Does anybody know about CCTV systems?

[dave21478]

I would like a CCTV system.

I need a central unit in the building where there is power and internet, with up to 8 cameras mounted outside. The furthest away would be maybe 100 meters or so. running cables to each camera could be very difficult, so some kind of wireless system. Mains power would be available at most of the camera locations, except one which would need to be......I dunno....battery and solar?

It will need to have storage for a rolling 5 days at least from all the cameras and maybe be remotely viewable via internet.

Good image quality is a must....no point if its just some blurry 1980's crimewatch sh1t. Decent night capability too.

Is that asking too much? I dont like the phrase "money is no object" but I would be happy to invest quite a lot into this.

Also; what administrative hoops would I have to jump through? Just warning signs or is it harder?

[woolybanana]

Unwanted visitors or paranoia?

[dave21478]

Its a horse and stable door scenario, but unwanted visitors who think ramming the gates is ok.

[Chancer]

It used to be a major part of my business but my experience ended 12 years ago and most of the things you speak about were but pipe dreams back then, I could see that the Equipment was getting cheaper and cheaper and aimed at the DIY market so decided to get out, one of my better décisions.

 

Some things probably havn't changed, manufacturers will always exaggerate AKA lie about the capability of cameras, I'm sure the chip resolution will be magnitudes better these days but I imagine its still true to say that colour cameras are pretty much useless as soon as dusk falls and that B&W cameras are far better in low light, unless you have good floodlighting then IR capability and IR Spotlights will be needed, the silly little LED's around the camera lens will only light up a face virtually touching the lens like an interphone.

 

Back then a seperate auto-iris lens was needed to cope with any outside use as the lux levels vary from a few lux to 20000 plus, a manual lens can be used Inside a room that has good lighting, maybe all that has changed and its all done in the CCD chip and auto-iris dont even exist, I would value your feedback on stuff like that.

 

Recording has changed massively, all hard drive or memory card based now, but the principles of time lampes and multiplexing still apply for multi camera systems and limited data storage, some cameras only record when they detect motion, others when PIRs are triggered, the first technology may have improved but the latter will never, a PIR will always false trigger in an outside environment, best to have continous recording of all cameras albeit time lapse and multiplexed, the motion detection can be used for bookmarking possible events, most of which will be nothing more than animals or Wind.

 

I'd be interested to hear what you go for and what you think of it because my knowledge is pretty worthless these days other than the principles which dont really change.

 

An advantage of having remote non cabled cameras is that you wont be troubled by ground loop faults.

[dave21478]

An afternoon of clicking around has left me none the wiser.

There are an awful lot of multi camera wireless systems on the market which look like you would get reasonable coverage of a 2up 2down mid terrace house, but the sort of thing I need would appear to be well beyond their scope.

The main stumbling point is the wireless transmission, which they all seem to use your home wifi network. Obviously no use for the distances I need, but I wonder if those wifi extender plug and socket things which send the signal through your mains wiring would work? Thats starting to get a bit complicated with a repeater pair for each camera and I would guess introduce a lot of chances for things to go wrong.

There is surprisingly little information available about more professional level products.

Something interesting, but kinda expensive was a thing I saw from Australia which is a completely stand-alone unit with battery and solar panel, which records a loop onto several SD cards and has a built in 3G phone doodah, so with a sim card inserted will allow remote viewing and update you on movement, number of flagged events, memory and battery status etc. Its designed for monitoring of isolated farm stuff.

But that means a SIM card and the minimum monthly top up is needed for each camera....expensive and way more faff than I want.

Its starting to look like a wired system is going to be needed, which is going to mean digging a lot of trenches!

Alternatively a single-camera stand alone recorder at each location. Since there is mains power available, I could have a camera wired locally to its own recorder (hd or memory card based) running say a 5 day loop. While real time monitoring wouldnt be possible I would be able to review footage later by collecting the memory card and viewing on a computer.

Apparently the local hardware store got turned over recently too.

Its obvious that the newly resident group of gypp.....are we allowed to say gyppos or is that ethnically insensitive? ... anyway, obviously they have nothing to do with any of this and its purely coincidence, right?

[marmite]

[quote user="dave21478"]

Apparently the local hardware store got turned over recently too.

Its obvious that the newly resident group of gypp.....are we allowed to say gyppos or is that ethnically insensitive? ... anyway, obviously they have nothing to do with any of this and its purely coincidence, right?[/quote]

Should be ok if you add " other robbers are available"

We had some neighbours near our holiday home who live in the Paris suburbs who also had a holiday home near us, they got burgled, the robbers sprayed expanded foam in their alarm to to stop it making a noise, their alarm also phoned them at home near Paris saying there was a break in in progress, they phoned the local police immediately then made their way to their house ( a 3hr journey away) when they got there the burglars had departed with their stuff, and the local police had yet to arrive.

Just make sure any cameras are out of reach, mind that then may make them useless.

[woolybanana]

Old fashioned still camera with string attached to the shutter leaver may be just as effective.

[dave21478]

Yeah, its not a Tom and Jerry cartoon, man.

although - I do have a rather beautiful old device that takes six shotgun cartridges and is fired by a tripwire, intended as a bird scarer originally. I guess it would be frowned upon now.

[Chancer]

A Doctor friend (French) has these set up around his hunting lodge, he removes the shot from the cartridge and replaces it with rock salt and its a very effective non lethal (to date) security measure, its been set off a couple of times and one of his colleagues treated the injuries of one of the would be burglars, they were very evasive on how they came to hurt themselves.

 

Word gets around very quick here, I no longer have a parking problem outside my hotel since  started "verbalising" vehicles myself with a scanned copy of the avis de contravention ticket that the gendarmes use when they can be persuaded to do their job.

[ventodue]

Hi Dave,

What do you want to do with the images that these cameras capture?  Intervene yourself?  Or offer them as evidence in an eventual police case?

I ask, because both options are fraught with potential difficulties.  For example, in our residence here, after a few minor infractions committed by members of a certain ethnic minority goup, several members of our conseil syndical knee-jerk reacted into demanding the installation of CCTV.  Once it was pointed out that:

a) The cameras have to be monitored in real time by someone if you want to put a stop to what ever is going on;

b) Their use as evidence in a legal case is not a simple matter (you need to look into this more)

It was decided to install caméras factices instead.  Of course, this was a total waste of money, 'cos those who know recognise tham as fakes and ignore them.  But at least it was a smaller 'Bad Spend'  than the Real Thing ...

Craig

[Théière]

We sub contract this work out to others but record 14 days on the hardrives from 20 cameras and the latest cameras are a big step up in quality.

As to Craig's post we haven't had any issues (UK) in getting prosecutions or compensations payments for damages once the perpetrators are shown the footage by us (we send them a copy sometimes) or hand it to the police who pretty quickly get confessions.

Only complete ******** buy fake cameras.

Chancer, PIR has pretty much been replaced by microwave or gamma detectors.

EDIT: Forgot to add many cameras now feature movement sensing technology via the software so can be recording only when needed.