IP Camera Systems

A guide to the range of IP CCTV Systems offered by SpyCameraCCTV

Contents

• What are the main differences between an IP and Analogue system?

• What Camera choices are available?• What Recorder options are there?• Example setup• Wiring diagram• IP System Extras• Things you need to know before you consider an IP System• Conclusion

What are the main differences between an IP and Analogue system?

There are several major differences between IP and Analogue CCTV setups. In this slide we will look at a few of these main differences.

1. Connection type; IP cameras use RJ45 connections and CAT 5/6 network cable, whereas an analogue system would use BNC connections with RG59 cable. The key difference here is that the analogue system all wires back to the DVR, the cameras must have a direct connection to the DVR. With an IP system, because it is using network cable it doesn’t need a direct connection to a recorder. You could for example have all the cameras wired into a network switch in the loft and have that connected to your home network. This gives you a lot more flexibility in terms of setup.

2. The second major difference is the image quality. An analogue system is measured in TV lines and is not High Definition or HD. IP cameras are digital and are HD, either 720p and 1080p. This means that IP cameras offer far superior image quality.

3. The final difference is the recorder, with an analogue system you would use a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) but with an IP system you would use a Network Video Recorder (NVR) The differences are minor but the key thing is that the cameras do not need to be directly connected to the recorder, because the NVR can access your home network the cameras could be plugged in anywhere.

What Camera choices are available?

Bullet Camera: Dome/Eyeball Camera:

We offer IP Cameras in 3 different forms; bullet, dome and covert/camouflage. Our bullet cameras come in 720p or 1080p variants, have 30m infrared night vision and vari-focal lenses. Our dome cameras come in 720p and 1080p forms with wired or WiFi connections, they have fixed lenses and 15m night vision. Our camouflage cameras come as a smoke detector or PIR sensor.

Camouflage Camera:

What Recorder options are there?

The main difference between the NVR’s are the number of cameras they can record and at what resolution. Here is a table showing our 3 NVR’s and what resolution they can record at.

NVR Model 4 Cameras Res. 8 Camera Res. 16 Camera Res. 24 Camera Res.

4NVR 1080p D1 Resolution X X

8NVR 1080p 1080p 720p X

24NVR 1080p 1080p 1080p 1080p

Example SetupIn this example setup we are going to use a PoE (power over Ethernet) camera, a locally powered camera and a camera powered using an injector.

To use a PoE camera you would need a PoE switch, these are quite expensive, we offer injectors as a solution to this problem. The wiring diagram on the next slide will show you how everything wires together. The PoE camera would have a Cat5/6 cable running straight back to the PoE switch, this cable would power the camera and run the data feed. The locally powered camera would be connected to a mains power supply and then send the data feed back to the switch, again via a Cat5/6 cable. The camera using the injector is basically the same as the PoE camera except that there is a separate power supply at the switch. This means you can run power and data down a single Cat5/6 cable without the need of a PoE switch. This is a cost effective way of running less cables around your building.

Once you have all your cameras connected to the switch, you can see that there are 2 more network cables running from the switch to your router and the NVR. The NVR could be connected directly to the switch or connected to your router, this would depend on how you are setting things up. We would recommend having the NVR connected to the switch and not the router, though sometimes this isn’t possible. Your router would provide access to the internet and allow mobile access.

Wiring Diagram

IP System ExtrasWe offer lots of an additional bits of kit to get your IP system setup perfectly.

We sell 5,8,16 and 24 port switches, allowing you to connect all your cameras up.

We also sell Injectors, these allow you to send power down the Cat 5/6 cable. This means you only have to run one cable to your cameras. Injectors are a great and cheap way of effectively making your Camera Power over Ethernet (PoE) normally PoE setups are a lot more expensive but with our little injectors you can do it a lot cheaper and a lot more reliably!

Finally we have all different lengths of Cat 5/6 cable, pre-cut at 5m, 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m or 50m lengths or 100m/305m uncut drums with connector packs. Whatever the cable requirement, we have it!

Things you need to know before you consider an IP System

An IP camera system can potentially be quite complicated. Our support team are here to help you if you run into difficulties but there are few things you should probably know about before you buy. Here are a few simple questions, if you can answer these then an IP system would be fine for you:Would you know how to find out the IP range of your network and set a device IP address to one that would work on your network?Do you understand how to log into your router?Do you understand port forwarding?

Conclusion

High definition IP camera systems are definitely the future of CCTV. The image quality is so far ahead of analogue systems that this is inevitable. Right now we offer a relatively small range of cameras, but as the technology improves we will be able to offer far more choice. Eventually we will only sell IP systems, just like analogue television systems the old technology will fade away and be replaced by the new higher quality systems.