Remote viewing CCTV - anyone got any experience?
Discussion
I'm looking for a couple of cctv systems, one for home and one for the factory, which I can view from my laptop and, ideally, iphone / android.
I have a system at one of our other properties same as this http://www.cctv4u.co.uk/product.php?id=455 but it only works with internet explorer and is therefore a royal pain in the a*** to view from a mac.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks
Simon.
I have a system at one of our other properties same as this http://www.cctv4u.co.uk/product.php?id=455 but it only works with internet explorer and is therefore a royal pain in the a*** to view from a mac.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks
Simon.
The dvr is internet ready - it connects straight to the router. Its a 4 camera system that works through and camera control plus all dvr features are available through the web interface.
I just need a system that will work on mac too, and other browsers. It seems the activeX control hasn't been written for any other platform yet
I just need a system that will work on mac too, and other browsers. It seems the activeX control hasn't been written for any other platform yet
RRH said:
The dvr is internet ready - it connects straight to the router. Its a 4 camera system that works through and camera control plus all dvr features are available through the web interface.
I just need a system that will work on mac too, and other browsers. It seems the activeX control hasn't been written for any other platform yet
Yep, I understood that. This is one way of getting around that if you have analogue cameras rather than IP ones (as people rarely do even today).I just need a system that will work on mac too, and other browsers. It seems the activeX control hasn't been written for any other platform yet
There is a Mac version of the Slingplayer software
Driller said:
Yep, I understood that. This is one way of getting around that if you have analogue cameras rather than IP ones (as people rarely do even today).
There is a Mac version of the Slingplayer software
ETA Very few, if any, of the DVR browser software is Mac compatible. Same goes for the viewer software that comes with the DVR. Hence why the Slingbox is a get around solution.There is a Mac version of the Slingplayer software
Driller, interesting about the Slingplayer, i take it this is via a slingbox?
I went to a job yesterday where the client is running Mac's throughout his network, however wants the remote access as well, however
as ever this is only supported on the Windows platform.
I have actually spoken to my security guy today and there is a 8 channel DVR on the market which is only for the Mac platform, however it has only just been released.
Its from Vision, who i understand do some fantastic PTZ cameras.
Love the Axis IP cameras and would always push a client to go down the IP route as its so flexable, however allot more money.
I went to a job yesterday where the client is running Mac's throughout his network, however wants the remote access as well, however
as ever this is only supported on the Windows platform.
I have actually spoken to my security guy today and there is a 8 channel DVR on the market which is only for the Mac platform, however it has only just been released.
Its from Vision, who i understand do some fantastic PTZ cameras.
Love the Axis IP cameras and would always push a client to go down the IP route as its so flexable, however allot more money.
dafydd2008 said:
Driller, interesting about the Slingplayer, i take it this is via a slingbox?
I went to a job yesterday where the client is running Mac's throughout his network, however wants the remote access as well, however
as ever this is only supported on the Windows platform.
I have actually spoken to my security guy today and there is a 8 channel DVR on the market which is only for the Mac platform, however it has only just been released.
Its from Vision, who i understand do some fantastic PTZ cameras.
Love the Axis IP cameras and would always push a client to go down the IP route as its so flexable, however allot more money.
Hey dafydd, yeah it's running from a Slingbox. Just attach the IR blaster to the IR eye on the DVR, program the remote commands via the Slingbox website and it all works fine on Mac and iPhone.I went to a job yesterday where the client is running Mac's throughout his network, however wants the remote access as well, however
as ever this is only supported on the Windows platform.
I have actually spoken to my security guy today and there is a 8 channel DVR on the market which is only for the Mac platform, however it has only just been released.
Its from Vision, who i understand do some fantastic PTZ cameras.
Love the Axis IP cameras and would always push a client to go down the IP route as its so flexable, however allot more money.
Must say never heard of Vision but there are a ton of manufacturers about.
Agree about the IP route and the price too! Still it'll come down over the next few years and we'll all have 'em.
Hello there.
Hopefully I can give some advice on this one.
Firstly the kit you have chosen: Make sure the connectors are not unique to that kit. I don't know but if was a gambling man I'd wager a couple of quid that the camera to DVR connection is bespoke and not industry standard fittings. The give away is the shared power supply. It could be that the power supply splits 5 ways, one for the DVR and 1 for each camera but because the Cameras and DVR are made by the same company I bet the camera to DVR lead handles video and power and plugs straight into the back of the DVR.
If this is the case then if a camera fails in the future you may find you have to bin the whole system because you can't get a replacement. You also wouldn't be able to change a camera if the ones supplied proved unsuitable. Finally you may find you are limited to your leads that come with the kit, you can't go longer or shorter.
