bpzle

Good post bones! I know what you mean about "the other guys" I don't know everything, but I loose bids to less knowledgable, experienced, and those with less integrity all the time... It doesn't bother me though. I know they'll screw up, and in time I'll gain that lost business back and then some!

Tom, LOL! Exactly.... Either numb nuts is a slimy short sighted salesman or he is not as well experienced in cctv as he may think is.

If you have time, give this thread a read: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=23923 I think you'll find it quite informative.

There's nothing wrong with buying from ebay... However, buyer beware. Expect ZERO support and expect to be sold cheap Chinese crap. In order to be successful in buying from ebay for cctv, you need to be WELL educated and experienced on the topic in order to read between all the BS lines. "Good graphics" in an ad doesn't make the product better. I visit trade shows now and again for this business... I have found that the companies with the fanciest booths and flashiest flyers can also have the $hi+e$+ products with the largest markups.

Rory, thanks for the recommendations! How long have you been using Dahua? Any idea how long Dahua has been making DVRs?

I've used Qnap... but its been a while. I saw just enough to know I didn't like it and I never looked back. However, you may try their tech support. They were nice and helpful.... where are you located? I may still have contact info for the helpful guy I worked with...

I like to talk to people that know more than I do. I picked a 10 plus year alarm installer's brain one time... Alarms and access are what he does all day, every day. He has the freedom to use whatever he wants... He uses 22/2 for simple NO/NC contacts. From personaly experience, I've found out why too... You can easily get that thin wire into nearly any tight space. As already mentioned, It's also more rugged than cat5, as cat5 is 24awg... Plus, I just can't imagine what kind of crazy use cat5 would be used for in a wall burried connction for a window contact...For worse case future needs where you need another sensor just put it in series and share the zone. Not a big deal. Even with screw terminal baluns sometimes you have to be careful not to break a lead from the cat5. I've had to demount many cameras to correct this. However, that's only during the install... once they are up and running you're good to go. 24vAC vs 12vDC? Yes, 24v is ideal... but most "budget" cams are DC only. And I'm sorry, but these days 90% of the time (other 10% are special application cams), if a residential customer has more than $200 to spend on a single camera, it's not going to be analog. Yes, you could add voltage regulators to each cam... but you complicate things quite a bit, add another point off failure. Not to mention, yet another thing to have to make enviornmently protected, if out in the elements. The only way I see voltage regulators useful are for legacy retrofits, or for extreamly long runs and you must use dc cams... With quality baluns, not running your low voltage wires near high voltage, QUALITY cameras, and relatively short runs (under 400ft or so), I never have any issues from using 12vDC cameras. However, you must follow those simple guidlines. If you don't, you will have trouble.

Just curious, why are you using Mobotix cameras with a seperate NVR? Also, I'm not suprised you have frame rate issues trying to cram that much data through dsl.... do the math.

What happens when you open your blinds? Do you ever do this? Or do you always keep them closed? Notice how washed out the sliding glass doors are... The hardest thing for a camera is seeing dark/ light in the same scene or vice versa... This can tell you wonders about the quality/ purpose of the camera.

The best experience is your own.

While this is an interesting topic of conversation... an internet forum (even a great one like this) is an insufficient way to be learning the fundamentals to prep oneself for a 50 camera design/ install... I mean no offense when I say that if one doesn't even know how IP cameras work, they have no business designing a system of this scale. Worse yet, they probably have no business deciding that 50 cameras are even the count of cameras needed. Professionals will save you time and more importantly, money. Just find the right one... Good luck to you!

There is a company who specializes in cellular GSM dialers.... out of California. Used them once. Can't remember the name.... but basically you pop in a prepaid cellular sim card and you're set for a year of use. Like $40 a year?? Pretty cool... but upfront equipment cost wasn't cheap.

Wow! I didn't know that... And I install a panel about once every 2 months! lol... of course what I install is a little streamlined and probably a little different than the residential DIY kind of stuff you guys are talking about.

Damn! No more bar hopping! Their gonna know how much I've REALLY had to drink!!!

Well surely there's some programming that needs to be done from the panel... like what number to dial out, what the ID number is, the dialing method (1+2 fast or whatever the options are) etc... Unless you buy it pre-programmed from the monitoring service and it's no longer at factory default??? That must mean a contract... I'm sure they would lock the end user out of programming if that was the case.... That's interesting that a central station can program a panel remotely... I didn't know that. That's a little scary in my opinion... Obviously it's "secure" somehow? Just to clarify... are you sure that they are not just changing the labels on their central station to tell the operators what zone is what? Meaning Zone 1= Front Door. Zone 2= Kitchen motion. Zone 3= Garage door. Etc...

http://www.homesecuritystore.com and http://www.safemart.com have good prices and tech support is helpful. http://www.geoarm.com has excellent service. I've purchased from all three with satisfaction. I use GeoArm monitoring and they will remotely program your system for your specific configuration and needs. If you get GSM, I would recommend getting that from GeoArm so they can configure it before it ships. Best, Christopher They program the panel?? Or do you mean they just add your panel/ zones to their central station?

It has been my experience that IR domes can easily lead to a crappy picture at night... 50% nature of the beast, 50% quality of the camera. Most "budget" IR domes I've used, the dome acts like a bowl that reflects all that light back into the lens, creating a wash/ haze effect at night... All the CNBs I tested with IR were junk... Let us know how this one works out for you! I would be curious to see if they have gotten any better. Unless the customer demands domes with integrated IR, I try to talk them into one of my favorite bullet cams...

NERD!!

Of course... but don't expect anything radically better. For really good face recognition... I try to get the person's face on at LEAST 20% of the screen.. The more the better. Homeboy on the couch (is that you? . .. his face is about 3% of the screen.... No matter how good the analog camera, that ain't gonna be enough to get great detail. Think New Anchor. When a story is being read... they usually don't have a crazy wide shot of the studio. They have a nice tight shot where the anchor's big head takes up 40% of the screen or more.

Yes, most if not all are IP based in that thread. There are some coax-style "HD" cameras out there... but they require very specialized and proprietary equipment to capture the signal. As of the moment, most "HD" or megapixel cameras are IP based...

It's been my experience that IR domes are not a good choice.... I've found crappy picture from IR Domes is 50% design, 50% quality of the camera... The very design of dome cameras with IR is flawed... in my opinion. The bowl of the dome tends to reflect the IR light back into the lens of the camera... If customers demand integrated IR, I try to sway them towards bullet cameras.

Adam's right... a snapshot is worth a thousand words. However, be careful that you are not expecting too much from an "analog" style camera during the day. No matter what anyone tells you, they only have so many pixels to yield. I'm not defending CNB, I don't care for the particular camera you're talking about either... However don't expect a huge leap in the daytime picture quality vs any other analog camera. (Assuming nothing is wrong with the camera) Examples of megapixel cameras: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=11322

Can you define what you mean by "better image"? You only want better night time viewing?

^Overall, great info! This one was my favorite though:

Idk... I get the feeling it's some pretty complex software/ algorithims... not something I would think even the brightest MIT kid could do in the whip up in a weekend... I would imagine it's a little more complex than the OCR software that comes with your flatbed scanner.. Maybe I'm wrong?