xtream2xtreme 0 Posted January 8, 2008 Need: 1)8 interior cameras – 1 has to be in focus for a distance of 54 ft, everything else is 30 ft or less. No IR needed – but nice to have. 2)2 exterior cameras – 80 ft visibility, IR 3)Record 24X7 for 30 days at a time, with ability to backup for off-site storage on a monthly basis 4)Keep recording while search/playback 5)Date/time stamping 6)Date/time search Do NOT need: 1)Color – decent quality B/W would work fine, color is okay, just don’t want it to double the price. 2)Full Motion Capture – 3 frames per second per camera should suffice, not looking for any sleight of hand, etc. 3)Remote access to the system I have one estimate for $13,000 and am going to get others; but that seems a bit pricey??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VST_Man 1 Posted January 9, 2008 where are u located? national average per camera installed is approx. $1450.00 dollars, as of early last year. Keep in mind that is with "decent" cameras and equipment. - warranty on cameras? DVR? Power Supply? - support in general? Ask for references and call them, possibly vist them to see the installed equipment. you can tell alot by that. also, call the "phone" support number and place a "test" message on it to see if they respond, how long, ect. - ask to demo your actual equipment as quoted......make note of equipment used and ask to make sure that what you see is what you get. - how long in business? - licensed? ask for a copy of it or check with the local gov......hum? - what kinda beer he drinks? light beer drinkers are not manly. just my opinion nice thing about having itinstalled is that you only need to call and complain when it don't work right. bottomline; references and referals are worth a million ....do your homework! I'll do it cheaper and get a vacation out of it at the same time???? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xtream2xtreme 0 Posted January 9, 2008 Houston One year warranty - which does not seem like much. Will check on references, demo, etc. They say they've been in business for 25 years. The person who supplied the quote has CET, whatever that is, behind their name, but will check on licensing. No idea on the beer, but Guinness is in my fridge. Agree on the call and complain and that's what my wife wants and we need to push for getting more of that in writing, as there really is no reference to any support. Also, the only equipment name being provided is for the DVR sigmaxsecurity - they have a website, but newbies cannot post URLs In closing, know the 'you get what you pay for' and know the 'buyer beware'. Thanks for the national camera average - did not see that anywhere, where did you get that? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCTV_Suppliers 0 Posted January 9, 2008 Houston One year warranty - which does not seem like much. Will check on references, demo, etc. They say they've been in business for 25 years. The person who supplied the quote has CET, whatever that is, behind their name, but will check on licensing. No idea on the beer, but Guinness is in my fridge. Agree on the call and complain and that's what my wife wants and we need to push for getting more of that in writing, as there really is no reference to any support. Also, the only equipment name being provided is for the DVR sigmaxsecurity - they have a website, but newbies cannot post URLs In closing, know the 'you get what you pay for' and know the 'buyer beware'. Thanks for the national camera average - did not see that anywhere, where did you get that? Can you please share with us what brand and model of camera equipment was offered to you? Regardless, the quoted price is way too much and yes, they must of drunk something or smoked something else while preparing your quote... Industry average pricing offered by VST-Man sounds right and again it is dependent on your equipment... and it also should include installation... However, once you follow B&W camera equipment path, then the pricing will be much lower... Another area of concern is the one year warranty that they offered... I can tell you that once you follow major brand name camera equipment path, everything that you pick up must come with three years warranty (and even more from others)... Where are you located? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 9, 2008 A High End System (using brand name cameras) could come to about that and could even be more, installed. Installation and wiring alone could be a few thousand (client paid $6,000 for an electrician last year to wire up their home, huge house/yard), depends on the application and location. Have them break it down for you, if it is not already. Also get a couple more quotes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted January 10, 2008 That would sound about right for a commercial company to come out, and do a commercial installation here in Florida. I would imagine some PTZ cameras would be part of the deal for that price. I compete with a few of these companies, and I win many of their bids. Having a company around me with bids like that makes my bids look good! Are they running conduit? Are they trenching? How high are the cameras mounted. Will they have to tear in to a second story floor to run wire? Will a commercial UPS be part of the bid? If it is just some cams, and a DVR, with a simple installation then I would get some more bids from other companies. Is there some product leasing involved? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 10, 2008 yeah in the past ive worked on 10 camera jobs here that were easily $17-20K installed using DVRs like GE and Professional Box cameras. Even $8-10K for an 8 channel Bullet camera job .. but was someone elses job (now its much less ofcourse). Also down here you have to double it due to expensive shipping and 40+% Customs Duties, so would be much cheaper in the US. