CCTV System

[murdock]

this link might help

http://www.ukcctv.co.uk/dummy.php

[IMHO]

I am fully aware of how IP cameras work and their capabilities. I am running 12 cameras at the moment, monitoring and recording 3 premises at one central point. The major advantage is that recording happens off site. Disadvantage, recognition and frames per second.

I would like to hear more about on hand experience with analogue systems. What is their performance and disadvantages? For one thing, I am under the impression that cameras is cheaper with better visual and frames per second. Obviously recording will be on site, which is a bit of a downer.

[ians]

Many more hours of research later...upgrades to 4 meg cameras and DVR's even tried NVR's...made lots of adjustments to the DVR setup.

A few things i have learnt...no matter how good the camera quality...the "lite" versions are DIY products...bit of a hit and miss.

Trying to capture footage at night...not so great...put a light above the camera and have a motion sensor detect movement to activate a spot light...camera will go back to colour much better pics.

Camera height and angle is also important.

Trying to capture a number plate at night...not impossible if a camera is dedicated for that option...positioned in the right place and settings in the DVR or NVR setup correctly...you can use a 4 meg camera but an older 3 meg camera works better.

Like all industries...there are many specialists in this field...beware.

The most important thing to note when purchasing a CCTV setup...make sure you understand what it is you want to achieve and buy the right equipment.

Make sure you allow for the correct lighting and position...this can make a huge impact on the record quality at night.

Good quality CCTV has become more affordable.

I keep telling my customers...the most important part of installing cameras...is not the cameras and DVRs...it is the quality of the installation...a bad installation will cost a lot more to fix in labour hours than upgrading to higher resolution setup.

I am busy with a job where the installation has to be stripped and redone completely...if the job was dont correctly...all that would have been required...unhook the camera...plug in a new one...unplug all the wires from the DVR and replace the DVR...a couple of grand and the system would have been up and running already...instead we have to strip the entire installation and replace everything...gona cost tens of thousands.