buellwinkle

Not all routers are created equal. I don't mind paying for something decent, but have not found what that is yet. The closest is to use a good router with DDWRT firmware. If the router assigned an IP address to the access point through DHCP, it has to have the information because it assigned that device a lease, meaning it has to honor the lease terms and reassign that address back to the same device for the term of the lease. You don't have to know the details other than there's no way a router does not know, but the problem is they may not display it to you, then it's a bug. You may need a firmware upgrade from your router company.

For the lower end, non-enterprise, I like BlueIris (I have reviews on a few choices on my blog). It costs $50, no limit on how many cameras, but clearly the more cameras you have, the more processing power you need. Also there's Exacq Start, $50 list price per camera, but very effecient, can use smaller server than with BlueIris and they have a free Android and IOS app. BlueIris said they are developing one but no ETA. I believe, but not 100% certain that Dahua provides free NVR software, so check with them. ACTi's free software is really good, both in ease of use and very low CPU load. Of course the software provided free by Dahua or ACTi is only going to work with their own cameras. ACTi has a free IOS app I used on my iPad (no Android), but doesn't work yet with their latest NVR release but is being worked on and should be available soon, if not already. Whatever you decide, make sure it works with the cameras you want as not all cameras work with all software. If you stick with popular brands, Axis, ACTi, Vivotek, Geovision Panasonic, Mobotix, Bosch and such you'll have a higher probability. Most software is available for a trial period so you can test it with the cameras you have which lowers your risk. Many times, the software vendor will add support for cameras they don't currently support if you ask for it and if you provide remote access to the camera so they can test it. Ken at BlueIris has added support for some of my odd cameras and did so in a few days.

Razer_se, I attended a road show where Raytec presented and what they say is having additional IR lighting preserves a lot of disk space because of false motion detects caused by noise as well as noisy video makes for larger files. The camera will adjust for extra light, so no reason not to have more and I know the KCM-5211E requires a lot of light, so this will help big time and for $40, how can you go wrong.

An access point has to have an IP address. Otherwise, how would you configure the access point it to use the SSID and password that your WiFi router requires, no? 200' for WiFi though walls is not going to be stable. 2.4Ghz requires line of sight, meaning you need the antenna to be outdoors. Take a look at cheap (under $100, maybe under $50 for the Nanostation Loco) outdoor bridges from Engenius or Ubiquiti. Those will go miles given line of site and usually have the option to have PoE output to power the cameras directly from the bridge and come with pole mounts or wall mounts and give reliable results.

Get the most resolution you can afford. I find a practical limit in terms of cost/benefit being 720P or 1080P. Going with D1/VGA with IP cameras is sort of a waste, might as well stick to analog. Going higher than 1080P sounds nice, but the higher pixel densities sometimes compromises low light performance and when you play it back on your monitor or TV, many times you are limited to playing back 1080P anyway, at least until the new 4K resolution TV's become a reality, if ever. You can use a PC as an NVR and use NVR software, manytimes free from manufacturers and there's free or low cost solutions. Or use their NVR as you suggested with Dahua as one choice. Don't know what that costs, but as a comparison, the 16 channel ACTi NVR can be had for about $800 plus hard drives (up to 5 for up to 10TB of storage) and will support their cameras up to their 4MP cameras. Frankly, I run the free software on a PC, works great for me. If it breaks, either I can fix it or any computer nerd at Best Buy can fix it.

NotSoSimple, is there a recomendation in the manual or from the company as to how to make that weathertight? I wouldn't worry about moisture getting in the wire, but I can see the copper corroding inside the RJ45 connectors. I would have expected a weather tight seals like in the connectors used under the hood of a car. Or are they expecting that you run the connector in the wall and then plug your Ethernet cable into it while indoors? This is how the Brickcom works using a similar pigtail. As you can see, the connection is made waterproof. Is the Dahua similar?

Why is that below cost? Is there a US distributor like Anixster or Tri-Ed selling them? Or are you buying direct from Dahua?

