Collin,
I have low priority assigned to recording the images, the greatest percentage of usage will be for real-time observation with motion sensing utilized to record. Motion in the areas covered will almost be always zero; any motion from those areas will trigger recording, and motion in those areas except for the occasional elk or coyote will be non-existent.
Doesn't matter if you wish to watch or record if the data is all coming back to one point you may swamp that point's radio inside the bridge.
I plan to use Security Spy in conjunction with an iMac for control and recording purposes. Do I need a DVR?
I know nothing of either so no comment.
Yes, the buildings are metal roofed and sided. Your point regarding external antennas is well taken.
If you go the IP cam route with integrated wireless keep that in mind as cams on the far sides of metal buildings might not work.
Based upon the cost of the bridge, streamer, antenna, and multiple cameras with housings, does that compare favorably to 2 ptz (to cover the areas needed) Wifi cameras with housings for cost and effectiveness? I have zero experience at this, and am trying to understand what you are telling me.
Well I don't know thats a very complicated and complex question to properly answer. I don't know how far the buildings are apart, I don't know how many cameras per building. The closest thing I have deal with is Wireless Eye which is a service but they put a decent PTZ atop a 60' pole and cover a massive area with single uber expensive solor powered wifi cam. It works especially well as it's somewhat portable and requires literally no wires. Being 60' up means it can see over most outbuildings and such. I'll come back to it...
What is decoding?
The opposite of encoding, you want to turn your digital streams back into an analog feed you can do something else with. Don't worry about it, you probably won't need it. (inject cameras back into cable TV feed or display on standard TV).
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I am having troubles with:
I have large areas of ingress/egress (hundreds of acres with no channelized areas as choke points) that I want to observe (you did hit the observation as the key element). This location is almost always occupied, so the recording and emailing is important but of secondary priority.
Motion in the areas covered will almost be always zero; any motion from those areas will trigger recording, and motion in those areas except for the occasional elk or coyote will be non-existent.
It can't be both or at least not for the same camera.
You should provide a overhead view of your property and areas of interest, maybe then I can visualize it better.
Also you need to spell out what you wish to observe, people, vehicles, small animals, large animals, aircraft... Can make huge differences.
Otherwise you have no requirements other then PTZ, as such buy the cheapest one. I feel however you do have some specific function you would like to perform. If you wish to identify people from acres away it's not going to come in a nice integrated package, it will have to be a full on box and housing on a scanner deal. This will not be cheap. If you want to see if someone is herding your cattle into a trailer from several acres away it's probably possible with integrated PTZ however your climate makes that troublesome too.