buellwinkle

They typically mean Intel compatible and AMD processor will work fine. For some software, having 10 MP cameras will require the equivalent of a current model i5 or i7 processor. If you NVR software is very efficient or uses the camera to handle motion detection then you may get away with an i3 equivalent. Memory is rarely an issue but have at least 2 NICs as 10 camera at MP resolution may tax a 100Mbps network and just about all cameras are 100Mbps. I know I have 6 cameras and that's already at it's limits.

I know Mickey Mouse, I live by Disneyland, my kids have had annual passes for most of their lives and I can tell you, Dahua is no Mickey Mouse. Don't be dissing my home boy. If you can find how to take snapshots from their web interface and have it automatically saved as JPEG, that would save me a bunch of time when I review their cameras. I have a similar problem with Axis, saves it in PNG format, so I resave those as JPEG to save space. Other brands like Panasonic, Mobotix, IQEye, ACTi save in JPEG format.

Because the camera puts out an uncompressed BMP file when click the snapshot button which is huge (12 MB), I open it up in Photoshop and save it as JPEG, no other processing. I save it with a compression factor of 8 on Photoshop which makes it about 400-500 KB. Here's the actual BMP file in Dropbox on the link if you want to see for yourself, straight from the camera. Let me know if you think my compression is too agressive and making the camera look bad, maybe I should chose a higher quality on Photoshop - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29612389/20121228_103756.bmp

Sorry we don't have snow at the moment, but here's some snapshots from a Dahua IPC-HFW3300C. This is a 3 MP bullet. So you'll have to click on the picture, then click on the 4 arrows in the lower right corner to view the full sized image. Daytime Nightime

I tried to go in and change the main logo, can probably get more for the DVR or IP camera if it said Axis or Mobotix. OK, only kidding, I want to my name up there. I got my logo.jpg file in the /tmp directory, same pixels (256x55) but I can't find a way to copy it to the /mnt/web/image directory. It's read-only, not usually an obsticle for me but this one is SquashFS format that I'm not familiar with. I believe this is some sort of compressed read only file system. So my guess is I would have to un-squash it somehow, mount it as read/wite, copy my logo.jpg file and then squash it back. Anyone tried this yet? I know it's possible because Q-See puts their logo in there over the Dahua logo.

I don't understand the specs, maybe you attach the mic to the NVR, maybe it takes audio input from a single Dahua camera that has audio in/out like the audio input jack on the IPC-HFW3200C. Maybe Q-See's website has a manual for the NVR you can read in advance and see how it's setup.

No audio, you may have misread. This is what it says on the Costco website (3 times) - • NVR supports one audio channel (audio cameras or microphones not included) • Video: 1 HDMI Output, 1 VGA output, 1 BNC output/Audio: 1BNC (Audio mic/cameras not included) Audio: 1BNC (Audio mic/cameras not included)

There's probably an app to watch eBay for you. I googled buyer tools and found a bunch.

Axis has very good pricing for job bidding purposes. So someone may get a job where they need 100 cameras and get Axis bid pricing but they buy extras in case some are bad on the job, they don't want to delay the project or have installers come twice. Then they dump the extras on eBay cheap. You just have to keep your eye out on eBay now and then for these deals. That's my theory because it can't be distributors selling on eBay, Axis would pull their contract as they are strict about it. Regular Axis reseller partners can't get cameras that cheap without bid pricing.

There's different level of ONVIF support and some NVR's support it but may not record. The only NVR (Windows based) software I've used that works with AVTech is NVR+ from Linovision.com. And I agree, the NVR software from AVTech is not very good. The problem with NVRs is you are locked in, if it supports it great, if not, what do you do. This is the problem people are having with another brand, Dahua. They make great cameras, but not that many NVRs other than their own or 3rd party software products support them. I have a Macbook Air, I have no problems running IE. Just have to install VMWare Fusion or Parallels with Windows and setup IE to run in it's own window. On my toolbar, I have an IE blue E logo, when I click on it it boots up Windows (if it's not already running) and brings up IE in it's own window. Since I rarely reboot my Mac, Windows is always running in the background, so IE starts up pretty quick. Post some day and night images from the camera when it's all working. I like my AVTech indoor cameras, never tried their higher end PoE cameras. As for audio in/out, typically, most cameras require a microphone with a pre-amp. The 12V can typically come from the camera to power the microphone. Ask AVTech what the specs are for the microphone. Usually if it says audio in, that requires a mic with a pre-amp, if it says MIC then a regular mic should work. Online search for CCTV mic, there lots of choices in all price ranges from a cheap $15 one to decent ones above $50 USD. The AVTechs I have have built-in mic and they work well.

Good idea.

I have the large Dahua bullets and one problem I have is they don't stay in position like the mini-bullets. If I mount it to a wall or under an eave, the camera sags and I can't find a way to tighten the ball joint to make it stay. Any ideas? Nevermind, I found it the screw on the side that tightens the ball joint.

The IR cut filter is behind the lens and may have gotten stuck, had it happen to even fancier cameras like Foscams Sometimes unplugging them and plugging them back in resets it, sometimes a good slap works. If that doesn't work, check with Q-See (my assumption here), they are under warranty.

I can vouch that Axis cameras are sensitive to less than perfect power. I put two at our lake house where winter snow (yes in So Cal) knocks down power lines and sometimes the cameras do not come back up where other brands do come back up. I minimized this by putting the PoE switch on a UPS.

When you say the ACTi camera works at 1080P, you mean when you switch from 360 degree view to 180 degree view or always 1080P?

