Recomendations for CCTV kit?

[Matty F]

I think wired is better. You should consider using the motion detection feature of the capture card, in which case you don't want radio interference to trigger a whole lot of useless recordings.

I have seven cameras, with three of them detecting motion. I've found that the cameras with a whole lot of glowing red lights are almost useless. People can see them too easily (and will smash or steal them) and the light is inadequate. You are better to have 150 watt sensor lights on your property and use cheap video cameras with no lights on them. All you need is one camera with motion detection, then you can look at the other cameras for evidence. You don't have time to watch all the recordings even at fast forward. I recommend lots of hidden cameras. I'm waiting for a guy to come back for a thrd time to steal copper downpipes. There's a new camera two metres away from the downpipe. I (and the police) already have his rego number.

[Adam Aglionby]

Concur, it washes out number plates on axis for exaple.

People can see them too easily (and will smash or

Get them high or vene a housing with a red ring in it

and the light is inadequate. You are better to have 150

Interstingly 120W is the new 150W in small halogen floods, totally agree, cams dont actually need much light but 500W can cause them to iris down missing the in the dark action.

on your property and use cheap video cameras with

Other method is to use PIR detector to DVR/PC alarm inputs , Cat5 Baluns with audio jack if not using audio in that channle, have handy connectorised pair and 12V available from cam supply. PIR detector dosen`t have to be beside cam. Cat5 the wonder multirole all terrain cable ;-)

You don't have time to watch all the

Give them something to look at/aim for and something that watches them watching waht they think is you, cams are small and cheap, sometimes hidden in plain sight is good.

Have a PIR tiggered gate guardian cam that alerts me to look at other footage if required.

The temptation to resist really is to not start to lay traps, it breeds smarter mice...

Looked at the cost as another insurance policy but with a cover lifespan of a few years.

But then for for the dumb rodent 3rd strike will hopefully see him out, video going up on youtube ? ;-)

Copper downpipes, must look nice , whats the advantage?

Cheers dam

[Matty F]

Corrosion free and stronger than plastic. And in keeping with a house covered in marble tiles from Italy, and a copper roof.

[JimK]

some rather obvious "vested interests" in that link.. plus references to "video recorders" and video stored on PCs being "inadmissable evidence" but of course no explanations ??.....seems somewhat out of touch ?

JimK

[JTM]

Things have improved, but when cameras were fisrt used in football grounds, the B/W pics were far better for ID purposes than the colour. Colour was OK for, well, colour of clothing, but for features and sharpness of image B?W was best. (20 yrs ago FWIW)

John

[ARWadsworth]

I do not want or need 32 channels.

What would you record the images with if using an IP camera? It is the playback quality of the recordings that is important when you need to play something back.

Adam

[tony sayer]

Any large CCTV system these days will have hard disk recorders in it. Can't remember the time I last saw a VCR in such a location..

Course most anything on the disk can be put on a CD or if its not that big e-mailed or FTP'd even...

[Tim Watts]

Computer. Disadvantage: is the computer needs to be running 24/7. Advantage: computer (or a backup) could be in someone else's house streaming up the DSL so the thieves cannot nick it to destroy the evidence of their arrival.

Yes. It takes a reasonably decent IP camera to get a good still image across all light levels from full sun to security light/IR.

It takes an even better (ie expensive) one to manage that in video mode.

However, I've had very good results doing still image capture from an Axis camera (several in fact). The camera was motorised with optical zoom, so I was able to drive it to one of 8 preset positions, grab a JPG (and timestamp it) then instruct it to move to the next preset. We managed timelapse at one frame-position per 40 seconds (the camera needed 5 seconds to settle after moving) and the camera was 600 quid, but it was effectively 8 cameras.

The image quality was excellent even in the notional dark, as we found when thieves turned up to nick some Apple Macs.

If you got a camera of similar optical quality without the zoom/pan it should be a lot cheaper and you'd be able to timelapse at any sensible rate, upto probably 1-2 frames /sec.

One advantage if you can check the stuff remotely.

[The Medway Handyman]

Any pickys?

[pete]

It's still true today that webcams interpolate colour images as they use a matrix of camera elememts, each sensitive to a particular colour. They're usually grouped in 4's (2x2) so the resolution for shapes is less than the number of pixels the camera has. The good news is that for some webcams, it's possible to reprogram the firmware and get the "raw" pixel images, rather than the interpolated, colour processed picture. Amateur astronomers have developed some sophisticated techniques that will either allow you to get native outputs as seen by the imager, (or will "brick" your camera if you're unlucky, don't follow the precise instructions or try it with the wrong camera, O/S or options). Do a quick google for webcam and raw to see what's possible. They also have written sofwtare that can "stack" images to improve low-light sensitivity and do some neat image processing, too.

[Adrian C]

OK, thanks all.

I'm going shopping for camera and audio modules with things to hide them in like bird nesting boxes etc..., as I don't want to freak out other neighbours down this road who may judge us as paranoid, and attract other theiving idiots who may think we have won the lottery or something.

Also as the problem neighbour has a 'tit-for-tat' response for everything, we don't want things to escalate such that doing something worse out of camera becomes his next play. I'll have to be damm careful when installing these so he doesn't notice what I'm up to :-(

I've previously bagged a security PVR recorder from long ago on freecycle, and upto now have completely forgotton about it (as ye do when junk accumulates)....

It will do for a start.

[critcher]

yes there is in common law

[Adrian C]

IANAL but,

[dennis]

Because they are independent of the recorder. They are available in HD without having to spend on a new HD recorder. They are easy to monitor and control from a remote location. You can get them with motion detect and they will email pictures to you so you don't need a recorder at all.

[Andy Champ]

Luckily someone does.

"He fast-forwarded the recording, looking out for evidence of vandalism or petty crime. Instead, he found himself witnessing cold-blooded murder."

Andy

[The Natural Philosopher]

So did he feed the bodies to the crocodile?

[tony sayer]

In article , dennis@home scribeth thus

Thats meaningless depends on what your recorder will accept..

So, aren't ordinary cameras?..

So are a lot of other cameras..

That could be a lot of e-mails..

So no concern for the things that make a quality pix like the lens etc?.

And do they not seem more expensive than ordinary cameras for much the same spec?.?.

[Matty F]

's not my house by the way!

[dennis]

Its not meaningless, it is as stated they are independent of the recorder, you do not need a recorder to use them to record images or to view them.

Its not a function of the camera its a function of the recorder, so yes if you have the right recorder, no if you don't.

I know of no analogue cameras that do motion detection. I know of recorders that do motion detection.

At least they are stored offsite (usually).

You can buy cr@p cctv cameras and cr@p recorders, the same is true of IP cameras.

I think you will find they cost a similar amount for similar capability.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Adrian C saying something like:

Years ago I got a cheapy 4-input cctv pci card, a couple of cameras, and fitted them all to an old pc as recording device. I found the supplied software was next to useless and bought ActiveWebCam - which is cheap and worthwhile and will motion-detect, notify you via LAN or internet and so on and so forth. AWC is very variable, allowing you to set it up just the way you like and it will work with nearly any camera type you throw at it.