CCTV purchase

jamesd

I am about to order this cctv kit for my home, Can someone with cctv knowledge have a look at the spec on it and see if it's ok kit?

It's working out at nearly €1500 (inc vat and postage)with rf modulator,infa red remote extender,network balumns and the 500GB hard drive.

http://www.cctvdirect.co.uk/products/Gold-Protector-8-Camera-Professional-CCTV-Kit.html

The cameras I am going to go for are:
http://www.cctvdirect.co.uk/products/Vandal-Proof-Dome-Camera.html

I need to use 3 cameras at the front of my house, one each side, 1 on the back on the house all of which will be screwed to the soffet and then 2 on the garage via cat5e and 1 will be mounted on the wall so i will want to to be able to point down and outwards.

Thanks for your help
James

Cheeble

It's not really possible to evaluate kit without knowing what you want it for.

What's its purpose?
Why do you want it?
What do you want it to do?
What are you trying to monitor, under what conditions?

Cheeble-eers

jamesd

What's its purpose?
Home Security - Need to be able to see outside the home at night for security- If the good lady hears a noise we can then view the live cameras on the tv

Why do you want it? For security reasons

What do you want it to do? Be viewable online via the web, viewable live on the tv in the house. Want to be able to record around the home when we are not home incase of any incidents.

What are you trying to monitor, under what conditions?
Monitoring the house/garage
Conditions: At night the front, 1side of the house and 1 camera on the garage will have no light.
The back of the house,2nd camera on the garage will be lit with a light that is on when dark.

KoolKid

The cameras seem decent enough quality (520TVL) But it doesnt state what lux level they operate down to. An important factor if you want to see them at night time.
You are not planning on sitting this under your TV with your DVD etc are you??

jamesd

koolkid wrote: »

The cameras seem decent enough quality (520TVL) But it doesnt state what lux level they operate down to. An important factor if you want to see them at night time.
You are not planning on sitting this under your TV with your DVD etc are you??

No i will put into into a lockable steel box with a cooling fan in a hidden location and view it over the lan.
I rang them there and the lady in Sales told me 0.01 Lux - Does that sound good?

KoolKid

Thats good!!
You would be amazed ho many people put it with the DVD in the sitting room
.01 lux is good. If you really want to see in the dark you should look for 0.0001
But yes it seems like a good spec for the cameras for what you are paying.

jamesd

Thanks for your advise.

Cheeble

The cameras' low light performance is good because of the IR LEDs (in other words, it's not good, but they light up the scene to compensate).

I'd say that the description, "professional grade CCTV" is an exaggeration. It's a budget system designed for exactly the use you're proposing, but be realistic in your expectations. You will be able to see that there is somebody moving about outside, but don't expect to be able to recognise them, and don't expect the cops to be interested in the video because it won't be anywhere near evidence quality.

Did you price for IP cameras? I've been out of the industry for a little while, so I'm out of touch with the latest offers. You could save a lot of cabling by using wireless units.

Cheeble-eers

jamesd

I didnt price IP camera's at all, I just priced a local electrical supplier and they were doing 4 cameras and a 250 GB dvr for €1000

The camera s they were selling are in the below link
http://www.icrealtime.ie/index.php?Cat=Security%20Cameras&CatID=Dome%20Cameras&infoProduct=more&infoID=132&subcategories=&subcategoriesSwitch=&PHPSESSID=07f96d2a52400d8106a02ae1f6d4d022

Shimme

Hi,

I just purchased an 8ch system 1TB disk, Network, 4 x Day/Night cameras, 2 x 10m, 1 x 30m, 1 x 50m cables all for €495.
Tested one of them last night and although it won't provide crystal clear images. Although the images are ok, for this price it is a deterrent which in most cases is all that is required.

Shimme...

KoolKid

If it a detererent you looking for you can buy camera houring for €50-€100
Cameras are to catch the scumbags, and for that you need good quality imaging with proof that the images have not been altered.
Anything else is useless.

Carlow52

koolkid wrote: »

If it a detererent you looking for you can buy camera houring for €50-€100
Cameras are to catch the scumbags, and for that you need good quality imaging with proof that the images have not been altered.
Anything else is useless.

Just wondering how is the non alteration proved?
Thanks

KoolKid

Basically the recorded images have like a water mark.
This must be present troughout.
All other can technically be rendered unadmissible in court.
Something these DIY suppliers fail to mention.

DublinDilbert

koolkid wrote: »

Basically the recorded images have like a water mark.
This must be present troughout.
All other can technically be rendered unadmissible in court.
Something these DIY suppliers fail to mention.

Each frame has an incrementing stamp (number) that never repeats or resets on power off. You see this in the "police caught on tape shows", its the number that increments up really quickly on the video.

