What is the best security camera system for a medium sized business?
May 28, 2009 12:21 PM Subscribe
Securitycamerafilter: Our company is installing a surveillance system for our small two story building. We would like to know what you may have used, your review, your recommendation. We are mainly focused only on the camera, what kind of cabling (cat5, coax, etc.), and server versus stand alone dvr.
Our biggest issue is most of the systems we've looked at online are either geared for residential/small business ($300) or enterprise systems ($10000+). We need a system which falls in between, and we're going to have to run most of the cable (maybe more than 5000 ft), so cable price is an issue. Our electrician recommends cat 5, since it is so cheap, while most of the systems we've looked at use specialized cable which is much more expensive.
Any feedback on systems, size, pricing, installation issues, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.
Our biggest issue is most of the systems we've looked at online are either geared for residential/small business ($300) or enterprise systems ($10000+). We need a system which falls in between, and we're going to have to run most of the cable (maybe more than 5000 ft), so cable price is an issue. Our electrician recommends cat 5, since it is so cheap, while most of the systems we've looked at use specialized cable which is much more expensive.
Any feedback on systems, size, pricing, installation issues, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.
Your electrician is right: Cat5 is cheap and vendor lock in is a horrible thing. The Axis cameras and a lot of others also work with ZoneMinder an open source video surveillance application that also seems to get used professionally. Since we do not need recordings and do not need motion detection, we just went with four panels of video in a table on Firefox, but zoneminder certainly looked nice enough to me. (Big Brother is watching you cheaply)
posted by mmkhd at 3:38 PM on May 28, 2009
posted by mmkhd at 3:38 PM on May 28, 2009
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If you go that route do not skimp on the cameras. At first we had cheap D-Link cameras but they tended to crash the network and the original PoE power supplies failed fairly soon. We now use cameras from Axis and they seem to be well worth the money. Rock solid stability and there are a lot of choices for outdoor type enclosures. Their smallest models werde good enough. Since installing them I notice them, in more and more places. They seem to get the job done.
In the long run IP cameras should prove to be the more flexible system compared to classic coax video cameras. Bonus is power over ethernet, one cable does it all.
posted by mmkhd at 3:31 PM on May 28, 2009