Hi All

I'm looking for a CCTV setup for home - we're in a reasonably nice neighbourhood but a few recent events and the fact that we have a couple of tidy cars and other stuff parked outside have brought me to the decision to install a CCTV system at home.

I'll probably need 4 cameras to give full coverage and would like something that just runs and records without any need for me to do anything unless I need to see what's happened.

Any suggestions?

Wyn

Plenty of stuff on the Maplin Electronics web site

link

It's what i do for a living, (although mainly high end stuff) however you will be hard pushed to beat some of the deals from :y3k

We use some of the dvr's as hire units and have yet to have one fail.

Very helpfull staff as well.

Edited to add: Beware of a lot of the cheap systems, they run ide hard drives and are very hard to replace. The newer systems all run sata drives and use an H264 codec.

Roger

[Edited on 19/6/10 by rgrs]

I can agree with the above statement.
Buy the best that you can afford. A lot of the cheaper stuff is just rubbish and resolution is useless. Also make sure you spec a decent DVR with enough record time to allow you to review more than a few days.
I am a commissioning engineer on integrated security systems , so if you need any advice feel free to U2U.

jon

i have this at home from ARGOS works ok but a PIR flood light is needed at night

Thanks Guys

What about this one

The network and internet access bit is also on the list of desirable features.

Regards

Wyn

whats your lighting like in the area you are trying to cover?

There's some street lighting on the road, about 15m from the house and I've got PIR fired floods front and back.

To be honest have a read of the cctv guides on the site, the dome cameras in that kit are more suited to internal use, also i would try for 540 tvl resoloution as by the time the picture is digitised and compressed it will be a lower quality image( on replay)

If you want to cover external areas look at the day/night cameras with inbuilt IR

The camera can then use the IR and switch to B&W if there is not enough light available.

I can say that the xir621 is by far the best image both night and day, this camera is proving to provide better image quality than units costing 4 times as much!

Othewise look at the EVC450R very good buget option, try and find a camera with a varifocal lens (zoom) this will enable you to get the view you require.

Don't worry about the pricing on the site i am sure that if you phoned them up and discussed you requirements you will probably end up with an even better price.

quote:

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It's what i do for a living, (although mainly high end stuff) however you will be hard pushed to beat some of the deals from :y3k

Beware of a lot of the cheap systems, they run ide hard drives and are very hard to replace. The newer systems all run sata drives and use an H264 codec

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quote:

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Buy the best that you can afford. A lot of the cheaper stuff is just rubbish and resolution is useless.

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If renewing my setup I would go for IP Cams

Thanks guys

I had a look at the Maplins stuff yesterday and it was tat and very expensive tat !

I'll give Y3k a ring tomorrow.

Regards

Wyn

Buy good quality cameras.
Low resolution ones of 320 or 480 vertical line resolution are not worth it, as you cant see enough detail of the people you really want to catch.

So buy good cameras with 500+ line resolution as a MINIMUM.
OK you get what you pay for. However spending out on cheap camera will NOT give you the results that you need when you really NEED it!

Just my 2d's worth.