pre-wire for cctv

[hitz]

Hi,
I'm interested in cabling up 4 outdoor positions for cctv cameras.
Ideally - these would be feed back into some sort of dvr for recording (moment only) and a labgear dist unit - so available on all screens in house. All the cables are in node0 (study).

Problem is - not sure which cables to run. I havent chosen a cctv system as yet - because its something i may put in later.
Can someone please advise which cables to run which will give me the most flexibility and choice of system.
The cctv i would potentially want is for day night surveillance
My property is a corner house - all 3 sides of the house are exposed to street. (front, side, back). I will be installing PIR floodlights around the house so these shouldnt interfere with the cctv image at night time.
Also - if anyone has any recommendations on cameras and dvr that is good quality, reliable and wont break the bank.

Thanks

[j0t4b3]

Hello THere -

I recently installed an internal CCTV system based on Power over Ethernet (PoE). The only cable I had to run was the CAT5 from the switch to the back of the camera.

These devices saved me the installation of power cables. and saved tons of money in monitors: each camera has an http server, so you manage it from your PC, or anywhere... it has a lot of cool features too.

I need to add that CAT5 cables are much cheaper than Coax and BNC.

This is one of the models i've used: Panasonic i-Pro WV-NP244

Hope it helps.

[hornydragon]

PoE IP cams are great but not good for analogue video distribution you can use Baluns to run standard cams over Cat5 for covering all possibilites you should run Coax + Cat5 + Power (heavier gauge wire) to each location I often use Structured Wiring : Structured Cable Products HNC-1 cable for CCTV its under £1/m based on buying a box of 150m its also ideal for home networking and there are lots of various types 2 cat5 + 2 Coax etc. If you wanted to cover all bases for CCTV then a cable like ELAN-1 Specialized Control Cables : Structured Cable Products (bopttom of page) is ideal as its Coax, Power pair and Cat5 in one sheath. But this may be overkill. Also if you can place power supplies close to the actual cams then you dont need the long runs of DC or LVAC power

PIR flood lights can cause issues with cheaper cams particularly cheaper Day/Night cams as when the FLood is triggereed it can white out the cam for a few seconds.

[j0t4b3]

I need to add that PoE cams can easily record on MPEG4 (what I have set for my site) onto a storage server (currently 4Tb of storage).

Both cameras and servers reachable from any point on the network. I'm storing up to 90 days of footage from 8 cameras, and i could burn DVDs if i wanted to.

DVR was another option to the current set up, but needs someone to actually change DVDs every so often. This is something I couldn't get, as the site is unmanned.

[hornydragon]

not all DVRs require changing disks network enabled DVRs use HDD to record footage and have web servers that give you all the access of analogue cams that you get with IP (play back live feeds searching of archive) at lower prices and mean you can view on onsite monitors as well as remotely via IP important in domestic installs where you want to able to flick TV to CCTV to see who is at the door without booting a PC and logging on.

YOu can of course view IP cams on your remote control so you dont even need to change TV or turn it on, but this is fairly expensive

[mrm3]

Originally Posted by hornydragon

YOu can of course view IP cams on your remote control so you dont even need to change TV or turn it on, but this is fairly expensive

Can just view IP cams on an iphone/itouch rather than a proprietary remote etc.

But it does seem the analogue solutions have more to them than meets the eye. Tendency to think of them as antiquated.

[hitz]

Thank you for the advice.

The structured cable @ £1 per metre is a bit too much than i wanted to spend.

Will RG59+2 be sufficient. (coaxial + 2core power) 100M Roll RG59 plus 2 - CCTV

For 100m roll - its sub £40.
I want to avoid running coax, 2 core power + cat5 if possible.

Also - if i use the rg59+2 cabling - will i still be able to view my cameras over IP. eg if the DVR has a network port - i could login to dvr to see all 4 cameras.

Thanks

[hornydragon]

Thats the issue with the "prewiring for all eventualities" its costs..... if you wire coax and power there is practically no hope of hardwired IP cams just analogue cans, which with the right harware can be viewed over the internet.

[hitz]

is their any adv/disadvantages of not having hard wired IP cams if - with the right hardware - i can view over IP anyway with RG59+2 cable.

Instead of each individual camera having a webserver that i can individually login into - in theory i just logon to the central DVR webserver to see all cams anyway.

Is this type of DVR with in built webserver costly maybe?

Thanks

[j0t4b3]

Originally Posted by hitz

I want to avoid running coax, 2 core power + cat5 if possible.

Hello Hitz -

I think you misunderstood my comments. By using Power Over Ethernet, you don't need to run Coaxial, Power and CAT5. You ONLY need CAT5 to the camera.

What will definetely make an expensive implementation is the PoE switch, which will be feeding power through the CAT5 to the camera.

It is of course, a matter of comfort with the technology. Some are used to analog and it's pros and cons, some are used to the IP world.

In my case, running structured cable was perfect as I already had the switches in place and the materials for to feed the cameras. If I had to run analog, I had no physical way to feed them with power and coax. This is purely due to restraints on my location.

My other big excuse was that I need the cameras to be viewed from other locations within my network: i.e US users...

hope it goes well.

[benwillcox]

Just to add my 2p worth...

Functionality wise, it makes no difference whether you go with IP or analogue cameras (assuming fixed cam, not PTZ etc), as the analogue cameras will be digitised anyway and treated exactly the same once its in the computer, so you can stream live to the web etc.
IP cameras plus PoE are a nice solution and its a full digital path right to the recorder, but the cost is very high compared to analogue!

I built my single cam system using an analog camera plus a cheap Kodicom compatible 8 port capture card. Whole system cost me £70 (plus existing server of course). At the time I used CT100 co-ax and separate power cables, but since discovering that baluns exist to run the composite video and power over a single cat5 cable, I would go that route if doing it again. Then you can also run IP cams over the same infrastructure if desired.

Ben

[leadfoot]

Hi hopefully by asking here I could find someone who knows the answer.

I have installed a CCTV camera that the uses 2.4 Ghz transmitter to cross the yard. The receiver (at the far side) is screwed to the wall and connected to the monitor by AV typo phono plugs and 25m of screened cable. The picture is broken up and is imposable to lock.

Moving the monitor closer and connecting with a 5m cable it is fine. Clearly it is in the cable I am losing it, so my question is what can I replace the cable with? Is it 75 ohm and so I can use low loss co-ax, it sure does not look like it, my guess is it is just a high impedance screened cable, but can anyone tell me please.

[hornydragon]

25m is a fair run for a basic composite signal to travel you may want to to use Twited pair baluns that can send composite video 100m over a cat5e cable. Or upgrade to a higher quality cable CT100 or RG6.

[leadfoot]

Originally Posted by hornydragon

25m is a fair run for a basic composite signal to travel you may want to to use Twited pair baluns that can send composite video 100m over a cat5e cable. Or upgrade to a higher quality cable CT100 or RG6.

I will upgrade the cable in that case.

I was just not sure if it was 75ohm, the existing cable just looks like screened high impedance cable

Thanks

[hornydragon]

It should be 75Ohm but thats rarely used in cheap cables, also RCA isnt a true 75Ohm termination BNC is.