Security Camera Suggestions?

infiltrator

New Member
I am looking for a security camera solution for my house which will allow me to keep an eye on the house while I’m away, see who is at the door or driveway, and ideally be able to identify face and/or license plate number of an intruder. I would like to have ready access to the video when needed (perhaps tied to a modulator so I can view from any TV), have the stream Internet accessible, and also record the video for security purposes.

Having spent days reading forums, I have realized it is best to get a day/night cam rather than IR integrated due to the many disadvantages of integrated IR.

It seems 1080p translates to 1920x1080 resolution (barely 2MP in terms of IP cameras), thus analog cameras seem to have hit their technological limit whereas IP cameras have a long way to go. For this reason, I am leaning toward IP cameras.

I would like to cover a wide field of view without using lots of cameras. PTZ cameras look nice, but from what I understand their lifespan is less and there is a possibility you may miss the money shot because the cam is looking at the wrong place. To eliminate the drawbacks of PTZ and get a wide field of view which will still have the resolution to zoom in and pick out face details/license-numbers/etc, it seems that megapixel IP cameras are the way to go (at least 1280x1024 1.3MP >=8fps).

I would prefer a dome to bullet cam due to aesthetics (WAF), ease of cleaning, less bugs, and sturdiness, but it’s not an absolute need.

I was hoping to spend ~$400/cam, possibly as high as $500, but looking around it seems even this budget may not give me what I want. The closest I’ve found is:
4Xem 1.3MP PoE IP Network Camera (4X-IP7138) ~$310 (or 4X-IP7160 2.0MP version ~$335)
D-Link 1.3MP PoE Network Camera (DCS-3110) ~$498
ACTi ACM-3411 1.3 Megapixel Day/Night IP Dome Security Camera ~$465 (unfortunately the dome isn’t made for outdoor use)

Expanding search out to $600 opens more options, but the price is “getting up thereâ€:
ACTi ACM-1231 1.3MP outdoor bullet $535-$549
ACTi ACM-1232 1.3MP outdoor bullet $554
Panasonic BB-HCM515A 1.3MP box $536 (not sure how this mounts)
ACTi ACM-7411 1.3MP Outdoor Day/Night Fixed Dome $570
Geovision GV-IP1.3 1.3MP (1280x960 CCD) outdoor? bullet $600
Ganz MP1A 1.3MP auto Iris CS-mount $569

I haven’t researched DVR solutions much yet, but I may wind up with an AverMedia or ZoneMinder system since they seem to be highly regarded here. I have an Elk M1G and HomeSeer system that may or may not get tied in. Thus motion detection and security contacts are a definite plus.

In Summary, what I’m leaning toward is:
* Outdoor Day/Night (not IR integrated)
* IP Fixed at least 1.3MP (1280x1024)
* Dome instead of Bullet would be nice but not mandatory

Has anyone worked with the cameras I listed, or have any other advice for me? Thank you for your time.
 
Someone rec'd Kodacom video cards to me, yesterday, instead of the AverMedia. I haven't checked into it yet.
 
I have an Acti ACM-8511 they lent us right now if you want to check one out. We have had it for some time now and have to give it back early next week so PM me if you want to try it and I will set something up for you.

Mobotix and Arecont Vision tend to be somewhat the leaders for this field (high MP + Wide View). Mobotix uses mjpg as well as a proprietary codec which their free software supports. Arecont uses h264. I am also testing that one now but it is remote access from a cctv guy on another forum so i can't give that one out unless he ok's it. i know Mobotix is above your range quoted but have outdoor cams so you won't have to buy an external housing/blower (if you are going to put this outdoors). Not sure on Arecont.

The Panasonic BB-HCM line is still consumer level product as far as Panny is concerned so that's why the pricing is in the mix. They support mjpg and rtpoverhttp which is basically mpg4 over http transport so you can typically get around firewalls through regular http port instead of having to configure rtsp port. Their picture quality is much better than the BL series though. Panny also has a KX-HCM series which may be what you are looking for also in that price range.

getting ip cams on a tv may be trickier than using analog cams and splitting them to digital with a standalone encoder like axis has or a card like the geo/kodacom/avermedia/etc. while sending the feed to your tv at the same time.

i like Vivotek cams also if you want to check them out. i have seen people pick up their ptz cams and throw them in external housings with blowers and they tend to do fine.
 
Thanks for the replies!

BKLLC - Thanks for the suggestions. I'd prefer to avoid wireless devices and hard wire each cam. Those appeared to both be wireless cams

Neurorad and Zac - I'll have to check out Kodacom and see how that compares when I get serious about checking out DVR solutions. It would be interesting to hear from IVB to see what his experiences were.

twilo123 - Thank you for the offer! The ACM-8511 looks like a nice cam, but probably out of my price range. Same with the Mobotix and Arecont - hard to justify for a residence. If you've got sample pics or a demo from that ACM-8511, I'm sure there are many folks on here who would benefit from posting them. I checked out the KX-HCM, but the one I saw was only 640x480, not MegaPixel, so I don't think it would give the resolution I'd like. What do you think of the bang-for-the-buck of the Vivotek vs. the ACTi cameras? They both seem to cater to the budget MegaPixel market.

