TOPIC:

Anyone here have any experience with CCTV systems? I am looking to get one for my home, you know... to protect my beer

No, but really... there has been a spat of break-ins in my area and I would like to ensure my cars and property is well protected, not to mention the reduction in my insurance by having it...

I would have a preference towards a digital PC based one that is all done in software, I have looked at a few open source bits such as Zone Minder and the likes, but would prefer to have something with a commercial backing, as this could potentially end up in court if needs be - and the commercial ones have "expert witnesses" that they can assign to you if required.

I have also looked at some of the geovision stuff...

I would ideally like to have somewhere between 6 to 8 zones, that can be remotely monitored, and has the facility to have "timezones" set up where movement within those zones will trigger a text message being sent to me and one or two others in case I am not available...

So, do any of you have any experience with a system such as this? Any of you shop owners care to divulge either in public or private what type of system you are using and how useful you find it?

Main question - what is your budget?
Regardless, you should go for a PC based system, no question about that.
Zone sizes and zone lighting would give an indication of the technology required.

I would probably have in and around €1000 although could probably stretch to €1500 if it was going to be really good... All zones are external and would benefit from night vision cameras.

There is no problem doing all of the cable runs myself etc... I have a preference for IP cameras however I realize they are not the most cost effective so I would be happy to go for BNC with the Ethernet balun.

External zones means day/night cameras, so analog because IP can't cut it in this situation.
To be honest, you are not going to get all the cameras and DVR within your budget, nevermind the cabling.
All of the professional CCTV guys that I know are overloaded with work at the moment so no chance of great deals. This recession has folks thieving again and everyone wants CCTV to watch what they have.
I am on holiday at the moment but when I get back I will PM you some contact details for a couple of people I have used.

I can do all the wiring myself, it would just be the hookup and install of the recorder & cameras. The infrastructure will already be in place, so hopefully that should cut down some...

Your advise is much appreciated.

"snuff":7z2ci9ij wrote: External zones means day/night cameras, so analog because IP can't cut it in this situation.
[/quote:7z2ci9ij]
How come? Is this a bandwidth problem??

You could go all DIY on it to save on cost. A guy i know uses zoneminder quite successfully with cheap cameras. Ill talk to him and get back to you on what exactly he has in his setup.
You can save money on cameras by using USB cameras (as oppposed to IP - although wired IP cameras are prob as cheap as USB) - but the cable length is limited for this...Another guy i know uses ethernet-USB converters at each end to get a longer run - you can apparently buy these cheaply on ebay or make your own as its a simple passive circuit. He uses this to connect to a USB weather station out in his garden.

I think you may be able to save on hardware further by hooking up your own IR LEDS to achieve night vision.

But as you say if you're going to want to rely on this in court, DIY is probably not the way to go.

But remember the first part of security is prevention - maybe better to invest in this and do a DIY job on the detection <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->