Recommendations For Low Cost 16 Channel System

Hello Clint:

Buying 16 cameras and a DVR (30 days storage) for between $500 - $1000 is not going to gain you good quality gear and even with cheap junk may be impossible, as it does not consider the labor costs of installation.

Here is a Super Circuits 16 camera/1 TB DVR combo for $1300.

However this is not a recommendation, nor does it likely meet your needs. Why?

1. Seeing 'facial details' is more camera positioning and application design than a hardware spec. Sure PPF (pixel per foot) is important, but the right threshold needed for recognition varies depending on the target area field of view.

2. 1 TB is a big drive, but properly configuring the way it is used: motion recording, CODECs, Framerates, and night time lighting has a big impact on how much space is used over a given day.

3. Equipment like power supplies, cabling, backup power, and viewing monitors are all typically additions to 'box kits'.

4. Installation labor can double the actual cost of a system. Do you plan to install yourself, or does your budget need to include installation as well?

5. With low cost systems, product quality and technical support is especially a big concern. 'Caveat Emptor' is a poinant adage to remember here.

If I were in your shoes, I'd take these steps:

• Do I really need 16 cameras, or can I get by with fewer? A detailed system design could save you hundreds here.
• Is it possible to 'go IP' and use a DVR-less system like Axis Camera Companion with edge storage instead? Potentially this could eliminate my DVR and use existing LAN rather than using new analog coax cable.
• Do I have to support and maintain this system for years? If so, how does this impact my budget?
• Finally, if $1000 is my drop-dead not to exceed price, I'd start with good quality equipment and simply add one or two cameras at a time as money becomes available rather than drop $1k on an ugly baby.
  

Price is always a big factor, but there is often a hair-breadths gap between 'buying smart' and 'wasting money' on surveillance systems.

In general, I'll agree with what Brian said above. HOWEVER, you may want to check out Q-See's NVR's. We tested a 4-channel version and found it to be fairly simple to use and the build quality wasn't bad, nor was Q-See's tech support. Setup was easy and it auto-detects cameras connected to the built-in PoE ports. You can get a 16-channel version (though with only 4 PoE ports) for under $700 on Amazon. I was skeptical of them at first, but was pleasantly surprised.

Hikvision has also started making some lower cost NVRs, but we haven't tested them at all, and I've not heard much about them.

Labor and installation cost is not a factor. I will be doing the install and this is for a friend's pawn shop. IP would be an option, I'd just have to factor in the cost of a new switch, but that does sound like it would save us a ton on the accessories that I didn't factor in. We could get away with as few as 12 cameras, but that is the minimum. FOV is going to be around 20'.

After consulting with my friend, $1000 is not the dead end price cap. They are more interested in the quality rather than skimping due to price.

I guess my biggest question is "what manufacturers would you recommend I look into for this project"? I'm just not familiar enough with everyone out there to know where to begin. We use Axis here on our campus so I know they're good quality, I just didn't know if there was something out there that was comparable at a lower cost.

The cheapest manufacturer in that price range that doesn't suck is Lorex.

Assuming a mounting height of not lower than 9 and not higher than 12 feet from the ground, a 650TVL camera with a ~4mm lens recording at D1 resolution will allow you to view a face good enough for identification purposes at a distance of roughly 16 to 18 feet away, depending on lighting and weather conditions, although it may not look very pretty.

15FPS is fine for subjects on foot, but the higher the frame rate, the nicer the picture will look (higher frame rates mean smoother images- remember, this is all interlaced video).

Does anyone know if these lower cost systems (Vivotek, Dahua) are built with commercial grade versus consumer grade electronics inside? Years ago I repped in the component industry & the equipment built using consumer grade electronics never had more than a one year warranty because basically, they were expected to fail in month 13 or so. Commercial or Mil spec components were used in the higher end products that are meant to operate 24/7 over long periods of time (5 yrs +). This explained the higher cost of commercial grade equipment. Does that still hold true today? If so, spending $1000.00 on a single system today might turn into a $1000.00 a year investment if you have to keep replacing it. At that point, John G's solution might end up being best cost alternative although I think $300.00 a month might be a little steep. There are other cloud providers in the $10.00 to $12.00 range per camera per month using Milestone backends so that would be more like $200.00 a month. I think Brian Rhodes had the best suggestion: "Is it possible to 'go IP' and use a DVR-less system like Axis Camera Companion with edge storage instead? Potentially this could eliminate my DVR and use existing LAN rather than using new analog coax cable." (although this is still well over the $1000.00 target) Good luck Clint. It'll be interesting to hear back from you on what you ultimately do, why you went that way and how much it ended up costing.

Good point. I don't know if that's because there isn't an advantage with the types of components they all use or if thier marketing departments have been asleep at the wheel. Maybe some of the equipment vendor members will comment and let us know?!?!?