Video Surveillance via Computer etc........??

Stuart Ablett

Member
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15,917
Location
Tokyo Japan
OK, we have a video camera in our building's elevator, the elevator guys have informed us that the lease is up on the camera and recorder thing. They want us to sign a new lease, they want $80 a month for 5 years, and again we will not own the equipment at the end of the lease. Five years of payments come to $4800

There has got to be another way of doing this.

I was thinking a computer based system, I can buy a half decent Windoze computer for about $1000 and some software and a camera for a bit more, then run a cable (which the elevator company would have to do) to our house and then let the computer just record onto the HDD.........?

I've seen the software that only records once there is some kind of movement in frame, and for X number of minutes after the movement stops.

Tell me what I'm missing..... :huh:

Cheers!
 
I don't have a permanent system but have used a free trial period from these people http://www.icode.co.uk. We had a transient problem with some local youths damaging cars and I set up a camcorder on a USB cable out of a bedroom window feeding into this software. Worked a treat. (For us if not necessarily for the local youths:D ). I keep meaning to invest in a couple of IP cameras. Wirless is good but you still have to power the camera. There are cameras that take power over the ethernet cable (I think?) so that you only have to have one set of cabling. I would be a bit leary of using wireless where the camera is moving up and down in the building unless you can verify that the signal holds good at all points in the travel.

Good IP cameras are a bit more expensive than standard CCTV but in theory you could monitor from any PC connected to the same network.

Whatever you do it should be very very easy to come out ahead against $4800.
 
Thanks guys, we are delving into it more.

The elevator guys are playing dirty, they have made a mistake though, the have made my wife angry......VERY BAD idea :D

They tried to "Scare" her by saying that if THEY don't have the camera in the elevator and someone is injured, it would become OUR responsibility..... :huh:

Turns out they carry insurance for injuries in the elevator, but a quick call to my buddy, who we get all of our insurance from confirmed that our regular insurance for the building covers the elevator......first strike.... :D

Next they say that as we are NOT an elevator company, having the camera in our home, where we can monitor it, and see who is coming and going at what time, and with who, is a violation of the tenant's privacy, and we could get sued........:rolleyes:

Quick call to our lawyer and to the real estate company that manages our building say "nope, don't work that way, the tenants all sign a waiver that there will be surveillance in the buildings public areas, elevator, hallways etc......." Strike two :thumb:

Next they came up with the BRILLIANT idea that the new Camera and recorder's lease would be paid for by credit card, a new card that we would have to sign up for etc, now we just pay a monthly maintenance bill to the elevator company for everything. This idea really sucks, as we would have pay a separate bill and my wife would have to do the extra accounting work....... three strikes, they are out, we are looking for a new solution :wave:

Cheers!
 
Stu

I used to be on the board of a condo, the elevator company thought they "owned us" until I put the contract out to bid and found that there were several service alternatives available to us.


Don't know if it is the same over there but it wouldn't hurt to give them a shot of their own medicine, check the terms of your maintenance contract.

Jay
 
Jay, you are correct, the main contract is NOT up yet, it will be up in September, so far, we have had great service from them, (Mitsubishi). The Camera and recorder thing is a seperate, but sister company, and they have a different contract. I don't know why the contract runs out now, we did not finish building the building until the first of September, but who knows, maybe it was from when the elevator was installed? :dunno:

I hear you on the contract thing, we did that with the security company, and ended up with better service and saved about $200 a month!

Cheers!
 
One part that will take a little looking over is the cable control. That is the system that allows the cable to go up and down and stay out of the way of the car. There is one there already but, will the evil elevator guys leave it behind when they go?

Wireless and elevator shafts often do not mix but very occasionally we have it work on the University campus. Another option is stationary cameras that monitor who enters and leaves the car at each floor but that has its own challenges (all surmountable). Security for the device, lighting, multiple camera feeds to the base as opposed to one, etc.

I know you'll find an answer. You've never seemed like thee type of guy who can't get something done if he wants to.
 
Thanks for the info Glenn!

The system now really is a joke, they have a camera, and a "Unit" the records what the camera sees. There are no outside links :eek:

I guess if someone was killed in the elevator, the cops could look at the recorder for clues, but that is about it.

I was shocked to hear this, I thought that the camera was hooked into the same system the the elevator is, if you push the emergency button on the elevator, the phone thing rings in our house, but after 1 minutes it calls the head office, I assumed (which I KNOW is not a smart thing to do :doh:) that the camera was hooked into the system too, it is not.

The elevator guys said they can put a cable in, we will have to pay for that, which I don't have a problem with. Once we have a cable installed, I'm sure I can hook up whatever system I want, without any problems.

Cheers!
 
Secom are the underhanded so and so's I fired a few years ago, I won't go into it, but they don't deserve on more lousy yen of our money, EVER. :D
 
Stu,

As I read your "3 strikes" post, I said to myself, Mitsubishi elevator. WOW. I scrolled down to the next posts and , I was right. ;) They are here in Hawaii too, big time. They are also the most expensive too. I had them give me a proposal for a full modernization on 2 nine story elevators. The rep was a cool guy, but their price was about $750K. :eek: I got the basic same mod done by Otis for just over $480K. :thumb: A full upgrade of our cameras and recorder was about $2500, and Otis did the wiring, no charge. The camera wires were already incorporated into the traveling cable, (which hooks to the elevator cab and then to the building in the elevator shaft at about our 4th or 5th floor level, and then comes down the shaft and to the office, which is accross the lobby from the 2 elevators.) It could have been hooked to anywhere in the building we wanted it.

I'm presently looking at getting bids for a 16 camera system for the building I'm in now. We will be using an independant contractor, not connected with Otis at all.

This does not help you at all, but I just wanted to let you know. :rofl:

Aloha, Tony
 
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