Home security camera setup

requiem1

Hey all,

I recently had all my cars trashed by kids outside my house and it was suggested to me to get a security camera system for the house. I'm kinda confused as to what to get for this. I think i need a wide angled lense to cover the front of the house and infra red is a necessity as the majority of things will probably happen at night:p but i was going to attach it to a computer that i'll build and i need to know specs i.e hard drive space. but more importantly i need to know what are good specs in regards of cameras and the DVR pci cards
If any one has one setup i'd like to know what they think and if its worth it.
thanks

10-10-20

Here are some options...

The DIY route where you get a cheap kit from the likes of Komplett (http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10668) and attach this to a low-spec system with a large hard drive. Not difficult to do at all. Connection to the camera can be wireless or wired. There is usually capture software supplied and this will often do motion detection, but no IR in the bundle. These cameras are often IR sensative anyhow (but some are filtered), so the addition of an IR lamp/spotlight would give you the IR element that you are looking for.

You could also go semi-pro and get this type of package...http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/digital-recorder.htm?gclid=CNiYmp2W2Y0CFQMfEgodjF3BmQ where you have to source the cameras seperately.

After that... Phelan Security Equipment do Panasonic DVR setups...

One thing to note, if you do setup cameras you have to place a sign notifing the public that cameras are in operation. Without this sign, you can't use the evidance against the crims. Also, digital evidance may not be accepted in a prosecution due to lack of tamper protection on digital images.

requiem1

Thanks for that i'm thinking of going semi pro with the setup and i understand that it will probably be useless in court but my main question that i forgot to ask is what is the vision like at night using infra red. My electrician said its quite poor i.e you wouldn't get a good look at their faces. how much hard drive is recommended cause i could get a terabyte for 185 off komplett and then use it as a file server as well but i don't suppose this thing will take up that much space.

Also what fps should i be looking for in terms of decent video capture?:D

10-10-20

IR/night-shots tends to be low quality, and the distances involved in taking the photos make for blurry images. You'd need to be up-close to get anything of use. But, if you are willing to spend enough you can negate this of course.

A 1TB drive will be sufficient for your needs, just think of the streams of data that that could hold. You'll have to decide on how long you want to keep the data for, maybe 2 weeks is enough...?

When you ask about FPS for video, again that depends on what you are trying to achieve. 30fps is too much for security equipment, maybe 1fps is enough for you...? Don't forget that some equipment will get better quality images with lower FPS settings.

requiem1

10-10-20 wrote:

IR/night-shots tends to be low quality, and the distances involved in taking the photos make for blurry images. You'd need to be up-close to get anything of use. But, if you are willing to spend enough you can negate this of course.

A 1TB drive will be sufficient for your needs, just think of the streams of data that that could hold. You'll have to decide on how long you want to keep the data for, maybe 2 weeks is enough...?

When you ask about FPS for video, again that depends on what you are trying to achieve. 30fps is too much for security equipment, maybe 1fps is enough for you...? Don't forget that some equipment will get better quality images with lower FPS settings.

Yeah i definitely think 2 weeks would be enough and i kinda gather that the IR would be crap unless i pay out but what spec should i be looking for in a camera to capture good quality IR? and how much would i be looking to spend?

The only time i ever reference fps is in games and for that its a minimum of 21 so i presume 1fps would be kinda staggered?

10-10-20

I'm not a man for prices, I'm afraid! Best shop around online!

In relation to the FPS, you're not trying to capture a 'video' per-say, all you want is images of the occurances outside your house. Having >5fps is overkill as you don't need all that extra detail. You want to be able to photograph events occuring, and not have a high-speed, overly detailed quality video.
Maybe others will disagree, but I don't see what more than 5fps is going to add other than to your storage requirements!

requiem1

i'll have a look around and see whats on offer price wise maybe i'll see if ebay has anything...:)

galwaytt

I bought a set up from www.rfconcepts.co.uk in Belfast. Have a look - easy to deal with.....

KoolKid

You are better off doing this properly. A decent quality camera. About 480 - 520 tvl. A DVR recorder with a CD or DVD rewriter.
Any images wrote to or from an avi file on a PC is not admissable as evidence,