The camera can write to a NAS located anywhere in the world as long as it's accessible to the internet. There's several companies that sell NAS for cheap, Western Digital, Buffalo, Netgear ReadyNAS. I personally use the WD MyBook Live and they cost under $200 for a TB.

I don't think the quantity of LED's matter as much as the quality. I use landscape LED's that are 2 watts that are more powerful that older tech that used 12 LEDs with very weak LEDs were all 12 used 1/2 watt. The 8 LEDs in the IR Illuminator I got were huge, each LED looked like an old fashioned flashlight bulb in size. It's rated for 80m, or about 260' at 45 degrees which is better than most IR LED's built into cameras that have 10-20 LED's rated at 20m or about 65'.

Not saying all online stores are bad, but when you go to a price search engine and it pulls up some amazing deals you just have to be careful.

I tried the illuminator with the ACTi TCM-7811 but it didn't make as dramatic a difference. My guess is because the 7811 IR illuminators have about twice the effective range of the 1231 and better low light capability, so not as big a gain. I did try it with me in the picture. My shirt came out very bright, but my face was better lit, again, not a huge difference because I did it with the 7811 but the IR illuminator was not so powerful as to blow out my face like it did that one bush. Here's what it looks like. Here's a place on Amazon that sells them - http://www.amazon.com/OKEBA-vision-Infrared-Illuminator-Standard/dp/B007SSU0L6 Also find them all over eBay like here - http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-LED-16W-263-FT-45-Night-Vision-IR-Infrared-Illuminator-Light-For-CCTV-Camera-/261035321234?pt=US_Surveillance_Gadgets&hash=item3cc6eae792

I see, so you don't want a camera with 3/4G built in as you'll use a 3/4G router, makes sense. The ACTi and Brickcom are about the same length, just the ACTi is fatter but consider this, the ACTi is 1080P or 2MP and 18X zoom with autofocus. The Brickcom is 1.3MP, about the same price and a varifocal lens with a remote focus, not autofocus, meaning you set the focus as best as it can, and it's very slow at doing this but it gets you close, then you spend a few minutes finding the perfect focus by tapping on a + and - buttons. Then if you zoom in or out, I believe about 3-4X, you have to refocus as it's not a true zoom, it's a varifocal lens that's remotely controlled. Also, there's no patrol feature, you have to change focal length manually live. So for what you want to do, you want autofocus as you'll change camera position often and manually focusing in the car can't be fun. The Brickcom's focusing system is designed for set once and done, not for constant usage. Also, from inside a car you won't be able to use the IR illuminators as windshield will reflect the light back into the car. Given that, the ACTi beats the Brickcom in low light. What you can do is get a 12V IR light, mount it maybe behind the grill of the car and that could be your lighting, and send the camera a command to turn IR off. Then you can use the camera behind a window. Both cameras can FTP video motion events to a remote site, maybe a NAS at your home location. The Brickcom writes an AVI file that can be played directly, the ACTi write a file in what they call raw format, must be converted to be played by any media player or can be played with the ACTi player. There's 2 schools of thought on this. Most camera companies write the video in a propriatory format because it can't be changed, so the courts consider it original video from an evidence standpoint. AVI files can be edited and provide immediate access, but the courts could consider the video as having the potential of being compromised. Same with Mobotix, they write in a propriatory format for the same reason and you must use a tool to put it in a standard format.

I've seen this on other brands of cameras, most notably is Brickcom. Don't know whay they do it. I would rather have the rj45 jack in the back of the camera with a weathertight seal, but maybe it's cheaper to do it that way, but then I question how to you seal the connection on the pigtail that comes out? Electrical tape, heat shrink? Have you looked at Ubiquiti cameras, under $100 for a bullet or dome, USA company and comes with software and PoE injector. Not the best camera, but heck, what can one expect for under $100. 1280x800 resolution or 720P at 30FPS. The best part, no pigtail.

Wow, 500 users all accessing one video feed. Have you run that by a bandwidth calculator to see if that's feasible? Also, can the server, the router, your network handle that internally? There are services that take in a feed from your cameras and stream it to the internet.

