Need some help from the Video guys..

[Hozzie]

I know we have at least one, but probably more guys on here that are into Video, Surveillance, etc for work.   I am a techie, but not sure what the best solution for my need is in this situation.  I want get some feedback on maybe some possible options that won't break the bank.  I know it is still going to cost a fair amount, but I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on this as I am planning to do this for him as a nice gesture.

A friend of mine just built a new Indoor Rimfire BR range on his farm in Ga.  We shoot 50 yards.  This is the setup for reference.

One of the things that always happens is a lot of us setup spotting scopes behind the line to watch fellow competitors shoot their target.  I have discussed with him the potential to setup a live feed from camera's mounted near the targets and stream the video back to a number of large TV's turned sideways to display the target.  The targets are 11x17 and most of us shoot them in the vertical position so TV's upright make sense in this case.  As there are 25 benches I know we can't put cameras on all of them right now,, but it would be nice as a start to get 5-6 cameras and stream them to maybe 3 50-55" TV's setup in the general cleaning area where all of us put our things and BS while waiting on the line to shoot.   This would add another level of interest to the competition which I think would be fun.

I suspect camera's that are PoE capable would make the most sense, but not sure if there are other options that would be cheaper.  This doesn't have to be state of the art, but I also don't want to skimp and make it impossible to add to later.  I would like to eventually have the option to have a camera at each target with maybe 5 TV's total.  I would guess there may be some type of video control that could receive all of the feeds and we can select which ones we want to show on what TV.   Maybe it's simply a black box like a home video camera setup or maybe it is a computer with something like Microsoft Home Center on it (not even sure that still exists).  I am capable of setting up just about anything, but I would like it to be easy to use as my friend is not the most technically literate.

Some of the challenges I can see are getting the camera's close enough to the target to get a good picture without being in the way.  Most likely the picture would be skewed as the camera would need to be a decent amount above (most likely place to install) the target stand so if there is software that allows this to be adjusted slightly, that would be good.

So, does anyone who is experienced in this area have any ideas?  I am sure I could pick something and make it work, but if there is an obvious easy solution, I am all ears.

Thanks,
Jamie

Edited November 14, 2018 by Hozzie

[Omega]

I purchased an attachment for my scope to attach a phone to it so I could see the screen (the target).  My phone can stream to a Smart TV (both of mine are Samsung) or my tablet.   That probably won't work for a bunch of reasons so for that situation maybe some of these security cameras (wifi) mounted on a horizontal bar hanging from the roof or an entire security camera system (wired) from Amazon or Sams Club.

https://www.amazon.com/security-surveillance-cameras/b?node=524136

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/security-surveillance/1414.cp

 <<<---Or this--->>>

[Hozzie]

Yeah, I thought about the security cam system like that, but they typically don't support that many channels.  I think I would be paying for a lot of things I don't need.  I think there are some Video Switches out three where I can run things via IP Multicast, but not sure how to control which video gets shown on what tv's.  I know I can make a complicated solution, but as I don't need audio or recording I was thinking maybe there was a simpler solution.  

[Omega]

15 minutes ago, Hozzie said:

Yeah, I thought about the security cam system like that, but they typically don't support that many channels.  I think I would be paying for a lot of things I don't need.  I think there are some Video Switches out three where I can run things via IP Multicast, but not sure how to control which video gets shown on what tv's.  I know I can make a complicated solution, but as I don't need audio or recording I was thinking maybe there was a simpler solution.  

The single camera is wifi, about $30-$40 a piece and all it needs is a plug and wifi.  You can share the camera with many users which can be streamed on the monitor that way.  I am not sure how many cameras the app will support, but a user can have them all and stream the phone or tablet over to the smart tv, picking whatever camera is on the active bench.  They can be mounted on the ground on 2x4s behind lexan to guard against splatter, that way they can focus better on the target.

[Hozzie]

I just ran across these Android TV boxes.  I think I could simply attach one box to each TV and run a switch.  Figuring out a decent PoE camera that won't break the bank is the next trick.  I don't want to use Wifi if I don't have to simply to avoid channel conflicts and dropping signals.   I would rather run Cat6.

[Guest]

One thought on the TVs, could you display 4 lanes per TV simultaneously to reduce the number of displays needed?

Could also make it easier to watch several adjacent bays when guys are shooting together.

[Hozzie]

Our scoring detail is pretty precise so the bigger the image the better. We wouldn’t be using it to score as the targets are scanned but in or out can be measured in thousandths if an inch.   Plus it will keep everyone from having to be on top of one another to see it.  My goal would be to switch cameras to the benches most interesting each target meaning the guys in contention to see how they are doing. 

[GlockSpock]

I think you could do some really neat stuff with Ubiquiti hardware:

https://unifi-protect.ubnt.com

May cost some, but I can tell you that the building/range shown in the photo wasn't cheap!

May not be a bad idea to throw up a few facing the shooting bench areas as well. Friend or foe, if an accident happened it my be priceless to have some footage recorded of what actually happened vs what was claimed to have happened.

[Hozzie]

I will check those out.  Thanks. 

[wewoapsiak]

POE cameras (or wifi, but I prefer poe) connected to a desktop running blue iris. Blue Iris has a built in local web client that you can use to view cameras on anything with a web browser; smart tv, roku, phone, etc.