Jeroen1000

Hi guys, The camera is performing fantastic during daytime but at night not so. Shutter speed is at 1/60 and I'm recording at 20 fps. auto iris is set to ON but setting it to OFF does nothing. So hopefully it is fully open at night. Can't really tell. Is this the best this type of Dahua camera can do or am I missing some important config setting? Please see attached screenshot. As you can see, the car is very sharp but I'm blurry face.

Since my last question on how to use a PIR, I did a whole lot of searching and I can narrow down my question. Can someone please tell me where I can find a wireless PIR-sensor which sends a signal to a base station which I can in turn wire to a DVR? So to depict a clear picture: - I'd like to place 3 wireless PIR-sensors - the base station (= device that receives the signal from a PIR-sensor) should be able to identify which sensor has been triggered and wire that specific sensor's alarm output to an alarm input on a DVR Does such a system exist? Many thanks if you point me in the right direction.

lens pack? Please explain

Hi. Yes they are very good sensors we use them all the time 9v battery keeps them going for well over a year You also need the controller which you buy with the amount of zones you need Got one controller for the 3 sensors. Downsides are the limited angel they can cover (only 75°) and they don't really have pet immunity besides a flat beam at 1 metre 50 height. Optex wireless was a tad too expensive unfortunately as they fix both issues.

Just to share I found these: http://www.gjd.co.uk/products/wireless-detectors/opal-rfx-gjd018 Looks like good value for wireless PIR!

Thank you sir! I just ordered a DH-NVR4204-P NVR from Dahua

I have 3 camera's from Dahua and I'm looking at a DH-NVR4108H-8P NVR with 2 alarm inputs. - When alarm input 1 is triggered, can the NVR software be told to record ALL 3 camera's? - When alarm input 2 is triggered, I would like to have the NVR record from 2 camera's Or is there a 1:1 relationship between an alarm input and a camera? Many thanks for your time.

Hi there, I'm trying to improve detection so I want to connect a PIR sensor to a Dahua SD42212SN-HN and have it start recording when motion is detected. So I don't want to use image detection any longer Can someone point me in the right direction as I'm still in the basic stage of understanding. - How do I power the PIR sensor? The camera is powered by POE+ (= IEEE 802.3at) - What is the camera expecting as an input alarm signal? Is every PIR sensor compatible (don't want to ruin the camera) - Is the detection range (width and length) adjustable? I want to detect an area of 30 meter deep to 15 meter wide - Will it all go wrong if it is in the sun as the sun gives off infrared too, or more general, can PIR sensors be easily subverted by a burglar? And in stage two, I want my floodlight to go on at the same time. It would be nice if that can be done with one PIR sensor. Sorry if these all look like stupid questions

Hello again:-) Just as I was biting the bullet for the ACTI 7811, I went to take a more closer look where it would get installed and, unfortunately, a varifocal lens is not enough. I managed to drop the demand for a dome as a box camera with zoom is much much better for the application (sometimes people just won't listen until you talk price). I'm looking at the $700-$750 price range. That's not going to get me an ACTI 5611 where I live as they retail for about $1300. It is not going to get my any Acti box camera with zoom as all of them are at least $850 and up here. What's the next best thing I should be looking at? I need about 15-17 meters of night vision from the porch to the street (to guard the a car). It is not pitch black but the street lights are 5 meter further on a larger street parallel to the street the car is in (so there is some light the camera has to fight). Facial recognition is a requirement and that is the reason for selecting a zoom camera. It will also be used to capture ppl walking up to the door. A acceptable day time image is of course also required:). Thanks again for leading me on my way:-)

Yes, the center of the frame is just fine as it's a straight walk to the street and the car is always parked in the same spot). I'm going for a BOX because it is seemingly very hard to find a good PTZ around $750. I've got to cut back somewhere but a PTZ is the best choice technically.

It is going to be the 7811 probably. It's not my choice but I still think it is not a bad one. Going to look for a shop here in Europe as we want it installed before the Holiday frenzy starts off.