I read some where that Motion JPEG is used to store the video digitally, as each frame is individually stored as a JPEG image, as opposed to MPEG where only every x frames is actually stored.

Shimme

Hope you live in an area where the Gardai give a crap! Yeah, Neither do I...

As for being admissible in Court I can guarantee that the Travelling Folks lawyer (no doubt on a retainer) will get them off on a technicality. Too many Barrack Room lawyers on this thread...

Spending that amount of money on CCTV for your home then you must have a lot to protect plus be fairly well off.

Having been a policeman for 14 years, homes that had dummy cameras and other noticeable security measures (security lights, alarms etc) were left well alone as there are many properties with nothing to deter burglars. Unfortunately the criminals can identify the dummy ones easily now so they’re almost pointless.

All in all go with what you can afford and what makes you feel secure. As for advice on hardware – go and see it or equivalent equipment for yourself. Ask if they can give you a link to see it over the web if you can't visit.

Good Luck...

major bill

seems a good offer ive fitted many of those cameras in a lot of commercial buildings and would recommend them to anyone, not so much vandal proof though.

KoolKid

Shimme wrote: »

As for being admissible in Court I can guarantee that the Travelling Folks lawyer (no doubt on a retainer) will get them off on a technicality

Exaclty. & using cheap DVRs is exactly the tecnicality they will be looking for.

bertie1

I'm in East Cork in a rural area . There have been robberies of horseboxes , chickens with their houses and everything else you can think of around here lately . The cameras will get photos of the people entering & leaving your property. Try & get a 30 day recordable DVD if you can a lot are only 7 days , ( not much help if you go on 2 weeks holidays)

They are a good deterant & you can check who called when you are out during the day. Usually not so good at night you can see a person but they need to be right under it to make them out.

KoolKid

There is no such thing as a 30 day recordable DVD.
Who these days is going to be recording to DVD.
Thats like going bact to using VHS. Except you can only use the tape once.
No logis in that. What you want is a HDD DVr for a single camera 250GB for multiple cameras minimum 500gb.
30 day duration is optained by a combination of image quality & IPSPC.

Mazotasan

I am not really familiar with the DVR but from experience the best way of checking them is to look at the 'playback' or 'recorded' footage...sometimes its really poor quality. When it comes to dvr's you do really end up getting what you pay for. Also you will lose some picture quality viewing through the web or over a phone...sometimes its painfully slow (refresh rate)

With the cameras...they're a decent entry level camera. During the day the picture is quite good but does fall away at night time. Two other points on the cameras are 1. At night time the IRs will attract insects and spiders etc due to the heat so they will need regular cleaning (spider webs). 2. Due to their design they are slightly more affected by rain (in terms of picture).

For some peace of mind when your in the house it will do fine. When you're away and god forbid some one did break in even with the best of cctv its still difficult to get the 'redhanded' footage. 9 times out of 10 cctv will confirm number of intruders, clothing, build, what time they entered and what time they left and possibly any large items they've taken. Best of luck with it and let us know how it goes.

jamesd

I have my cctv kit fitted and working, quality of good except for number plate reading which is always blurred.
I read a thread here: http://www.cctvforum.com/post-98603.html which goes on about 4CIF and CIF modes and DE-INTERLACE mode.

I think my system is currently in 4CIF mode, can anyone explain more on these modes to me?

jamesd

Bump -anyone?

KoolKid

A little more information may help.
Where are you trying to get reg numbers from?
To do this correctly you need a dedicated camera zoomed into the reg plate at a given location. If the camera is a distence away the lens simply may not be up to it.

jamesd

Here's the camera Spec
520 TVL
Long range 36 LED IR module offering 20 -25M Illumination in low light
Lens: 4-9mm manual lens that can be adjusted on the front of the camera to change the focal length from a wide to a narrow view.

I have it mounted on the house's facia aiming at a gate that is 15m away, I am hoping that if a car came in the gate and stopped that i could then read the plate, I have tried moving the to 10metres away from the camera and everything else is crystal clear except the plates which seem blurred,I have used the digial zoom but as always digial zooms seen to be crap.

KoolKid

I would look for 8-15 mm lens

Mazotasan

At say 20m you would need a lens somewhere between 30mm and 60mm to read a numberplate under good light conditions. There are lens calculators on the web if you google them. those cams are really only for general monitoring.

KoolKid

Correct , But From the facia would hardly be 20m.

jamesd

Could i change one of my camera's then to a camera that would be suitable for number plate reading? - the cabling from the dvr is a standard bnc connector or would the ablity of the camera be hampered by my dvr?

KoolKid

Denending on the camera it may be possible to just change the lens.