My brother owns a small deli and he's looking to install a 4 or 5 camera remote surveillance system. He'd like to be able to check in on things via the Internet. The deli already has a DSL connection. I'm the computer guy in the family with pro service/repair experience under my belt. I'd like to help him out, hopefully keeping costs down, and point him in the right direction for a good system that we could install ourselves. Can anyone recommend a good, but not too $$$ remote surveillance system , 5 wired or wireless cams at most? Thanks.
It's been my experience that off-the-shelf stuff sold at Sam's, Frys, and Cosco are usually ripped out at a later date due to dis-satisfaction with the quality and usability of the equipment.
I don't no what your idea of too much $$$ is, but the normal 4 channel DVR I use is $800 wholesale. Then you need cameras, power supply, UPS, monitor, cable, BNC fittings- etc...
You will need to specify what specs are required and supply your definition of "too much $$$" before a reasonable suggestion can be made regarding equipment. What frame rate will the cams record at, what are the storage requirements, what are the camera targets and objectives (distance to target), what are the lighting conditions, is a POS interface desired, do you need to allow room for future expansion... are all questions that should be answered before selecting equipment.
We're trying to get a 4 or 5 channel remote system for under $2500. The inside of the deli has rooms roughly 10'x10', 12'x10', 15'x10', and a camera at the back door where the dumpster is about 20' away. The rooms are lit by regular incandescent lighting. No storage requirement is needed at this time. A POS interface is not required at this time. The only things I would see expanding in the future are the storage and POS interface. I hope that covers it. BTW, thank you for your time and help.
DVR's inputs are sold in multiples of 4 usually, so you'll need an 8 channel DVR for 5 cams. The brand I recommend for a budget conscious customer is Nuvico. It has an embedded Linux OS so you won't need to deal with security issues like you would with a Windows based machine. It comes with free dynamic dns service, which will help when the DSL IP changes. It has support for POS should you decide to add it later, you can also upgrade the HD yourself if need be.
Here is one for $1400
formatting link
Specs are here:
formatting link
The camera selection consists of four major things:
1> housing
2> lens
2> lighting
4> resolution
The housings for cams can be had in bullet, dome, box, and covert (hidden in smoke detectors, clocks, thermostats etc..). If all the cams are going to be inside then the housing will be more of a aesthetic choice more than a functional one.
The lens choice is basically choosing the focal length in millimeters. A wide angle lens is 4mm where a 9mm lens will be a much tighter shot. So you plan your shots ahead of time based on where the cam is to be mounted. For instance, a cam right over the cash register may use a
8mm lens to get a close up of the bills, while a cam in the dining room may have a 4mm lens to get an overview of the whole room. If you want the greatest flexibility I'd recommend buying cams with vari-focal lenses as opposed to fixed, so you can adjust them as needed. Here is a bullet cam with a 3.8~9.5mm Lens:
formatting link
Lighting is very important. Since the fluorescent's are going to be on, that is good. Just don't point the cams right at a light or a window with direct sunlight. If you are only concerned with monitoring the store during operating hours (while the lights are on), a standard camera will suffice. If you want them to 'see' in the dark get 'day/night' cameras. They have a photocell in them that detects low light and turns on IR's then switches to black and white mode. Don't believe any manufacturer when they list an IR range, for instance, the link above lists IR range of 100' -- the useful range is more like half that.
The camera's resoulution is measured in TV lines. The higher the better.
Prices are starting to improve on a lot of pro quality CCTV gear. A reliable
4-channel system can be had for well under $2,000. For example, Speco Technologies makes a model DVR-4CF/120 4-camera, Internet ready DRV that's pretty decent. It comes with a 120 gig hard drive. They retail for around $730. Good quality color cameras can be had for less than $200 apiece. For example, the Nuvico camera you mentioned retails for under $280. They also have a NVCC-HWE49N-D camera with a 4-9mm varifocal lens that sells for less than $175. It's a "bullet" style outdoor camera like the one you spoke of so no housing is required. I've tried a number of Nuvico cameras and they do a good job. Speco has made improvements to their line over the last five or six years -- much better than their old stuff.
Those are retail prices. I got the impression that the OP is in the trade. If so he can get the same for less from his distributor. There are a number of other CCTV manufacturers around that are beginning to give Pelco, Sony and the rest serious competition at lower prices. One of the fringe benefits of this is that the big players are starting to be more flexible about pricing. We're getting Sony, Pelco and several other majors at better prices than before. OTOH, we get a better bang/buck ratio selling Nuvico, Speco and a few other lines.
Thanks guys for responding. I appreciate your time and effort. ASA I get done with this email I'm heading to those sites and checking out the eqpt you mentioned. Thanks again!
I installed a Clover 4 Ch DVR I bought at Sams Club Part of WalMart for
299.00 160Gig HD Remote access, it works perfectly, streams well over a DSL Line you can Pan tilt zoom a camera connected to it. That's my 2 cents it has a slide out removable HD key locked. Dave
emotesurveillancesystem. He'd like to be able to check in on things via
I can provide you with 8 channel Remote Surveillance Systen plus Visual Verification subsystem and 6 CCD cameras with the price under $$ $=2E The video streaming bitrate is around 30~80kpbs for CIF 20FPS. So it is perfect for ADSL net env. If you want to watch the live video \\, pleasecontact with me. Meanwhile, my company is at China, so We can provide you a relative lost price.
I can provide you with 8 channel Remote Surveillance Systen plus Visual Verification subsystem and 6 CCD cameras with the price under $$ $. The video streaming bitrate is around 30~80kpbs for CIF 20FPS. So it is perfect for ADSL net env. If you want to watch the live video \\, pleasecontact with me. Meanwhile, my company is at China, so We can provide you a relative lost price.
Jack
I don't get it. 20 FPS at CIF? WHY? 30~80kpbs now that's is a narrow delta range for IT to live with. I want an English only copy of the installation manual, (and I hope I can get it for a "relative lost price"). I bet that is a gut buster.
Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.