cglaeser

Exacq and Axis are a bit clunky too. Who has a good one? Best, Christopher

This is an excellent question, one that every business owner should ask. However, when selling widgets, you won't find the answer to this question in the widget forum. I can give you a couple of excellent references to point you in the right direction. 1. "The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What To Do About It" by Michael Gerber 2. "Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business" by Jay Levinson I highly recommend both of these books for the small business owner. Best, Christopher

- Help screens and documentation: Documentation such as "Bandwidth Setting: Used to set the bandwidth" is unacceptable. Bandwidth of what? Each feature and each setting should have an explanation that makes it unambiguously understandable for the average installer. - f stop: all zoom/varifocal lenses and cameras sold with zoom/varifocal lenses should include the f stop for both ends, not just the widest aperture. Best, Christopher

- Where appropriate, IP protocols should include a "Test" feature in the configuration menu. Examples include NTP, FTP, and SMTP. When configuring FTP, for example, a "Test" button would ensure the configuration is correct by performing an actual ftp. Without a "Test" feature, you must create an artificial alarm of some sort to test the protocol configuration, which adds to the tedium of setting up a new configuration. - When reporting lux values, manufacturers should include the shutter speed. Some of the better manufacturers include the IRE, which is also helpful. Best, Christopher

+1 In addition, this is not a usenet news group where we have to suffer the banality of village idiots. One of the nicer features of this forum is that discussions are moderated, and those who refuse to follow some simple rules will have their feathers trimmed. Best, Christopher

The answers vary based on price range. There are low light cameras in the $5,000 to $15,000 price range. These cameras are sometimes discussed in this forum, but it's usually just a discussion with no intent to actually place an order. In the sub $1,000 range, one analog camera that is surely a contender for low light top honors is the Samsung SHC-745. I'm not sure about the IP top honors, but Arecont and Mobotix likely have horses in that race. Best, Christopher

Digital enhancements are done in the processor, sometimes called post processing. Contrast, saturation, gain, and sharpening are a few of the features typically done in post. Best, Christopher Edit: Filters are designed to block certain wavelengths of light from reaching the sensor.

You see, you CAN type in normal English if you really try! Hope springs eternal. Best, Christopher

Actually, both are light, just different frequency ranges. We can see in the range blue to green to red, and then our ability to see light falls off just beyond the red, called infrared. Many sensors can see both the visible spectrum and infrared spectrum. Filters are typically used to create a color image. A Bayer filter is used to separate the blue, green, and red channels, and an IR filter is used to enhance the color image by removing the infrared. In the daytime, there is plenty of light, so they can afford to filter the IR. At night, sensors need all the light they can get, so they remove the IR filter and use both the visible spectrum and the IR spectrum. Best, Christopher

Don't know the lux level, but based on your comments, I'm assuming it's extremely low, in which case, I would be happy with that image. That guy that is walking is well defined, even the foot that is mid-step, with minimal motion blur. Just curious, can you eliminate the color noise in the night image? Might be easier on the eyes if all the noise was luma. Best, Christopher

Well, there's no age limit, but there is an annoyance limit. Best, Christopher

Color sensors work best in the visible spectrum. Infrared can compromise the quality of the image. So, to eliminate the infrared, manufacturers add an infrared filter in front of the sensor. Day/night cameras typically have a BW mode for low-light performance. However, at night in BW mode, the sensors need all the light possible, including any ambient IR and/or added IR. So, the filter is removed so the sensor can collect both visible and IR. The IR cut filter is typically added/removed electronically when the camera switches between day/color and night/BW modes. Best, Christopher

Windows 7 Pro and Ultimate. Best, Christopher

Good point. Might require access to an ioimage SDK to make it work. Best, Christopher

That's typically the way the better MP cameras achieve improved low light performance ... either combine pixels in post processing (e.g. Panasonic 502) or use a separate BW night sensor with larger pixels (e.g. Arecont, Mobotix). If cost does not matter, then the best option for a single camera is probably to use a quality MP camera that is IR sensitive and add a quality IR flood. If multiple cameras is an option, then multiple Samsung SHC-745 analog cameras might be a better solution. Or better yet, you could make one hell-of-a low light PTZ with a Samsung SHC-745 and zoom lens, Pelco PT mount, and IOImage video analytic. Yes, the 745 is analog, but if the IOImage PTZ works as well as advertised, you could potentially get more relevant detail than a fixed 3MP camera, and, ... at night! I've been thinking seriously about building one of these myself. Best, Christopher

