hi folks

does any one know about security cams? the company were i work is looking to get about 8 cams and we have no idea were to find a system or which ones are worth buying. any suggestions??

You might check with you local police department and ask which they prefer, security cam footage on DVD or if they possibly still use older software to blow up VHS film, like facial blowups through the software they use. Our 'local' police department wants VHS security film and they can enhance the film 'inhouse'. Of couse DVD recorders are state of the art and quality VHS recorders used for security purposes (extended time units) are hard to locate. Personally, we use 7 Swann security cameras with infra-red technology (allows a much clearer image in darkness). And of course the higher quality specifications you have on the camera, the higher quality images you will have to give to the police if you plan on having anyone arrested. A middle of the road Swann outdoor infra-red security camera is good up to approximately 20 ft. (10-15ft. will allow a clear image of one's face in darkness). The idea is to get the bad guy's face on the camera and hpe police knows who he is and makes the arrest. We have had maybe a dozen arrests directly related to our security cameras. I hope this helps. I had a bad experience with Trend Net security cameras.

all right ill do that. thanks badge

BTW. Bad guys including burgulars and vandalizers are very adept at breaking your cameras. Mount them high. Climbing onto the roof to disable a camera if seen is definately in their repotoire. Not so high you can't see their face though. This is our problem. We are to the point of razor wire to keep them of the roof. They will climb under the building too. Steal the copper pipe from your facility and sell it for scrap. They are stealing the aluminum bleachers from the high school football fields around here and sell it for scrap. They will steal plastic too, like guitters and things. Note. it is really hard to position a camera to get a clear license plate number! You got 'em if you can do that. GL.

Hmmm is there any cams that have a realy long distance. at our building they will for the most part have to be mounted vary high up.

we have 3600sqft inside space that needs to be monitored and then we need to monitor the out side of the building too.

You would have to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for a security camera that will record someone's face or even come close to a clarly displayed license plate number from a long distance. The average security camera you see in retail stores like Fry's Electronics cost anywhere from $49.95 up to maybe $1500, more likey several hundreds of dollars. There will be a 'recording clarity' increase from a say $99 Swann infra-red unit to a more expensive, better specification $299 camera. But, you are still going to have to position that camera within 20 feet or less to get their face on that tape or DVD clearly. Two weeks ago some punks stuck a knife in one of our clients tires while parked on the back lot. After school. The two were on the camera, but the back camera is under the roof's overhang at the tallest point of the building. I didn't bother to call police and give them the tape. They couldn't see their face (but one officer may recognize the from the neighborhood or something). She took the tape to police. I'll see how that goes. Anyway, yeah $49 to $299 equals about 20 feet not much farther for the details.

mmm so i would be looking at getting a lot of cams. mm say do you know any thing about wireless cams. i have seen them advertised for home systems but not for business? we can spend a about 2000$ on a system but i need it to do a good job. hhmmm frustrating.

I have been eyeing wireless security cameras. I have to spend a little time researching the possibility. I bought a Trend Net wireless camera and hoked it to my wireless router. It was defective and I didn't have time to find another camera that worked. Really, the Swann infra-red outdoor cameras starting at around $100 maybe $150 work well and I'm sure they have wireless models that would be a start. You could buy one, see how well it workks fo you and go from there. Oh, how I wish my camera's were good enough to display a license plate. The local police have set up a stake out at night using our facility and our cameras! I'l try and post a shot of our cameras in minute. Planting some creeping fig right now. LOL!

If you are trying to catch vandals, many times they are mobile, driving around hoping out of the car and vandalizing then speeding away. Sometimes you think these kind of people are out there walking around on your property. They are mobile often.

well actualy we are trying to stop it from with in our company most of the time. only once or twice have we had people from out side of the company stealing. of course we cant prove any of that cause this is just info we get from people related to employees. our property is fenced in so we are only trying to monitor our portion of the property(our part is fenced from all the other companys on the property.

This is a terrible picture (my daughter's dummy camera) of our camera's. We use splitters to get 4 cameras on each 19" screen. really, the views are a lttle better than the picture shoows. The whited out view is because of the sun. That is directly above our front door, 4 feet from anyone's face who enters. I'll try and get a shot of the Swann infra-red mounted above the door in aminute. It's beem tore down and throw behind the buiilding once before.

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/1557/cams99pz9.jpg

Ok. I see. Your situation is a lot different than mine. You should go to a retal store and ask questions. maybe you can find a professional installer of security systems in your area and ger their suggestions. A buddy of mine and I installed our system several years ago. This is a shot of the camera above our front door to our facility. The face can easily be recorded from this camera.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137 [...] 238no8.jpg

somthing like ADT security services inc??

Well, ADT was installed here at one time. We talked with them and they were really crazy expensive. Do you live in So. California? I can link you to my friend who installs home/business security systems. In fact, you can email Jeff and ask questions. I was thinking like an experienced individual or small company that installs home/business security systems. They could probably get you headed in the right direction as to the hardware and so on you could best utalize.

http://cyberdenent.com/

Our security systems serves it's purpose. Not fancy, not state of the art, but certainly functional and effective. We installed it our self. Climbing around on the roof and drilling holes into the building, hiding the wires and cameras is not an easy accompolishment, but we managed. i set our VHS recorders to 30 hour recording intervals. I tried to get a wireless camera up and linked to the wireless router so I could wtch the paking lot from other locations (home), but the camera I bought was defective and I just returned it and didn't pursue the idea any further. I still want to have tis capability.

well actualy i live in mid Florida kinda a long way.

You might try you local classified ads or do a local google search for home/ofice security systems or installers, company, etc. My friend is a home/business maintenace man and He and I installed our system.

ya ill give send jeff and email and see if he has any advice. if i tell him badge sent me will he know who im talking about.