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As I mentioned, be very careful with the Maplin/Swann/Screwfix/B&Q packages that offer fixed focal length cameras. They may look impressive and contain nice pretty pictures of your house/street etc but they ain't going to provide enough detail like faces or number plates. The secret of CCTV monitoring is to pick up detail. As Henry shows in this video:

 
Spherehopper said:
As I mentioned, be very careful with the Maplin/Swann/Screwfix/B&Q packages that offer fixed focal length cameras. They may look impressive and contain nice pretty pictures of your house/street etc but they ain't going to provide enough detail like faces or number plates. The secret of CCTV monitoring is to pick up detail. As Henry shows in this video:

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love it! for someone who is a complete noob to this kind of thing, this is excellent advice!:grin:

does the camera zoom in for these images or is this the normal footage it will film at all times? - how does it do this?
 
pabloescaban said:
love it! for someone who is a complete noob to this kind of thing, this is excellent advice!:grin:

does the camera zoom in for these images or is this the normal footage it will film at all times? - how does it do this?
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Many of the cameras CCTV42 (and others sell) are zoom, eg their B6 model will zoom from wide angle to close up 2.8mm to 12mm which is similar to the zoom on a film/digital camera. The idea is you install the camera to look at the location of interest then zoom in to fill the camera with the detail you'll need for evidence later. You can leave them set to wide angle to provide general coverage but I'd recommend having another camera in the same area but zoomed in.

I have six cameras covering access to my property and only one of them is set for wide angle coverage. The others are all zoomed in for detail. Here's the live view screen. The cameras can be set up with hotspots so any motion in that specific area will switch on a floodlight, text you a screenshot of what's happening and put a marker on the CCTV footage so you can find it easily later.

I had some Ikea stuff delivered a few weeks ago but they told me I didn't answer my door (it was 7am on a Sunday morning). I sent them CCTV footage of the guy turning up, standing in the driveway looking at his clipboard and driving off without coming to the front or back door. They paid me £200 compensation when I threatened to cancel the whole order.

My plumber had some tools pinched from his van and he said it happened on my driveway. CCTV footage showed nobody coming near his van so he was able to look elsewhere for his missing stuff.

As an example of the detail of the footage, here is a screenshot of the preview screen and then from CAM2 (top right in the preview window). This was someone reversing onto my drive to collect something yesterday morning. I've blurred part of the number plate to post the image here, but you can see the detail captured. You aren't going to get that from a Maplin kit.

cctv.jpg cctv2.jpg

CCTV42 have another video why the fixed focal length kits are no good.

 
Also, the night vision on these cameras is stunning. Here is a view last night. The illumination is all infrared (so pitch black to human eye) but looks like this through the camera. The IR is strong enough to reflect off the neighbour opposite's car lights (again, you don't see anything with the human eye at night, it looks dark, but the camera picks up this detail).

The CCTV42 cameras also transition to monochrome/infrared pictures in much lower light than cheaper cameras (a couple of additional ones I bought on Ebay for £50 each were rubbish by comparison). That means you get a daylight/colour image until much later in the evening and from earlier in the morning than cheaper models.

A Maplin kit is about £400, the CCTV42 stuff about £1,000 for the same number of cameras. The difference in quality, and more importantly, usable footage for detection, is well worth the extra.
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Hi
got one of these ZOSI 720P 8CH 1.0MP DVR 1080N Waterproof 36IR CCTV Metal Security Camera System for £126.00
 

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Your day time image is ok not crisp tho and your night vision is mediocre, be careful about companies you plug, there is much better out for same or less,. Just my personal professional opinion. Cheers

Zosi omg you want cheap useless crap you got it. Goodluck
 
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sparkybarker said:
Your day time image is ok not crisp tho and your night vision is mediocre, be careful about companies you plug, there is much better out for same or less,. Just my personal professional opinion. Cheers
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What would you recommend then? I'm always open to suggestions.
 
I agree.good 1080p cameras required.
If you buy a hikvision 1080 turbo make sure you have 1080p ip66 rated(weatherproof) infrared night vision cameras to get the full quality.
You also need the simple to set up
Hik-Connect app ,which once you have registered is so simple to set up .it is just a case of entering your password to get into the settings of the dvr and using your smart phone app to read the QR code on your tv/monior and your'e up & working.
Buy kits from any of the above or get more advice from cctvmasters.uk on facebook or website.
They installed mine for £450. Bargain.
 
Hello guys, just wondered if there are any experts / installers out there?

I bought a Sannce system: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017DCMB22/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The system seems to work connected to a monitor via HDMI but my intention is to install it in the loft and access it via a web browser.
I am unable to access video from the web browser because it is prompting me to install the ocx plugin even though I have already installed it.
I have also changed the security level in internet options and added the IP address as a trusted zone and enabled all active x components.
I am using Opera browser on Windows 8.1

Thanks in advance.
 
Thanks for the reply.
I've tried the internet options and it doesn't work... well not on Opera browser anyway and I don't have internet Explorer installed.
Do you have any recommendations for viewing software?
All the ones I've looked at seem to relate to webcams.
 
I use XMEye
dont know if its available for windows though
and its a sannce that I have
if you are putting it in the loft, 2 things,
make sure it is well protected from dust, there is a LOT of dust in most normal lofts
make sure it will have enough ventilation, it may be cool/cold, up there now, but it will be baking hot in summer
 
I've tried XMEye on my phone and it lets me log in but when I click on the system it says password error?
On my PC it won't work on Opera or Chrome due to the ocx error but I've enabled all active x and flash etc.
I've managed to login on Internet Explorer and can see a picture but only one channel. There doesn't seem to be any option to change cameras.
I'm about ready for boxing it back up and sending it back to Amazon. Just reluctant because the picture quality is excellent but the software is shit.
I've even broken the habit of a lifetime and read the instructions which appear to have been translated from Chinese by a p*ssed up Glaswegian.
 
Willo3092 said:
I've tried XMEye on my phone and it lets me log in but when I click on the system it says password error?
On my PC it won't work on Opera or Chrome due to the ocx error but I've enabled all active x and flash etc.
I've managed to login on Internet Explorer and can see a picture but only one channel. There doesn't seem to be any option to change cameras.
I'm about ready for boxing it back up and sending it back to Amazon. Just reluctant because the picture quality is excellent but the software is shit.
I've even broken the habit of a lifetime and read the instructions which appear to have been translated from Chinese by a p*ssed up Glaswegian.
Click to expand...

have you tried scanning the QR code with your phone?
and use local log-in, set it up inside your own network first,
then it should auto-set for outside the network

I'll have a look on the old lappie and see what I used on there, tbh, now I only use it on tablet or phone, apart from the TV, I've just run a BNC to each TV and used AV in to view
 
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