I've been using the demo version of ecacqVision. Overall impressions are favorable. Here are a few comments on various issue and suggestions for improvements. If I've misunderstood a feature, please let me know. 1. Time Zone Reset - I've already documented this in another thread. Basically, exacqVision resets the camera time zone to GMT 0 and does not set the camera to the correct time zone. There are a couple of situations that will reset the camera time zone, including a restart of the PC/exacqVision server. exacqVision should either set the camera time zone to the correct time zone, or leave it alone. 2. In the Search Cameras view, the date of the time line is not readily apparent. When scrolling the time line back and forth, and then switching between Live View and Search Cameras, there is no indication as to the date of the time line. 3. In the Search Cameras view, hitting the play button will render AND play the video clips. However, hitting the 2x play button will not render the video clips, and does nothing until the video clips have been rendered by some other action. This requires, for example, hitting play first to begin rendering and then hitting 2x play. The 2x play button should have the same behavior as the play button wrt rendering. 4. Would be a welcome addition if exacqVision supported a simple USB hardware trigger device. exacqVision does support triggers that are included with cameras and video servers, but would be nice if it were possible to add a collection of 8 or 16 input/output triggers. There are cheap hardware devices already available. Just need to pick one and support it. 5. Thumbnails - Some DVRs show thumbnails of video motion triggers so it is easier to find a particular event. Would be nice if exacqVision included this feature in future release. 6. Export Video - If I understand how it works, exporting a video seems a bit tedious. For example, the user must specify the name of a video so as not to overwrite a previous video clip. exacqVision should use some form of unique file name scheme such that previous video clips are not overwritten (e.g. sequence number, time stamp, etc). As I mentioned above, my overall impressions of exacqVision are favorable. If I misunderstood one of the above features, please let me know. Best, Christopher

No, but I have talked to Exacq technical support on the phone, and I just sent another email message asking if they intend to release an ONVIF compliant update. Best, Christopher

FTP is an excellent fail-safe feature. If the DVR goes down for any reason, the cameras can still upload alarm events to a NAS, for example. Regarding motion detection, yes, exacqVision simply records the video when the camera detects motion, which is a reasonable implementation, but this does not work correctly either if you use scheduled motion detection (or any other camera scheduled alarms). Suppose you want one motion detection configuration for 8 to 5 and a different motion detection configuration for off-hours. This only works correctly if the camera knows what time it is, and the camera does not know what freakin' time it is because exacqVision stomps on the camera's time zone!!!!! I am a computer programmer and this requires modest effort. The biggest hurdle is getting them to admit the implementation is wrong. C'mon Exacq, get with the program. Best, Christopher

Everything else being equal, bigger pixels will have better low light performance over smaller pixels. Everything else equal, an increase in pixel count means smaller pixels. So, if you are looking for a megapixel camera in the sub $1000 that performs on par in low light with the better sub $500 analog cameras, you probably won't find one. Best, Christopher

The auto tracking demos at ioimage are very impressive. The zoom in and out and ability to track people, at least in the demo, is quite good. These analytic devices can be added with virtually any PTZ that accepts standard controls. The total system cost is likely more than a typical auto tracking PTZ, but given that you can mix and match PTZs, that is a very compelling feature. Best, Christopher

Any advances in low light performance to report? Best, Christopher

Today's IP cameras are much more than a lens glued to a sensor. Many are built around a complete RTOS that may provide more sophisticated features and protocols than the exacVision server itself. Axis, for example, supports NTP, FTP, SMTP, HTTP, motion detection, alarms, scheduling, and the list goes on and on and on. In the recent release of Axis firmware, FTP can create folders and file names based on date and time. The exacqVision server trashes this feature, because the dates and time are all wrong. Date/Time stamp overlays are wrong. Scheduling is wrong. Anything based on camera date is wrong (unless the cameras happens to be installed in GMT 0 ) The most frustrating thing is that Exacq has no current plans to fix this. I'm guessing that when the OVNIF standard begins to take traction, they will realize their implementation is wrong. The exacqVision server is not the center of the universe, and when a large customer tries to plug-and-play various ONVIF components together and discovers that exacqVision does not play nice, they will probably fix it. Here's hoping. Best, Christopher

The demo release I am using does require rendering, but it will play and render at the same time. So, there is no delay waiting for the entire clip to render. I just hit the play button and it will begin rendering. You might try the latest release and see if that has been improved. It will also render and 2x play at the same time, but hitting the 2x play button will not initiate a render. So, you must first initiate the render by hitting the play button, and then hit 2x play. It's a small detail, but it would be nice if both play and 2x play would initiate a render. Regarding the exacqVision implementation of time zone, I've been updating various applications that require rebooting the PC, and these time zone resets are becoming a royal headache. I have to manual fix the camera each time the exacqVision server is started. And, the demo only supports one camera. I can't imagine trying to deal with this headache on 16 cameras. Best, Christopher

adding to the list .... auto tracking PTZ.

Unbelievable. That is bad to the bone! Very affordable too, I'm sure. Best, Christopher