New system Help

[ALIAS8579 0]

I'm looking to set up a 4 camera system. I just want a visible camera system on the outside of house, to go along with the black dog that roams free on the property. 3/4 acre lot in subdivision with neihbor on 1 side, woods 1 side, 6' brick wall in back. Streetlight 30' down street off 60' driveway. Dog lives in garage, so the door stays up 18" most of the time. I have an elaborate backyard kitchen patio. 15' from proposed camera location on back porch to back door. Motion sensor flood out back. I want to monitor front door, back door/patio, driveway/garage door, and maybe inside garage. I purchased: SHR-1040 160GB DVR, SHC-721A 3.5-8.0mm w/ outdoor enclosure with NO heater/blower, MACE CAM-75CIR 8.0mm, and a spool of good siamese. 60' max. run of cable thru attic. I mounted enclosure for camera over garage door (looking down driveway) and ran cable to it.

1. I am thinking that I should have got the heater/blower, living here in Jacksonville, Fl.? Can I get and install that aftermarket? Camera power is 12V. Would I need to run a seperate power for heater/blower?

2. I am thinking that the mace is probably crap, and should go IN the garage, (over the door leading into the house)?

3. Should I put the SHC-721A over the garage door, or out back?

4. Should I get another SHC-721A WITH heater/blower, or, SHC-735 w/2.8-12mm for the back door/patio? (Facial recognition would be nice at the doors). Why is the 735 cheaper than the 721A when I thought the 735 was a better camera? Differences between the two?

5. Should a heater/ blower run off 12V or 24V? Do I need a seperate power cable?

6. The 10' ceiling over the front door is the easiest place to put a camera, however, it seems a bit high to get a good straight on facial recognition. Are there any good through door cameras I can mount at eye level?

7. When I get these cameras mounted and the cables run to the dvr, I am going to want a professional to adjust my cameras/dvr to optimize the system. Do installers shy away from this? What should they charge me?

8. Is there any reason not to set the dvr to record all 4 cameras on real-time recording? I don't think I need very many days of past recording. You usually know right away if you've had a robbery.

[scorpion 0]

Hello!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

I noticed that you pick a low budget DVR for security purposes. As long as you are aware of the pros, and the cons of this particular system then you should be able to get some mileage out of it.

 

I saw your post yesterday, and I did not reply as I have never sold this DVR, and thought it better for someone else to take your post. Since noone has posted due to the holidays I figured I would chime in with my opinion.

 

The biggest problem with these DIY "kits" is that they use wide angle cameras, and then when someone requires "facial recognition" they feel as if they have been cheated because they cannot get any recognition at all from the system. The DVR is the first to be blamed, but that is usually the wrong place for the blame. Wide angle camera are designed to pull in the left, and the right peripheral side views. In doing so things at a distance will end up appearing farther away. Imagine if you will that you are bowing the video to get more of the left, and the right, now any thing at 20 feet is going to appear real small in the video.

 

You have bought cameras that are fari focal! This is great! I love it when systems can be flexible to change with different needs, and situations.

 

As to the DVR I would have you open it up, and find out what kind of hard drive you have. You may need to upgrade it. This is going to be one of the weak links in your system. Remember that this drive is going to be running 24/7, and I would not want a hard drive that was designed for occasional use in a desk top.

 

As for your camera locations I would say hook up your cameras to a 13 color tv with composite input (yellow connector), and then get up on a ladder. What does the camera view look like in the monitor? Do this at night to see how the IR works as well.

 

For Jacksonville I would say that you may not need the heater, but you may want the blower for July/August.

 

If you can run a seperate wire for the heater/blower then I would say do so. If ever one of your power wire goes bad then you may have an emergencey back up wire. Down the road things may change, and you may not be able to pull more wire to fix future problems. If you can do so down the road then that is even better.

 

It would be determined by what kind, and quality of the first wire you ran. How much will your camera draw? How much will the heater/blowers draw? What is the gauge of the two conductor that came with your siamese wire? How long will the run be? You can always run a higher voltage at the input to make up for your voltage drop.

 

I would say put inline fuses in the enclosure.

 

The specs on the MACE say 200 feet of IR. I do not know how much of that is true, but this way be over bearing inside of a garage. You can always plug it in to a 13" monitor, and give it a try.

 

I do not know why the 735 is cheaper than the 721A. Is it on sale? Is this the same with other vendors? I do not sell these cameras, so I cannot tell you why.

 

Why would you hire a professional to come out to adjust your system?

 

I would say hire a professional from the start. With a proper site survey comes proper product selection. I do not recommend such, and such camera. I look at the environment, and I let the environment dictate what kind of equipment should be placed.

 

Would I recommend having someone come out to adjust it. Yes! I would. How much will it cost. Someone will come out for the right money. If you offered my $20.00 to do it then I would have to decline. My Tundra will drink $20.00 getting there, and back just traveling locally!!

