bpzle

What is the make/ model of the DVR?

Havn't heard from you in a while... how'd your project go?

Here's a delightfully creative idea... Go down to Goodwill and buy a whole box of old books. Write on the inside covers of all of them "If found please return in person to this address for a $100 reward..." Obviously write your neighbor's address. Then drive to the crappiest parts of town, and randomly chunk them out the window. Preferably where the crazies like to congregate begging for spare change. As time goes by, your neigbor should get pretty tired of nut jobs coming to his door demanding $100... Maybe he'll move? lol Good luck

If he's running wires to the cameras, then there would be no reason (for someone with a brain) to transmit video over wireless. I'd try to pick up a can of wasp spray. The kind that shoots a stream about 30ft. That should fog up the lens pretty good... A more permenant solution (as already suggested) could be to add some landscape for privacy. Doesn't have to be trees. I lived in this house with this stuff we called "trumpet vine" growing all over the fence. Not sure of the real name. It would grow at least 5 feet over the the fence... Extreamly thick stuff and actually kind of pretty. Would blossom orange flowers... I've also seen bamboo planted for the same privacy effect. Bamboo grows fast, thick, and extreamly tall. Plant a bunch of it along your fence line and it should take off in no time.

You could have accidently hooked the battery and solar panel in series, instead of parallel. This would give you 24v DC when the sun was out, instead of the 12vDC you need. Either way, VST Man had it right... get a meter before hooking anything up.

That was the one that I wanted but they where out of stock I'll buy urs so u can buy the one u want

So I guess it's safe to say a 1231 and a 7411 can give the same night time image? (when out of range of the 1231's IRs which isn't far.) The reason I ask is I bought a 1231 to throw in my demo case for those hard sells. I figured a 1231 would demonstrate pretty well how most of their day/night cameras both indoor and out would perform under various environments.

Bingo. I bought one of these junk DVRs to test before I resold to customers... Had the same problem displaying video on a PC that had 2 or more monitors attached. If I were to disable one of the monitors, the video would instantly come up. If it has a problem on a pc with dual monitors, then this leads me to believe it will probably have problems with various video cards out there. I strongly advise you to get rid of this hunk of junk. I had NOTHING but problems with it...

Bingo. I bought one of these junk DVRs to test before I resold to customers... Had the same problem displaying video on a PC that had 2 or more monitors attached. If I were to disable one of the monitors, the video would instantly come up. If it has a problem on a pc with dual monitors, then this leads me to believe it will probably have problems with various video cards out there. I strongly advise you to get rid of this hunk of junk. I had NOTHING but problems with it...

How does the 1231 compare to the 7411? If I remember correctly the 7411 has a slightly better lens at F1.4 vs F1.6 on the 1231. Does this make a noticeable difference, and warrant spending the extra cash on the 7411? I'm curious why it seems more people are using the 7411...

take a look at this thread www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=18412 ... =texas+psb you will also need to get the state required minimum of general liability insurance. it can run anywhere from $900-1800 a year. honestly though, if you only plan on doing a couple jobs for "friends", then it may be more hassle then it's worth. the consequences are supposedly severe (up to a year in prison) if your caught installing without a lisense. I doubt anyone's ever been convicted for helping out a friend put up cameras though. Seems kind of a waste of resources... then again I'm sure people are sitting in jail right now for even more stupid things.

Exactly. I appologize for drawing a quick conclusion. As Soundy pointed out, I (we all) have been outbid countless times by some donkies that know literally nothing. I really am interested in learning their sales pitch... low bids can't be everything. Again, I agree with Soundy that it sounds like you do indeed have a solid foundation. You'll have plenty of advantages over the die hard all analog CCTV companies that are no doubt in your area, like mine. Just to give you an example, I attended a regional CCTV roadshow recently. I met a guy who has been installing CCTV for 15 years plus and doesn't even know what a router is.... I was a room full of about 40 "CCTV installers" and not one person knew how many images were in single frame of video... One person actually guessed 60. Unbelievable... I just don't get how guys like that get work....

