New Cctv System - Unhappy With Night Quality

[garmcqui]

Hi all,

 

I have just finished installing a basic CCTV system at my work, which comprises of:

 

1x Ademco 16-channel H.264 DVR (1TB HDD)

11x Honeywell HD73PX 600TVL Vandal Resistant Dome Camera

 

DVR details:

http://www.ademco.eu/products/23/ADKRD164A/

 

Camera details:

http://www.citysecuritysystems.co.uk/honeywell-hd73px-cctv-dome-camera

https://www.security.honeywell.com/uk/video/documents/HVS-HD73PX-01-UK(1011)DS-C.pdf

 

 

Everything is connected, motion detect recording is enabled on all channels and I can log into the DVR from home and view live/recorded images, which is great.

 

I currently have the DVR set to record in highest resolution (D1) at 6FPS.

 

However, I'm unhappy with the quality, which is much lower than I had expected, especially at night.  I will post some day/night images to try and highlight the issue...

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the image quality at night is appalling, and most definitely wouldn't enable intruders to be identified. 

 

Is there anything else I can do? Are there any different cameras I should get instead?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Gareth

[james.wilson]

Identification requires very small areas covered if using as you are pal cameras.

it would be better if you said at what distances and what areas and at what light levels you need id.

as a rule most analogue cameras are only used for general viewing not id. You need higher resolution cameras. For example the post pal can do is approx 0.3 megapixel

[matthew.brough]

^^^^^^ Sensible words. The pictures you see are what I'd expect with the kit you have used. There is more to installing CCTV than putting a bnc on the end of rg59.

[PeterJames]

That said though those cameras are getting what looks like ir reflection was it raining? The attached are a similar setup the cameras are 700TVL Sony Effio and the recorder is Jpeg not that cruppy H264 but I would of expected similar quality

[Cubit]

Both rain reflection and IR 'bloom' i'd say.

[PeterJames]

Just so you can see total darkness

[garmcqui]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I've been reading a lot that outdoor dome cameras with inbuilt IR (which is what I've got) aren't a good idea.  Would I be better replacing with bullet cameras?

 

All the cameras (with the exception of camera 1) are no more than 5m away from the area I want them to cover. The main reason for installing the CCTV was that I want all of the exits/fire exits etc covered. The building is in a very rural location, so no street lighting and is in complete darkness at night. 

 

The camera's can be zoomed in more than they are, but when doing this I found it very hard to focus them.

 

I realise the cameras might work better if I switch off the outdoor lights (cam 1 and 3). Would I be better with some external IR floodlights to help night vision?

 

how do I prevent rain reflection?

 

Gareth

[james.wilson]

There is an app called techmaster un the downloads are which will do lens calculations for you

[PeterJames]

Hi Gareth

 

You cant prevent rain reflection, no more than you can prevent the rain. If you really need to see when its raining then you need to flood light the area with white light. IR cameras can produce a reasonable image if you have the right ones and they are set up correctly. The problem with a lot of eary ir cams was that they did not seperate the ir from the camera lense and the ir would reflect straight off the glass and into the camera lense.Honewell are a good make I guess unless they are old they would be ok 

[matthew.brough]

Personally I'd put what you have in the skip and get some decent IP cameras.

 

These shots are taken from just a 1.3MP camera. The 2 MP ones are stunning.