Security Cameras
 

I don't know anything about this. But maybe someone here does?

At my job I want us to get a couple cameras to watch the parking lot and the entrances. I'm thinking we would need 3 or 4 cameras. I'm going to put a proposal together to submit to my boss.

We have security lighting on the sides of the building that comes on at night so the cameras will always be able to see.

I guess we need a box that records and then writes over.

I'm looking for recommendations and things to consider, I'll try to answer any questions. There are lots of all-in-one systems available on like Amazon and ebay with good reviews, but I'm wondering if there might be like hidden flaws to look out for.

You'll need to do a little research on the amount of hard drive space you're going to need for your specific application. Say you want the cameras to record 24 hours a day and have footage saved for 30 days before it overwrites the oldest existing data, then you'll need x TB of hard drive space to accommodate that. Some systems have motion activation and only record when they detect motion, so it will save some hard drive space if there isn't a lot of activity. Then you'll need to consider whether your hard drive array is mirrored so that when a hard drive fails (and they will fail over time so plan on it), the data will exist on the rest of the array while you replace the drive. If your saved footage isn't important then maybe having a redundant array isn't important, but without it the saved data is lost. A nice feature to have is hot swappable hard drives so you can replace a hard drive and rebuild the array without having to turn the power to the unit off. You just unplug the failed drive, replace it, and hit rebuild array. You want to keep at least one hard drive on hand at all times to replace a failed drive. Also over time you may lose a camera and need to replace it. It can be hard to find obsolete model cameras 5 years down the road even from mainstream manufacturers like Samsung. If you need 3 cameras and the kit comes with 4, consider the 4th a backup for failure. Other than that just plan on factoring in installation for the 3 or 4 cameras. They may run on PoE and need ethernet cables run to each one and a PoE switch to power them, or they may be wireless and just need a power outlet near each one. I've only ever worked with cabled IP cameras and not the wireless.

Edit: I suppose this goes without saying, but if your cameras are going to be located outdoors, get outdoor cameras ;) .

First you need to determine what power and network options are available in the locations you want to install the cameras. Do they have access to the network via WiFi? Of course, hard-wiring is preferable to WiFi, but you may not have easy access to wired ethernet drops. If wired ports are readily available, consider powering the units with PoE.

Beyond advice to start with solving the network connectivity problem first, I'm not up to speed on which systems are well regarded. I suppose the next question is whether pan and tilt functions are needed? Then figure out what field of view you need. Lenses are often swappable to create larger or smaller fields of view.

We don't need pan or tilt functions.

POE stands for power over ethernet? It might be easier to just run a bunch of ethernet lines than to do outlets plus wireless. None of the locations for the cameras already have outlets available.

We would probably do motion detection-on only. We may only need a couple weeks worth of video, not a whole month. I guess I need to look at compatibility of solid-state drives.

Thanks for the advice guys. :)

PoE=Power over ethernet and is the way to go. Get some RJ45 crimp connectors, CAT 5e or CAT 6 cable and a crimper and build your own cables. Just to be clear the motion detection only is just a setting/feature in the software that can be turned on/off for each camera. SSD's will certainly work, but are not typical for cctv setups. HDD's are normally used and a 2tb on amazon is only $60. 2x2tb hard drives in a RAID 1 configuration for $120 bucks would likely be all that you need for 4 cameras in motion only for 2+weeks of data.

I have a bit of experience here, 4 cameras are rarely enough, I would suggest at least 8, though you still can get multiple 4 channel systems and use them in different regions.

1TB hard drives are pretty much the standard for the low cost systems, but most are upgrade-able after purchase.

PoE is nice but tends to be more expensive, the system I have at home is a 720P that uses RG174 coax. It operates at a reduced frame rate, but you don't need high speed for a security system.

Solid state drives of that size are much more expensive.

Placement of the cameras is important, you want to place them where it will be difficult for someone to approach the camera to disable it without being seen by at least another camera.

Keep in mind, even if they say the file format is MP4, it is likely to be a proprietary format so viewing off of the system can be difficult.

Cheap dashcams?