Home Surveillance/Security Camera Experience?

[Ron505]

We've had some things come up missing lately, and our telephone and high speed lines to our house cut, and was wondering if any of you have any experience with security cameras. I'm looking for a good system, but need to try to keep the cost as low as possible. I have looked on Ebay and Amazon, and found so many that my head is spinning. I'm reading good and bad reviews on just about every system out there.

Can anyone help steer me in the right direction?

I want night time capabilities, 4 cameras, and I'm not sure if i need a DVR or if I can just use my 6 year old desktop. I am not a tech savvy person to say the least.

Any information that anyone can offer of their experience, what to watch out for, or stay clear of, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ron

[bowdog]

PM MaxPower.

[madcat6183]

Actually I need to talk to him too, lots of breakins lately around, and we had ADT when the house was built, but naturally never hooked up etc.

Now with the wife home more than I am especialyl when racing/races, need more security than the dog, cats, guns, and her 2nd degree black belt.

And yes, she would kick all our asses.

[speedytriple]

Ask scruit he is the camera guy..

[Helmutt]

I've researched this a little and found it basically all depends on your wallet, there's some really elaborate systems available and almost limitless possibilities that can alert your cel phone and the police with alarm systems tied in, etc.

Multi-channel camera hubs with a DVR seem to vary widely in quality and price. But even the simplest setups are far better than nothing at all

[conn-e-rot]

Now paging Scruit

[max power]

If you want cheap, no name systems purchased off the internet talk to scruit. I only deal in commercial quality equipment. Just like in any other electronic field, you get what you pay for.

[madcat6183]

if you want cheap, no name systems purchased off the internet talk to scruit. I only deal in commercial quality equipment. Just like hookers, you get what you pay for.

ftfy

[Ron505]

If you want cheap, no name systems purchased off the internet talk to scruit. I only deal in commercial quality equipment. Just like in any other electronic field, you get what you pay for.

Have you done an upgrade any businesses lately and have any used equipment lying around? I'd love to have commercial quality, but not sure that I can get into that for around $500.

[max power]

Not for a while. I dont have any used stuff. Sorry. Day job has kept me to busy to do much side work.

[Radio Flyer]

http://www.visodence.com/

He's in Columbus too I believe.

[Ron505]

So after some quick research, it looks like I'd like to have a system with about 600-700TV Lines of resolution, around 120 Frames per second, and about 500GB of storage on the DVR.....I think...lol

How bout it Scruit? Thoughts if I need to look at anything else?

Edited November 16, 2012 by Ron505

[Scruit]

If you want cheap, no name systems purchased off the internet talk to scruit. I only deal in commercial quality equipment. Just like in any other electronic field, you get what you pay for.

I use Avermedia DVRs. Had no clue they were "no name". I'm running a 16 channel hybrid DVR/NVR wired over Cat5e (ip and analog)

If that's what you call a cheap noname system then fair enough. Nearly $2k for a DVR is not what I would call cheap, though.

[Scruit]

So after some quick research, it looks like I'd like to have a system with about 600-700TV Lines of resolution, around 120 Frames per second, and about 500GB of storage on the DVR.....I think...lol

How bout it Scruit? Thoughts if I need to look at anything else?

If you are not tech savvy then don't try to make a DVR out of your computer. Cheap DVR cards use BT878 chips which uses your cpu for video processing and will render the system useless for anything else. Proper DVR cards from GeoVision etc use hardware video processing on board on the card but they run several hundred dollars.

What is your budget?

600/700 tvl lines? Well, NTSC only has 525 scan lines, so 600/700 is an empty promise. Look for effective pixels as a better gauge of image quality. (PAL is 625, so 600/700 TV lines makes more sense in the UK, not in the US)

I always advice the Aver EB1304 DVR. 4 channels. If you need more channels later then add another EB1304. Put cameras that overlap on different DVRs to add redundancy in the case of DVR failure.

Asking "What kind of CCTV system should I get" is like asking "What kind of vehicle should I get" Well, do you need a dump truck, or can you get there on a bicycle?

Stay away from wireless. The biggest pain in installing a CCTV system is running wire. Wireless systems still need power so you still have to run wires. use cat5 cable with baluns and a central power supply and a UPS (easier than it sounds) - DON'T just plug each camera into a nearly outlet with an AC adapter!

[Ron505]

Great info!

I'm hoping to stay around the $500 mark. Reason I was thinking wireless was because I've got plenty of electric in my attic space that I can tap in to. If I need to run cat5, some may need to be about 180' long to get to where I'd like the DVR to be (I've got one chase going from the basement to the attic, and it is on the opposite side of the house from where the DVR will be).

Is it possible to get a decent system in that price range?

[JohnG]

Would it be too simplistic to suggest cell backup for your home alarm system?

[Ron505]

use cat5 cable with baluns and a central power supply and a UPS (easier than it sounds) - DON'T just plug each camera into a nearly outlet with an AC adapter!

Can you dumb this down for me?

Thoughts on this system?

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Home-Security-Video-Surveillance-Video-Surveillance-Systems-Surveillance-Kits/h_d1/N-5yc1vZc1xvZ12l8/R-203258849/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

What I like about the above, is the 100' night vision and 600 TVL.

