nonterraqueous

Hi Although I have used budget CCTV for over 2 years just for my house, I am still a total noob, so please excuse my lack of technical knowledge. I recently ditched my dirt cheap dome cameras from Hong Kong - not because of the quality but because they were not very visible, and instead opted for something a bit more meaty-looking. As I have a two up two down detached, I needed something clearly visible to passers by and would be intruders (that actually looked like a real camera) but that would not be making the house look like Fort Knox. I did not intend to buy these cameras from Maplin and was in there for something else, but they were on offer for 100GBP each, looked the absolute bollocks so I bought two. The night vision quality of these ADW300s leaves a lot to be desired but I am hoping to cure that with a couple of IR 'floodlamps' (we'll see) I just got from ebay but the cameras atm I think are still quite a good deterrerant at night because of the intense 'Eye Of Sauron' they resemble even when the sky is not completely black -- but the daytime images are amazing. Unfortunately, the software you get with these cameras only allows switching so you cannot view two targets at once. This did not deter me, and I went and got two more of these, one for each corner of the house. The rear ones monitor the lawn and patio (we had one of our pets kicked to death by an intruder at Christmas) and the front two monitor the drive and the cars. I have had extreme difficulty finding any kind of software that will allow to me view all four cameras at once when they are plugged into 4 USB sockets - I bought LEDSET Cam Wizard which claimed it could utilise 4 USB cameras, but it will not seem to recognise more than one camera at a time and doesn't work for me. This is a shame because as I say the viewing and recorded ideo resolution is crystal clear when using the cameras bundled software - for one camera at a time. I have resorted for the moment, to using a crappy DVR card I had lying around and using Pico2000 software to use all 4 at once using the composite outputs each camera has. Pico2000 I have actually found to be quite a good bit of kit, but it has an issue with the cameras in that the viewed and recorded video resolution is not very clear, no matter what you set it to on the program. (OR IS IT THE CARD?) I've also used Active Webcam, installed temporarily buy a guy from work. AW also could only see one camera at a time, and although it works with the DVR card using the 4 composites, I've never found AW particularly user friendly. I only found this forum AFTER I got these ADW300s, and now I've read a few posts I fully expect people to tell me to get rid of these and get something else, but it's not really an option at the moment - I'd be interested in getting hold of software that will be able to take adantage of the 4 cameras while they are connected to USB. Any help (or slaggings off!) appreciated! Thanks Chris, Leeds UK

Hi from Leeds in the UK - I've had CCTV on and around my home for two years now, using cheap cheap cheap cameras and cards from Hong Kong usually - some good experiences and some bad Thought I would register now to get some help and advice from people who unlike me, know what they are talking about! Chris