Security Camera

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NicksFJ40

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Location
Western Slope, CO
Im looking into instally security cameras around the house, does any body have any sudgestions.
 
Im looking into instally security cameras around the house, does any body have any sudgestions.

Couple fill in the blanks:

1) Total Budget?
2) Connectivity (RJ6, Cat5/6, Wireless)
3) Recording? Snap shot? Burst?
4) Focal, PTZ, Zoom?
5) Day/Night capable?
6) If recording how many day of storage?

I have several Axis 223M fixed cams, love them. But not wireless, and aren't cheap.
 
Do you need a camera that sees in the fog?


When I was shopping for a camera system, here is what I was told.

A cheap system will record some one stealing your stuff.

A good system will record some one stealing your stuff but you will be able to make out the license plate of their vehicle and the logo on their shirt so they can be identified.


How much is your stuff worth?
 
I would like a quality system that could pick up vehicle plates of people dumping in our alley and the faces of the high school taggers, I cant be around every day to run them down--unfortunately I have to work. Fog is not a big problem for us even though we are near the ocean. I dont think I need zoom because I probably wont be watching the video screen when some thing goes down. I would like constant video feed. (2) I would like to mount a camera on the back fence which is 30-40 feet away from the house, will I losse quality feed the longer the cable?

1) Total Budget?---$1000
2) Connectivity (RJ6, Cat5/6, Wireless)
3) Recording? Snap shot? Burst?---Recording
4) Focal, PTZ, Zoom?---Focal and PTZ?
5) Day/Night capable?---Yes
6) If recording how many day of storage?---2-4 weeks

Thank for the assistance, as I have said in the past Mud is a fantastic forum.

Nick
 
We use Axis for our cams. They will do pretty much everything you need. Just go through the comparison charts on their website (Axis Communications - Leader in network cameras and other IP networking solutions) I love the 223m model, but its spendy and requires a seperate enclosure for outdoors. But does great quality, day/night, and decent fixed zoom, and is POE power over ethernet.

PTZ (pan tilt zoom)
Focal I guess I was meaning more of fixed lense.


For recording I setup ours for motion detection. You create a hot area that if any passes through it will trigger to start recording (also has a buffer for X amount of seconds pre and post the trigger). Saves HD space and easy to see what time something was triggered.

The axis cams come with their single license software for managment and recording.

Another good managment suite for IP cams is go1984
 
Wow, looks like that 223m is about $1300! Nice camera, but spendy. I'm following this thread too, thinking about cameras/system for a future home that I will build... someday.
 
Ya, spendy for that 223.

I would check out Axis's website. I haven't played with to many of them (5-6 models), but the ones we have setup have been pretty rock solid. We started out as a March dealer, great system but just to legacy driven.

Axis has a pretty good "virtual" demo where you can select the various cams to simulated the outcome and video quality.

Tools & Guidelines for video surveillance system design | Axis Communications

(I have no affiliation with Axis, just have used their product and thought it was quality)
 
Ill have to give them a call, $1,300 is out of my price range because I need about four cameras. There is alot of systems on the internet, im going to look for a store I can see the product in person. My buddy got the $600 system from Costco, it's OK for him, he only uses one camera in a specific location. Healso says its hard to down load, I would like to burn it to a disc fairly easily. After some research, Ill post back.
 
Is this a store? Philips
 
If your budgets is <$1000, the costco systems are the best deal that I've found. The 4 channel systems are only about $300 when they go on sale. I've got 3 of their 16 channel systems and have been satisfied with them. The quality is OK at best, but you can compensate somewhat by better placement/more cameras. In the sub-1K range most all the systems are about the same. Biggest problem you'll have is probably the night vision. No matter what they claim on the specs, most of them suck at night. You might be able to make out a person, but reading plates and identifying faces is going to be tough past about 10 feet.

If you want to step up to better quality megapixel IP cameras, it's going to cost you at least 3x-5x more money just for the cameras alone. That doesn't include IR illuminators/software/NVR, etc. I've priced it out, to get a comparable system to what I have (16 channel, 8 camera), but in an IP system would run about $7K, and that's only about half of them megapixel cameras.
 
Ditto what Ducktapeguy sez. I've had a few of the <$1000 costco system and they are fine for regular security use.
 
Just wanted to let people know theres a 16 channel/8 camera system on sale right now at Costco, normally $1000 for $600, I just ordered another one. This claims to record full D1 (704x480) resolution, which is a 4x better than the CIF (352x240) resolution in all of the other systems you normally see in that price range. Don't be misled by the advertising, most of the other systems will advertise D1 resolution, but that's only for display, they will only record at CIF. You will have to sacrifice the frame rate, but IMO it's a good tradeoff.
 
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I saw that system at Costco, too. I wonder the cameras performs with the DVR having only 510X490 resolution. Post up your review as I am also interested in this system.
 
I just got the system, it works about as well as I expect it to for that price, which is to say I am always going to want better. But for the price I am completely satisfied. I don't think any other store can even come close to this price. My initial impression is the record quality is better, but I would have to do a side by side comparison with my old system. The cameras that come with it are only 420 TV lines, so maybe better cameras will yield an even better picture.

It looks like they've done a major software change from the last one I bought, the interface is completely different. Some things better, some just different. A quick scan of the user manual looks like they added in e-mail notification, but not sure how that works. I only had a chance to play with it for about an hour, but maybe this weekend I'll be able to really go through and test out the other functions. One of the reasons I bought this one was because they added iphone compatibility, hopefully it won't be too much of a hassle to implement
 
Another question, how high will the cameras be mounted off the ground? If thay are in arms reach, thay wont last long. Buy ones with impact resistant casing if possible.

Now, what about the taging? How about put up a motion sensor attached to a controler box. As soon as the taggers apraoch the wall, the overhead sprinkler line that runs the length of the wall will come on and get them, and the wall wet?
 

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