Voipmodo

HI, On the Mobotix M12 with a 22mm lens, 30 feet is really pushing it for reading a plate at even ideal daytime conditions. The 22mm is good for wide angle viewing of an area and is not usually recommended for plate or detail capture at those distances. I usually tell customers that a 22mm lens can capture a plate at the most 15 feet away. To get a good plate at that distance you should look at a more telephoto lens just as a 135 or 65mm. The LPF versions of the M12 has a 135mm for lpf and a 22 or 43 I believe for general coverage. I know its probably not ideal for your project, but that is one of the tradeoffs of super wide lens's, wide angle at the sacrifice of detail at farther distances. If its a driveway setup, possibly adding a b/w or lpf with telephoto and an IR light may be your best choice to get plates Mobotix mega test image 22mm attached

I would suggest a Mobotix M24 with a day or night sensor, or possibly an M12 with both. The camera will record directly to your NAS and comes with all of the software you need built in. Remote viewing is as simple as port forwarding on your router.

I just came across this article on some new indoor and outdoor HD IP Camera from Logitech for under $350. Looks like it comes with support for several cameras, networking over power lines, motion windows, mobile viewing, and has internal SD recording. The lens is a 130 Degree view. http://gizmodo.com/5602794/logitech-alert-security-cameras-keep-watch-from-anywhere Do you think this will have any impact on the home market?

IF you want to use a D12 and move it later, use a surface mount and attach it to the wall with those double sided tape that is removable. This will work for inside use. For mobotix partners in your area, you can call mobotix direct or there are several that post on this forum that can help you.

I second the asterisk. You can use the free version and if you need to use an analog phone line instead of voip you can get an inexpensive grandstream gateway that will connect it to your phone line. Trixbox is a good system but is more geared for business and is based off of asterisk anyways.

The T24 can be set that when the doorbell button is pressed, it will ring a voip phone, send and email, or connect to a computer. You can setup a voip app on an iphone or android and have the doorstation call you when it is rung, http://www.mobotix.com/eng_US/Products/T24-IP-Video-Door-Station

We have some open box cameras we are looking to sell at reduced pricing to clear things out for the new year. The following are currently Available: Arecont AV3155 3 mega with 4-10mm dome Rebox B-stock $669 Arecont 8365 360 degree IP Camera. New in box, overstock item- $900 Please PM if interested.

day only

Most cameras operate at a voltage much less then poe levels of 44-48volts. The reason that poe is such a high voltage is it sent across relatively thin wires of cat 5 or cat 6 and they would not be thick enough to handle a 12 or 5 volt at a suffecient amperage to power the cameras at a distance. Instead they use a higher voltage at a lower current, and then have the camera convert this to a lower voltage and a higher current.

For the l135 mobotix lens and the lpf l 135 the only difference is a special filter on the lpf that blocks everything but visible light. The difference in day/night is the day versions use a 3 megapixel sensor, and the night versions use a 1.3 megapixel ir sensitive sensor. The reason why the cameras with LPF are $600 more are two fold. Firstly there is a special filter that is placed on the LPF part of the camera to block visibly light which costs more, and secondly the lens on the lpf is set at the factory and is produced in far less numbers then the standard m12 so they build less of them with a dual b/w and lpf. I tell my customers often that while prices may seem high on the complete solution, would they trust a $100 solution to protect tens of thousands of dollars or more of property? For the LPF, it comes down to is $600 worth being able to show a plate to the police after a theft or just an image of the car and the thief?

You want to avoid having a camera with built in IR as the light they provide really wont cut it for the scenario you are presenting. IR lights built in may be good for a really close area like a door or entry way but will provide very little help on a large area. For this you would need a dedicated IR light or Floods. In order to capture a license plate at night on a moving vehicle you really need to have a camera with an LPF (low pass Filter) which are designed to capture plates. IF you do not use lpf then the headlights or tail lights on the cars will wash out the camera from capturing info. The trick in a situation like yours is to balance cost with your expectations on what you want to capture. For the price points you mentioned, it is going to be really tough to get what you probably want image and function wise. As per arecont, they like alot of other models ship with just the camera and you have to purchase the lens seperate. The type of lens is a CS mount in most cases. These can run from ~$100-$250 or higher depending on the quality and range. If you read any of my other posts, we are very heavy biased towards Mobotix IP cameras, they are full featured, do not require a computer for recording, and have several options to choose from. If I was building out a system for your needs I would use a Mobotix M12 with 22mm Night and 43 or 135 LPF lens (its a dual sensor camera), a Raytec IR light, 2TB NAS and a POE injector. This would be an ideal setup but would also run you close to $2800-3000 but would get the job done. Screen shot of LPF on a M12, gives you plate view and wide view of area.

