Some Advice For A First Timer! (dvr + Cameras)

[Guest Tonyc32]

Hi all.

I'm looking for a simple set up for home use. My car keeps getting broken into and i'd like to get some CCTV. I know you're all mostly trade but any advice you have about a simple home system is much appreciated.

I'm looking at getting the following

Simple, cheap DVR

A Single Camera

Rather than hook up a PC-DVR card (I hear they can be unreliable if used on a PC that you also use for other things like work, gaming, etc) i'm looking at a cheapish DVR. Although if you think i'm being silly and a 4CH DVR PC Card would be fine please say so!!

I have around

[Rich]

Hi Tony,

from the links you have provided and for your budget I would probably go for the DVR from SCT and the panasonic camera from y3k, remember you will need cable and a power supply too. (dont forget the hard drive)

Avoid buying equipment from ebay especially if its not located in the UK, at least with SCT and Y3K you have someone to speak to and somewhere to get an easy replacement should the equipment be faulty.

[Doktor Jon]

Hi Tonyc32 and welcome,

I personally can't make any recommendations about potential suppliers (I have to remain independent), but I would agree with Rich that you would be well advised to avoid purchasing through ebay.

Depending on what part of the country you're based, there may be a number of potential suppliers, who should be able to provide the equipment you need, although I might venture to suggest that if you can stretch your budget a little, it may well increase your choice of suitable (hopefully reliable) products.

From what you've described, siting the camera high and angling down steeply on the vehicle below, may not provide images of acceptable quality for identifying any suspects.

If you are relying on nearby street lighting to produce a good image, you will need a decent camera / lens combination that can produce acceptable results under challenging conditions, and that may be asking a lot of many cameras in your price range.

Is your car parked on the highway, or on your own driveway? Depending on your answer (and other factors), may significantly influence the way you should approach your installation.

[PeterR]

Hi Tony

This is Peter from Y3K, thanks for your interest in our camera, just wanted to answer your doubts, on the record as they say:

"Camera will be wired. Looking for a day / night camera. Don't really need IR as there is strret lighting quite close which will probably render the IR useless (I think) Its true it will, since the intensity of the IR LEDs on the camera is controlled by a photocell, and that will think it is not very dark so no need to turn on the LEDs to full power. Also it is worth noting that IR LEDs on cameras generally operate like a torch and not a floodlight effect and need an object to reflect of to give you the claimed distance (this goes for nearly all brands not just the ones we carry).

"The camera will be mounted on the top corner of the house and pointing pretty much right down at the cars. Only really need a distance of 10M but as wide as possible to capture as much area as possible.

Which lenses are good for wide capture? I see different sizes but no idea which is widest! 4mm, 12mm etc." 4mm is the widest, 12 is the smallest. On this camera the angel of (horizontal) is 50 degress, great for detailed observation but not for identifying faces. For that it is recommended the vieing area be narrow. The installers on this forum will be able to advise you better on this.

I've been reading up so I have heard about the problems with Y3k (that's the beauty of a community having an opinion, they really do affect where newbies like me buy!) but they do have a camera I like the look of. A few years ago the company had customer service problems due to strict returns and faulty product procedures, however last year these wer changed to meet customer demands, in other words we heard what ws said on communities like this, listened and took action. We have a 7 day money back guarantee in place so should you not like the camera, no problem just return it. Our technical help used to be a 60p a minute premium rate number, now it is an 0870 number. Beyond that if you have problems please message me through this site, I check messages every few days, though next week is our industry exhibition in Brirmingham so may be a few days to check it.

What's this panasonic camera like for quality? First one on this page! I cannot answer this one as I will be biased! But it was awarded Best Buy in an independent review in Computer Shopper magazine 2 months ago.

Finally EBAY is a tempting place to buy, and can offer excellent value, but you need to be careful with postage and packing, a customer of ours was telling me they bought the sam 8" LCD we sell on EBAY for

[Guest Tonyc32]

Thanks for the reply everyone.

Peter - since posting I read the long thread that discussed y3k which you contributed to so I am comfortable buying from there fyi!

To answer some questions already posted -

The cars are parked on my own driveway.

I have taken a picture of the front of the house

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5351/cimg06312tu.jpg

Looking at this picture front on i'd be looking to put the camera in the top right hand corner. Power, wires etc would go through into the room in the middle, will make a hole somewhere near the window.

I'm thinking perhaps I could mount a dome camera a lot lower, but how would it capture the whole drive? Is it possible? I could have both a done camera and a panasonic one mentiuoned above perhaps.....

Opinions?