CCTV Camera-which one to go for?

[Vaux-Man-G]

Hey Guy's,

First of all Happy Xmas, hope you all had a great time and my Best Wishes to you all for the forthcoming New Year!!

Anyway, im looking to replace my CCTV Camera, ive currently got a MicroMark jobbie with the Automatic Video Starter. To its credit, it has been absolutely spot on for the last 5 years or so!

Im pretty certain that this is starting to play up a little as when the CCTV Scart is plugged into the TV, it will constantly keep flicking between Scart's and normal TV, until I take the CCTV Scart out, and then it is all fine, but obviously it means that the Video Starter feature is of no use as I have to plug the scart back in.

Anyway, im looking to replace this now and want to try and stay away from the typical one's on ebay that are either from Japan or are a Jap import and being sold on by UK Seller's.

My requirements for a new CCTV are:
- Must be External;
- Must be PIR Detection;
- Must be Automatic Video Starter;
- Must be colour (currently got B/W);
- Must not look like a big lump just screwed into the wall;
- Must be able to cover a fairly wide'ish angle!

So guy's, whats your recommendation's?

Thanks in Advance!

[67688c]

Its worth adding one other criteria to your list. Must be CCD and not a cheap cmos unit. (if you want a decent quality picture)

There is a guy on fleabay who sells outside security camera's that use Sony ccd units in them, lens are decent too. (Most of the others on Ebay are rubbish) He does complete kits or just the camera's. Think I paid around £65 for just the camera, many of the cheap retail units sold in Maplins and similar stores are not too good picture wise. We use ours to view who's at the drive entrance, so we can remotely open the gates when they press the bell.

Also, if going for one with infra red night time leds, dont get one that's too over the top with them, as it can wash out the whole picture with too much light from the infra-reds, a switch to disable them is worth having depending on situation. Personally I prefer cams without them at all, assuming there is some form of other light for night use.

A good bit of software BTW if you ever have it wired into a computer or laptop etc is called 'Gotcha'. I've tried several of the cheaper camera kits over the years, but the water proof sony camera's the guy on ebay was selling were far superior.... I will see if I can find the link to his site.

[Vaux-Man-G]

!

[bigcarman79]

As Cameron43 says, keep away from these cheaper cameras with the infra-red LEDs, they are very limited in what they can do and cause a washout effect when active at night. Here is what i would suggest:

A Colour/mono (Day/Night) camera. Switches to B/W when the light level drops, as you get a better picture with B/W cameras at night.

A DVR (Digital Video Recorder). Good quality DVRs allow you to set motion detection using the camera itself, easy to do and you benifit from not having to change tapes.

Decent CCTV equipment is not cheap, but its worth paying for IMO.