Need Advice

[Boostable 0]

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Hello everyone,

 

I am brand new to the board, so don't bash me to bad for not searching because I have been doing a lot of that and I plan on doing a lot more, but I need some advice.

 

Long story short I need a good security system for a new business I am opening up. My problem is that I really need more then 16 cameras. I could start with 16 and get by but I would like a system that is expandable.

 

I have been leaning towards PC based systems and and like to use Linux if I can find a good card and software to support it. So my questions are...

 

What are some good cards that will allow me to expand beyond 16ch.

What software will support the suggested cards.

Should I considering standalone and stack? If so, what software will support that.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Jack

[near sighted 0]

Maybe some specs of what you would like to accomplish would help us.

 

What's your budget for cameras?

 

Would you like to go analog or IP type?

 

Indoor and outdoor type?

 

Day Night?

 

 

PC based DVR cards are usually 8 or 16 cameras each so to run more you just add another card to the PC.

 

Avermedia makes DVR cards for Linux PC based DVR.

 

HTH...

[Boostable 0]

Thanks for the reply.

 

Here is what I had planned to do if I start with a 16 camera setup.

 

4-5 outdoor cameras. Day/Night (possibly 1 PTZ)

11-12 indoor cameras. 3 or these would need to be day/night (possibly 1 PTZ)

 

The 3 indoor day/night cameras need to be of good quality as they will be monitoring the registers and the entry door at a distance of 10-15'. The others can be good quality dome cameras (as the all can be) with decent quality and will be used to monitor isles at a distance of 10-30'.

 

I have no real world knowledge of the quality of cameras, so I am not sure on the price. I am not wanting to go cheap and lose quality. Is $150-200 per camera a reasonable number? I realize the PTZ would be far more expensive then that.

 

Analog is fine, but I am wiring the building with Cat 6e to be able to convert over to IP if the need arises.

 

Cameras are my biggest hang up right now, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Jack

[Rebco 0]

First off what type of business restaurant, retail what also when will you be open 24hrs a day 7 days a week or what? will someone be monitoring the ptz ? what is the lighting conditions?

whats your biggest concern? Theft, safety? Theres alot of other questions that need to be answered before i can say you need a camera here and there.

[user1 0]

You can get reasonable cameras in that range, not good IP cameras but others. However, if you're wiring for IP....I wouldn't spend thousands on an analog system.

 

Regarding the Linux, unless you're partial you'll likely have more support with more widely regarded platforms. The stability of today's PC's...yes, even Microsoft....is much better than years back!