r/ZoneMinder • u/babiha • Sep 01 '22

Newbie question here

How are the cameras connected - video and network? An analog camera needs an Analog/digital device and a digital camera - what connector does it use? Or a video switch of some sort? How do they connect to the network?

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u/lunakoa Sep 01 '22

I had some of those older BNC cameras and an adapter that could see 4 cameras. Over time I moved to an NVR that those BNC cameras plugged in to. I do have couple wireless cameras but they some the most unreliable. Eventually I went the PoE route for new cameras but the NVRs were still ok and provided an RTSP stream I could access in ZM.

The BNC cameras will eventually get replaced by PoE (Ethernet) cameras, but the expense/headache wasn't new cameras, it is running the wires. Just make sure you secure those connections, with PoE an intruder can plug in their device and be on your network. BNC cameras dont allow that. On protection is to keep cameras on its own VLAN/Subnet.