Yes Thank you this will save me a lot of time. Jon
On Dec 28, 2007 8:52 AM, Mark Boersma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Excellent writeup, thank you. > > > > Mark > > ------------------------------------------------- > > Two rules to success in life: > > 1. Never tell people everything you know. > > > > *From:* Matthew W. Ross [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > *Sent:* Friday, December 28, 2007 3:27 AM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* RE: Security Camera's > > > > > I've had to do some budget camera shopping myself, and have a little > insight on IP cameras. > > Axis is the #1 brand for cameras. They are crisp, responsive, and robust. > An indoor "cheap" axis (the 207 model) looking through a window looks better > than some of the outdoor models available from other vendors. Prices can > skyrocket quickly with these cameras, shooting over $1000 per camera is easy > to do. > > At the other end of the spectrum we have the D-Link. I've dealt with a few > of these cameras, and the only one that worked for me was the DCS-900... > their cheapest model. For less than $100, this camera has been running in my > shop for over a year now non stop... but it's frame rate is horrid (6fps > using MJPEG). Others I've tried (like the PoE DCS-1110) won't work with my > software (more on that later). > > There is a company named gadspot that makes very inexpensive cameras. > After putting one of their cameras through the paces, I'd recommend avoiding > them. > > Cisco has come out with a new IP Camera. It's got most of the right > features like PoE, a DC Iris, MJPEG and MPEG4... And since it's a clone of > one of their Linksys products, it's fairly inexpensive. I wouldn't mind > trying one of those. > > As for the Trendnet, the only camera of theirs that caught my eye was the > TV-201p, which appears to be one of the least expensive PoE cameras on the > market (except for the before-mentioned D-Link DCS-1110). If it can do MJPEG > support, It would be a killer indoor camera for cheap. Many of the others > simply will not work with my server software. > > Panasonic makes some good looking cameras on paper, but I have yet to get > one in my hands to try out. If you check out Panasonic's website, they have > cameras in the Consumer and in the Corperate sections of their site, each > with their own line of cameras. > > Vivotek is an interesting camea vendor. Many other vendors use re-branded > versions of their camreas. (For example, 4XEM uses rebranded Vivotek gear.) > If you're in the States, it's a little hard to get these Taiwan cameras, but > they have a very good price/feature ratio. > > But when we decided to get a camera for outdoor use at our school, we > decided on the Toshiba IK-WB02A. Actually, we decided on the camera kits > that came with the zoom and wide angle lens. My review of these cameras are > that they are quite functional, robust (I have 1 out of 5 that is having > problems, but I think it has more to do with my wiring than the camera > itself) and has the features we needed for a price we could afford. We house > them within Videolarm outdoor heated and ventilated housings and have been > quite happy with the camera's performance. My one complaint would be the > difficulty it is to focus the cameras, especially since it is best to focus > these cameras during night. Since the iris opens completely duing dark > hours, the focus must be spot on... otherwise the picture gets fuzzy very > quickly. > > If I could make suggestion: No matter what camera you get, make sure it > doesn't "requires Internet Explorer" and doesn't support other browsers. > This basicaly means that the camera can only be viewed with an ActiveX > plugin... which means it is only supported by Windows and IE. Never limit > yourself to a single platform if you can avoid it. this is why I cannot > recommend most D-Link or Trendnet cameras. > > As for server software, I only have dealt with 2: ZoneMinder and Lux Riot. > > Lux Riot looks to be an excellent windows based camera recording software. > but, since license for the camera was going to cost as much as the hardware > I was going to run the hardware one, I decided to look at the open source > alternative. > > ZoneMinder is quickly maturing into an excellent piece of software. It can > do motion detection, camera control, Follow the moving item, and many other > advanced features... but it also has its' limitations: Works only with JPEG > and MJPEG cameras, no MPEG4. Scheduling needs work. Reviewing video could > use improvement. Oh, and you'll have to build it for yourself. But, there is > one great advantage to going withe the Free software first... If ZoneMinder > ever stops meeting our needs, We aren't heavily invested in it. > > I hope this info is useful to some of you. > > --Matt Ross > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