The cameras themselves are a 1/4 inch image sensor which is very low end these days and they have a 3.6mm lens which is reasonably wide angle (the fact they have a 1/4 rather than a 1/3 inch image sensor means they are less wide angle than the preferred 1/3 inch sensors. You also need to know a non amplified low light figure for the cameras. To say they film down to 0 lux is a bit of a cheat, all I/R equipped cameras film down to 0 lux but how sensitive are the base electronics? That will determine actual low light / infra-red performance.
The problem with wide angle cameras is that they don't pick up much in the way of useful detail as you move away from the camera.
I would also advise a 1TB hard drive if you are fitting 4 cameras. You need to record at D1 resolution (400,000 pixels per frame) and you can never have too much storage capacity.
Now to your remote access question. We spend a lot of time on this subject. We were one of the first companies to offer a remote set up service for port forwarding on customer's routers when they set up their remote viewing.
Firstly make sure with any remote access to your CCTV system you are connecting directly to the DVR recorder (all be it via an IP update service such as DynDns). You don't want to go via a proxy server otherwise your connection could be slower than a slow thing. The proxy servers are massively overworked to the point where we often find them impossible other than at 3.00am !
The way we get round your problem of access using different browsers is to have 2 systems built into our DVR recorders. We have a full service active X based control panel which works on Internet explorer. This allows live streaming, access to previously recorded footage, settings changes to the DVR and so on. But we also have an automatically switching basic html viewer when accessing using anything other than IE. This gives live still shots from the CCTV system (which can be made to auto update as often as once a second). You can see 4 cameras at a time or 1 camera at a time. The benefit with this system is that it will work on any non text only browser, Iphone, safari, firefox, Blackberry, etc, and because there is no application to download you can view your CCTV system on a public computer which is barred from accepting any downloads (such as an airport lounge). So you don't need to have your specific computer with pre-loaded software.
A couple of bits of further reading for you:
Remote access CCTV DVR recorders
General information if you are researching CCTV in particular have a read through the buying guides for CCT cameras and CCTV DVR recorders.
I hope that lot is of some use. Feel free to call either myself or Matt if you need any further help or advice.
Keep smiling
Henry
Hopefully I can give some advice on this one.
Firstly the kit you have chosen: Make sure the connectors are not unique to that kit. I don't know but if was a gambling man I'd wager a couple of quid that the camera to DVR connection is bespoke and not industry standard fittings. The give away is the shared power supply. It could be that the power supply splits 5 ways, one for the DVR and 1 for each camera but because the Cameras and DVR are made by the same company I bet the camera to DVR lead handles video and power and plugs straight into the back of the DVR.
If this is the case then if a camera fails in the future you may find you have to bin the whole system because you can't get a replacement. You also wouldn't be able to change a camera if the ones supplied proved unsuitable. Finally you may find you are limited to your leads that come with the kit, you can't go longer or shorter.
The cameras themselves are a 1/4 inch image sensor which is very low end these days and they have a 3.6mm lens which is reasonably wide angle (the fact they have a 1/4 rather than a 1/3 inch image sensor means they are less wide angle than the preferred 1/3 inch sensors. You also need to know a non amplified low light figure for the cameras. To say they film down to 0 lux is a bit of a cheat, all I/R equipped cameras film down to 0 lux but how sensitive are the base electronics? That will determine actual low light / infra-red performance.
The problem with wide angle cameras is that they don't pick up much in the way of useful detail as you move away from the camera.
I would also advise a 1TB hard drive if you are fitting 4 cameras. You need to record at D1 resolution (400,000 pixels per frame) and you can never have too much storage capacity.
Now to your remote access question. We spend a lot of time on this subject. We were one of the first companies to offer a remote set up service for port forwarding on customer's routers when they set up their remote viewing.
Firstly make sure with any remote access to your CCTV system you are connecting directly to the DVR recorder (all be it via an IP update service such as DynDns). You don't want to go via a proxy server otherwise your connection could be slower than a slow thing. The proxy servers are massively overworked to the point where we often find them impossible other than at 3.00am !
The way we get round your problem of access using different browsers is to have 2 systems built into our DVR recorders. We have a full service active X based control panel which works on Internet explorer. This allows live streaming, access to previously recorded footage, settings changes to the DVR and so on. But we also have an automatically switching basic html viewer when accessing using anything other than IE. This gives live still shots from the CCTV system (which can be made to auto update as often as once a second). You can see 4 cameras at a time or 1 camera at a time. The benefit with this system is that it will work on any non text only browser, Iphone, safari, firefox, Blackberry, etc, and because there is no application to download you can view your CCTV system on a public computer which is barred from accepting any downloads (such as an airport lounge). So you don't need to have your specific computer with pre-loaded software.
