Outdoor CCTV problem

On Nov 21, 10:30=A0am, Jim wrote:

LOL at the image of holding a cable in one hand, cruising the 'net, with beads of sweat forming.

However, when I used to have all those whiz bang antiviral programs I had MORE sweat beads wandering what they were going to do next to whatever I was working on - even while off line! Plus, the S L O W N E S S . . . .

The concern for antivirus software being installed reminds me of an incident with one of our WinXP systems. [Rarely turned on, rarely used] whcih ran EXTREMELY slowly, sometimes to the point of appearing hung up, especially when starting to connect to the internet. So I went to the WinXP usenet group, asked for help, and someone named, Papa Bear, jumped in and I was given dire warnings about the malware slowing down the XP, so upload to "??" website and someone will look through the morass of software crap Microsoft deems necessary to run. First thing someone did was start tirading about lack of antivirus software, get that installed THEN come back and we can help. Ok installed all kinds of antivirus software, in and around XP running slowly, and went back. Uploaded what was running, waited, and waited, and waited, and still ony kept getting tirades aobut malware slowing down the XP and how MUST protect against that. Offline, the XP was still miring itself down, although no detectable malware, nor viruses. So, months went by, XP still running slowly, and had to put up with people posturing about the impoprtance of anti malware/ viruses. Ok hat in hand, because, XP still running like molassess. In desparation, went to the Win98 usenet group, apologized for being Off Topic, and instantly got three repliess within the hour. which said go to the registry, look for "..." and kill it, then go to the something soemwherelese, and kill it permanently. I did that and ZIP! the XP was fast, except for all the bloated code from the antimalware, so removed all that, cleaned it all out and now the XP acts as fast as it should, a nice slow computer. So my conclusion WinXP is its own malware/virus

Back to Security System costs, buy right and be done with it. Also, I found the best way to do a security system was to ignore everything being hyped, and simply define "what EXACTLY am I trying to do." That way, when the system is assembled, and does what I wanted it to do, I'M DONE! ..and by definition it is a great system, since it does what I want.

So far the 'professional' rules appear to be hardwire, wireless is NOT 100% reliable yet use motion detectors INTENDED for outside use. provide light

I think the base line for a GREAT system is to sit down and figure out the level of false alarms I can stand, and if I could accept a single missed positive Exactly, what type of alarm indicator do I want? Bell, lights, silent alert with quiet recording?

make a list of needs: is detection enough, or do I want to view what caused the detected intrusion? yes

1. go stand and look, pretend you're a camera, what are you trying to see? when - dark, light, into sun? Use digital camera to get a 'flavor' for what a camera sees. then decide camera, lense, distance, field of view, weather the camera will be submitted to, lighting
2. what to do with the screen shots how often 'review' info, amount of storage, type of storage
3. how to view real time/post production, separate monitors, or insert in TV system, etc this function appears to be where most of the whiz bang hype lurks now.

Did I miss anything? Something I should also consider?

do you have a monitored alarm system? If so, you can send pictures to the monitoring center and they will react based on what set it off.

On Nov 22, 10:09=A0am, Robert Macy wrote:

You seem to have the process down pretty good. I guess that's what I do when I evaluate/spec a system but I've never written down the process.

However ............ that all looks good on paper and reads like a report that your boss asked you to write up. You can obtain a large amount of information from that process but interpreting it into practical predictable end results isn't possible without experience in actually doing it . How much light? How much storeage? How much resolution? Can you determine exactly where you can mount the cameras as compared to where you would like to mount them? Where do you position additional lighting and how bright? If the light is only going to come on when there is movement and you have day night cameras you likely will have blank spots in the recording when the light comes on while the camera adjusts likely blanking out what you wanted to see. Then, if you have day night cameras you will still only have a black and white picture at night, as the cameras take time to sense that there's enough light to switch to color. Where does the sun rise and set? ie. Will the sun ever shine directly into a cameras lens? Will car headlights, or your house lights or neighbors lighting ever be a problem causing the camera to blank out due to sudden appearance of light at night or cause the camera irus to close down from a steady source of light, like yours or your neighbors porch light? Problems inherent with some low priced cameras (lens reflections, infrared glare) Wait till you see how much glare an evergreen tree gives you in infra red light conditions) , monitors (poor resolution and color reproduction) and DVR's not high enough frame rate, or ability to have high frame rate on all channels simultaneously or not able to view and record at the same time .... If you are going to be recording during alarm condition only, there's no way you can accurately predict how much disk space you will need. And there's more ...........

As you can see, each time I respond there's more and more and more that you have not and cannot know to consider. I've learned and learned the hard way. If you're going to install a CCTV system, do it right. I will probably turn away more than half the inquires I get about installing CCTV systems. Mainly because people want to do it cheap. There are many companies out there who will do it cheap and the customer is likely happy with what they;ve got ..... because they don't know any better until they see a good system to compare what they have. I spend about a half hour or so telling the potential customer what he's NOT going to get. If they're still with me at the end that, then when I tell them what it's going to cost to do it right ..... another percentage will fall away. I won't provide and install a cheap or minimal system that I have to back. If they want to buy cheap equipment and have me install it .... I'll do that, but they also have to pay me to take it down and reinstall it when it doesn't do what they thought it would or wanted it to do. Get all equipment with all the bells and whistles even if you don't use half of them ...... because you just can't predict what you're going to run into and if you don't have the built in features to handle it, ..... as an expert, that's not something I can afford.

That includes small issues like cable selection. I've been using Cat5e exclusively for cams now. Video baluns are reliable and inexpensive now. Not only do you get the benefit of upgrading to all IP cams in the future easily; plus it's cheaper than Siamese cable & BNC fittings. AND its easier to run since the cable is smaller, conventional security installation tools/drill bits make quick work of fetching & runnning the cables.