Or possibly this.... http://www.supercircuits.com/Security-Camera-Systems/4-Camera-Systems/SYRF204B

Edited November 17, 2012 by Ron505

[Dizzledan]

I keep getting ad deals from newegg about surveillance/dvr systems:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=security+camera&x=0&y=0

No idea if they are any good or what you're looking for. My only advice is Black Friday would be the time to buy.

[Scruit]

Night vision is always over-spec'd. Take this image:

This is a panvigor camera that claims 50' night vision. The concrete pad is 20' long and if it wasn't for the 200' rated IR emitter (size of a laptop monitor) you wouldn't see anything past the pad. The 200' emitter can only really "see" about 75-100'.

Rather than spending $ on night vision, spend that money on traditional motion sensor lights. The better lighting will give you a better image, in color, and you get the deterrent effect on anyone who approaches the property.

The cat5 thing... There's two ways to connect an analog camera. 1) coaxial cable, and 2) cat5 cable.

In coax you would run rg59 siamese (power and video molded into in a "single" cable - the power cable is molded onto the side) and put BNC ends on the cable. you'll need a crimper that can do BNC and someone to show you how to crimp then - or use twist-on BNC connectors, but experts frown on that for professional installs. If you are better with F-type crimps (the screw-in connector used for antennas, cable tv and satellite) then use them and but f-type to BNC adapters. They're a few bucks each but easier to use. You would meausure, run and cut a length of rg59 siamese cable from the dvr to the camera, then at each end you would attach a BNC connector on the big coax cable, then the power connection would be conencted to you power supply next to the DVR, and to the camera on the far end.

For cat5 you would run a cat5 cable in place of the rg59, and you would use one twisted pair (MUST be a pair that is twisted together!) for the video signal - that pair of wires is conencted to a "balun" whuch is a connector that has two screw terminals on one side and a BNC connecter on the other side.

Simple as that. Then you would to TWO or THREE pairs for power (three if running IR) and they connect just like a normal power conenction.

POWER SUPPLY at the DVR is very important. Put a UPS on it and your cameras will all survive a power outage. They are cheap, like $30-40. They plug into a 110v outlet and have a door (looks like an ADT alarm box) . Behind the door there is a row of screw terminals, one pair per camera, + and -. Easy. On the camera side you will either have a pair of screw terminals (follow polarity because cheap cameras proetect themselves by shorting out the terminals if you hook them up backwards - I burned out the pass-thru camera power feature a brand new DVR doing this.). The power supply will have individual circuit breakers so a short on one camera won't affect the others.

Don't get hung on on TVL. At your price range you're going to have to make up for cheap cameras with good placement. Choke points. Put the camera where someone must be close to it. A camera that shows your entire front garden will not provide a good image of someone standing 30' away.

Get the camera close, like these:

This is too far away... About 60'

You want to catch license plates? This ain't CSI, that shit is TOUGH.

Firstly - you HAVE to get THIS CLOSE:

Any further out and you just can't read them at NTSC quality.

Infra-red cannot see PRINTED plates:

You have to have a visible-light backup:

In fact I wouldn't try to catch plates with a regular camera - I use a fast shutter-speed wide dynamic range infra-red camera with a high-powered emitter to tag plates at up to 30mph from 100' - but still only when the car is in the right place (the choke point). That video feed is looped through 3 channels, either with different bright/cont setting to ensure that regardless of light level at least one of the cameras can read the text.

It helps you keep an eye out for the po-po so you can escape through your underground tunnel to the doomsday bunker:

Oh, and watch out for long-legged aliens that will come to eat you.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Scruit

[Ron505]

I really appreciate you taking the time to show me these things scruit. I got your lunch on the next ride.

At the moment, I'm looking to cover my property line which is only about 50'-75' from the house on the side that I'm concerned about. That's why I thought the system claiming the 100' night vision may be the one to go with. I need to get him harrassing us, or messing with our communication lines which are about 75' away from the house. I'm not sure I have much choice in placement since I'm mainly trying to get the property line right now. But the two that aren't pointed that direction will only have about 20' to cover.

Thanks again!

Ron

[Ron505]

Ok, so my procrastinating ass posted this 2 1/2 years ago.....guess what, I had 9 tires slashed Friday night.  I'm purchasing this week.  Any last tips of advice/ deals out there right now?  By the way, I have already purchased motion lights and obnoxious motion alarms.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Ron505

[Strictly Street]

PM MaxPower.

 

^^^^ This

[redkow97]

whats your insurance deductible on the tires?

Not saying a security system isn't a good investment, but tire slashing is kids being fucktards. Unless they are specifically targeting your house, I would be surprised if it happened again...

[myhondas]

I have foscam cameras. They have motion detectors and it emails me with photos of perps. pretty cheap at $89 each. fully controllable via smart phone. Pan and tilt and some have zoom

Edited June 4, 2015 by myhondas

[max power]

Who did you piss off?

Unless you're planning on spending big money, you're not going to get cameras that are will recognize faces at night. All you're going to be able to tell is what they are wearing and whether it's light or dark.