Nnng. I've recently started looking at building semi-managed CCTV solutions for customers and have recently come across this semi-niche of devices.
Commentards, er, I mean, esteemed commenters (sorry, hang over of TheRegister.co.uk forums, which are somewhat more brutal) - do you have any experience of these devices, and can you recommend me a device that can handle multiple 2+MP streams and a few sub-megapixel streams that won't crap itself after three months?
No homebrew stuff - must be warrantied up and good to go out of the box with minimal (expected - I'm a sysadmin by trade so no fear) config...
Also, long term reader, first time poster - do like a bit of AT. Keep it up, Ganesh and co....
Hi, most of the off the shelf stuff I've seen is sub-megapixel, although I haven't looked in a while.
This is the first off the shelf system I've seen with megapixel IP cams.
I know you said you want off the shelf, but I was pretty happy with my ZoneMinder setup, with a megapixel IP cam and a couple of SD cams. I dismantled it when I moved and haven't gotten around to setting it up again.
We have a Swann system at work; cams are Coax, not IP, and resolution and quality is SD. It works OK, but I don't really think they're worth the money.
Many of the megapixel IP cams are junk though. Axis has a good reputation, but I haven't seen one in action.
You're correct, Axis cameras have worked great for me (have mainly used their older models though). And as for multi-megapixel, you're looking more into the "homebrew" market of installing software such as Video Insight or the Pelco suite on a Windows server (or go the inexpensive route and use ZoneMinder on Linux [which is what I did. Worked great, except my first attempt was underpowered...]).
my buddy's aunt makes $87 hourly on the computer. She has been without work for 6 months but last month her paycheck was $17888 just working on the computer for a few hours. Read more here... http://goo.gl/QrkpyK
A little off-topic, but why go enterprise HDD when a single 1TB of EVO SSD is $650. I want to pick up a security system and lock the recording unit in my safe. Power is not that much an issue versus heat and noise.
Rifle-sized gun safes are usually pre-drilled for floor post anchoring and dehumidifiers. Route the 12/2 wire along with cat5 through one or two of those holes. Now you have a hardened security system that is both tamper and fire resistant.
Unless your system is entirely solid state and / or designed for zero airflow, you may experience extreme heat related reliability issues by placing it inside a safe.
Almost every system is designed with some level of air flow in mind. If you're going to do this, you'd want to pull and push air though the system. Probably with ducts to force air past the system.
No you are all wrong. You bolt a heat sink with fins onto the gun safe and get some thermal grease. You do not have to drill right through the skin. Just a 1\4inch and tap it and put in bolts to hold the heat sink. Make sure it is making as much contact as possible. Then internally you have to cut/machine some steel to make a good contact for the heat sink on the motheboard to make contact with the skin of the gunsafe. It is alot of mucking around. It has been done here in the USA many years ago. USA USA. American know-how exported around the world.
I'm no physicist, but in practice if you cool the outside of a safe (or any hollow container) you essentially cool the inside. If the safe -- think of it as a large heat sink -- is in a cool room, the interior should stay reasonably cool with only one device running in it.
Most modern computer systems are designed to be cooled by convection. This is why placing a computer in a sealed cabinet can cause it to overheat, even when the outer cabinet is in an otherwise cool environment.
What would happen if you put a small computer in a large insulated cooler? Even if the computer only gave off a small amount of heat, it would continually produce ever more heat. Eventually, the inside temperature of the cooler would reach a very high temperature, even if the cooler were located inside a cool room.
It's no different with a safe. A large metal safe with fire insulation is little different from an insulated cooler. A few bolt holes in the bottom would be very unlikely to provide adequate convection currents.
There are some systems designed for use without air cooling, but they are generally expensive industrial systems. There are a few ways this might be successfully accomplished. One is by the installation of fans and cooling ducts, but such might reduce the fire resistance. Another might be to attach heat pipes directly from the system's CPU to the wall of the safe. Either could be finicky and perhaps unreliable.
Placing any consumer level system within an unventilated safe is probably a bad idea.
Again, you can put a temperature control on the outside and it could turn off the power to the computer and sound an alarm. There are so many possibilities. There are computers in strong boxes and all these things written about have been overcome. Some of the longest living computers are built inside strong boxes .
And if you haven't heard of them, be sure to check out Ubiquity's AirVision cameras. The system isn't perfect, has some gaps (no IR/nightvision, outdoor camera is wimpy, limited number of cameras) but if your needs are covered by their existing cameras the NVR software they provide is pretty nice considering it's free with the cameras. And if you have the need for a handful of AP's, their UniFi managed wifi system is also really hard to beat for the price. Again, not perfect but amazing for the price.
Maybe an old article, so I doubt anyone will read this, but I've had great succes with Mirasys. A lot cheaper and works pretty much the same way. I bought it at https://www.rrb-security.nl . It's sort of an underdog VMS
Intel Atom D525 (2C/4T, 1.80 GHz) - great processor. Two multiple cameras is good for me on my workplace at https://customwriteonline.com/, where i have a lot of conferences.
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18 Comments
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Beany2013 - Friday, July 26, 2013 - link
Nnng. I've recently started looking at building semi-managed CCTV solutions for customers and have recently come across this semi-niche of devices.Commentards, er, I mean, esteemed commenters (sorry, hang over of TheRegister.co.uk forums, which are somewhat more brutal) - do you have any experience of these devices, and can you recommend me a device that can handle multiple 2+MP streams and a few sub-megapixel streams that won't crap itself after three months?
No homebrew stuff - must be warrantied up and good to go out of the box with minimal (expected - I'm a sysadmin by trade so no fear) config...
