noob info

[DEERE 0]

ok im a noob wanting to know what is true HDcctv and why do most dvr's only have one hd camera port?

I have a talos 4 channel h.264 system with 4 700 tvl bullet cameras and im wanting to upgrade, now I just ran all new coax with power to the 4 cameras as now I want to go with 8 so I will add 4 more coax lines so my questions would be

1) is 1200 tvl cameras as good as megapixel and is that hd

2) what is the best dvr for hd or as close to hd on a buget

3) what is the fps all about, my dvr now is 30 so is the higher the better

so im looking for the BEST high quality image on all 8 cameras and (when looking at my tv for viewing) on a budget

[dan732 0]

One HD Camera Port? I guess maybe on the cheap junk DVRs but once you get out of the eBay realm of equipment you don't have that limitation

 

If you are going to do HD, you should look into IP cameras, only thing is you will need to upgrade all of your cabling to either CAT5e or CAT6 cabling (computer network cable).

 

I like HIKVision, they have nice cameras for the buck and are well supported on these forums.

 

As for pricing, depends on what you looking and what kind of cameras

 

Just simple bullets like the Hikvision DS-2032 would be about a $100 a shot

 

A HIKVision 8 Port NVR with POE Ports (saves you on buying a switch) HIKVision DS-7608NI-SE/8P is about $400

 

A 2TB Hard Drive for the NVR about $120

 

CAT5e cabling 50ft $20 100ft $30 etc

 

I would say a 4 camera system would be under $1200, eight under 1700 roughly

 

Also those HikVision 3MP bullets, the DS-2032 will blow the doors off of the 1200TVL junk cams any day of the week. Once you get a couple of those, you will never look at analog again.

[DEERE 0]

ok ya thanks for the info. Now whats the difference between dvr's that have 30 fps and 120 fps???

[Joeinamillion 0]

ok ya thanks for the info. Now whats the difference between dvr's that have 30 fps and 120 fps???

 

Welcome to Marketing Math 101.

 

fps means Frames Per Second. It's how smooth the video will be shown. TV shows, and most video is 30fps. CCTV (DVR recordings) can be 30fps or less. less fps means 'jerker' video, but also means more video time saved on a hard drive. Most digital CCTV is recording at 15 or less fps and is set in the DVR settings by the user.

 

here's the math: when you talk of 120fps, and even higher this is what many DVR manufacturers will quote fps for the whole dvr. That means the dvr itself can record a maximum of 120fps, for all the cameras it is recording.

 

a dvr with 120fps and 4 cameras recording and record a maximum of 30fps per camera. If that same dvr has 8 cameras recording it drops to a maximum of 15fps. Sneaky DVR manufactures will state fps/dvr and you then need to divide that number by them number of channels the dvr has.

 

120fps divided by 4 channels = 30fps each channel

120fps divided by 8 channels = 15fps each channel

120fps divided by 16 channels = 7fps* each channel

120fps divided by 32 channels = 3fps* each channel

 

most dvrs will have a higher state fps with more channels

 

240fps, and 480fps but when it's divided by the number of channels it's all the same. You won't likely find a dvr with over 30fps/channel.

 

Also, a DVR that claims 120fps, will still never be able to record 120fps on any single channel.

 

*always round down.

 

A dvr that states it records at 30fps is likely states the fps per channel (usually a sign of a better unit). No matter what, always read the fine print, and pray they actually are honest.

 

fun stuff: BluRay movies play at 60fps, and anything recorded over 60fps is generally used in playback at a slower rate to give a smooth slow motion effect. More than you needed to know, but now at parties you can share this, and clear everyone away from the chip bowl, and have it all to yourself.

[DEERE 0]

thanks for that info Joeinamillion that was a good way to put that I wasn't sure what they ment?!!!

so my next question is what is better for wiring cat5 or coax I have coax ran now but am wanting to upgrade all my cameras and even the dvr but not wanting to get or get into nvr's?? thought I would go the route of a 8 channel HDCVI DVR and megapixel cameras and add baluns, so I guess im asking would it be better to run cat5 or 6 rather than the coax?????

[Joeinamillion 0]

thanks for that info Joeinamillion that was a good way to put that I wasn't sure what they ment?!!!

so my next question is what is better for wiring cat5 or coax I have coax ran now but am wanting to upgrade all my cameras and even the dvr but not wanting to get or get into nvr's?? thought I would go the route of a 8 channel HDCVI DVR and megapixel cameras and add baluns, so I guess im asking would it be better to run cat5 or 6 rather than the coax?????

 

I'm glad to hear what I said helped.

 

If you are going with a HDCVI DVI the coax is ideal. The biggest plus of HDCVI is to ability to use the existing coax cable already run. Trying to use CAT5 or 6 with a system designed for coax is just many headaches. The best reasons I can think of NOT to try using CAT5 or 6 with a system designed for coax is that will most likely will void your warranty.

[Don Stephens 0]

thanks for that info Joeinamillion that was a good way to put that I wasn't sure what they ment?!!!

so my next question is what is better for wiring cat5 or coax I have coax ran now but am wanting to upgrade all my cameras and even the dvr but not wanting to get or get into nvr's?? thought I would go the route of a 8 channel HDCVI DVR and megapixel cameras and add baluns, so I guess im asking would it be better to run cat5 or 6 rather than the coax?????

 

What kind of coax do you currently have run? Is it plug-and-play type cabling, or is it RG59 cable? Plug-and-play can be hit or miss with HDCVI and I've only seen the higher quality stuff work up to 50 feet. The RG59 (spool) type will get you out to 300 feet if it's CCA (copper clad aluminum) without any problems, but solid copper can get you the whole 1600 feet that they talk about with CVI.

 

Using Cat5e or Cat6 is a terrible idea. We're just about ready to start wrapping up a massive cable test for HDCVI and HDTVI that we started a month ago. To make a long story short, all of this BS that you find out there that says either is compatible with Cat5e or Cat6 is absolute garbage. The only way you're going to get the image at the quality it's supposed to be at is with good coax. Network cable will give you an image, but only at an inferior quality. Don't throw your money away.

[DEERE 0]

Don Stephens thanks for that advice, ya I went with what I think is good coax the RG59 im only running six cameras at no more than 50ft and the last two cameras for a total of 8 will be around the 75-100 ft mark. I have six cameras now ran with the rg59 coax and bnc couplings on both ends. a friend of mine works for century link prizm tv and he got me the RG-59 20 awg solid copper center with 18 awg power cable attached to it, and my cctv system has a better picture on the tv im using vga cord from the dvr to the 42'' led tv and my 700tvl cameras are going bad and the ir leds are slowly going out one by one so im wanting to upgrade to (HD) or as close as I can get on a diy buget. I've had a talos 4ch dvr system for 5 years now and am wanting an uprade in picture quality and at night with the ir led. and at night the ir lights white out anything close to the camera say 6 to 10 ft and during the daytime the sun whites out a lot on the cameras so I figure I would find out and learn more about the dvr's and cameras before doing an upgrade??!!!!