Good evening,
I do a variety of "freelance" tech work and have installed a variety of cameras as well, but looking for some advice on a couple of items.
An agriculture related client (grain elevator) recently acquired the gas station / convenience store next door and both properties have sub-par analog cameras provided by a local installer, and need to be replaced. The elevator has 3 cameras (2 bullet, and one box cam with a greater lens that can see the fuel island at the adjacent gas station, about 50 yards away). The gas station has two subpar analog cams out front, probably 6X, but worthless. The little voice in the back of my head is telling me to just scrap all of the existing cameras (obviously), run Cat5/6, and install all new network/poe cams. I did notice though, that Hikvision has a "Turbo HD" line, which is intriguing, as the quality is good and would save some time and expense in running new wire. I am not set on Hik cameras, but it seems they have a great assortment. So, given the narrative I have provided, here are my questions:
Thanks
I do a variety of "freelance" tech work and have installed a variety of cameras as well, but looking for some advice on a couple of items.
An agriculture related client (grain elevator) recently acquired the gas station / convenience store next door and both properties have sub-par analog cameras provided by a local installer, and need to be replaced. The elevator has 3 cameras (2 bullet, and one box cam with a greater lens that can see the fuel island at the adjacent gas station, about 50 yards away). The gas station has two subpar analog cams out front, probably 6X, but worthless. The little voice in the back of my head is telling me to just scrap all of the existing cameras (obviously), run Cat5/6, and install all new network/poe cams. I did notice though, that Hikvision has a "Turbo HD" line, which is intriguing, as the quality is good and would save some time and expense in running new wire. I am not set on Hik cameras, but it seems they have a great assortment. So, given the narrative I have provided, here are my questions:
- Does anyone have any experience with the Hik Turbo line and would you consider using some of these to replace the current analog cams? If so, can these be interfaced with their DS-6704HWI encoder, and then incorporated into a software like Blue Iris?
- Is it even worth trying to salvage the existing coax (it isn't old) and trying to use some new analog cams, or should one just run cat5 considering the future?
- Blue Iris looks like an intriguing option for the cameras...would this be advisable, or if I am going to go with Hik, would it make more sense to go with one of their NVR's, and possibly a hybrid one if incorporating analog cams?
- Is there a specific camera that will do well at night seeing license plates without washing them out?
- Finally, for the 50yard distance camera, what would your camera recommendation be?
Thanks