Also, long term reader, first time poster - do like a bit of AT. Keep it up, Ganesh and co....
Steven R
bobbozzo - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Hi, most of the off the shelf stuff I've seen is sub-megapixel, although I haven't looked in a while.This is the first off the shelf system I've seen with megapixel IP cams.
I know you said you want off the shelf, but I was pretty happy with my ZoneMinder setup, with a megapixel IP cam and a couple of SD cams.
I dismantled it when I moved and haven't gotten around to setting it up again.
We have a Swann system at work; cams are Coax, not IP, and resolution and quality is SD. It works OK, but I don't really think they're worth the money.
Many of the megapixel IP cams are junk though.
Axis has a good reputation, but I haven't seen one in action.
Ammaross - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
You're correct, Axis cameras have worked great for me (have mainly used their older models though). And as for multi-megapixel, you're looking more into the "homebrew" market of installing software such as Video Insight or the Pelco suite on a Windows server (or go the inexpensive route and use ZoneMinder on Linux [which is what I did. Worked great, except my first attempt was underpowered...]).BryanDobbins - Saturday, August 17, 2013 - link
my buddy's aunt makes $87 hourly on the computer. She has been without work for 6 months but last month her paycheck was $17888 just working on the computer for a few hours. Read more here... http://goo.gl/QrkpyKcuylar - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
D-Link DNR-322L & DCS-2230(WiFI) or DCS-2210(PoE)Lord 666 - Friday, July 26, 2013 - link
A little off-topic, but why go enterprise HDD when a single 1TB of EVO SSD is $650. I want to pick up a security system and lock the recording unit in my safe. Power is not that much an issue versus heat and noise.Egg - Friday, July 26, 2013 - link
I'm a little confused - how do you get networking into the safe? Do you drill a hole in the safe, or do you use wireless that's likely to drop out?Lord 666 - Friday, July 26, 2013 - link
Rifle-sized gun safes are usually pre-drilled for floor post anchoring and dehumidifiers. Route the 12/2 wire along with cat5 through one or two of those holes. Now you have a hardened security system that is both tamper and fire resistant.Dentons - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Unless your system is entirely solid state and / or designed for zero airflow, you may experience extreme heat related reliability issues by placing it inside a safe.Almost every system is designed with some level of air flow in mind. If you're going to do this, you'd want to pull and push air though the system. Probably with ducts to force air past the system.
bobbozzo - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
I agree about the heat problem, but adding ducts to a safe will ruin it's fire-worthy-ness.A better idea would probably be to get a locking rack-mount cabinet, and bolt it to the floor or a wall stud.
Duckhunt2 - Sunday, February 16, 2014 - link
No you are all wrong. You bolt a heat sink with fins onto the gun safe and get some thermal grease. You do not have to drill right through the skin. Just a 1\4inch and tap it and put in bolts to hold the heat sink. Make sure it is making as much contact as possible.Then internally you have to cut/machine some steel to make a good contact for the heat sink on the motheboard to make contact with the skin of the gunsafe. It is alot of mucking around. It has been done here in the USA many years ago. USA USA. American know-how exported around the world.
cmart - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
I'm no physicist, but in practice if you cool the outside of a safe (or any hollow container) you essentially cool the inside. If the safe -- think of it as a large heat sink -- is in a cool room, the interior should stay reasonably cool with only one device running in it.Dentons - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Most modern computer systems are designed to be cooled by convection. This is why placing a computer in a sealed cabinet can cause it to overheat, even when the outer cabinet is in an otherwise cool environment.What would happen if you put a small computer in a large insulated cooler? Even if the computer only gave off a small amount of heat, it would continually produce ever more heat. Eventually, the inside temperature of the cooler would reach a very high temperature, even if the cooler were located inside a cool room.
It's no different with a safe. A large metal safe with fire insulation is little different from an insulated cooler. A few bolt holes in the bottom would be very unlikely to provide adequate convection currents.
There are some systems designed for use without air cooling, but they are generally expensive industrial systems. There are a few ways this might be successfully accomplished. One is by the installation of fans and cooling ducts, but such might reduce the fire resistance. Another might be to attach heat pipes directly from the system's CPU to the wall of the safe. Either could be finicky and perhaps unreliable.
Placing any consumer level system within an unventilated safe is probably a bad idea.
Duckhunt2 - Sunday, February 16, 2014 - link
Again, you can put a temperature control on the outside and it could turn off the power to the computer and sound an alarm. There are so many possibilities. There are computers in strong boxes and all these things written about have been overcome. Some of the longest living computers are built inside strong boxes .mamun - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
Need to details to my mail. mamunv6@gmail.comDocNo - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
And if you haven't heard of them, be sure to check out Ubiquity's AirVision cameras. The system isn't perfect, has some gaps (no IR/nightvision, outdoor camera is wimpy, limited number of cameras) but if your needs are covered by their existing cameras the NVR software they provide is pretty nice considering it's free with the cameras. And if you have the need for a handful of AP's, their UniFi managed wifi system is also really hard to beat for the price. Again, not perfect but amazing for the price.tweakert12 - Tuesday, May 10, 2016 - link
Maybe an old article, so I doubt anyone will read this, but I've had great succes with Mirasys. A lot cheaper and works pretty much the same way. I bought it at https://www.rrb-security.nl . It's sort of an underdog VMStiffanywalls - Monday, November 2, 2020 - link
Intel Atom D525 (2C/4T, 1.80 GHz) - great processor. Two multiple cameras is good for me on my workplace at https://customwriteonline.com/, where i have a lot of conferences.