Hi everyone Following Buellwinkle's excellent review on the ACTi TCM-7811, I'm thinking about picking one up for my brother whose home/car regularly suffers some damage on a regular basis. His porch is narrow (2 meters wide or so) and runs straight to the street (lenght 10 meter). His car is parked across the street so in total it's about 15 meters. There is some streetlight, certainly more than enough for the ACTi. The goal is to have a wide view to capture people walking up to the house, and a having the PTZ zoom in (it does this automatically, no?) when activity is spotted around the car. I also like this Aceront AV1255AM (I do not see any IR-leds though). Quick list with wishes: - Must be a dome. - Wide angle (+- 3mm) to narrow angle varifocal lens 9mm preferred. - Must be heated and with IR-leds. Network cable and power is already in place. - Face recognition when walking up to the door, and when standing around the car (so 15 meters distance) - Ability to write to a NAS via FTP/Samba is a plus - A good low light image as with the Acti 7811 I do think the Acti 7811 will fit the bill but if there are nice alternatives, I would like to check them out. Thanks for all the assistance. I was very happy with the previous recommendation for my own house:-)

That sounds way too hard giving the zoom / focus controls to an additional board. Also, the camera would not be able to zoom in automatically when motion is detected as it has no means to control the zoom/focus itself. a KCM 5611 camera with a Pan - tilt motor is looking more attractive and such motor does seem to blend in with the camera firmware (I.E. the camera can control it automatically when required). I have only just discovered this neat option and I like it:-)

I have a small question out of interest. Can the Acti 7811 be fitted with a motorized zoom lens and then control this lens via whatever protocol is used for this (RS-485 possibly)? With control I mean, operate the zoom and maintain focus across the entire zoom range.

Thanks for the confirmation. I'm going to do the math because for the FOV because I feel he does not really need PTZ. I assume you can always zoom in electronically if needed. Thanks again for your help, your review made it easy to pick something suitable:-)

The answer is probably no but can it pan and tilt via software commands? Motorized optical zoom is not really needed so a PT without Z will do:). And judging from your review this on is definitely adequate for my needs. If I could just get the same one with pan and tilt. But I think that is not going to happen below $1000?

This one does not have a automatic zoom, right? I just noticed. Otherwise this was the perfect model. edit: come to think of it, can it even pan or tilt? The spec sheet says: Pan: 0° - 360°; Tilt: 10° - 90°; Rotate: 0° - 360°. But is this is a manual or automatic (a.k.a. motorized/via software) adjustment?

Do you have to focus the 7811 manually? I.E. physically do something on the unit? So, if you change the zoom from 4mm to 8mm you need to refocus physically on the unit?

I've been postponing this for much too long and after refreshing my requirements, I hope someone can recommend me an IP camera around +- $800. 1. Area that needs to be guarded: I have a simple rectangular drive way: 15 meters long, 5 metres wide. There is a car at the final 5 metres that needs to be wachted too. There is a street light so it is not pitch black. 2. Requirements: - IP camera that is weather proof (it will be outside, but somewhat shielded) - Excellent low light image - Identification of people at the far end of the drive way: can the camera zoom as soon as someone is detected there? - Possibility to save the video information on my self-build Windows R2 2008 server (I can spare about 5 TiB for the camera video files) - Record about 15 FPS - POE strongly preferred 3. (uncertain) additional requirements: - IR-corrected megapixel lens? - Camera lens interchangeable? - Camera that automatically zooms when motion is detected in target area - Camera with 2 sensors? 1 B/W and 1 for color? - Camera with build-in IR or separate IR? about the lens: if the camera has an automatic (motorized) optical zoom, would that not be superior to picking a varifocal lens beforehand? So far I've been looking at: 1. http://www.arecontvision.com/AV3130.html - This 1 can zoom after an event? Say what? - 1/2" sensor. The better the bigger for low light, right? - It appears to require a housing? - Does has two sensors! - Requires purchase of 2 additional lenses? 2. http://www.acti.com/product/detail/Box_Camera/KCM-5211E - Don't know if lens is IR-corrected. - Unsure whether build in IR is a good idea - Like the zoom lens But there are so many brands, and it is hard to pick 1 that is superior for what I'm after. So, like I said, the main purpose would be to ID every person that sets foot on the drive way, especially if they get near the car on the far end. Thanks for your suggestions!

Just wondering, since it is outside, how to you heat it? It can get -15 to -20 here in the winter.

Any other brands I should consider? I'd like a few on my demo list so I can compare the best image. I then gather dual sensor is the way to go, regardless of a light source present? edit: I'm just thinking aloud: the 3130 is not that new, and we know technology advances quickly:)

It isn't exactly a fixed choice. I just looked for a camera with dual sensor's because there is a sensor especially for night performance. And that does sound superior to a 1 sensor model. May I ask why Bosh is that much more expensive then? Is it because of their special night vision or superior DSP? Anyway, I've just picked those models because they are in my price range and offered different features I like. Is there a big difference between the Acti's zoom and the Acrecon'ts "zoom afterwards'" tech?

