Securame

Fire the IT guy, that is my advice if he is not even able to do some port opening on a router.

With Dahua and Hikvision you would have no problem with their Mac software, I do recommend them both. Can't help with rebranded brands in the US, but I am sure many people around will be able to do so.

Found this one on Facebook, such a nice, clean and professional job...

You've got to be kiding me, with a 1000-2500$ budget for a 16 camera system you expect something "which will still provide you with good quality"? So you are opening a new restaurant that sits 150 people, but you would like to spend just $1000 on a 16 camera CTTV system?? I do also think that 15.000$ might be way too much to spend, and that you can get a good system for less than that (of course you could also be spending 15.000$ and geting an awesome system). But for a 1000-2500$ system, maybe it would be way better for you to start just with a good 4ch system, and fill up the rest of the place with fake dome cameras.

I am not saying there aren't any, but I have never seen a standalone DVR with wifi builtin. I would not want it anyway, I prefer to convert the wired RJ45 network to wireless with an Access Point. I usually use D-Link DWL-2100AP or DAP-1353, but any AP should do; probably not the best, but once you have installed a couple of units, the next one you do it in 2 minutes.

Android client is IVMS-4500, you con get it from Google Play (old Android Market). But I am not sure if this older model supports remote viewing from smartphone, maybe it will not work.

Woot...!!! So 2 or 3 days ago on a thread about IP cameras I post a link to Apexis web site, and now we get a user named "apexis" throwing garbage threads on the forum?? I am pretty sure that the IP for this user resolves to China...

DVR is the way to go. Forget about building a system yourself with an old PC you might have laying around, what you might save on the short term in $, you will end up paying in headaches and electriicity bill. No problem on connecting the DVR upstairs to an Access Point, which connects to your router downstairs. Just one more thing to configure, but once it is done it will work ok.

I do use the first one quite a bit, I know it by the name KD208. http://www.securame.com/grabador-mdvr-kd208-1ch-704x576-30fps-sd-deteccion-de-movimiento-p-927.html But it is with SD recording, no hard drive. I do not think I know of any 1ch DVR with HD support. That one is ok, it has motion detection with areas/sensitivity, supports 32Gb SD, 704x576 with different frame rates. But we do not really use it for CCTV, but mainly for vandalism, concealed recording, etc. If someone is looking for a 24h/day recording solution in the long term, I would not recommend this one. This one is ok maybe for 1 camera recording on a car (taxi, delivery truck, etc); for puting a hidden camera in a car when it is being vandalized; for installing a hidden camera somewhere when you are trying to find out who is stealing from you or doing whatever, etc. For something closer to CCTV, it would be better an IP camera with SD recording, or with recording to a NAS.

Actually, the list for supported cameras for 96xx series is longer, but it is not updated on the manual: http://www.hikvision.com/en/us/support_more.asp?id=142 Panasonic bl-c101 is not listed in there anyway.

Well, I do know that camera from that video (I recognised the interface), but being sold with the brand Apexis instead of Loftek. It must be some chinese OEM camera that anyone can put their brand on. Loftek sentinel-D1 is also being sold as Apexis APM-J901-Z-WS, no idea if they are the original manufacturers but they could be, they are from Shenzhen. http://www.apexis.cc/Products/63.aspx

No problems at all with PSS under Win7 64 bit.

Looks like a toy, but it will surely be better than a fake camera. 320x240 at 30fps or 640x480 at 15fps. I would not recommend it for anything else than live view, I would not expect to get any decent footage recorded. http://www.loftek.us/Product_view.asp?Categoryid=42&id=208

We have them up to 60º. In fact the ones we carry are manufactured up to 90º, same casings, just the leds have a little bit different angles, so the IR will give you a wider angle in exchange for a shorter distance.

Infrared camera? Maybe you changed the lens with one that does not allow through IR...

Monitors are like hard disk drives, the bigger, the better. I say 82" should do it, it will be sharp and clear. With a screen like this CSIs can see murderers reflected on the victim eye.

You choose where the videos are stored, and how the videos are named. The 1001 1011 1006 you are referring to are probably the year and month. I hope you don't expect PSS to magically create folders for you with names like "videos were they stole whatever from us" for each "incident" as you say.

In case anyone else looks for it, here is the translation to spanish, portuguese, italian, and french for PSS V4.06.0.R.120109. http://www.securamente.com/traduccion-de-la-ultima-version-de-pss-para-dahua-en-espanol/

I am looking for PSS software in multilanguage/spanish. I would say I have used before (it might have come with a CD inside Dahua DVR) but on Dahua's web site I only see it available for download in english, does anyone have it around or know where I could get it from?

Wow, 3 new users from Spain in less than a week...!

Bienvenido!

How about this? http://www.securame.com/grabador-dvr-skybest-8508-8ch-video-8ch-audio-h264-lan-vga-sata-p-1086.html But that could actually be from different manufacturers. That is quite a common case for DVRs from Shenzhen, but the motherboard inside might be different. You might have a sticker on the back of the unit, you might have a sticker inside the DVR on top of the motherboard, or it would help more if you turn on the DVR and make a picture on the "information" page of the unit, where you will have the hardware version, firmware, etc.

Bienvenido a bordo cctvloko!

I would also love to see that diagram, indeed!

It is usualy your router that is using port 80, and not your ISP bocking it. Many routers when they receive a connection for port 80 think it is someone trying to access the router web interface, and if the connection comes from the outside of the network they will just ignore it. That said, I never use port 80 for a DVR, I always change it to a port different than the default web port (usually 90).