I'm not against using all analog cameras, the problem I have is I'd like to monitor a lot of area (for example my driveway has a loop at the end where people park, and it's about 50'x50'). I could be mistaken (I'm new to the CCTV area) but my understanding is that it would take a lot of analog cameras to cover that much field of view with any detail, so if I wanted to have a single camera on the job my only option would be to get a megapixel cam where I could zoom in on a picture after the fact and make out faces, license plates, etc. If I'm off-track here, please educate me because the analog cams are certainly much less expensive.
 
I spoke with the Sharx people yesterday, and they have some Megapixel cams coming out, and an outdoor version of the cams posted above that supports PoE.
 
I believe the Sharx cams can be used in a wired config also as I think you have to plug them in to do the wireless config anyway...

Brian
 
I've put some more thought into it and now I'm leaning toward spending the $$$ for an Arecont Vision AV5155DN-1HK 5MP MegaDome H.264 IP Camera for at least one of the spots I would like a camera (thanks for the ideas twilo123). It is my understanding that the night response may not be nearly as good as some of the other brands that cost twice as much, but I guess that's to be expected.

Has anyone worked with these cameras and have any feedback? There are a couple things I need to verify:

1. This camera isn't listed on the supported IP camera list for the AVerMedia NV5000, but Arecont 5105 is listed which seems to be a bullet version of the same camera.

2. I would like to be able to see a live picture from the camera on a modulated TV channel when just checking to see if there is a car in the driveway, etc. The Arecont cams don't offer an analog output like some standard (non-megapixel) IP cams do. Other than using the TV output from the NV5000, does anyone have a suggestion for how to get an analog feed from this camera? Arecont doesn't seem to offer a network video decoder from what I've seen.

There are some other areas I'm not sure justify this highly priced of a camera...I'm still chewing on what to do with those. I can provide some snapshots of the areas if that would help.
 
just my own experience at this point but i have been working with an AV cam now and for our app there is a serious issue. their api doesn't allow for resolution stream calls. they only allow for x,y coordinates or cropping images. so basically if i try to call a mobile resolution size (take for instance 320x240) it becomes a cropped image of a section of the full picture. i have never seen another camera manufacturer do this. mobotix does something similar for aspects but on every other manufacturer if i can call a remote stream size then i can call the full size as 320x240, not just a section of the picture like i have to do with AV. seems really odd to me that they would pass on this basic functionality especially with the market moving towards nvr and 3rd party software integration.
 
just my own experience at this point but i have been working with an AV cam now and for our app there is a serious issue. their api doesn't allow for resolution stream calls. they only allow for x,y coordinates or cropping images. so basically if i try to call a mobile resolution size (take for instance 320x240) it becomes a cropped image of a section of the full picture. i have never seen another camera manufacturer do this. mobotix does something similar for aspects but on every other manufacturer if i can call a remote stream size then i can call the full size as 320x240, not just a section of the picture like i have to do with AV. seems really odd to me that they would pass on this basic functionality especially with the market moving towards nvr and 3rd party software integration.

Good point. Have you told them about this? Hopefully they will add it in a future firmware release?
 
I've put some more thought into it and now I'm leaning toward spending the $$$ for an Arecont Vision AV5155DN-1HK 5MP MegaDome H.264 IP Camera for at least one of the spots I would like a camera (thanks for the ideas twilo123). It is my understanding that the night response may not be nearly as good as some of the other brands that cost twice as much, but I guess that's to be expected.

Has anyone worked with these cameras and have any feedback?

I have an AV3105DN, and so far I'm not very happy with it. I also purchased a LENS6.0 and a DOME4-I. I never got the LEN6.0 to focus properly (even with the provided spacers). Also couldn't fit this camera/lens combination into the dome. Their support has been pretty good (replaced the first camera which had bad lens threads), and they even gave me a free lens that did fit into the dome. Unfortunately the new lens is not nearly as good at gathering light (F2.0 versus F1.4). I haven't gotten great images out of the camera either. I can't tell if this is due to focus issues or compression problems, but it certainly doesn't produce the image quality you would expect from a cheap 3MP still camera.

I'm not thrilled with the software that comes with the camera either, and I don't think the firmware can be upgraded. The image plays in a web-page, but I don't think there are any parameters you can set or other adjustments.

I've had the thing for almost a year and I'm just getting it up on the wall outside, so I haven't played with it too much yet.

--Bob
 
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