[nestorey]

Hey now,

I'm trying to get a video surveillance system set-up for my boss in his restaurant. He wants 12 cameras and remote access. I've been looking around but it all seems overwhelming.
My greatest confusion comes from deciding whether to buy a DVR or build a computer to serve as one. Another concern is the remote access. We have DSL and speaking with one of the DVR reps it appears that the PPPoe protocol may be an issue.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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i got a catalog from APC the other day...(they make UPS systems) and they've recently bought a company that does IP cameras and what not...their systems are basically a server and a bunch of cameras that run off ethernet connections which allows you to have all the video stored digitally (really nifty doodads).....as far as the remote access is concerned...you should be looking into setting up a VPN connection there (which can be done irrespective of internet connection type) or possibly using pcanywhere or something of that nature for remote access....i don't know of a reason why your connectivity protocol would have any affect on your ability to connect remotely to a system...

[dsenette]

i got a catalog from APC the other day...(they make UPS systems) and they've recently bought a company that does IP cameras and what not...their systems are basically a server and a bunch of cameras that run off ethernet connections which allows you to have all the video stored digitally (really nifty doodads).....as far as the remote access is concerned...you should be looking into setting up a VPN connection there (which can be done irrespective of internet connection type) or possibly using pcanywhere or something of that nature for remote access....i don't know of a reason why your connectivity protocol would have any affect on your ability to connect remotely to a system...

[Kemasa]

I have bought equipment from VSS (Video Security Specialists), 818-848-7305. There are also packages which are free and run under Linux, although I would have to search for the messages on those.

There are good reasons to buy or not buy a specialized device to do this. Often it is more expensive, but it should work. 12 cameras is quite a few and the data rate might be quite high, so you might need to do things to ensure that you can capture the video at a good rate and watch the video. You could also setup 3 systems with 4 cameras each, which provides some backup capability in case there is a problem with one machine.

[Lucy01]

I just purchased a standalone unit as I was concerned about the hanging up and rebooting with Windows. The downside is that it is more costly, and I am having a problem with the remote viewing over the internet. I can access the unit from my local network, but not from the internet. I don't know if the PPOE has anything to do with this. Does anyone have any expertise in this? I have a Netopia router, (bellsouth DSL).