buellwinkle

Probably all the activity on this forum has made them sell out. I would just wait because the 4 camera + NVR was sold out last week and now they have it back. Frankly, if you need 4 cameras, you are basically getting a 1TB hard drive and 4 channel NVR for $100, can't beat that. You can probably dump what you don't need on eBay and come out well. Maybe they'll take my suggestion and offer the 1080p cameras.

I've owned businesses and I always sided with the customer. Why, because unhappy cutomers tell their friends and neighbors and I'm not going to risk my neighborhood reputation over a minor amount of money even if I think I'm right as I think big picture, not one transaction at a time. But I was in the service industry, not retail. If I was in retail, heck yes, why would I not accept returns? I would just push that back to my supplier that would agree to take stuff back under my return policy or I wouldn't buy from them. I certainly would not be like a Best Buy that takes people's broken stuff they returned and offers them as "open box buys" for 10% discounts. Before the 90 days return policy on cameras, I had neighbors use a camera for 2 years, return it and get the newer model. Now to me, that violates the satisfaction warranty since clearly they were satisfied with the camera for 2 years. But they argued that now that the new model came out, they are no longer satisfied and want the new one. How can I argue with that? So Costco changed their policy on cameras. Now if they change the policy to read that I have to return something in the same condition I got it in, that's different.

I just did a review on blog for the UG802, a tiny mini PC that runs Android 4.0. Then you can run just about any Android software that supports your cameras. I find IPCamViewer to work well with many brands of cameras and there's a free version and pay version. As for inexpensive, it runs about $60 and you'll need a mouse to work the screen.

I spell one word wrong and now it's mistakes plural, but putting your arrogance aside, this is Costco's return policy (including its one spelling error). If I can't hack something properly, then I'm not 100% satisfied. COSTCO'S RISK FREE 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE Membership: We will refund your membership fee in full at any time if you are dissatisfied. Merchandise: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund. The following must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund: televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, touchscreen tablets, MP3 players and cellular phones.

Hands down the Dahua will have a stronger IR but within say 10' of the camera, the subject will get blown out until the camera adjusts. The ACTi will not have the same problem. Also, consider support, service and software that ACTi offers that you will not likely get from Dahua. Also the Dahua will have a large pigtail and to feed it through a wall, you'l need a hole about 1" diameter where the ACTi just has a port on the back for an ethernet cable for a cleaner install and I just hate making holes that large.

I just got an email back from Costco thanking me for my suggestion of offering the 1080P Q-See cameras and has passed it on to the appropriate buyer.

Nope, not the E31, but there's going to be a 3MP and 5MP bullet with the same specs as the E31. Then another series of 1,3,5 MP versions with 3.3.12mm lenses. Then the 2MP low light WDR bullet and dome I'm waiting for that uses the same chip as the 5611 and then a 1 & 3 MP superior WDR version. Also, 2 lower end bullets. They are not saying sensor sizes other than the viewing angle gives it away that the 3 & 5MP versions will have larger sensors than the 1MP version. The 5611 will still be better because it has the superior WDR and the better sensor and zoom and autofocus. I I see information coming after next week. Companies hold on to this sort of information for trade shows. So I would expect this to happen last week of October in NYC at ISC West. Wish I could go, NYC is a great place to be in October.

He's not questioning if you can or can't, it's a moral delima we all face. So you have to feel good about returning that half eaten banana, and if you are good with it, who is anyone to say you are wrong in doing so. Going by the customer is always right theory, if you bought a camera for a purpose you intended, and that purpose may be have been to hack it, and it didn't work as you intended and Costco says, don't worry about it, we'll take it back, then why knot! It's like a restaurant, you order a sandwich without mayonaise. It comes with mayonaise but you don't realize that until you've taken a bite. Some people would send it back without hesitation, some would feel bad about the people and their own moral compass would live with it. So that half eaten banana may be rotten, do you take it back, do you absorb the loss youself. Frankly, absorbing the loss yourself just gives you bad feelings towards the merchant and you may never buy bananas from them again, so the it's in everybody's best interest to return it. The other dilema is how did we go from me finding a great deal at Costco to discussion on morality?

