CCTV Cameras — Chennai's Trusted Supplier

Which camera type belongs where

Most sites need a mix rather than one model repeated everywhere. What decides each position is the question that position has to answer, and how visible you want the camera to be.

• Dome — discreet, wide coverage, suits indoor ceilings in offices, shops and receptions
• Bullet — visible and directional, suits perimeters, gates and corridors where deterrence helps
• IP bullet and network cameras — resolution and remote viewing over the existing network
• PTZ — one controllable camera covering a yard or warehouse floor instead of several fixed ones
• Wi-Fi and 4G — for positions where running cable is impractical, at some cost in link reliability
• Dual lens and pan/tilt — wider coverage from a single mounting point

Resolution, and what it costs you in storage

Almost everything we stock is 4MP, with 5MP on the PTZ. That is the sensible default for commercial sites: enough detail to identify a face at an entrance or a number plate at a gate, without the storage penalty of pushing higher everywhere.

Resolution is not free. Raising it raises the bitrate, and the bitrate multiplied by camera count, recording hours and retention days is your disk requirement. Spending resolution where you only need to see that something moved is how sites end up buying disks they did not need.

• Identification — entrances, tills, gates: worth the higher resolution
• Detection — corridors, open floors, storerooms: lower resolution and wider coverage
• Retention target drives disk more than camera count does
• Motion-triggered recording extends retention substantially over continuous

IP or analog

IP cameras carry video over the same network as everything else, take power from a PoE switch on that one cable, and are viewed remotely without extra hardware. That is why new installations are almost entirely IP.

Analog still has a place where coaxial cable is already in the walls and replacing it would mean opening them. If you are cabling from scratch, IP over Cat6 is the cheaper and more flexible choice once you account for power.

Sizing the PoE switch

PoE cameras draw power from the switch, so the switch has to supply enough for all of them at once. Two figures matter and only one is usually quoted: the per-port limit and the total power budget. A switch can meet its per-port rating and still run out of total budget once every port is populated — the symptom is cameras dropping offline in the evening, when infrared illumination raises every camera's draw at the same moment.

Standard PoE (802.3af) supplies 15.4 W at the port. PoE+ (802.3at) supplies 30 W and is what PTZ models with motors need. A fixed 4MP dome or bullet typically draws 4 to 8 W, more at night.

For sixteen fixed cameras, budget around 128 W of draw, add roughly 10% for cable loss and 20% headroom, and look for a total PoE budget near 170 W.

PoE and gigabit switches · Full PoE budget walkthrough

Recorder channels and disk

Choose the NVR by channel count with room to expand — a 16-channel recorder for a twelve-camera site leaves space for the positions you identify after the first month of footage. Adding channels later usually means replacing the recorder.

Storage follows camera count multiplied by bitrate, recording hours and retention days. Decide the retention period first: thirty days of continuous 4MP footage across sixteen cameras is a materially different disk order from seven days of motion-triggered recording.

Night vision and lens coverage

Infrared range is quoted in metres and is the distance at which the camera can still produce a usable image in darkness. Match it to the actual distance to the subject, not to the size of the room — a 30 m rating pointed across a 40 m yard gives you a dark image at the far end.

Lens focal length decides the trade between width and distance. A shorter focal length covers a wider area at less range; a longer one narrows the view and reaches further. A single camera cannot do both, which is why entrances and open floors usually take different models.

The cabling behind the cameras

An IP camera installation is a structured cabling job. Each camera needs a run back to the switch inside the same 90-metre limit as any other Ethernet link, terminated properly at both ends. Beyond that distance you need fiber with a media converter, or a switch closer to the cameras.

Quality Cat6 matters here beyond bandwidth: the full-size conductor limits voltage drop on PoE runs and reduces heat where cables are bundled in a tray. The switch, recorder and power distribution belong in a rack with cable management that lets you trace a camera's link a year later.

Cat6 cable, jacks and patch cords · Racks, cable managers and PDUs · CCTV installation and setup guide

Prices and what we stock

The cameras listed above run from around Rs 3,100 for a 4MP Wi-Fi unit to Rs 47,573 for a 5MP AHD PTZ speed dome, covering CP Plus, Hikvision and TP-Link. Fixed 4MP dome and bullet models — the bulk of most installations — sit between roughly Rs 3,400 and Rs 4,600.

Star Networking Services has supplied networking and security products in Chennai since 1998, across more than 300 projects for IT companies, hospitals, factories, offices, retail, system integrators and contractors. We supply the cameras, PoE switches, cabling and racks together, so an installation comes from one supplier on one quote.

Send us a floor plan or a description of the positions you want covered and we will work out the camera mix, switch capacity, recorder channels and storage as one specification, with bulk pricing and GST invoicing.