Security Systems

[svelte]

[quote=doofrat][quote=svelte]
And let me tell you this: odd, odd things get caught on video between 1 and 4 AM. Very odd indeed.

[/quote]
Do elaborate please :)[/quote]

We have a very pretty teen female living nearby.

This attracts teen males who seem to be doing the stray cat strut howling at the moon in various ways, much to her parent’s frustration. They think the area around my house is as close as they can get without setting off her parent alarm. They have no clue their every move is now recorded. And young males do such stupid things. I remember, I was one and would take back a few of the things I did. 🙂

Many coyotes, rabbits, etc. on video.

Strange drivers.

People taking way past midnight strolls.

[spdrun]

People taking way past midnight strolls.

I get the other things, but walking after midnight is weird now? (!)

[joec]

[quote=svelte]
Personally, I would avoid the off-brand things because from what I’ve read many times reliability is an issue.

Two companies that have first-rate products are:

http://www.axis.com/

http://www2.acti.com/corpweb/home/index.aspx
[/quote]

Thanks for the in depth information. I have an Axis analog to IP converter currently, but my analog camera has been offline unfortunately. Are you using H.264 to save all the video?

My only gripe in building a very robust solution as you posted is pretty expensive. I may use it for a business warehouse, but am hesitant with the home due to cost (upwards of probably 4k or much more)…

Do you also have a home security system? I was thinking of building my own with the parts you can buy off the shelf now and setup my own wireless notification system (to prevent cut phone lines) instead of having some monthly monitoring fee. Watching too many movies makes me think the monitoring company can do an “inside” job if they wanted and I didn’t want to have them call the cops for false alarms (nor pay the monthly fee of course). Do you have any recommendations if you looked into that as well?

When funds permit, I may do like a hybrid system where some camera’s are higher rez (maybe outside where they can get car license plates) and lower cheaper ones inside…

[svelte]

[quote=spdrun]

People taking way past midnight strolls.

I get the other things, but walking after midnight is weird now? (!)[/quote]

It depends upon where you do it and I won’t get more specific than that. 🙂

[svelte]

[quote=joec]
Thanks for the in depth information. I have an Axis analog to IP converter currently, but my analog camera has been offline unfortunately. Are you using H.264 to save all the video?
[/quote]

yes.

[quote=joec]
My only gripe in building a very robust solution as you posted is pretty expensive. I may use it for a business warehouse, but am hesitant with the home due to cost (upwards of probably 4k or much more)…
[/quote]

It depends on how many cameras you get. If you get a nice NVR and just a few cameras, you can stay under $2K. Add more cameras as budget allows. The advantage of this methodology is that you can determine whether you like a particular camera at minimal cost before doing the full monty on a boatload of cameras.

One word of caution: NVRs seem to be very sensitive on which cameras they work with. Even though most cameras adhere to stds such as H.264, there seems to be enough variation in implementation that buying cameras of one brand and a NVR of another may cause you heartburn. I ran into this problem.

[quote=joec]
Do you also have a home security system? I was thinking of building my own with the parts you can buy off the shelf now and setup my own wireless notification system (to prevent cut phone lines) instead of having some monthly monitoring fee. Watching too many movies makes me think the monitoring company can do an “inside” job if they wanted and I didn’t want to have them call the cops for false alarms (nor pay the monthly fee of course). Do you have any recommendations if you looked into that as well?
[/quote]

My security system is much older and totally separate from my surveillance system. I can really offer no insight there, sorry!

[spdrun]

NVRs seem to be very sensitive on which cameras they work with. Even though most cameras adhere to stds such as H.264, there seems to be enough variation in implementation that buying cameras of one brand and a NVR of another may cause you heartburn. I ran into this problem.

Software security recording programs seem to be much less sensitive to camera type. And with general-purpose hardware being pretty cheap, there’s really no good reason not to use a software solution.

[svelte]

[quote=spdrun]

NVRs seem to be very sensitive on which cameras they work with. Even though most cameras adhere to stds such as H.264, there seems to be enough variation in implementation that buying cameras of one brand and a NVR of another may cause you heartburn. I ran into this problem.