That's great that you can get programming resources to do this. I was a software engineer so I appreciate the flexibility and may have a different perspective than most here. Axis provides the best SDK and their firmware is open source and you can run scripts on their cameras, so frankly, don't know any other camera company at this level. For example, I was looking for a camera that can process license plates and trigger a gate to open if the license plate is on file. There's a company that has an add-on to Axis cameras to do this. Also, there's a camera company called dropcam that used to use Axis cameras with modified firmware that uploaded video in flash format that they hosted. So the possibilities are endless and they make cameras in a wide price range, from under $200 to over $4,000 and they are the largest IP camera company in the world. I think this openness promotes innovation, don't know why other companies haven't followed their lead. ACTi also provides an extensive SDK, but no open source firmware. I would put them after Axis in this regard, but still has a lot of flexibility just doing URL encoding (per your example) and you can literally control every aspect of the camera from URL commands, even things not possible from their web interface. This allows you to develop shell scripts or VB scripts to run the URL commands without much programming experience. Neither camera on it's own ouputs video that you can open with anything other than their tools, so you have to manage the recording in your software and have it write to a common format. I would avoid any cheap Chinese made cameras as their SDK's are typically weak and support may not be there. On ONVIF compatible cameras, you can use this standard to get video and the nice thing about ONVIF, at least in theory is you can use the same code across multiple brands. But it's limited by the rule of lowest common denominator, so you may not be able to take advantage of camera specific functionality. You can also access most cameras via RTSP protocol to process video. Also a standard that many camera companies follow and there's probably plenty of sample programs out there if you leverage Google to help you. Lastly, check out Red5 or Wowsa, these are video processing frameworks and there's going to be sample code that you can used to jumpstart your project. They are able to take video from straight from the camera and output it in various formats, like Flash so it can be seen by most browsers if that's your goal.

I'm not sure if it's public info but the info may be released later this month at ISC East. What I did is buy the Dahua mini bullets for $150 each at Costco as a place holder for the new ACTi cameras.

No, use the alarm inputs or send URL commands if your cameras support that to start/stop recording. As for software, that's easy, get a C++ compiler and start writing code.

To handle that many cameras, you need a decent processor, maybe a Sandy Bridge i5 or i7. What processor are you using?

You're right. Everybody, don't take cameras you bricked back to Costco.

I'll be reveiwing it when it comes in a few months, December for the bullet, and mid January for the dome but dates may slip, hopefully not but also consider if it's a hot camera, it may get backordered like the TCM-7811 did when it came out. This will be the same sensor as the KCM-5611 I reviewed so you can get a glimpse of what it will be like, but in a form factor of the TCM-1231 bullet and the TCM-7811 dome from the pictures I've seen. You can google away but there's nothing out there. If that fits your timeframe, me thinks it's worth the wait, it's a superb low light image and 1080P resolution and WDR which the TCM-7811 does not have.

So here's the night pictures. I've had this problem in this location with other cameras where the cameras is pointed nearly parallel to the wall, so you'll get IR light bounced back on the lens, hence the IR halo caused by the reflection off the sun shield. The hill behind my house is about 45-50' from the camera, so you can get an idea that the IR at least goes that far out. And this is the stock 6mm lens. Now if when I plug in my Okeba IR Illuminator, the additional light brings in more detail and overcomes the glare from the IR light bouncing off the wall.

