> OK, I had some qualms as to whether or not this actually deserves the
> PIC notation.  But I does relate (trust me!) and so for better or
> worse, I did it.
>
> I have a need to buy, and install, a multi-camera video surveillance
> system for a small business.  As part of this, I want to do some
> development work.  Trouble is, I do not know squat (that may be a
> strange term to our foreign friends, but it means "nothing") about
> video surveillance systems.  So in order to start, I need to bone up
> on just what all is involved.  My usual faithful guide, of course, is
> the Internet, but I have found a lot of information about a lot of
> different people who would just love to sell me a lot of different
> things.  The money is limited, and so I need to buy only what I need,
> which probably consists of several camera, a DVR (digital video
> recorder) and some sort of black box that lets the several cameras
> (probably four) go to the one DVR.  From those basics, when installed,
> will evolve the Pic connection.
>
> Can anyone suggest reading material, or provide further info?
>
> Thanks,
> John
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.piclist.com
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>

>
> I have a need to buy, and install, a multi-camera video surveillance system
> for a small business.  As part of this, I want to do some development
> work.  Trouble is, I do not know squat (that may be a strange term to our
> foreign friends, but it means "nothing") about video surveillance
> systems.  So in order to start, I need to bone up on just what all is
> involved.  My usual faithful guide, of course, is the Internet, but I have
> found a lot of information about a lot of different people who would just
> love to sell me a lot of different things.

> At 04:26 PM 10/12/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>
> > >I design video surveillance systems for law enforcement and (in the
> > past) Casinos. There are several fine
> >engineers here with similar qualifications.What are you trying to do? Tell
> >us in detail.
>
> Probably a lot more than just "several" fine engineers here.  :-)  I
> probably should have designated the query as an EE query to start with
> (hindsight is a wonderful thing).
>
> To answer the question, what I am trying to do is a two-phase thing.  The
> first phase involves setting up a video surveillance system for a small
> business.  The second phase will involve a control system, utilizing PIC
> technology.  No questions on the second phase (at least not at this
> point).  But I have no experience with setting up a video surveillance
> system.  I know that I can buy a turnkey ready-to-install system, which
> will consist of some cameras, a digital video recorder, and some sort of
> box that enables several cameras to merge their input to feed into a single
> input of the DVR.   So, two questions:  (a) what is the nature of the box
> that merges the cameras, and are they available as a standalone unit?  (b)
> Can a DVR be put together from scratch?  All it seems to be is a computer
> with about an 80-gig hard drive dedicated to nothing but storing the video
> images and some software that manages the drive.  Is there Linux software
> for doing this?  So any suggestions and/or comments are greatly welcomed.
>
> John
>
> _______________________________________________
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