PHXCCTV

Aesthetically speaking, 24FPS is the current standard for full flowing video. Even at 15FPS, you can detect slight skipping in the motion of video. As far as what the human eye can see, the newest LCD technology is 120 FPS (240hz) and there is a profound difference in image quality between that and standard 30 fps LCDs. Airforce tests have suggested humans can detect 220FPS.

I agree you typically get what you pay for, in most cases. Keep in mind "manufacturers" like Pelco and Honeywell both OEM some products, only changing the name on it, and selling it for 30% more. You hit the nail on the head with QC as being the most important factor. iPods are manufactured in China. Many Japanese companies are manufacturing their electronics in China with Japanese parts. You can easily tell the difference in the QC between OEM companies with bad support and high RMAs like Unix, Lasertech, ARM, and USAG, and ones who really care about QC, support, and develop unique features like Eclipse, ICR, Speco, and Nuvico. It all depends on your business model. I don't think the OP can sling Bosch domes and Panasonic DVRs at this point, despite the obvious higher quality and reliability than OEM companies.

You must have had bad luck with Eclipse. Overall they offer more features and reliability than any other OEM brand out there. Their vandal IR domes stand up to major brand name in terms of image quality and features, and their Nubix DVRs offer the best resale value for a stand alone on the market. Although quality, reliability, and price are not the only things to keep mind of when choosing a distributor. Eclipse does not sell online, and they do their best to keep dealers and resellers completly price protected. Companies like CCTV Imports, 123 CCTV, Super Circuits, etc. sell directly to your customers. Why do you want to compete against your own vendor and have to justify your margins? Unique features combined with solid price protection means you will earn greater margins which are ever so dwindling in this industry, primarily because of the "distributors" who sell online and count on volume sales.

Eclipse ECL-640 should do the trick. 540 tvl, IRC, 5-50 mm lens, 120' IR projection. The reason this works is because you can adjust the AGC and IR intensity level to give the perfect exposure of a license plate at the distance you want it. I would mount it on the corner just above location #2. Location #1 is a bad angle

Under powering cameras is never a good idea, especially if you have long cable runs. Your cameras will run hot if you under power them, creating more noise on the video image, especially for low light applications, and your PTZ might not function properly. You also decrease the life on your cameras if under powered. This is a really bad thing if you are in a hot area, like southern Arizona. I believe, technically, those Eclipse cameras only draw about 700 mA each, so you should be good. They say 1A to include that +30% cushion that keeps the cameras running cooler. This is very important for IR cameras which generate a lot of heat.

Actually the Sony HQ1 chip is 540tvl. Its not HQ1 if its only 480, that's either a typo or misrepresentation The HQ1 is superior to the super HAD, but inferior to EX view (.003 lux)for low light applications. HQ1 has better backlight compensation, higher resolution, and native .01 lux without being IR sensitive. Any mention of a Sony super HAD with more than 480 tvl is because they add a DSP chip from another manufacturer (usually not a good thing). HQ1 is the only Sony CCD that includes Sony DSP to increase the resolution.

Go with Bosch if its within your budget.

H.264 can provide some amazing playback video and speed of transmission, at the cost of extra processing power. You need to be careful. I've seen MPEG4 DVRs that provide better image quality and remote streaming than H.264, and offer more features simply because cheap H.264 machines are made with cheap processors. You still get the higher compression so it uses less HDD space, but, in my experience, its not worth the problems that arise from over working a processor not powerful enough for H.264.

I find Taiwan makes beter cameras and Korea makes better DVRs. As far as China goes, they can have major brand name quality or complete crap. It all depends on the quality control (QC) of the American/EU importer/distibutor. Even many products from Taiwan and Korea are built in China, but the QC is another company who makes sure production runs smooth and impliments more quality testing so they slap on a "Made in Tawian" sticker. The more serious an American distributor is about QC, the more the product usually costs, but the more likely it is to last. A distributor in the US can send out product manager to Asia to make sure they are not getting a junk batch of cameras. So even if its an OEM camera that you will see sold from 30 different companies who all call it a different name, that same product can perform less than one just like it, only because the other distributor has better QC