Or sell the Samsungs on eBay, get two more P33's

I agree, their 4MP sensor is not the best but with adequate light it may be usable. I'm thinking the PTZ can be used with some hard alarm inputs, like kids that pull the fire alarm to get out of taking a test, someone that opens a door they shouldn't, maybe someone with an assault rifle shooting out a window to break into a school. Sort of use tried and true alarm sensors like window breakage detectors into a PTZ that can get to the heart of the action, maybe even send an alert picture to principal. Stuff that's tangible, not video motion detect, that would be a waste in this case.

But Axis does not have an outdoor version and it's not day/night so I would expect to pay more for those features. I asked about getting an Axis M3007-PV to review but they told me last month they were not out yet. I realize that when you dewarped the circle you may lose a slight amount as it has to take a round image and make it square, but it's trivial as it's near the edge, at least that was my experience with the Mobotix. What's cool with ACTi is you can use the motion detection zones or alarm inputs from one camera to trigger a PTZ. For example, you can have their PTZ zoom in quickly on the alarm pull box if someone pulls the alarm even if it's a different camera the alarm is attached to. You can also have the fisheye camera motion detect zones trigger the PTZ to get a closeup.

Just use the Synology as an ordinary NAS, have the P33 write events to it via Axis Camera Companion.

Prices have dropped on the burial grade cable that I use outdoors. It has a tougher coating and if it gets nicked, it has a gel inside that self seals the expose wire. Used to pay $200 for 500' of cat5, now you can get 1,000' of cat6 for the same price. I figure the burial grade gel probably tastes bad to rodents. There's also exterior grade that's not burial grade and that's maybe half way in price between burial grade and standard cat5. If anyone wants practice, we are laying 1,600' pretty soon in one long run.

When you put a 360 camera on the wall, they usually have an option to make a wide 180 degree panorama, at least the Mobotix and ACTi I've seen do that. The Axis is indoor only as far as I know, haven't seen any announcement to the contrary. Also, Geovision has a 5MP fisheye dome. Be careful with 3rd party software like Synology and 360 degree cameras. Many will only record as a fisheye and not do perspective correction to make 4 seperate views, one for each corridor. Make sure the camera is capable of correcting inside the camera and sending out each correct section as a stream. I think that was one of ACTi abilities with 6 avalable streams. Check out the spec sheet for the camera and you can ask Ando on the forum, he's an ACTi engineer.

At the past ISC West, the ACTi booth had 180 degree dome camera watching a wide area in the show and the motion detect zone were set to send an URL command to the PTZ camera so it would zip over there to capture the action. Looked pretty cool, not sure if it's practical, but certainly made for a cool demo.

Do you have before/after images you can share?

I've used fisheye cameras before and here's what I can tell you. With a Mobotix 3MP fisheye, I can ID someone standing exactly 10' away. Why, because if they are too close you see the tops of their heads, if they are further, you can't really ID them. 5MP 360 degree dome would be better, maybe 15'. Also, before you write Axis off as being too expensive, did you know they will soon have a 5MP indoor 360 degreee camera for about $500 list price and also come as a vandal resistant version for not much more. Also, many of their new cameras can write directly to a NAS, way cheaper than an NVR or PC with software to record. So the question is, when you say you want to look 20m or 30m, does that mean you want to ID someone's face at that distance or just see that an event took place, meaning that someone entered a room wearing a blue shirt, but not necesarily tell who they are? Imagine this, with a 360 degree lens, a person face at 20m will be about 1 pixel in size (no eyes, nose, ears, just one dot to represent their head). If all you want to do is see that a person entered a room, not be able to tell who they are then a 360 degree dome may work. Personally as a brand, I like ACTi better than Vivotek, better service, better free NVR software, better made cameras. Then the next possibility is being able to ID someone 20-30m away, good luck with that one. Use a CCTV lens calculator to figure this out first. There's an easy to use one at http://cctvlenscalculator.com/ Enter in the lens, distances, height of camera, resolution and it will tell you face width in pixels. Figure you need 40px width to ID someone and maybe 20px width to recognize someone (subtle difference meaning if you know the person and you saw his 20px width face, you can tell who it is, but not likely be able to ID a stranger). Just a quick head openner, with a 5MP camera, at 20 meters with a 6mm lens (mild telephoto), you are at 19px face width. I would say you have to be realistic in your expectations and 20-30m is way out there to ID someone and also work closer up. One thing to consider is Axis has what they call Corridor Mode, meaning the camera can record sideways. Meaning at 1080P camera, normally 1920 x 1080 pixels can be set sideways to record 1080 x 1920. What does this mean to you? You get double the effective pixels looking down the narrow corridor, meaning you that with that 2MP camera, you are as well off as a 5MP camera that can't do coridor mode. Even their 1MP cameras can do 1280 x 720 in Corridor Mode, you have the effective pixel height better than a 2MP camera. Also, the way pro's setup a camera system, they may use a 360 degree camera to get an overview of events taking place. Then have cameras placed at what's called choke points to capture close up images of their face. Choke points are places where a subject has to pass through to get to where he's going. So say at each entrance to the school, you capture an image of the person going in/out of the school that has a clear image of the person, clothes he's wearing, facial recognition. Then the job of the other cameras in the school are there to capture an event with enough resolution where you can recognize someone from the closeup camera images.

Ando, do you know if the PTZ cameras will have any auto-tracking or maybe tracking via NVR 3.0? Will it be fully supportted by NVR 3.0? Also, do you have any idea if and when they will enhance their SD card capabilities so you can view recordings directly from the camera?