Some basic CCTV advice needed

Hitman Actual

Hi, hopefully this is the right forum for these sort of Q's. I've just a couple of basic CCTV-related questions, which I hope someone has experience of. I'm helping a friend source the main components (camera's and DVR(s)) for a 3x4 camera job (the cabling is already in place). So basically three sites, 4 camera's in each site. So:

1. Any recommendations for good Irish/UK suppliers (either online or wholesale/retail)?

2. For night-time viewing/recording, which camera is better: standard IR colour cameras, or low-light 0.003lux BW models? (The 3rd camera in this link is the low-light BW, and the standard IR is the fourth camera.)

3. Any recommendations for a good quality/value 16-channel DVR? Or would it be cheaper to go down the route of buying a separate 4-ch DVR and monitor for each of the three sites?

Stoner

Lenny,

I've just been looking at a nice system , 4 channel 200 FPS from Northwood security in Dublin. I've noticed that a lot of the on line stuff is only 30 FPS per camera, where as 50 would be a lot better.

Places like Sharp Security, Gallant, 24/7 security etc have good systems. There are also some router boxes that can take 4 cameras and connect to a network over RJ45 leads, you would log in to monitor them, no PC or monitor on site required, stuff like this is on ebay for about 200 euro, the box I mentioned above is about 2500 euro ex vat and (you should do better dealing direct with the guys) note there are no cameras included in these prices.

Sorry I dont know which IR camera is best.

Jnealon

I can't advise on the cameras as I haven't seen the site but the cameras you linked to are fairly low spec.
Stoner mentioned northgate but I think he meant Northwood and as far as I know they are trade only.
IGT in lucan have a good selection of cameras and some nice dvrs but ring first to confirm they have what you want.
I get some dvrs and cameras from the uk from the likes of cop, dynamic and system Q. The latter does a dvr called the DVR365 which I would recommend and dynamic have some really nice domes called the dtv-vld

Hitman Actual

Thanks for the replies lads, much appreciated. I've just one more question: When you say that the cameras listed are low spec, what should I be looking for as regards higher spec? Number of pixels, TVL's, etc?? Is there any dominant factor I should look for?

The thing is, I'm not sure if I need really high spec cameras for one of the sites (a cow-calving building on a farm). What do you think?

Apologies if these questions are noobish; I worked in security installation way back in the early 90's, but things have changed since then!

Edit: One more thing: FPS is related to the number of camera's connected to the DVR, yes? So, for example, two camera's connected to a 100fps DVR gives 50fps per camera? Is this correct?

Saruman

I just purchased the following.
http://www.cctvdirect.co.uk/PRO+CCTV+Kits/Bronze+Enforcer+-+4+X+IR+Camera+Pro+CCTV+Kit.html
Remote view over the interweb etc.
I had been looking since before christmas and this was what i decided on, i was going to go for POE camera's thinking it easier for power etc but i just reaslised today that these standard camera's, while they do require a Power supply, actually get the power over the same cable as the video so it will not be as messy as i thought.

Total cost: £451.21 / €603

In conjunction with my HKC alarm with text dialler whenever that gets fit , i will have total peace of mind.

Hitman Actual

Thanks for the link, Saruman. Did you have any issues with delivery with this company?

Saruman

No, i only ordered just before i posted over the weekend. I got an email this morning saying the order was being processed.

Saruman

I have just written a review here.


Excellent service

harbottle

Just a point here. You won't get an IR colour camera. Colour Camera's don't work at all well with infrared lighting. You can get a dual chip one which switches from colour to monochrome at night and then the IR's will kick in. The lower the lux level though the better for night vision.

are you wanting to view all the sites from one location ie, remote monitoring over ADSL.

I am in the industry so if I can be any help then I will do my best

Saruman

Thanks harbottle but im aware of all this.
It will be remote monitoring over ADSL which works a treat, if you read the review you will see i set that up in about 15 mins. I had set up the DyDNS account previous in anticipation.
I have helped installers of these types of systems (better than mine im sure) as they tend to not know anything about networking and firewalls. They install the stuff, and I as the person looking after the IT on that site sorts out the networking so it works over the internet.