Here's some links. I'm not promoting the sellers, just answering a question about not finding it on Amazon and eBay. Also, whats the difference in running low voltage 12V to a power supply in your house vs. running PoE? 12V version - http://www.amazon.com/OKEBA-vision-Infrared-Illuminator-Standard/dp/B007SSU0L6/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1350612371&sr=8-6&keywords=80m+ir+illuminator 110V version http://www.amazon.com/vision-Infrared-Illuminator-Camera-visual/dp/B008JSLJEG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1350612371&sr=8-4&keywords=80m+ir+illuminator eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-8-LED-80m-263-Feet-Night-vision-IR-Infrared-Illuminator-80m-For-CCTV-Camera-/180864325285?pt=US_Surveillance_Gadgets&hash=item2a1c5a96a5

Yes 4 more leds, and it lights up the area nicely. I'll take a snapshot later tonight, still too early. As for Costco, they send them back to Q-See and they probably have a way to re-flash the camera back to stock, just one camera risked for the benefit of all. One small step for us, one giant leap for mankind. Unless someone is willing to conduct the experiment at their own risk and win thewireguy's respect.

If you can get the Dahua firmware, nothing to lose in trying it. Just return the cameras to Costco if you brick them. There is one physical difference and I think it was noted before. The Q-See version has 4 more LEDs than the Dahua version on the outer row of LEDs.

If you can get a bunch of people to start asking for their 1080P cameras, they will probably carry them. The model numbers are QCN8002B for the 1080P Bullet and QCN8001D for the 1080P Mini Dome. The trick is finding the Costco buyer that handles this line of products. If you can get their ear, they can make it happen. For what it's worth, the Q-See cameras came drop shipped from Q-See, not a Costco warehouse, so what's the risk to Costco in offering this online? Also, finding someone at Q-See that can give us a lead to who the buyer is so we can request this. If anyone finds information that can help further the cause, I would be happy call or write to them.

You may be able to change the firmware, maybe by booting off Linux from a USB drive and exploring the possibilities. Also, do a port scan on this puppy and look for a telnet or ftp port left open, it could be possible to log in that way. Heck my NVR PC was actually an NVR at one time from a company that went out of business. I loaded Window 7 and ACTi NVR on there and I got a cheap NVR setup the way I want.

No, these are Okeba, 45 degrees and 12V, not PoE but about $40 is a good deal and I think you can get them a 110V too. The problem with PoE is I have to run another PoE line to the location of the illuminator, PoE is limited in practice to 15W (unless you get some pretty pricy 30-60W midspans) so you won't see 80m rated lights on PoE and then I need to give up ports on my switch just to power a light. I have outlets under the eaves of my house for holiday lights, so in my case, PoE was not the way to go.

I haven't gotten the pricing yet but ACTi released a few indoor cameras recently, the E51 and E52 (built in IR LEDs) that replace the older ACM-3511 and TCM-3511. I've been using the ACM-3511 at home and it works quite well, lights up the inside of my house well, even larger great room spaces.

They have a replacement for that too as the TCM-4201 is obsolete. The new one is the D11. I had the ACM-4201 and replaced it with the ACM-3511 to get the built in illuminators. You need white light with the 4201. What I do like about it is the cube has speaker and mic built in as well as PIR motion detection.

1) My cameras record to some awful kind of file that I can't open in *any* player. Except youtube - I can upload it there, and it works ok. But I need to be able to open the files locally. There's a free program called VLC that will open up some odd video formats. Also, most cameras come with software to do the conversion. Or you may need additional codecs for something like Window Media Player to work. 2) Yes, if it would be possible to mux the files into one single huge file with 4 videos in a single picture, it would be great. Is this even possible? Absolutely, to do live on the fly editing of video for example, take the 4 videos and merge them into one, just get something like a Tricaster by NewTek like the 850 Extreme. This used to be something only a network TV station had, but now it's within everyone's reach. B&H has it here - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=497898&is=REG&Q=&A=details

I typically focus on the ground near my PC where I can take my time and not worry about falling or dropping something. If you want to do it onsite, I use a Pinpoint gizmo that splits the PoE connection so I can attach my laptop and do pointing/focusing at the camera but really more for pointing as I already pre-focused the camera before ever climbing a ladder. Also consider the image will look soft at night not from being out of focus, but from noise reduction. One reason I'm not a fan of noise reduction is because reduces detail and makes the image look soft.