Luan Pra bang

Looking to install some cctv connected to a hard drive does anyone have any experience of doing this themselves. I want twelve cameras and most cards seem to only take four inputs so does that mean I would need 3 cctv cards plugged into a computer. I would also like to know about how much memory each camera would require for a 24 hour period and which software is the best to use. I was also looking in to putting the footage on the web so I can check from home what is happening. Has anyone tried this and how well does it work. There are loads of cameras and systems on ebay but seems very hard to tell the difference between them unless you have them working to look at the picture quality yourself. I would also like some sound if possible but only to be a nosey bugger and eavesdrop on staff but I think this would be against the law ?

GC8

Twelve feeds? If youre sure that you really need this many then perhaps you should consider a single DVR card with a number of multiplexors (screen split into four, this is ideal when you consider the lower resolution of the majority of cameras). By memory I assume that you mean fixed disk space? This will depend totally on the compression that you use.

Luan Pra bang

nedd 10/11 so might as well have a spare. I want good quality images but really depends on cost. I have a PC that can be dedicated just for this and a server for the internet thing but the PC will need a new hard drive or two. I want to save cash but cameras range from .99p up to over £100 pounds so its hard to select the right ones for the application. MOst cards come with software already but I don't know how good the software is likely to be.

Johnny E

I buy my gear from FVS

Fineplan video service.Good external day/night cameras £60..
A decent multiplexer with built in harddrive and cd rewriter about £500
this will have 16 inputs on it.
Remember the bigger the hard drive the better.............

FVS you might be able to find them on the net.......

TheBigMan!!

http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/digital_surveillance.htm

Geovision system is what you want. Can have up to 16 or 32 inputs IIRC.
Great system. Got it myself.

TheBigMan!!

PS Use the Geovision system on a 2.5G AMD Athlon system, with 160Gb hard drive. Put it all in a Shuttle case to make it compact, and then shoved it in the loft.

16 simultaneous views on screen at once. Saves video at 640x480 with mpeg compression. Higher quality than your bog standard VCR, so good enough for most security apps.

No problems with 16 inputs. 2.5G Athlon is hardly state of the art, so whoever said you need fast PCs, massive memory, 3 x PCI etc, isn't quite right.

RfConcepts have good customer service, so worth phoning them to tailor your requirements.

TheBigMan!!

PPS Uses 480 line cameras on mine - look for Sony devices - around £100-150 per camera, but the quality is top notch. Work at 0 lux, and switch automatically to b&w at very low light levels - have built in IR illumination too.

Johnny E

Just had a quick look at this site looks interesting

Luan Pra bang

I love what you can find out here
cheers

TheBigMan!!

FYI, the Geovision system comes as std with web server software. I can view live footage over the web, look at archived footage over the web, and control stuff over the web (if you have pan & tilt cameras etc, you can actively move them from a remote site etc). Remote access is easy, and works a treat.

Geovision also has sound inputs, and can trigger emails/SMS/phone calls to you on either movement and/or sound triggers etc.

It also has optional motion sensitivity - so it's not recording footage that is static - works a treat. You can even set it up to use a buffer so that if it detects motion, it also records the, say, 10 frames that went before the motion began....useful as you don't want your motion detection too sensitive, but that means sometimes you miss a few frames of useful info.
Using a 160Gb hard drive with 10-11 cameras, you'd probably get a few weeks of footage onto the drive before it started recycling space (yes, the software is intelligent enough to do that too).

It can also be configured to tie in with your tills etc, and display on-screen the transactions going through on top of the video - allows you to clarify any funny goings on if you suspect till issues!!

Would have thought it'd be fine to video/record staff so long as you tell them they are being recorded and/or put signs up.