Surveillance camera advice.

[rg26ce1991@hotmail.com]

Greetings Newsgroup.
I would like some advice on installing a video camera surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

When the tape is played back, I will need to be able to read a car
number plate at least 20m from the camera in the dark.

*****************************************************
I am considering 2 cameras in the 2005 Jaycar catalog.


QC-3287 colour camera in housing with heater/IR - $399
plus lens.

or

Internal/External camera housing with heater QC-3331 - $55
Professional camera colour QC-3314 ------------------- $199
24vac to 12vdc adaptor MP-3069 ----------------------- $20
70m IR illuminator (Altronics S-9142) ---------------- $229
Total $503 plus lens

Could someone please tell me which lens would be suitable?


Is there any advantage having a colour camera instead of a B+W camera
to see in the dark?
A Black and White camera would be $100 - $150 cheaper.

What length of cable could be used between the camera and the vcr
before signal loss stared to be a problem.


Thanks,
Russell Griffiths.

 

[Phil Allison]

<rg26ce1991@hotmail.com

I would like some advice on installing a video camera surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

When the tape is played back, I will need to be able to read a car
number plate at least 20m from the camera in the dark.

** That requires a human operated camera - one with a big lens that can be
aimed and zoomed on the plate.

What on earth is your reason ?

Burglars only use stolen cars you know.




......... Phil

 

[Heywood Jablome]

"Phil Allison" <philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
news:3sljl8Foq3beU1@individual.net...

rg26ce1991@hotmail.com

I would like some advice on installing a video camera surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

When the tape is played back, I will need to be able to read a car
number plate at least 20m from the camera in the dark.


** That requires a human operated camera - one with a big lens that can
be
aimed and zoomed on the plate.

What on earth is your reason ?

Burglars only use stolen cars you know.




........ Phil

Is there a common entry/exit where you can expect the car to be? Like a
driveway or similar?

If so, you can aim the camera in this position, and aim your IR illumination
at the same place. It won't pick up any other activity other than when the
car is coming/going through this spot.

I have seen programmable cameras with a zoom function. They basically wander
around zooming in and out in a semi random way, and when an external trigger
is pressed (such as a card reader, or car detector circuit) they zoom in to
a predetermined position. They would be your best bet but you are talking
$$. The setup that I saw was done professionally by http://www.pacom.com.au/
and if they did it, which they probably woudn't, they would charge you $10K
minimum.

 

[Phil Allison]

"Heywood Jablome"
"Phil Allison"

I would like some advice on installing a video camera surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

When the tape is played back, I will need to be able to read a car
number plate at least 20m from the camera in the dark.


** That requires a human operated camera - one with a big lens that can
be aimed and zoomed on the plate.

What on earth is your reason ?

Burglars only use stolen cars you know.



Is there a common entry/exit where you can expect the car to be? Like a
driveway or similar?

If so, you can aim the camera in this position, and aim your IR
illumination
at the same place. It won't pick up any other activity other than when the
car is coming/going through this spot.

** Still have to aim and focus the camera right at the plate - they can be
mounted all over the place on a vehicle.

What folk forget is that cheap surveillance video has sooooo much less
resolution than 35mm film.




.......... Phil

 

[Alex Gibson]

<rg26ce1991@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1130725679.715335.315870@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

Greetings Newsgroup.
I would like some advice on installing a video camera surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

When the tape is played back, I will need to be able to read a car
number plate at least 20m from the camera in the dark.

*****************************************************
I am considering 2 cameras in the 2005 Jaycar catalog.


QC-3287 colour camera in housing with heater/IR - $399
plus lens.

or

Internal/External camera housing with heater QC-3331 - $55
Professional camera colour QC-3314 ------------------- $199
24vac to 12vdc adaptor MP-3069 ----------------------- $20
70m IR illuminator (Altronics S-9142) ---------------- $229
Total $503 plus lens

Could someone please tell me which lens would be suitable?


Is there any advantage having a colour camera instead of a B+W camera
to see in the dark?
A Black and White camera would be $100 - $150 cheaper.

What length of cable could be used between the camera and the vcr
before signal loss stared to be a problem.


Thanks,
Russell Griffiths.

Forget colour for nightime use.
Especially if you are going to use IR illumination.

You can get cameras that operate as colour for
daytime use then switch to B&W for use with IR at night.
Decent ones can be expensive!
(as in decent resolution with decent lens)

Is there anyway you can test the camera before you purchase ?

What video format are you going for ?
cif 352 x288 similar to qvga
4cif 704x576
D1 720x576

Need mpeg4 / H.264 with D1 to keep the bandwidth use low.

