bpzle

Maybe I understand "good quality" different than you, but I use and have used plenty of sub $500 h.264 dvrs that I think are really good... I tested several "h.264" DVRs over the past 2 years or so and had poor results in picture quality vs an MPEG4 based DVR. Care to expand on what makes/ models you've tested and liked?

Just use that existing bullet as an IR illuminator

Why is it that this forum is filled with Geo problems/ questions? Is it because they are more popular and do more volume? Or is it because their company, their products, and MAINLY their customer support sucks? What kinda BS is that?? HEY we'll take your money but good luck getting it to work!

I've never heard of one... There just isn't a demand for it. The majority of the public poops their pants when they see the price tag on a single real camera. Especially compared to crap they see down at Fry's and CostCo.

Not sure about Cali... but in Texas any local places that sell real CCTV equipment are not open to the public. They won't sell to end users and DIYers, only authorized dealers. You'll have to find a dealer/ integrator like myself that would be willing to sell you equipment. The problem though is that most dealers don't carry much in stock. They may have a few items laying around for demo/ testing/ even warranty purposes but its not usually much. There are however a lot of cctv manufacturers with offices in California. You maybe able to look them up and schedule an appointment for some hands on play time.

Say what?!?! Can't wait to finally see a good shot of that Jeep of yours...

Have a dusk/ night shot?

technology is still catching up... add lots of light or lots of IR

Use AmEx next time. It takes a while, but they've sided with me on the couple times I've disputed a charge.

ya.... that's sounding more and more like a dud DVR

Bones, that's a little scarry how much you know about gun safes.

definetley check voltages at the cameras with a meter. how are your powering the cameras? are they all sharing the same distributed power supply? is this AC or DC? how long is the run? what size gauge is the power cables to the cameras? Try temporarily hooking up power with one of those wall wart power supplies closer to the problem cameras and see if that helps. That would help isolate the problem. If its DC voltage a cheap trick around potential ground loop issues is to seperate the power sources on the problem cameras.

I'll have to double check... but I don't think that card is capable of that.

Look at the Mobotix Q24. Check out the YouTube videos on it. Doesn't look like a camera, has 360 degree coverage, and doesn't require a dedicated DVR/NVR. Would be very easy to take to the next apartment.

make sure your cables are ran far away from high voltage lines/ equipment.

what "ip based system" do you have? this will dictate camera/ video encoder selection.

Dispute it with your credit card company...hopefully you paid with a card. There's a lesson learned here for everyone... cheapest online price isn't always worth the headaches.

Well if you've checked and double checked all the recording and camera sound settings then I would recomend called Aver's tech support. They've been pretty helpful to me in the past.

How many cards/ total channels will be on the system? What time of compression? H.264 is pretty processor intensive... We almost always use Intel dual core regardless.

Did you ever upgrade the software version, like we recomended for a previous issue you had?? You should be able to download it off Avers site. If you can't find it, I'll send it to you. Just make sure you have the serial key that came with your disc. Its usually printed on the sleave for the disk.

it just unscrews. there's also a second aluminum piece you can unscrew and throw away

that big back piece u can throw in the trash, its not necessary. the actual camera is about the size of a lipstick thing. the lens "peephole" mounts flush with whatever you install it in. just drill a 3/4" hole if memory serves me right...

Don't get so hung up on TVL... to a large degree, it's just marketing hype that CCTV manufacturers have latched on to as a "bigger is better" number that they can toss out for half-informed consumers. TVL these days is to CCTV what megapixels are to digital still cameras, or watts are to car audio buffs - relevant if you understand what you're looking at, but greatly overhyped and at times "fudged" beyond usefulness. haha, I love it when those stupid all in one home theater systems advertise "800 watts!!!" when you know that's absolute peak on the 1ohm crap speakers that distort at half the power their advertised at. 800 watts... really?? And your using 22 gauge wire?? But about the 599s... the cheapest bullet camera I can feel comfortabl recomending. I haven't wasted any coin trying to get the fancier models, for reasons Rory mentioned. Just too expensive... We did however test the 598v model and what a POS.

Not sure about the neverfocus cameras... but some OSDs only show up on the service video output, not the primary that would go to the DVR. That's pretty rare, but it's a possibility.

Do the "plasmas" have TV tuners built in or are they just monitors? Meaning, could you plug into the wall for CATV if it was availible? If so, I would say to modulate the signal. Channel Plus makes some. Just Google "channel plus modulator". These would allow you to make your own CATV channels. Say dvd player 1 on channel 5. DVD player 2 on channel 10. DVD player 3 on channel 23 and so on...