New camera system recommendations?

gwilkie

Hello all,

I am new to the forum, so "Hello!"

I was very excited to find the SecuritySpy software as I am setting up a new 8-10 camera system for a small commercial building using a Mac Mini. I was hoping you guys might have some recommendations for me!

1. Currently there are cat5e cables running from each camera drop back to the central camera closet. I have been looking for outdoor and indoor POE 1080p cameras for day and night use. I'm a bit of a noob at this stuff so forgive my ignorance! Are there POE cameras that can use the cat5 cables for both power and data? I have been reading that IP cameras can be a bit finicky and suck down the network data. This isn't a huge deal, as I can always setup a network just for the cameras. I just thought streaming the data and power over the single cable might be more efficient and easier!

2. POE switch recommendations? I was looking at the Axis M2035 cameras and their midspan port. They have this little diagram showing a non-POE switch hooked up to the midspan port and then connected to the POE camera. Is there a reason I shouldn't just go with a POE switch? If I can just use a regular POE switch, does anyone have ones they love?

http://www.webcamproshop.com/Axis-5012-004-PoE-8-Port-Midspan-p/poe-0806.htm?CartID=2

I am open to suggestions in terms of cameras, switches and whatnot! $600 a camera is definitely the upper limit!

-1080p
-POE
-indoor and outdoor
-day and night use
-Mac Mini

DeanL

I'm not sure on the exact specs for cat5e cables, but POE uses unused pairs in the cable so you should be fine. According to what I just looked up, cat6 has a lower resistance per foot that cat5e, but I doubt that it will make that much difference. Remember that POE is limited to 100 meters. If in doubt, buy a single POE injector and try it out.

On the topic of POE switches it is recommended that you get a managed switch. With a managed switch you can toggle the power to the camera remotely. No one wants to drive over at night to reset a crashed camera. Of course you'll pay a lot more than for an unmanaged switch tho. I have seen this switch recommended 'ZyXel ES2108PWR Managed 8 Port PoE + Gigabit Uplink' but I have personally not used one. Obviously, you can't go wrong with Axis products. Something to watch out for is that some of the cheaper POE switches don't have enough power to drive all their ports simultaneously.

As for cameras, there is a list of cameras which are recommended:
http://bensoftware.com/blog/10-recommended-ip-cameras/
However I found a website which has good reviews of various IP cameras: http://www.networkcameracritic.com. Dahua and Hikvision seem to give a good value for the price.

BTW, have you taken a look here: http://www.bensoftware.com/securityspy/helpcalculator.html to make sure you have enough horsepower in the mini for 8-10 cameras at the frame rate you want?

Good Luck with your project! Sounds fun!

clawmd

I have had great luck with the cheapest Hikvision cameras (China) in a waterfront property with the cameras located under eves. The picture day and night is incredible. They work fine with a basic 4 port POE switch that can be purchased for around $50. Get a crimper and some cat5 cable and easily make ethernet cable. Axis cameras are good but very expensive and I have not had good luck with the cheaper models in terms of durability. Foscam has not been very good either.