A list of most standard formats here
http://www.videotechnology.com/0904/formats.html

Looked at IP cameras at all ?

Not worth it with just one or two cameras but
as soon as you add more, makes it a lot easier.
Just hook them up to a network switch via cat5

Basically they stream video (mjpef, mpeg4) over a network
then you view or record the video on your pc.

Current cameras use 1 - 8 Mbps depending on resolution and
settings / format. Mpeg4 / H.264 has the lowest bandwidth.

Older products using mpeg2 or mjeg are usually a good bit cheaper.

Some cameras use power over ethernet as well.
Also have video servers for use with analog cameras.
The axis video servers are easy to setup and customise.


Axis are expensive but reliable.
http://www.axis.com/products/video/camera/
http://www.axis.com/products/cam_221/index.htm

http://www.axis.com/solutions/video/gallery.htm demo gallery
Look at that even have two Australian cams as part of the demos
http://61.9.244.114/local/view.shtml Bunburry
http://www.broomecam.com/camera.htm Broome

http://www.indigo.net.au/default.php/cPath/429_445
http://www.mercurytech.com.au/pages/cams.htm
http://www.royalbusinessproducts.homestead.com/AXIS1.html

http://www.communitech.com.au/results.php?man_id=1&&cat_id=C
http://www.communitech.com.au/network_cameras/analogtodigital.php

Alex

 

[Andrew M]

Colour cameras are only slightly sensitive to infrared - and when they are, it's only
the red pixels so the resolution is crap.

B&W will give the best resolution at low light or with IR illumination. As another
poster said, you can selectively IR illuminate a section of interest.

<rg26ce1991@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1130725679.715335.315870@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

Greetings Newsgroup.
I would like some advice on installing a video camera surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

When the tape is played back, I will need to be able to read a car
number plate at least 20m from the camera in the dark.

*****************************************************
I am considering 2 cameras in the 2005 Jaycar catalog.


QC-3287 colour camera in housing with heater/IR - $399
plus lens.

or

Internal/External camera housing with heater QC-3331 - $55
Professional camera colour QC-3314 ------------------- $199
24vac to 12vdc adaptor MP-3069 ----------------------- $20
70m IR illuminator (Altronics S-9142) ---------------- $229
Total $503 plus lens

Could someone please tell me which lens would be suitable?


Is there any advantage having a colour camera instead of a B+W camera
to see in the dark?
A Black and White camera would be $100 - $150 cheaper.

What length of cable could be used between the camera and the vcr
before signal loss stared to be a problem.


Thanks,
Russell Griffiths.

 

[TT]

"Phil Allison" <philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
news:3slscrFolodrU1@individual.net...

"Heywood Jablome"
"Phil Allison"

I would like some advice on installing a video camera
surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be
recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

When the tape is played back, I will need to be able
to read a car
number plate at least 20m from the camera in the
dark.


** That requires a human operated camera - one with a
big lens that can
be aimed and zoomed on the plate.

What on earth is your reason ?

Burglars only use stolen cars you know.



Is there a common entry/exit where you can expect the
car to be? Like a
driveway or similar?

If so, you can aim the camera in this position, and aim
your IR
illumination
at the same place. It won't pick up any other activity
other than when the
car is coming/going through this spot.


** Still have to aim and focus the camera right at the
plate - they can be
mounted all over the place on a vehicle.

What folk forget is that cheap surveillance video has
sooooo much less
resolution than 35mm film.




......... Phil


You would be an expert on this Philthy after you experience

at your Lackey St. flat. BTW this guy isn't one of your
neighbours as well is he?

TT

 

[rg26ce1991@hotmail.com]

Thanks for the replies.
The site involved in on a remote farm property. The owner has had
around 9000L of fuel stolen. A shed around 20m from the fuel tank has
mains power but no telephone line.

And there are 2 entrances an intruder could use to get to the fuel
tank.

From the replies, I understand a B&W camera would be best to use, but I
am still unsure which lens Jaycar sell would be suitable.

The B&W professional camera is 500x580 pixels, 380 lines. (QC-3310)
The B&W camera with housing an IR is 510x492 pixels, 380 lines
(QC-3285)

It may not be possible to read the number plate, but the camera would
need to cover an area about 5m wide about 20m from the shed.
Hopefully enough would be seen to be useful.

Can someone please tell me what length of cable could be used without
signal loss starting to be a problem?

Thanking you,
Russell Griffiths.

 

[swanny]

rg26ce1991@hotmail.com wrote:

Thanks for the replies.
The site involved in on a remote farm property. The owner has had
around 9000L of fuel stolen. A shed around 20m from the fuel tank has
mains power but no telephone line.