I'm not knocking you for your lack of experience. We all started at some point in our careers. But most of us if not all were apprentices and worked sided by side with others that knew what they were doing. That made it OK to make mistakes because we had the supervision of someone who wouldn't let us screw up too bad... So, no one around you has any idea how to answer such a question? It is concerning to say the least that your only lifeline for such an extremely basic electronics question is on an internet forum. If you don't understand basic wiring, then how could you possibly have enough skill to properly install a CCTV system? Or for that matter, anything electronics related? Which brings me back to my original question... how did you get this job? I ask not sarcastically, or disrespectfully. After all, when a guy with zero experience manages to appear qualified and competent enough to a customer, bid the job, and win the job, that is noteworthy to say the least. It is a skill set of which I admire, and I think we would all be interested in learning.

no offense, but i'm probably about to offend anyway lol.... how do people like this get work???? unbelievable that i loose bids to people like this....

thanks for the post! looks good

I own a Lorex unit... I've used their DDNS service before. I forgot the password to the account though and ended up just making a new account with DynDNS. it's been working fine. just download the update program to your PC. or configure your router for the free ddns service of your choice. i needed remote access to my network for more reasons than just the DVR, so it made sense to forget about using Lorex's stuff.

I've never used anything from that supplier, but yes. Something like that will work fine. Again, make sure you compare the cost of adding a fiber video reciever/ transmitter versuses adding a new DVR. I still think getting a new DVR and putting it on their network would make more sense... Plus you could get a hybrid unit that is capable of recording both IP and analog cameras. If you invest the money in that expensive multichannel fiber rx/tx, you'll always be stuck using analog cameras and be confined to how many channels are on the tx/rx.

Yes, but then what would be the point of using the DVR? Just record on your PC... Another option is you could buy a SlingBox off craigslist or ebay for cheap. It would allow you to monitor live images only on a cell phone or any PC. Or even a better option.. chunk that junk Swann DVR and get a decent one with ethernet. Less parts to go bad, less confusing, and the end result you'll be much happier with...

I'm testing 2 of their cameras right now... can't remember the model but one is a vandal dome with polycard lens and the other is a turret style. Both do not use IRs and are a part of their "midnight series". As soon as I have the time to make a picture account so I can post pics, I'll post some stills.

Are there spare fiber lines that arn't being used?

Yes it could work, if the length is not too great. If memory serves me correctly, I believe most passive baluns have a maximum distance of 1000ft using cat5. Active baluns (amplified) have a maximum distance of 1500ft on cat5. It can vary on the manufacturer though... What is the length that you need? For extra long runs you can use fiber, but that can be extreamly expensive and you'd be better off buying another server and putting it on the network closer to where you'd like the cameras to be mounted. Long range wireless IP transievers like from Ubiquiti are an option as long as line of sight can be established, but probably not practicle in this application...

It's no secret most ISPs block ports, regardless of if they will admit it on the phone. In my area port 80 was recently blocked and so my browser based remote client address is now a pain to type, remember, and explain to frequent guest users. Another annoyance is with Internet Explorer. If you want to access a port other than the default of 80, you MUST type in "http://" first. I'm so tired of explaining what a "colon" and "forward slashes" are on the keyboard. LOL Example: I want to turn this: http://dvr.dyndns.com:89 into this: dvr.dyndns.com and yet still redirect traffic to port 89 on my router. Any ideas for a free and easy fix? Also, I bought a domain name recently. Is there a free way to redirect "mydomain.com" traffic to "http://dvr.dyndns.com:89"?

What's the make/ model of the encoder that you have? Have you logged into the device locally and check what port that it's setup to use? I've seen sometimes that the default that it says it should be in the manual is different than what it shipped with... Hope this helps.

I've personally only had a 50/50 success rate of using my clients' ISP smtp server. Unless the the client has their own smtp server, which most of mine don't, you will have to use a one 3rd party one like Gmail. Gmail and all others I've found only work if SSL is supported. By the way, how's that GadSpot DVR working? I bought one of their units a while back for testing. Total junk. It would lock up constantly. The alarm notification settings were the same as recording... (never seen that before). Meaning, if you wanted to record on motion you would get an email notification everytime the unit detected motion, if email was setup. There was no way to use the alarm triggers for email notification without getting constant emails from the motion trigger. Unless you set the unit to 24/7 record. And by the way, GOOD LUCK researching video if something happens, if it recorded anything at all. No pre/post event recording and the GUI is a joke. So is the browser interface. Also video will not display on a PC using more than one monitor. I still have that POS dvr. Been collecting dust in the garage. That's why I try to thoroughly test all equipment before recomending it to a client. Especially the no name straight from over seas junk. $200 down the drain... but $200 well spent to save myself embarrassment.

if your DVR won't support SSL, it won't work. sometimes you can get lucky and use your ISPs smtp server, but it doesn't always work