I do have a light source. Our house is paralled to our drive way. So our drive way is next to our house. If we drive all the way up, the car would be parked parallel to our front door, where the light is. At the far end, the driveway is wider, so a car can be parked there a bit to the left. Therefore, the car that has been driven all the way up to the front door, can exit without having to move the car that is at the far end. Basically, this 1 would do http://www.boschsecurity.us/en-us/ProductInformation/Cameras/ex85/ but it is 3x above my budget

I've read about 12 pages of the forum and wow, I learned a lot of stuff in the process. I do still have quite some grey spots so I'm hoping we talk about them a little. I'm guessing many people will run through the maze and end up with similar questions. I really love learning about this stuff. Very interesting stuff indeed! Small intro: I've decided to go the IP-camera way because I feel NTSC/PAL do not provide ample detail and often such setups equire multiple camera's: for 'close by' and 'a little further'. I know there are also IP-camera's in that (NTSC/PAL) resolution range, but I can't igonore the resolution bump that is possible now. And I also have an 8 TiB NAS with plenty of free space . I previously thought about getting camera's but decided to wait and see, and now I feel the time is right! I do have a budget, however, I won't be buying stuff that does not meet my demands. I need 1-3 camera's and realisticly, I won't be spending more than 600 dollar per device. Considerations: 1) How do most IP-camera's get the data to the NAS. I know for instance, Mobotix can write directy to an NFS share. Does this imply that many other vendors need PC/Mac/Linux based software to write to an NFS share? I'm not to keen on having my PC-run 24/7. I am aware storage cards can be imbedded in the camera but I am keen on using a NAS. 2) Do most IP-camera allow for H.264 compression? Probably listed in the spec's but this one suddenly came to mind. There's no way raw HD-resolution can travel over current IP based ethernet in home installations. 3) I've read that the night capabilities of megapixel devices have actually gotten worse when the resolution went up. The reason would be that the sensor surface has not gotten bigger so that each pixel receives less light than was the case with lower resolution camera's. How big an issue is this really? Can someone bring this into perspective. Perhaps dedicaded IR-lighting is now mandatory for good results? 4) My least understood area, lenses. So a lens, is like a permanent zoom right? The optical zoom can still zoom in further. Are these lenses camera specific or is there some standard? Is a camera with interchangeable lenses a good idea (I'd say yes if there is some standard). Finally, are these lenses specially made for surveillance or are they equal to (photo) camera lenses. 5) I've read a PIR-sensor can be useful. But that thought conflicts with an earlier assumption of mine. I believed all camera's for surveillance purposes had motion detection and area's could be excluded (like branches from a tree that wave about all day). 6) Can a camera be blinded by aiming a bright light at it? Like Xenon headlights from a car for instance. Phew, I hope I was clear. Knowing what I knew, I went forward and looked for a camera that I liked: the Mobotix M24. The first spot I'd be guarding with it would be my drive way. Easy lay out: it is 15-20 metres long (beyond PIR-range right?) and 5 metres wide. One of the cars is on the far end so I would need to clearly recognize faces if one decides to vandalize it A penny for your thoughts:) Cheers, Jeroen

Very interesting thread here. Allow me to chime in. I hope it is worth the time reading this. I don't know where this forum is based, it is probably either US or UK. I'm from Belgium and here, there don't seem to be many professionals who truly want to help consumers. Companies help each other and what we, ordinary consumers often get, is cheated. I'm a computer engineer, and my hobbies revole around audio and video so, granted I invest enough time, I can often make reasonable sense of the specifications and shop as a smart customer. Moreover, I'm quite the geek( ) and all this techy stuff interests me. However, when it comes down to it, I would prefer a pro setting up my stuff. The time I spent in frustration for many things just isn't worth it. I always shop abroad for my "high-tech" stuff (mainly the UK and the Netherlands). Customer service is very weak here (exceptions obviously exist). Once you bought it, the story often is good luck and good bye. If I received the same amount of help in a store, that forum members here hand over for free, paying fair money for a good setup would be an actual joy. The truth is, companies here overquote on average by 40-60%. Most stores here carry a very narrow product range and always try to sell what they have lying around. They are simply not interested in tailoring something to one's needs, and often they (sales persons) even lack basic technical expertise. On my hunt I saw many eyes glaze over upon mentioning Mobotix or Geovision: "Never heared of that brand Sir". Looking into an equivalent setup is too much trouble. Offers to visit the customer at home? Get out of town (quite litterally lol). On the flip side, I'm sad to see people 'deceive' sellers in good faith. That is simply not done in my book. I strongly appreciate all the help and time, thank you.