I just did a pretty complete investigation and purchase of a new system.
If you buy the cheap systems at Costco et. al. about all you’ll be able to tell is someone was there. Quality sucks so getting a clear face shot is pretty impossible unless the camera is within 10-15 feet of the subject.
I had one of these systems that I ditched the first time it recorded an important event – frustration is high when you’ve bought a system then it turns out its value during an event is minimal believe me.
Here is what I consider to be the bare minimum:
– HD 1080 full color cameras with IR night mode in the 3MB+ range
– 3 Weeks of recording space on hard drive (about a TB per camera) with ability to support up to 16 cameras
– A good software package with motion detection, zoom, and ability to handle up to 16 cameras
– PoE to minimumize wire running
It does fairly well at night and excellent in the daytime. My system can read license plates up to about 30 feet for slow moving or stationary cars.
If you need license plate reading at a longer distance or a speed greater than about 20 MPH, you’ll need a special purpose camera….I am currently studying getting at least one of these.
I’ve mounted my cameras indoors to avoid detection, to avoid vandalism, to minimize running wires, and to avoid water damage. I think this is a great way to go. Be aware of what I gave up to mount inside my windows: camera angles can be limited in some applications (though mine worked out fine), and the IR lights reflect off the glass making the cameras useless at night (I turned off the active IR to avoid the reflect – results are still pretty good). Note that the IR lights only work up to about 25-30 feet anyway, so it was no big loss.
I record *everything* the camera sees because motion detection is only so good. I don’t want the camera to filter what it records via motion detection (MD), I want everything sent to the hard drive so that if something happens, I can review everything. MD at the SW level gives me some clues as to where to look, but if MD didn’t pick it up I still have it recorded and can find it myself. And I have had to do this.
MD can be set off my moving shadows (as the sun moves across the sky), leaves blowing across the ground, trees shaking, birds flying, etc. So the false alarm to event that I care about ratio is about 10 to 1 at certain times of day. (It can be as low as 1 to 1 at other times of day)
Cameras that fit the bill are $300-400 each and the NVR is about $800. Then there are the incidentals (CAT6, wireless router, etc).
Personally, I would avoid the off-brand things because from what I’ve read many times reliability is an issue.
My opinion is that if you don’t go with one of these, expect frustration and repurchase. 🙂
You would be shocked at what I’ve caught on camera in the last 6 months. Theft, vandalism, things we didn’t even know was going on near our property! I thought the neighbors would be creeped out by the cams – no, they’ve actually come over to see if I caught x or y on my hard drive. It has been very helpful.
And let me tell you this: odd, odd things get caught on video between 1 and 4 AM. Very odd indeed.
Finally, life is about to get very difficult for crooks. I’ve noticed that not a week goes by that our local news sources don’t show a clip of what someone recorded with their surveillance cameras. It won’t be long before they will be so common that your every move is logged somewhere by someone from the time you walk out your door until you walk into the next building.