And there are 2 entrances an intruder could use to get to the fuel
tank.

From the replies, I understand a B&W camera would be best to use, but I
am still unsure which lens Jaycar sell would be suitable.

The B&W professional camera is 500x580 pixels, 380 lines. (QC-3310)
The B&W camera with housing an IR is 510x492 pixels, 380 lines
(QC-3285)

It may not be possible to read the number plate, but the camera would
need to cover an area about 5m wide about 20m from the shed.
Hopefully enough would be seen to be useful.

Can someone please tell me what length of cable could be used without
signal loss starting to be a problem?

Thanking you,
Russell Griffiths.

Russell,

Did you have a look here:
http://www.allthings.com.au/
They have a lot of cctv equipment, including sensitive mono cameras and
a lens calculator to allow you to gauge which lens is best for your
situation. Also video recording equipment.

 

[Phil Allison]

<rg26ce1991@hotmail.com

Thanks for the replies.
The site involved in on a remote farm property. The owner has had
around 9000L of fuel stolen. A shed around 20m from the fuel tank has
mains power but no telephone line.


It may not be possible to read the number plate, but the camera would
need to cover an area about 5m wide about 20m from the shed.
Hopefully enough would be seen to be useful.

** Not after recording on a LP VCR.

Forget it.

The fuel thieves will cover their plates up anyhow.




............ Phil

 

[Terry Collins]

rg26ce1991@hotmail.com wrote:

Thanks for the replies.
The site involved in on a remote farm property. The owner has had
around 9000L of fuel stolen. A shed around 20m from the fuel tank has
mains power but no telephone line.

And old computer with spare pci slot and capture card (aldi?)
Run linux and use motion(?) (takes a photo on % difference)

And there are 2 entrances an intruder could use to get to the fuel
tank.
2nd capture card.

From the replies, I understand a B&W camera would be best to use, but I
am still unsure which lens Jaycar sell would be suitable.

Take the Allthings tip. They show you how to calculate the lense you
need. Alternatively, an old video camera might do the trick.

 

[Boozo]

"Terry Collins" <newsonespam-spam@woa.com.au> wrote in message
news:437b1f40$0$13319$61c65585@un-2park-reader-01.sydney.pipenetworks.com.au...

rg26ce1991@hotmail.com wrote:
Thanks for the replies.
The site involved in on a remote farm property. The owner has had
around 9000L of fuel stolen. A shed around 20m from the fuel tank has
mains power but no telephone line.

And old computer with spare pci slot and capture card (aldi?)
Run linux and use motion(?) (takes a photo on % difference)

And there are 2 entrances an intruder could use to get to the fuel
tank.
2nd capture card.


From the replies, I understand a B&W camera would be best to use, but I
am still unsure which lens Jaycar sell would be suitable.

Take the Allthings tip. They show you how to calculate the lense you
need. Alternatively, an old video camera might do the trick.

I built a circuit(came as a kit) which connected to a PIR(movement sensor)
and to a VCR via the "Stop" and "Record" tracks (easy to do) so when
movement was detected the VCR started recording for a set time(adjusted
by changing one capacitor) and then back to stand-by until it sensed
movement again. A 3 hour tape could last a very long time this way.

IR leds can be used with a timer perhaps and a BW camera. Not sure about
a CMOS cameras resolution but they are better than they used to be.

I've used 30 metres of shielded audio cable for the camera without a
problem.
Not real sure on the distance for getting a clear picture of a plate though.
Most shops sellng this sort of stuff should have one connected but remember
the picture may be at night with IR.

Boozo.

 

[mikegw]

rg26ce1991@hotmail.com wrote:

Greetings Newsgroup.
I would like some advice on installing a video camera surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

As had been stated a few times you might be out of luck using a video
camera with respect to resolution. How about a multi-mega pixel still
digital camera that takes a few shots each time the gate is opened?

Is it safe to assume that the gate does not get too much traffic? A
memory stick with a few hundred shots could take a few days to fill.

Mike

 

[mikegw]

rg26ce1991@hotmail.com wrote:

Greetings Newsgroup.
I would like some advice on installing a video camera surveillance
system.

The camera will be connected to a vcr which may be recording in LP
mode, or may be triggered to start recording.

As had been stated a few times you might be out of luck using a video
camera with respect to resolution. How about a multi-mega pixel still
digital camera that takes a few shots each time the gate is opened?

Is it safe to assume that the gate does not get too much traffic? A
memory stick with a few hundred shots could take a few days to fill.

Mike