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xtream2xtreme 0 Posted January 10, 2008 ...try to answer everything posted so far in this one response. Yes, will get more detail from this vendor. Yes, getting another estimate, scheduled for this Friday. No, there are no PTZ cameras. The estimate calls for 3 Color Vari-Focal 80' IR cameras with 520 lines of resolution and for 9 Color Vari-Focal Mini Dome Cameras with 520 lines of resolution. This is different from the 8/2 specified in my subject line, but I'm removing one of each of the above types from what I want. There is no mention of the brand of camera, the brand of cable, the brand of power supply, the brand of 19" flat screen. The only brand mentioned is for the DVR and that is Sigmax, which appears to be a company local to Houston and their web site does not reveal the name brand of the components they use in their DVR systems. I will contact them directly to get some of that information. There is no mention of trenching and none that I can see is needed. There is no mention of conduit. The highest mounting is going to be 10 to 12 feet, nothing higher. There are only two cameras, both in the same wall, opposite sides of the same wall, that have the 2nd floor above them; but, the location of the cameras already has two coax and two ethernet drops within the wall at that point - though I'm sure they will have to run power. There is no product leasing. Certainly, I have no problem paying for quality and I get the point from most of you that I need to ask more questions to get a better understanding of the quality. And, if I'm going to pay that much, I'm going to want more than a year of warranty. Thanks for your responses, you've given me the perspective that this should be a better than average quality installation based on the price - meaning that I should expect some name brand components (that I would recognize on this site) and a better warranty. After I get my second quote this Friday and more detail from the first proposal, I'll post more to this thread. Many thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 10, 2008 Yeah definitely need more info on the product, sounds like OEM IR Bullets so should not be that much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted January 10, 2008 This is one of my favorite cameras that has varifocal. http://avssys.net/?s=product&sub=camera&cat=ir&p=vnd49ir Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCTV_Suppliers 0 Posted January 10, 2008 xtream2xtreme, please share the equipment list and not the pricing and see what the members think... Labor is where it will be difficult to assess... Let us know and our combined efforts with members, I am sure we can help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
securitysys 0 Posted January 12, 2008 If you only have a 2 story house and you all ready have ethernet ran to the outside locations, you should be okay. Your inside runs may be a little bit time consuming, but shouldn't be difficult. Then again, we had a 1,000 Sq. Ft. commercial job that when you first look at it you would think it would be simple until you notice that the walls are plaster with cement right behind it! Back on topic, as long as it's a newer house, it shouldn't be that hard. Plus if they can get to both ends of the cat5 then they can just use a ethernet balun and run power and video over ethernet. You should ask the dealer to show you previous locations that he has installaed, check at least 3. Ask for a online demo, if he shows you a demo of another location check with that person and see if they allowed him to give you a demo, then you'll know if they're honest or not. If the cameras are name brand, then you can easily pay $700 a camera and $3,000 for a DVR. That's $10,000 before installation, wiring, and your LCD (which shouldn't be more then $1,500). If it's not a name brand, then don't pay more then $300 a camera, and $2,000 for the DVR. The whole package with installation should run you under $7,500. Once that is done, make sure you check that the contractors they use are licensed, bonded, and insured. Make sure that they give you a contract, and that everything is spelled out. Don't give more then a 10% deposit. Get at least 3 bids. Then start to negotiate. If you see that someone is willing to go down more then 15% to 20% on their price it usually means that they're not that stable and that you may not be able to rely on them in the long run. Don't be fooled by big companies, or worried about one man shows, just look for companies with a good reputation, and solid experience behind them. When using a professional company to install your system rather then doing it your self your paying about 30% to 40% more, so you need to make sure that within that 30% to 40% they are providing you a true service that you need. Check on their warranties, see if they make you deal with the manufacture or if they change out the equipment them selves. See what type of support response times they have, and see if their support people are actually qualified! Read up on CCTV for a couple of hours, if you start teaching your sales rep terminology then that's probably not the company you want installing your system! I'm not trying to solicit my services to you, or to anyone else on this forum, we're located over 1,500 miles away from you. But I just want to let you know what I feel a dealer should do. What we do is take 0 down from the customer and in most cases (except the bigger jobs where we special order all the equipment), we offer a 14 day money-back guarantee. We give a lifetime warranty on Labor, and if they're local, we switch out the parts on warranty repair right then and there (if we don't have it in stock we give them a temporary comparable product), and for ones that aren't local we do a in-the-air exchange. We also extend the warranty of all the products we sell to 5 years (except certain IP products). We strive to have a technichian out within 4 hours (for local jobs) of recieving an RMA request. Tech Support is always free and unlimited. When ever we have a contractor in the area we have them do a walk through of the premise, they make sure all the BNC Crimps are tight, the cameras are focused, they check outdoor cameras for damage and make sure that their water tight seal is holding up, etc. That's how we justify our mark up to the customer, we provide a service that I believe is worth the 20% or 30% extra that they pay. Pay a little bit extra, make sure you get quality equipment, and that your dealing with a reputable company, but always remember that your money is good anywhere, while the dealers product is only good if someone buys it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drewliebs 0 Posted January 15, 2008 Where is it that you live... We have offices in New York, Maryland and Dallas TX... We have high end Aventura DVR's and can get a system in for considerably less than that.... Please let me know Andrew L andrew@securityconceptsonline.com www.securityconceptsonline.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
