buellwinkle

What cameras do you have or plan on buying? If it's Dahua, not sure Avigilon software will work with it. Also, what's your budget as a Dahua NVR costs about $200 + hard drive, that will be hard to beat just buying a PC, let alone putting software on it.

It's a tough call at work. Can you use remote connectivity software, like LogMeIn, VNC or GoToMyPC? The beauty of GoToMyPC is that's is from Citrix, a long time maker of such software and many companies allow GoTo products through their network because it's popular for conference software like GoToMeeting.

Check out Luxriot. I quickly checked their manual and they can record video after an alarm event. Not sure on pricing but a quick google revealed $400 for their pro version (9 cameras). I've never tried it but seen in recomended on various forums. They also make NVR devices.

I have two 3511s and two 1231s, never had an issue remotely similar to this. I believe it's the camera on the far wall tricking the sensor. Also, have you checked the firmware, there used to be exposure hunting issues they fixed a while ago, wouldn't hurt to check.

I only know about access control, not alarms, but here's what I've used and speced that works. The #1 access control is HID Global. You can get a VertX V2000 controller that supports 2 doors and then get 2 readers. There's plenty of software and cloud partners to chose from. We use a cloud provider because we don't want to maintain a PC for this. Also, there's also BrightBlue from Schlage, the controller is access via a browser, easier to use than HID Global. Also has wireless capabilities which is nice in some cases. The second largest provider is Honeywell, I don't see them as much as HID and don't know much about them.

Nah, can't be that, it's fixed iris.

I tried the free version, GO, even with Axis cameras, it didn't do what you wanted, but I didn't get too deep with it. Try it out. You can download GO or their full version and see if it does what you want. Caution, the pay version is not cheap.

There's very few software NVRs that do this and their problem is very limited camera support. Probably the most common is ExacqVison. Their low end Start version is $50/camera. Download the trial version and see if it works for your cameras. I've had it support some Axis, some not. Also, there's an annual fee, if you don't pay, you don't get updates and as you add new model cameras, you'll want the updates. The Avigilon zealots here will tell you that it does this, but it's close to double the price of Exacq, but don't believe they have an annual charge so it may be cheaper in the long term. They can probably get you a 30 day trial to test it.

The deal is back at Costco for another month, cool. That was a great dea last month.

Try BlueIris, not bad for $50. They don't have smartphone apps, but to me, a smartphone app is a crutch for not having wide browser support. For example, I can watch my cameras via BlueIris on Safari on my iPad. They support a wide variety of cameras and if they don't support one, Ken will add it quickly if you give him access to your camera.

Wouldn't the felt get moldy over time being outdoors?

I have to try that as I'm getting a bit of reflection on my Q-See special.

That's a tough one. Dahua will not work unless they are Dahua cameras or camera listed on their site like Axis. It will not work with generic RTSP or ONVIF. There are some NVR's out there, but it will be tough finding one that works with generic cameras. Try Synology. It's a NAS that has NVR capabilities and supports ONVIF and at least one Dahua customer was happy with the ONVIF support - http://www.synology.com/surveillance/index.php?lang=us

I do plenty of that.

If you got it from someone on eBay, then go back to that seller and see if they'll help you, if not, don't buy from that seller again.

Low light capability in their demo video's is far from impressive. I would not buy cameras where I don't have a choice of what NVR software works and if you have a specific use case like POS, then it's even more critical to have choices. You can find out if this is a generic brand made in China and OEM'ed to several companies where maybe you get support for the camera in NVR software by another name. If you want lower priced more popular brands, check out Geovision, ACTi, Vivotek that will have broader 3rd party software support. Also, Axis has a huge assortment of cameras in all price ranges and is probably the brand just about all software works with.

PoE splitter should work fine, there's plenty around on ebay. Just have to figure out the jack size and if it's 1.5A (max power for the M1014)

Be very careful with Dahua firmware updates you may get from another reseller/oem, you can easily brick these camera, and then it won't seem so cheap. Go back to where you bought it from and ask them for it.

The KCM-5611 is probably the best camera that ACTi makes and would love to see someone attach a pan/tilt mechanism to it. Keep us posted.

Never heard of Planet cameras, what do they cost? I would have two issues with unknown camera brands. 1st is you don't know if they are good or not, it's very hard to build a proper IR dome. 2nd, you don't know how good or bad the NVR is and if you don't like the NVR, would other more generic NVRs or NVR software support Planet cameras. To get a decent 2MP IR vandal domes for under $600 from a trusted brand is reasonable, just have to look around, maybe Vivotek, Geovision, ACTi, Messoa.

Try it, what do you have to lose? I sunk my quad core computer, 100% cpu with a small amount of 1.3MP cameras, but maybe your PC is more poweful and can run it. Other than that it worked well.

That's not true anymore. They support a set number FPS at different resolutions, I believe 120FPS at 1080P. So if you had 8 1080P cameras for example, you would have to run them at 15fps. If you have a mix of 1080P and 720P cameras, you could run them at a higher frame rate. Also, keep in mind that you are limited to 1080P so if you buy a 3MP or 5MP camera, you would have to run it at 1080P resolution. I would say wait until Black Friday, get a killer deal on a modern day computer with an Ivy Bridge i5 processor and run BlueIris or NVR+.

I did not see any support on the NVR for ONVIF cameras. It supports a few brands, like Axis but when I tried it, the camera kept dropping and wasn't stable and it only recorded continously, no motion detect recording. I would only count on the NVR working with Q-See/Dahua cameras and nothing else. You can set the IP of the camera independantly of the NVR and then specify that when you add a camera manually. I did a review on the Dahua NVR on blog that may be worth looking at.

Low end, meaning it doesn't have many features, it has issues with white balance, it's not in the same league as the HFW3200 which has a much better sensor, better colors, better low light performance, better illuminators, better lens, audio, alarm i/o and obviously, higher resolution. $128 and $280 is a little on the high side from China and price difference if you are buying one camera is not a big deal, start buying a few cameras, maybe an NVR and such, the price difference adds up. Also, it's not always about price, to me it's about variety. I can get just about any camera Dahua makes in China, but U.S. resellers may only have a few to chose from.

It pan/tilts using your fingers. My pushing the lens to the right, the camera pans in that direction. Actually faster than panning and tilting via motors, but less convenient as you have to remove the lens cover to do this. Same with the Arecont. ACTi demo'ed a megapixel PTZ camera ealier this year at ISC West, but has not come out with it yet. In your price range, the only megapixel pan/tilt dome I know off is the Dahua, about a grand for their 1080P model SD6582A-HN. If it's like all other Dahua cameras, you can easily FTP motion detect video or write to an internal SD card. http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/sd658282a-hn-32.html