If they charge you less then $50.00 an hour then is he a fly by night, or does he have low overhead?

 

I do not like to see less than 4 days of recording. If something were to happen on a friday, and you found out about it on a monday then there is 3 days of recording already! What if it happened last wed?

 

You will only know about a robbery if they trashed the place. How much cash do you have around the house. The more cash/jewelry the more professional the criminal. He may want as much time to "get away" before you call the police, and search every pawn shop, and jewelry dealer looking for your stuff! If they trash the place then they want it to look like a robbery, and there may be other motives involved. It could be just bored teens wanting to "baseball" bat your belongings who knows!

 

I like how you think!!!

 

Security is layers upon layers.

 

Locking doors, and windows is the first line of defense. Having an alarm system (even if it is not monitored, and it just sounds a siren) is another layer to your security. Having proper lighting, and cutting back landscaping in key areas is another layer. Having a dog is another layer. They are great for low threat situations to bark, and notify you of someones presence, but do not use a "family pet" for higher threat situations. It is bad enought to get robbed, and worse to find out that someone poisoned "fluffy" in the process.

 

One can always install land mines that are use for paint ball "wars". If someone came in to your back yard to get to a window, or such the mine will go off splattering him/her with colored paint. If the police respond right away, and they find someone that is suspicious, then they can be identified as the culprit as they are splattered, and busted!! You do not have to worry about injuring someone, as if you had used some kind of booby trap.

 

I like the idea that your garage door is open by 18' or so. What was your address again? This may be a vulnerable point for you. Do you lock the entry door from the garage to the house? Do you have a pull down attic stair? Do you have dewalt tools in there, or a generator? Yes? Where did you say you lived again?

 

I would have you check your recorded footage on a daily basis. I am not saying to look at every moment of footage, but at least verify that is recording day to day. At the worst check it a least once a week. I see it often where someone has an issue (does not have to be a robbery as it could be just some kind of simple question), and the DVR was not recording.

 

I also recommend UPS with good line filtration. We have lots of lightning in Florida, and your DVR will last longer with the best UPS you can afford. It is bad enough that we get brown outs, and spikes from the power company!

 

UPS will give your system the juice it needs while the power is down.

 

Here is someone from Jacksonville from the forum.

 

http://www.cctvforum.com/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=5460

 

Sorry I could not answer your questions better.

[ALIAS8579 0]

DVR is low budget, but, as long as it will real time record 4 cameras for a few days and output a quad screen picture, it should be ok for my needs. Hard drive is Seagate 160Gb Ultra ATA. Should I get a second one of these to put in the second slot?

Dont have a tv to check picture but saw the mace ir hooked up in store and it was bright around center (10') and would have face recognition by door in garage leading into house. (50' of ir is probably more to the truth) Should the ir bounce around garage and light it up more than center picture?

721A 3.5-8.0mm should be good for looking straight down 60' driveway from 11' off ground and still have facial recognition closer to camera on bottom of picture. I was more concerned about humidity here in Jacksonville than heat. Should i get an aftermarket heater/blower, or just buy another enclosure with one in it?

Cable is RG59 18-2 95% COPPER. 60' max run.

I think I should get the 2.8-12mm lens for the back door at 15' away from camera, for facial recognition. Very low light out back. Which camera, SHC-721A, OR, SHC-735? I'm not able to tell the difference between the two. Also, I guess I would allways be able to swap lenses if needed.

"Hire a professional" : I can change the tune up parts on my truck, but that doesnt mean it's running optimally. I was hoping to gain enough knowledge to pick out my locations, cameras, lenses, and do the install, however, I feel that the tools and knowledge of a professional is needed to optimize. I would think an installer would appreciate that the "no fun at all" part of the job was almost done and his technical expertise was needed to complete it. The dog lays the land mines for me. Did I mention the starving tiger I keep inside?

[scorpion 0]

Starving Tiger! LOL! Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

 

Try doing it yourself on the tweaking, and see what it looks like from there. You can always call the pro later.

 

You should be allright!

[ALIAS8579 0]

Unfortunately, I have found that I needed a better dvr than I have, the hard way. A houseguest robbed me and then crashed the desktop computor, thinking it was the recording media. I had the 2 cameras recording and got evidence, but it is not as clear as when I have the dvr set to record only 1 feed instead of quad. shc-721a is probably the best part of the system and I think I should get 3 more, and I need advice on what dvr or specs I should be looking for to get the clarity that the camera is capably of on all four feeds when in quad real time. The dvr recorded 2 cameras for 3.5 weeks realtime on 160gb hd. I think 250gb hd should give me what I'm looking for timewise.

I'm also trying to copy the footage for the police. What is the prefered media and process to get a copy of the relevent footage? I don't suppose it's possible to enhance the clarity?