Need help and guidance on security system
I need some input on purchasing and installing a security camera system at our house and a shop in the back of the property. I think I will eventually have about 4 cameras, 3 outside and one inside. I want ceiling mounted so dome cameras will work best. I want to start slow and add one camera at a time.
I have a home LAN with an iMac, iPad, MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro. I connect to the internet with a cable modem > Airport Extreme > Ethernet Switch. I am using ethernet Cat 5e cable to the desktops. The desktops have multiple external hard drives attached.
I have been looking at Axis dome PoE cameras for the first installation which would be place near the front door under an eve looking down the drive way. They have one camera that can view 180º which would provide good coverage at that location. I want to be able to view at night also. We have a driveway alarm that turns on two garage lights and would like to see what is triggering this, probably dogs, cats, raccoons, coyotes and skunks. I want the ability to view this near realtime with an iPad, iPhone or computer. Also I would like to review the the video at a later time. If the alarm is triggered late at night, I would like to see the video later. I will store the video on external hard drives attached to the Mac Pro which runs all of the time.
I have a concern with the Axis camera because of their software using Window OS. Their camera is setup using Axis software and Windows OS but I am not sure if Windows needs to run all of the time or if Security Spy will handle the video processing. Also I am not sure what I need to run PoE. This will be the first camera installation .
The second camera will be a PTZ on the corner on the house under an eve. This will be at a later date after the first camera is working. Axis has a PoE camera that can pan 270º that looks like that it would work. Again I am not sure if the Axis PTZ would only work on Windows, which is not acceptable. So the PTZ must be Mac compatible.
After these two cameras are working, I will add a third at the shop which is over 200 feet away. I need to provide WiFi from the house to the shop with directional antenna. So this will be a wireless camera and could be a dome or bullet.
The forth camera will be inside the house looking down a hallway using PoE.
I want a system that is reliable and minimum maintenance. To summarize:
1. What is needed to power PoE?
2. What would be a good first camera?
3. What would be a good second camera that is PTZ and is Mac compatible?
4. What would be a good third camera?
5. What software and other hardware?
I have a home LAN with an iMac, iPad, MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro. I connect to the internet with a cable modem > Airport Extreme > Ethernet Switch. I am using ethernet Cat 5e cable to the desktops. The desktops have multiple external hard drives attached.
I have been looking at Axis dome PoE cameras for the first installation which would be place near the front door under an eve looking down the drive way. They have one camera that can view 180º which would provide good coverage at that location. I want to be able to view at night also. We have a driveway alarm that turns on two garage lights and would like to see what is triggering this, probably dogs, cats, raccoons, coyotes and skunks. I want the ability to view this near realtime with an iPad, iPhone or computer. Also I would like to review the the video at a later time. If the alarm is triggered late at night, I would like to see the video later. I will store the video on external hard drives attached to the Mac Pro which runs all of the time.
I have a concern with the Axis camera because of their software using Window OS. Their camera is setup using Axis software and Windows OS but I am not sure if Windows needs to run all of the time or if Security Spy will handle the video processing. Also I am not sure what I need to run PoE. This will be the first camera installation .
The second camera will be a PTZ on the corner on the house under an eve. This will be at a later date after the first camera is working. Axis has a PoE camera that can pan 270º that looks like that it would work. Again I am not sure if the Axis PTZ would only work on Windows, which is not acceptable. So the PTZ must be Mac compatible.
After these two cameras are working, I will add a third at the shop which is over 200 feet away. I need to provide WiFi from the house to the shop with directional antenna. So this will be a wireless camera and could be a dome or bullet.
The forth camera will be inside the house looking down a hallway using PoE.
I want a system that is reliable and minimum maintenance. To summarize:
1. What is needed to power PoE?
2. What would be a good first camera?
3. What would be a good second camera that is PTZ and is Mac compatible?
4. What would be a good third camera?
5. What software and other hardware?
Comments
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Hi,
You will not need to use Windows to set up or use Axis cameras; they are very Mac friendly. Simply connect them to your network and follow the "Cameras with a DHCP address by default" section on the Network Camera Setup page of the SecuritySpy Installation Manual to give them static IP addresses on your network to use in SecuritySpy. (They also support Bonjour, so you could use the simpler "Cameras which support Bonjour" instructions too, but we do recommend using IP addresses instead, for best performance and reliability.)
In general, Axis cameras are very high-quality and we frequently recommend them. If you have your eye on some Axis cameras that will suit your requirements then go for them. We also like Canon, Vivotek, Y-cam, Sony and Dahua. You can do a search of our list of supported IP cameras to find cameras to fit your needs. For the shop camera, you will need to use a Y-cam bullet camera as these are the only outdoor bullet cameras that have WiFi built in.
Using PoE is a good idea. For this you will either need to swap your switch for one that has PoE built in (e.g. Netgear GS108P or other model with a few more ports), or you can to use a "PoE Injector" device to add power to the Cat5 cable just after it leaves the switch.
In terms of software and hardware, your Mac Pro will comfortably be able to handle the four cameras. In terms of software, you will only need SecuritySpy. SecuritySpy will record the video to your external hard drive, and provide viewing facilities to your other Macs and iPad.
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any further questions.