If you have power available at the camera location and need to worry about data, your choices are fiber or dslam, or wireless. dslam works over twisted pair or coax and will give you up to 1.5 miles. DSLAM is the same technology the phone company uses to send dsl to your home or business. Zyzel makes some multi port dslam switches and you would just need to put a dslam adapter at each camera.

One programmer made a 3d interface using 2 Kinect cameras. I think there would be amazing possibilities of using this kind of technology in the security world. The ability to create virtual cameras, look around objects and see things in a 3d representation and offer "walk throughs" for later review in court with ease. http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/29/two-kinects-join-forces-to-create-better-3d-video-blow-our-mind/

we have good luck with the seagate black armor drives. I have installed them on small projects and have customers who have used them in school district installs. With the messed up sales channels we have found its actually cheaper to buy from amazon or newegg for NAS drives then through distribution in most cases.

A lot of routers have built in support for dyndns services. This way the router can automatically connect to the dns server and provide the information even without a computer running. IF you are worried about activex controls, another option may be to use mjpeg and have the files visible on a password protected web page. This will not be full motion and fully real time but will also help with speed issues if you have 30 parents all trying to login to the camera at once checking on their children, or leaving the stream running all day long at their desks.

For viewing at home the Grandstream would work great. You can setup your two cameras as direct SIP connections and place them in a speed dial. You can then view the cameras on the phones screen, or via larger LCD panel via the video out. In addition you can also here the audio from the camera and have the ability to use the camera as an intercom.

Depending on what the frequency of the updates you need, you could use a decoder designed for digital signage and have the mobotix camera send jpeg images via ftp to the read folder on the media player. Another option is to use a SIP based IP video telephone such as from Grandstream ($250-300) with a video output and use it to create a video SIP connection to the camera. You would have to test these options to verify they work well enough for your installation. product info on sip: http://www.mobotix.com/eng_US/file/75640/SIP_Flyer_US_k.pdf

The mobotix camera does not sync to HQ and as long as you do not setup the camera for public access and setup the routes in your network, the camera should only be visible locally and to whom you give permission to access. Depending on the price you are getting the camera for, I would look at getting the hardware new, with includes support and warranty.

There are some video capture setups that are designed for this type of use. Its been a couple of years since i was an elite athlete but you should be able to google it. You want to find a system with a high speed camera, and the ability to superimpose or ghost practice runs over others for analysis. Gymnastics like the events i was doing ( bobsled and track) is about hitting certain points and sequences perfectly. Systems like this are being used at the Olympic training centers and probably a few div 1 sports teams. You really need a high speed camera that is well beyond cctv levels to get the results you will need. I have tried using a 30 fps camera for pole vault analysis a few years ago in mjpeg and there was too much blurring even in full daylight to be useful. In addition you would probably want some analytics to help the coach show proper technique and correct errors. from google search: http://www.sporthorizon.com/sports_page.htm

The M12 will work fine if you add M14 when they finally come out. Codecs and software will be the same, the main difference will be an updated board which gives faster frames per second at higher resolutions and the ability to have interchangeable lens. Like computers and everything else electronic, there is always something new and better coming out in the future, but you are always best buying for what you need today.

Mobotix is a great camera for home use. Yes it can be more expensive per camera then analog or lower end IP Cameras, but the quality and features are in my opinion unmatched. With adding several cameras, like the other poster said, there is no computer needed for recording or image processing/analytics. This not only makes easier to manage, but decreases utility costs. For camera model, I would go with an M12 Day/night or a D12 if you want a dome and go with a 22mm (90 Degree Lens). Even though you have a floodlight, the day/night model will give you better night and low light performance then a day only camera.

A new format was just announced that is set to replace hdmi for Video and Audio transmissions, HDBaseT. This new format basically allows for HD Video up to 4K resolution, audio, USB, 100Megabit Data,and power (100Watts) over standard cat 6 cable and rj45 connectors up to 100 meters and the ability to extend farther with repeaters. Though designed for converged home audio/video, this new format would seem to open up many possibilities in the IP Security Camera world. Link http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366046,00.asp

Actually I think that Monster cables will embrace it. they will just add gold plated connectors, bigger strain relief, and maybe a matte black cable color and charge $49.99 for a 12ft. Even more margin for them to swindle from the consumers at retail stores.

All of the Mobotix Camera lens's have an Aperture (F-stop) of 2.0 and range from 1.8 to 25mm with a real 35mm focal length conversion to 11mm-135mm

The M12 can do 4 fps in JPG or 10 fps in MXPEG formats at the highest resolution. The M12 is still using the Mobotix P2 chips and boards so when the expected M14 comes out late this year (crosses fingers) the frame rates should be much higher, which I am expecting to be at least 20-25fps at max resolution. Considering the storage needed for that frame rate and resolution, I don"t think many installations even would necessitate those max specs.