the extra money, but it's your job not mine.

[lakesarecool 0]

Hi,

 

The camera selected was the hikvision DS-2CD2332-I. Is there any VMS closer to $25-$30 per camera? What about something like Luxriot?

 

Thank you.

[Boogieman 1]

Hi,

 

The camera selected was the hikvision DS-2CD2332-I. Is there any VMS closer to $25-$30 per camera? What about something like Luxriot?

 

Thank you.

Why dont you test hikvisions vms and see how it goes...see how many cams you can load before it chokes..