A couple of bits of further reading for you:
Remote access CCTV DVR recorders
General information if you are researching CCTV in particular have a read through the buying guides for CCT cameras and CCTV DVR recorders.
I hope that lot is of some use. Feel free to call either myself or Matt if you need any further help or advice.
Keep smiling
Henry
cuneus said:
That stuff's all pc based and no use for analogue cameras.If you fit an analogue capture card in the computer it will allow you to use an analogue camera.
We are not big fans of PC based CCTV systems. Firstly they tend to be more expensive than a stand alone DVR recorder by the time you've got everything set up. You also have to remember most PC hardware is only designed to run for say 8 hours in a day. The hard drives we fit in DVR recorders for instance are really good quality AV grade drives to cope with the workload. A standard PC hard drive is not suitable and so running CCTV on an existing PC may cause premature failure.
Many people use an existing PC to run their CCTV system. The CCTV processing takes a fair chunk out of the PC's capacity so things can run slowly and if it causes the PC to fail you loose all you work stored on the computer. I'm a big fan separate, totally independent systems.
A PC is quite often the first thing that's stolen in a break in. With a stand alone DVR you can fit it out of sight and leave it to do it's own thing without the risk of it getting stolen.
IP technology is very expensive. In theory it has the potential to work. Mega-pixel images for instance are great, but you have to store the footage at that same mega-pixel resolution for it to be any use and all of a sudden things start to spiral in terms of cost. In general terms IP cameras are around 3 times the price of an equivalent analogue camera. You are also much more limited in terms of off the shelf lens availability, particularly in ready to fit outdoor cameras. Try finding a 6-60mm outdoor IP camera for instance.
Given the fact you can use Cat5 cable to wire analogue cameras (using a video balun), and pretty much all DVR recorders have an Ethernet output for remote viewing / PTZ control etc you start to question the benefits of IP CCTV technology for all but the most specialist of applications. We have looked at IP CCTV and for the moment decided not to stock it. Ironically we actually have quite a good in house IT capability so that side of things isn't an issue.
It may well prove to be the future, but for us at the moment it doesn't suit our target audience.
Henry
We are not big fans of PC based CCTV systems. Firstly they tend to be more expensive than a stand alone DVR recorder by the time you've got everything set up. You also have to remember most PC hardware is only designed to run for say 8 hours in a day. The hard drives we fit in DVR recorders for instance are really good quality AV grade drives to cope with the workload. A standard PC hard drive is not suitable and so running CCTV on an existing PC may cause premature failure.
Many people use an existing PC to run their CCTV system. The CCTV processing takes a fair chunk out of the PC's capacity so things can run slowly and if it causes the PC to fail you loose all you work stored on the computer. I'm a big fan separate, totally independent systems.
A PC is quite often the first thing that's stolen in a break in. With a stand alone DVR you can fit it out of sight and leave it to do it's own thing without the risk of it getting stolen.
IP technology is very expensive. In theory it has the potential to work. Mega-pixel images for instance are great, but you have to store the footage at that same mega-pixel resolution for it to be any use and all of a sudden things start to spiral in terms of cost. In general terms IP cameras are around 3 times the price of an equivalent analogue camera. You are also much more limited in terms of off the shelf lens availability, particularly in ready to fit outdoor cameras. Try finding a 6-60mm outdoor IP camera for instance.
Given the fact you can use Cat5 cable to wire analogue cameras (using a video balun), and pretty much all DVR recorders have an Ethernet output for remote viewing / PTZ control etc you start to question the benefits of IP CCTV technology for all but the most specialist of applications. We have looked at IP CCTV and for the moment decided not to stock it. Ironically we actually have quite a good in house IT capability so that side of things isn't an issue.
It may well prove to be the future, but for us at the moment it doesn't suit our target audience.
Henry
You can get away with installing an analogue CCTV system rather than going down the IP surveillance route which is extremely expensive. If you purchase some anlogue security cameras and a digital video recorder which has an in built server you can remotely connect to the DVR from anywhere in the world via an internet web browser. You can view a selection of HD recorders here.
Edited by Jacob2 on Friday 3rd April 22:55
I have an Axis Network DVR, which is a slightly older DVR now, BUT, it works on ANY internet client, on any platform, even direct on the iphone. You just log into the IP address and on the mac, or iphone, I can do what ever I want in terms of view or maintenance. I didn't know this when I bought it, and have found out as I wanted to upgrade the machine to add cameras. I have now bought an Alien Prolite and view on the iphone via the alien app. The Alien loops through to the vista for Mac viewing.I didn't want a cheap Chinese box, and it seems Active X is needed on most systems, which isn't an option on Apple.
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