Installing CCTV - newbie

[chrisgr1962]

Hi, Due to increased vandalism to cars and kids running riot across the back gardens I'm thinking of installing a CCTV system. However, I know very little about them apart from what I've seen at maplins, etc.
My requirements would be (I think):
: Up to 4 cameras with 2 working at night with street lighting and 2 covering very dark back garden (up to 10 metres).
: A recorder that I can just leave running that will say record up to 7 days and will restart once full (i.e. overwrite oldest part of recording, I don't want to mess around changing tapes, HDDs over, etc)
: Up to about £500 total price.
: Are there any laws, etc which state what you can/can't cover, i.e. the street, next doors garden (not intentional but only way that I can fully cover my garden/walls), etc?
Many thanks for any info,
Chris

 

[breezer]

i have maplin cctv stuff, its good, its not the best, but if you do get it dont get the cmos cameras the pictures are not as good as the ccd camera pictures.

you can also set a DVR to record by motion, this makes the recording time much longer than 7 days

 

[mattylad]

Ignore what waffle you get about not having CCTV pointing anywhere.
Point it at you property as best you can.

Just dont point it direct into a neighbours windows.

Don't buy the cheapest DVR, consider getting one that has a web interface
so you an checkup on it from at work etc.

The better the cameras the better the picture.

 

[chrisgr1962]

OK, so I need to get a DVR but what I'm not sure about is when its full do I need to delete the recording and start again or will it just overwrite the existing recording from the beginning?

 

[mattylad]

You can set it so it either overwrites or not usually.

Some come with a dvd recorder attached, or perhaps USB/ethernet ports that allow you to log onto it and remove the files to copy to DVD if you wish to keep them.

There are numerous suppliers of DVR's etc from Maplin to the professionals.
ISTR that there are some previous threads here mentioning good places to get it from.

They autodetect movement etc so will turn on automatically & some may even enable you to define the area on the screen to use for auto detection.

ISTR that 25fps is about what most will do, although sometimes this is split between all inputs not on each.

Have you looked for any kit yet?

 

[Pittsey]

Any standard DVR can do the recording functions you require. Look for the cameras which operate at the lowest lux levels possible. These will be adequate for working with street lighting. Especially if they switch to black and white when light is poor.

You will probably need an infra red lamp for the back garden if you it is pitch black. Or you could install some security lighting as well, which I'd always recommend.

An option I intend to take up when I sort my home system out... Is an RF modulator which would enable you to inject the image on to your TV's in your house. You could then bring up the views on your TV's. One with a connection to the net is pretty good too. Then you can have a peek at your DVR from work, or when you are on holiday.


I have some spare parts left over from systems, some old some new. If you are interested, let me know. I am happy to help as I tend only to visit this site when I have a plumbing issue, and feel like a leech. I'd like to give back to this forum, and CCTV, Satellite or computer knowledge is pretty much all I have.