i don't know if your sorted by now but i will give you my view on CCTV it's something iv'e had experience with over the years strictly at a domestic level
over the years iv'e used quite a few different cctv cameras at varying quality from cheap maplin rubbish to 1080p full hd cameras including IP cameras
for what it's worth IP cameras are probably the hardest to set up if you don't have a dedicated NVR which simplifies the setup
the plus point with IP cameras is the resolution / quality can exceed even full HD SDI CCTV setups
960H CCTV is a bit of compromise and a way of squeezing a little more image resolution from standard definition analogue CCTV, personally i wouldn't invest in that technology it is becoming outdated and slowly but surely being replaced with HD SDI / IP cameras in one form or another
if you have an existing CCTV standard analogue setup there are what's known as hybrid DVR's which will accept SD analogue cameras and full HD SDI cameras without having to change the wiring to suite the newer technology
the image quality is considerably much better using HD SDI cameras with them being 4 times the resolution ( 1080P ) of standard definition ( SD ) CCTV cameras and the best part is the prices are slowly but surely comparing to SD setups
at the moment i have a bit of a varied setup using one IP camera ( sanyo VCD HD3300P ) a 700 TVL QVIS outdoor dome camera which i'm not sure which model, a JVC C920E with a wide angle lens and 2 samsung 1080P Hd cameras which came as part of a hybrid kit
all these cameras give varied results the worst being the QVIS dome camera
which iv'e seen with various brand badges but all boast the sony sensor and for some reason get good ratings but my experience with them i would have to disagree with the ratings, the night vision is poor and tend to give a tunnel vision view illuminating the middle of the image only and the range is around 20 feet at best
in daylight hours the image is acceptable but don't expect any real detail which would be ok if your only covering a small area but wide angle views are poor
i find these type of camera a much of a muchness and they all give similar results
the next in line is the JVC C920E i have a couple of these but only one is used at the moment
these can be picked up used quite cheaply from the likes of ebay and if bought cheaply enough ( around 40 / 50 quid ) are a bargain but you will need an outdoor housing if used outdoors
the beauty of these cameras is that you can use a lens that suite the purpose and there is no tom foolery going on with the so called low light sensitivity ( LUX ) because it is determined by the lens you use ( similar to your DSLR ) i have a F1 lens attached to one of mine which as you can guess is pretty good at night
most CCTV cameras that boast infrared LED's are not that sensitive the figures are made up using the LED's the spec will say 1 LUX but the reality is more like 4 to 8 LUX without the infrared Led's switched on which with no ambient illumination is pretty rubbish
as far as SD CCTV cameras go i like these but they can be a bit bulky when used in a outdoor housing and can be a bit of an eyesore on domestic property compared to smaller cameras or dome cameras
the IP camera i have is a sanyo HD3300P 1080P dome camera
the image quality during the day is very good with it being full HD but it's permanently recording to my PC at 5 frames a second JPG images with a 500 gig drive dedicated to it, the software i use to do this is called go1984 which works well with the camera
during the day this camera is fine but at night it's not that good and for the price i expected more not to mention sanyo got out of the IP camera market a few years ago sold there dealings with IP cameras to panasonic who have shelved them meaning that the sanyo range of IP cameras are now obsolete but i'm not bitter
because of the nature of IP cameras using either a dedicated NVR or setting up a PC to network them i'm nor really a fan but they do have there place in the surveillance world
last but not least i purchased a samsung 1080P full HD hybrid setup
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/smart-...nnel-home-security-kit-2-tb-10078576-pdt.html
from the very same place for a mere 400 quid which i thought was a bargain
as you can see the prices have risen again and they don't seem to have stock any more but if the prices fall again i would recommend this as a simple no nonsense HD CCTV setup, if you already have a SD CCTV setup the DVR replaces your old one with no modification as long as you have 4 existing cameras or less
the HD cameras that are included in the hybrid kit are surprisingly good with decent daytime image quality and excellent night time image quality the best i have seen at the price i paid
internet / smartphone viewing is quite easy to set up and works well using a service like no ip if you have a dynamic ip internet connection
the trouble with CCTV in general is there is so much to choose from it can be a bit of a minefield and a lot of it is cheap for a reason, if i was to set up from scratch today i would go the HD SDI route and bypass standard definition completely even a relatively cheap HD SDI setup would better than all but the very best SD has to offer which would cost considerably more anyway
the main thing to consider is what sort of area you want to cover( the higher resolution the camera the more area can be covered with acceptable detail )
and how much ambient light is available at night
if you can set up extra ambient lighting for night time recording better still even a small amount of light is better than none
well that took a while but i though i would put my 2p worth in
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