Can wireless CCTV co-exist with wifi?

MickKnipfler

I currently have a wireless router at home and want to put in CCTV. Because of the distance between buildings, it may be bes to use wireless cameras. I understand though that they operate on the same frequency as wifi. What's the answer?

Blacksheep1979

lots of things work at the same frequency as wifi - if you find you're having problems then changing the channel (in router settings) should help.

MickKnipfler

I haven't bought any CCTV yet but am just investigating. I know my router uses channel 11 though. Is that what I need to change?

albertross_2

You can usually change the channels on the video sender as well, most have 4 channels, and there are 13 on routers, but there will be some overlap which will affect the picture, and block out several router channels, so if you have more than one video sender, it could severely affect your wireless router signal.

wonka

You're not just restricted to using video senders for wireless CCTV, you can also use wifi cameras over IP. Take a look at these:
http://panasonic.co.jp/pcc/products/en/netwkcam/huc_index.html

MickKnipfler

Those look cool. Do you then need a wifi DVR or do you use a PC application?

wonka

You don't need a wifi DVR, just a PC. It seems pretty flexible to use. The cameras themselves can store a number of images - about 200 I think, so you could set it to store a picture, say, every 10 seconds.

Or you could set it to upload images to your PC, or an internet server, where you would have vastly more storage.

The cameras have a built-in web server, so you could in theory access them from anywhere on the internet, assuming you configure your router appropriately.

You could even have multiple cameras working together, say one in each room.

The ultimate in home security I would say.

wonka

Just found a place that sells these:
http://www.misco.co.uk/productinformation/~104270~WW~/index.htm

although it looks quite expensive - I'm sure you can get them a lot cheaper now elsewhere.

MickKnipfler

That may be a decent option. I'm not too bothered about remote access (wouldn't you need a static IP address for that?

The thing that worries me about using a PC is having the PC stolen along with your evidence. Could you have bluetooth (or wifi) streaming to an external drive hidden somewhere though?

albertross_2

1 other thing to point out about wireless cameras is that they aren't encrypted, so anyone with a receiver in range can also see and hear what you can.

wonka

You could stream your pictures either to a website (or FTP server) on the internet, or internally, to a NAS drive on your network.