How to make security cameras store video onto a hard drive on your pc?

Question

I will soon be buying 4 surveillance cameras for my mothers real estate office. Lately, some people have tried to break in. We want to be careful so that next time we don't have to worry as much. My questions is this: Is there a way that i can set up the 4 cameras so that they will store all of the video that they capture onto an empty second hard drive on one of the computers here? That way, I will be able to use that computer to go back and watch the video, etc. That's pretty much it. Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

It depends on the computer... and it depends on the cameras.



The least expensive way will be to use a desktop or tower-type computer with an available PCI slot. There are security cam surveillance systems that allow connecting analog cameras with a single, yellow RCA jack, composite video connection to the PCI card in the computer.



A low-end system example:

http://digivue.com/edvxv425kit.htm



There are better, more expensive systems available - along with stand-alone surveillance DVRs so dedicating a computer is not necessary.



Since we don't know anything about the site where this surveillance system is to be installed we have no way to know how easy (or difficult) it will be to install the cabling. Battery back-up power (for the computer and the cameras) is strongly suggested.



Assuming the thieves do break in, what happens when they steal the computer or hard drive collecting the security video? What is the plan to lock that down?



If the plan is to access the video remotely, then there are some networking skills and requirements to allow the office network to be secure - and still allow authorized access from any other authorized computer/user. It is possible to do - but does take some computer network skill/knowledge to do properly. If there are employees in the office and the ca,eras are planned for inside, they should probably know that they are being recorded - unless the plan is to turn the system off during the day and hope someone remembers to turn it on at closing.



If the plan is to have the security cameras outside only, is the goal to to be obvious with the cameras (to possibly have the potential thieves be discouraged because the camera is there) or be covert and "catch them in the act"?



Is another goal to get video where their faces can be recognized (which means getting the cameras fairly close to their faces)?



Is night vision needed? Do the cameras need to be weather-proof?



Since security is best in layers, does the office already have entry and motion alarms? Does the alarm feed a dispatch center or police department? Jumping to the storage mechanism without thinking through the other bits could set up the project for failure...

Answer 2

Security cameras are becoming more and more popular and with good reason. In these uncertain times, home security is getting more and more important. We want to protect our valuables, our families, and many turn to home security systems instead of having to have fire arms in the home. Here are some benefits of using security cameras for the home.

Answer 3

Hello



What you want is a DVR a DVR converts analog cameras and as well as storing images on site allows you to distribute video over LAN and WAN networks. (internet and network) this way you have both on site storage and recording at your house.



Here is a DVR that will work perfectly for you.



http://www.ascendentgroup.com/x4s.htm





Just about any Analog DVR will do what you are looking for and not only display them but record them as well they will also allow you to view them over the internet from a Iphone or laptop.



Many people have a misconception that IP has Superior scalability then Analog but with the advancements with DVR's this simply isn't true, you cn do up to 16,000 cameras each camera could even be from a different DVR and a different site.



And when you are using the internet to connect multiple sites together analog transmits over the internet faster with less latency using less bandwidth allowing you not only to view and monitor a situation real time but also effective control PTZ cameras.



What is the Advantage of IP?

Many of the so called advantages of IP simply don't hold water in the real world, IP is mainly Hype and marketing and outside of a few niche applications such as 1 or 2 camera installs, where MP cameras are needed or large scale wireless projects which represent about 2% of the total CCTV market, IP has very few advantages compared to analog based on performance, cost and reliability. (yet all companies touting IP will often use MP cameras to demonstrate the advantages of IP)



IP video is more about marketing then it is about performance as larger companies like Bosch pelco Honeywell axis can change for both hardware and software and once you use there cameras you have to keep using there cameras unlike analog.



Also IP sounds great, plug and play, Better image quality, use existing infrastructure, who wouldn’t want that unfortunately this is often not the case.



IP is like wireless (in theory its perfect) if that was true there would be no wired cameras or analog cameras it would all be wireless IP.



IP cameras are based on CMOS

Analog cameras are based on CCD (usually)



A CMOS sensor is constructed using a array of pixels, but unlike CCD’s CMOS do not have a capacitor to store the charge for each pixel.The rows of pixels are activated sequentially rather then individually



This means CMOS has some significant disadvantages compared to CCD, this means CMOS

have inferior ability to cope with ambient lighting such as back light, bright, deep shadows contrasts, low light and IR this is also known as the real word.



In short unless you have perfect lighting a good CCD camera will outperform an equivalent CMOS camera.



File Size:

The smaller the files size the more images that are able to be sent and the faster they can be processed improving both FPS and speed. File size is the heart of any DVR and goes far beyond just its streaming capabilities as it also determines the recoding storage time, how much you can back up at once, how fast it renders and searches video. (Ascendents X3 DVR achieves file sizes as low as .3KB on normal image quality on a CIF image no IP camera on the market will come close to this) The file size of a DVR impacts the performance of the DVR in just about every aspect from speed to longevity and is often the most import spec of any DVR.



IP cameras have up to a 5X larger file size then analog cameras. (at same resolution) I have seen MP cameras that on 2MP resolution are over 300X (%3000) larger then our X3 DVR on a CIF image. This is an extreme case but generally speaking IP cameras have a much larger file size.



Most routers and switches are not designed to handle IP cameras they have enough bandwidth but they are not able to process the amounts of commands. (9 IP cameras 30FP is 230 instructions per second) standard routers have enough bandwidth (up to 1GB) but cant handle the amount of tasks (instructions) so frames get dropped latency is introduced and the effectiveness of other devices such as POS, printers and dats storage can be affected and compromised.





Don’t get me wrong there are some brutal analog cameras and DVR out there but If you see a good D1 resolution image such as Ascendents Hardware compressed you will not be so quick to join the IP bandwagon.



IP is a young and emerging technology and I have no doubt that in the future it will outperform analog cameras but its not a mature technology yet. Once we start to get standard IP platforms, get rid of license fees’ and existing networks have larger bandwidths then IP video will be a good solution, but until then analog is the way to go.



Make sure you get good cameras as well, Ascendent has the best IR outdoor cameras on the market and are about %50 less then Bosch while offering triple the distance.



http://www.ascendentgroup.com/



hope this helps

Will

Answer 4

go to www.techcctv.com or give them a call they helped me with my system