On Mon, Aug 10, 2015 at 05:21:47AM -0500, sb...@mississippi.com wrote:
> Take a look at zoneminder (www.zoneminder.com). There's lots of IP
> cameras available and zoneminder will use many of them with very little
> hassle.
You want to be careful when putting together a security system (spoken
from experience; I've installed a number for clients at this point.)
Just some general guidelines here.
It's quite easy to get or build a security DVR--most commercial DVR
units are based on Linux anyway, and most of those likely on zoneminder.
Even a commercial appliance is relatively inexpensive; figure in the
range of $100-200 or so for a 4-channel unit, $400-600 for an 8-channel
unit with hard drive. Make sure that whatever you provide--whether it's
BYO or a commercial appliance--it's *easily* usable by the end users,
and can produce media that can be provided to LEO.
The biggest problem with the worthwhile ones is that the security
vendor business segment is still reluctant to sell to end-users.
You can get usually get authorized by discussing it with sales
(f'rinstance, I'm a consultant, and was able to convince them I'm a
security professional--well, it wasn't hard.) An advantage to working
with such a vendor is they'll consult with you for recommended cameras
given environmental information (see below).
The killer cost is always the cameras. You need, for each location,
to carefully consider the environment, distance, viewing area, and
required resolution. A camera that shows a shape, but can't display
identifiable facial features or a vehicle license plate, is useless.
IR is necessary in a location that will be dark, but you have to allow
for illumination distance. Pick up a laser distance measure such as the
Ryobi Tek4; it'll save a lot of legwork.
Cheap, fixed-focus cameras _can_ work, but only if the covered area
is close enough to give that level of resolution. Pricing on a decent
camera can range from under a hundred for a cheap one--close range, no
vandalism protection, good ambient lighting--to thousands for full PTZ
(automatic pan-tilt-zoom) high-resolution vandal-resistand units.
Whatever you do, don't consider these el-cheapo units you often see
for sale at places like Costco or Sam's Club. The DVR may work, but
the cameras are *cheap*.
Don't use wireless if at all avoidable, in general; it's a PITA to have
to pull either PoE or coax/power siamese cable, but the reliability is
almost always worth the effort. Plus, it _is_ easier to tamper with
wireless reception. And it's...annoying, at best...to have to climb a
ladder to that camera 30' up the wall when the battery dies. It's more
than annoying when the wireless cameras that worked so well when you
installed the system in the summer gork out in the winter.
Finally, be careful when installing the system. Seriously--I had one
site where a local gang was moving to claim the client's building and
area as their turf, and they were much less than happy to have some dude
clearly installing a surveillance system that would be watching *them*.
Good luck,
--
Dave Ihnat
dih...@dminet.com
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