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Dan Winter Apprentice

Dan Winter

Posted
Posted

Help on deciding which system to use. We have inventory missing, whether from not getting on the invoice or walking out. Would like to put a camera at each bay, office and cash register. We have a little store with Espresso, cigarettes, candy and vending. Costco has an eight camera hard wired indoor and out door. I understand you can watch it on your computer or smart phone. How does this work. Is it all the time or just at certain times or ?????? Do you have to have a security company set up or can we do our own. Does it have sound or just video? I guess I am just asking for any information to make my job easier.

 

 

 

I use QSEE brand, bought at Frys. 4 Cameras, expandable to 16. I can monitor shop activity from anywhere including my phone.

 

I think it is important to be able to monitor and record what happens in the shop as a precautionary measure in the event of an accident.

Dan Winter Apprentice

Dan Winter

Posted
Posted

Is it wireless? Did you install yourself? Is it on all the time?

 

Not wireless, I did install it myself and yes it is on and recording all the time. Installation was quite simple,

 

It can be set up to record only at certain times, or motion activated.

 

Not really sure how many days or weeks it stores before it starts overwriting though.

  • 9 months later...
EhtRob Rookie

EhtRob

Posted
Posted

Our initial 8 camera system with VCR and miltiplexer was over $10,000 back in 1995. We have since converted to DVR's using ordinary PC's which I have done myself. We now have 23

Cameras and 4 of them are Pan / Tilt/ Zoom for a total of about $3,500 + my time installing them. I can't tell you enough how these have saved our butts at one time or another. Most people think only about the theft and crime aspect of having cameras at their shop.

Our system has saved us from loosing keys, customer's blaming us for a dent in a van that was there when the customer pulled onto the lot (clear video of her pulling onto the lot with the dent) I have had situations where a mystery car shows up on the lot and I can see if it's actually a customer's car or not. I have had employees "forget" to punch out of the timeclock on the computer and argue with me about their hours worked, I check the cameras and see when they actually left. So as you can see they are a VERY worthwile to have for your business besides fighting crime. Just my two cents..

  • Like 1
EhtRob Rookie

EhtRob

Posted
Posted

One thing I forgot to mention. One of the best features is that from any PC in your store, you can access the cameras remotely so you can keep an eye on things from the front counter, office, cell phone. Basically anywhere on any computer.

ATSAutomotive Collaborator

ATSAutomotive

Posted
Posted

I currently have an 8 camera Defender system. It works well but I have seen many others that the DVR software is much better. Do some research and look around, a lot of top name companies (Samsung) make these systems and they are not typically very expensive. If you can work on cars, you can install one of these security systems. Just make sure you buy a DVR that can handle as many cameras as you want. Seen a lot of people buy small hard drives for 8+ cameras, doesn't save for very long.

mikemax Newbie

mikemax

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hi,

Choosing security sytem is not easy but first you need to decide what you want. How many cameras, for how long to keep the records, what quality is needed etc.

Costco has some realy great deals on 4 Full HD IP cameras + NVR with 2 TB hard drive for under $1000 which and you can add 4 more IP cameras to it.

There are some nice looking DVR packages but the camera quality is far of Full HD is not worthed even the low price.

Other option is purchasing a regular computer and camera software like BlueIris and you can attach up to 64 IP cameras so you have much more room for expansion.

Edited by mikemax

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