Home CCTV kits

[jaynana]

more on this subject

was almost about to make up my mind.. and now this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPDrE_NywHE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3JOWOTlG1k

quality is worlds apart!

[X5Sport]

Option 1 only records at 5fps per cam at 1080p, 12fps at 720p!  It looks great on YouTube until you read the spec.

I think the video in the second one is at 5fps so you can see what it looks like.

75ohm coax cannot deliver full 'Progressive' scan over domestic lengths.  You need Gigabit Ethernet with Cat6 cables.  His comment about network 'lag' is right, but you run a second network carrying only CCTV traffic and that solves that issue - of course you now need a router that can control two LANs (or more) which adds to the bill, thought not massively.

To give you an idea of the issue with HD SDI, I have a broadcast standard HD shoulder camera and if running uncompressed 1080P @ full rate SDI video it's output is at over 1.5Gbps.  That needs short, high quality cables and some serious computing power and storage to handle, hence having a 12TB server on tap, and I don't feed the camera directly to the server, I use tape.  Broadcast studios might use full rate HD SDI, but no one else needs it, or can afford it.  Those in the industry will have seen the Storage Area Networks used to record programmes, and they come in 8ft cabinets full of hard drives!!

H264 compression drops that to about 25MB/s which is around 700Mbps if memory serves (still running @ 25fps Progressive) but that still burns 10-12GB of hard drive capacity per hour.  Multiply that by 4 cameras and you can see why they drop the frame rate.  You don't get many days at 25fps out of a 1TB HDD if you're burning capacity at 48GB per hour, every hour!  And it's why for HD IP you really need another network alongside your Internet one.

HD SDI is the way to go if you are happy to lose frame rate.

Richard

[535dboy]

Really don't think I'd be discussing my security arrangements over a public forum!

[jaynana]

True and we have been careful of that, the more confi stuff has been kept shall we say 'outside the public eye'

Thanks R for that, I'm slowly digesting that info yet.. In a way slow fps like 16fps with much clearer images of scumbags is better than 25fps with unrecognizable scumbags. Storage is still a show stopper! Grr!!

[squeaky2]

[quote="535dboy"]
Really don't think I'd be discussing my security arrangements over a public forum!
[/quote]

Do people actually steal Audi's? 

I have a small front garden which we paved over for the motorbikes.  I have 3 cameras covering the front door, garden and front gate all connected to a swann hdr recorder in the loft.  This is connected via the network but at the time i also used the video out to connect into a rf modulator so that i can watch the cctv on any tv in the house.

Fortunately have only ever used it once when a friends push bike was stolen from the front garden but i think it does work as a reasonable deterent to casual thefts

[jaynana]

one of my mates had an experience. had a TT and A4 parked serially, TT in front. the scumbags pushed the A4 to the street and drove away in teh TT ) oh and of course broke in to the house first to get the keys!

only got to know when the neighbors called to ask 'why is your car parked across the street blocking the whole road?'  )

he now has CCTV and upgraded one car to an RS4... (hmm does that give a hint..)

what are NVRs btw? is that what is called IP cams?

Richard, to your point below re. data load, i'm guessing the router in that clip must be a gigabit router? that still doesn't resolve the need for a dual network router you've mentioned below though..

[Simond S]

I have a swann system.  I can look at the cameras on either ipad or iphone which is convenient.

Last year I had a house sitter invite some friends over for a garden party. Denied all knowledge of it till I let her watch the recording of them leaving.

I only have four cameras. The kit ones were pretty poor at night vision but I bought some small dome cameras for about £20 each that work much better. A little light goes a long way to helping as well.

In hindsight I should have bought the 8 camera system, but then it may be  a case of always wanting more. I also should have pulled all the cables through on initial install, not put two cameras up then decided to go for four. That more than doubled the workload.

[535dboy]

RS4s were one of the most stolen cars recently and still some going missing now and RS5s

Not a lot can stop them!