Did my prefield today.
21 existing analog HikVision cameras & 24 port Hikvision NVR for existing.
A "U" shaped building with the top of the "U" facing front parking lot and bottom of "U" facing rear parking lot.
Customer does not want too many bells & whistles. Only will use a NVR system for playback purposes, no notifictions to cell phones or emails.
I will have alerts enabled on
Blue Iris for easy time line icon purposes.
They would prefer all 21 cameras to record 24/7 for 30 day history. Going to have to do some math from a IPCT posting somewhere (maybe
Wiki?) to figure that out.
Back parking lot: has a PTZ that the customer didn't even know was a PTZ, and a fixed dome (yep...that is right...a dome) 25' high catching back parking lot.
Back parking lot: 2x fixed cameras 9' high for each leg of the "U" customer walkway/breezeway.
Front parking lot is the same for 4 cameras but all are under the front roof ease so all are 9' or 10' high.
3 story building
Each floor has 3 interior dome cameras. 1 dedicated to catch elevator doors. 2 at each end of the hallway to catch executive suite doorways and stairwells.
1st floor has 2 exterior cameras mounted under roof ease at 9' or 10' high dedicated to catch inside of the "U" since they have water fountain and benches there.
They did request 2 specific purpose cameras. They want to see vehicles & license plates on playback at the 2 entrances at 50'-75' distance which will be up 20' high. Not for LPR but just to generally see a license plate in the recordings.
I explained to them about focal length and distances for DORI, pro's and con's of high/low mounted cameras, day vs night lighting... I like using my favorite quote by a really great super guy (me): with 2.8mm focal length, you won't be able to tell if it was Elvis or Sasquatch but you will see something. And that is what they want.
I explained color vs IR black & white based on outdoor lighting and they said AOK for no color video needed at night.
They were really impressed with my questions about camera configuration and said no one asked those questions before.
Cabling with Cat6 will not be fun but that is why I'm a professional
Articulating boom lift will be required for outdoor cameras due to the slight angle of parking lot (inhibiting the use of a standard scissor lift).
Of course, I am leaning towards mostly Dahua varifocals turrets for everything outside since it just might be a "WOW" factor of zooming in specific points they didn't know was possible before.
However, I will propose 1 x SD5 or 1 x SD6 series (which ever is the 4MP verison) for rear parking lot and same for front parking lot because they are just really cool to have and they cover many "WOW" factor bases, which may negate the need of outdoor varifocals. Dunno yet.
The dedicated car/license plate cameras would be the Dahua 12mm-60mm varifocal (I believe
@EMPIRETECANDY said these are good for 75'-100' range).
All interior cameras would be fixed 2.8mm Dahua's turrets (again, I personally disfavor plastic domes) since most motion will be in the 5'-10' range.
I could see using 180 degree cameras at the 1st floor bottom stairwell to catch the stairwell at the center with walkway breezeway left & right.
I know it's one thing to simply follow the customers needs for a basic generic system build. It's another trying to figure out the unspoken / unknown to the customer for their wants with cute bells & whistles I think they would love (example: the idea of PTZ front & back parking lot).
I, of course, am leaning towards Dahua 5442's for most cameras. But then folks above mentioned mini-dome wedge style cameras for indoors I do admit I have a biased point of view because I love the AI and color night time video/alerts for my own personal home setup. But not sure if any of that is needed here.
I have more research to do.