Software security recording programs seem to be much less sensitive to camera type. And with general-purpose hardware being pretty cheap, there’s really no good reason not to use a software solution.[/quote]

The reason I did it was to get Linux and high enough performance to support 16 cameras. I didn’t want to run MacOS or Windows for performance, reliability and security reasons.

Your mileage may vary.

[svelte]

Also, a great site to evaluate camera choices that I used a great deal:

http://www.networkcameracritic.com

I am in no way associated with the man or his site. He doesn’t even know I exist. 🙂

[spdrun]

The reason I did it was to get Linux and high enough performance to support 16 cameras.

Software security implementations for Linux also exist. BTW – lowering frame rate can do a lot for performance if it’s an issue. There’s really no reason to be recording at 30 fps unless you’re dealing with burglars who can move at superhuman speeds.

[svelte]

[quote=spdrun]

The reason I did it was to get Linux and high enough performance to support 16 cameras.

Software security implementations for Linux also exist. BTW – lowering frame rate can do a lot for performance if it’s an issue. There’s really no reason to be recording at 30 fps unless you’re dealing with burglars who can move at superhuman speeds.[/quote]

You obviously have not watched video of cars moving down the street at speeds between 20 and 35 MPH.

[spdrun]

Here are some examples of framerate (not my site)…
http://www.mistralsolutions.com/hs-downloads/tech-briefs/dec11-article2.html

10-15 fps is probably OK outdoors on a camera facing the street. You don’t have to run all cameras at the same framerate, BTW.

It actually depends more on how far the camera is from the road. Go further, you can get away with a lower framerate since a moving object is in the image for a longer time.

Filming out of your window = lower FPS.
Camera on your mailbox post = higher FPS.

But running everything at 30 is overkill IMHO.

[svelte]

[quote=spdrun]http://www.mistralsolutions.com/hs-downloads/tech-briefs/dec11-article2.html

10-15 fps is probably OK outdoors on a camera facing the street. You don’t have to run all cameras at the same framerate, BTW.

It actually depends more on how far the camera is from the road. Go further, you can get away with a lower framerate since a moving object is in the image for a longer time.[/quote]

Absolutely, there are a lot of variables and many ways to go.

The solution you propose will work for many people, especially those who aren’t interested in tracking something that moves faster than 10 MPH.

But if you want to get a good shot at someone who is running or a car that is fleeing quickly, you had better give consideration to higher quality cameras that can do faster frame rates.

As I said before, if you just wanna see a blob move through a room or down a sidewalk, go get a Costco solution. If you want more, you should either evaluate a demo system first or plan on buying a lil more than you think you need – just so you don’t end up with a system that won’t do what you want it to do (which may change over time).

And next time you grab a snap from one of those systems you install…have someone run across the field of view and see how good a frame snap you can get of that person. I think you’ll see my point.

[svelte]

[quote=spdrun]Here are some examples of framerate (not my site)…
http://www.mistralsolutions.com/hs-downloads/tech-briefs/dec11-article2.html

10-15 fps is probably OK outdoors on a camera facing the street. You don’t have to run all cameras at the same framerate, BTW.

It actually depends more on how far the camera is from the road. Go further, you can get away with a lower framerate since a moving object is in the image for a longer time.

Filming out of your window = lower FPS.
Camera on your mailbox post = higher FPS.

But running everything at 30 is overkill IMHO.[/quote]

That video was taken at a distance of several hundred feet!

Try taking a snap of a car moving at 30-50 feet away….nowhere near the same results.

[spdrun]

^^^

I actually agree with you — more expensive solutions should be used where appropriate.

[svelte]

[quote=spdrun]^^^

I actually agree with you — more expensive solutions should be used where appropriate.[/quote]

I think we are in agreement.

Choose the system that does what you need.

We all don’t all need the same thing.

I wanted to be able to read license plates on cars at intermediate distances (30-50 feet)which drove my decision.

Others may not need that. Cheers.

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