If you have the Brickcom camera record to a NAS mount point, you have to connect to that mount point say with a Mac and use Finder or a PC and use Windows explorer to find the file you want and then use the media player to play the video. Don't remember how you play from the SD card, but I think it's through the meda player on your PC. If you use the free NVR software from Brickcom, it runs on a PC and it records video, not the camera. I don't understand your 3G or wireless requirement. You want to connect the camera via 3g wirelessly, or view the camera via 3g wirelessly? If you don't have any internet access and you want the camera connected to a 3g/4g network, then you need a camera that can take a SIM card, and the only one I tested that does that at this time is Brickcom, the WOB130Np would work. Just need power, plug it in and it's conneced via 3g/4g like AT&T or T-Mobile. Then you can configure it with ddns, access it from where ever you are. Ideal for construction sites and such where there's no internet access available. Or you if you can connect the camera to the internet where you are at, you can configure the router to allow you remote access from anywhere on the internet and your connection on your PC to the internet can be 3G, WIFi, hard wired, doesn't matter. To capture a plate or face at 20M still requires a telephoto lens, maybe one with a 25 degree viewing angle.

I know I have to adjust the focal length to make the shot tighter, but there's no way I found to take the light off the wall. The camera is mounted on the wall with a wall mount that stands it out about 8" from the wall, almost parallel to the line of sight. That's why this is a difficult shot with the built in illuminators. If I point it more to the left to avoid the wall, then I avoid the shot I want of the door that is there and the rear fence. Maybe put a cheap day/night dome there without any illuminators and use the external illluminator tucked in a flower pot. Yes, that one bush is blown out, but everything else looks good and not blown out. I think it's that green reflects the IR more than other colors, why the grass looks like snow. Not sure I can do anything about that, as long as the intruder is not green. If I remember, I'll take a snapshot with the porch light only, but Ive done that in the past. First it annoys the neighbors as it shines in their bedroom, so can't go there. What happens is that it creates a pool of light right by the door, but does not lightup the rear fence area by the patio table, it makes it look even darker as the camera adjusts for the bright spot.

But isn't it good for $100, injector and software included? Depends on the needs of the customer. Maybe that's all he can afford, don't know, didn't state a budget, just wanted the lowest cost. It's as least as good as a Foscam in image quality, but with 720P resolution and made by a U.S. company.

Don't know, I've seen some very good analog cameras. Did you set the video to play at 720P resolution on Youtube?

Here's a video taken from an Ubiquiti camera -

I'll see your Dahua and raise you an even better bargain, Ubiquiti. They are headquartered in the U.S., not mainland China. Not to shabby with a list price of under $100 per camera all inclusive (no PoE switch or software to buy, all included). The 3-pack lists for $299, but you can find it cheaper online and they also sell single cameras. That's 3 bullet cameras, 720P resolution, 30fps for $299, not one for that price. Also includes the PoE injector and the software for free. Their website is here http://www.ubnt.com/airvision Then use motion detect lights to provide adequate lighting for a clear color picture.

This is what I can ferret out. On top of the cost of a ReadyNAS Pro or Ultra, you are looking at $95 per camera with a 16 camera max. Many cameras are not on their support list, so like any NVR, you would have to make sure your cameras are supported. They are touting their top Pro 2 model as being able to handle 240fps for 1.3MP, so if you have higher megapixel cameras like 1080P or 3MP camera, I would imagine the aggreagate fps drops or if you buy a lower end model NAS you may not get that much. So to add things, up, say you get a small 2TB ReadyNas Pro for about $800, add 4 cameras for another 380, you would have an NVR for $1,200 from a company that provides mediocre support for simple network devices, not sure how well equipped they are to handle a whole new line of business that depends on all the camera manufacturers to play nice. Buying a product this complex in it's infancy is asking for headaches. What do you think?

You can try a reset but something looks fried. Did you open up a support ticket so you can ship the camera back to them for repairs? They warranty their stuff for 3 years, but should still be able to repair it beyond that time period at a cost. You do have to wait a long time to get support from them to get mediocre support, that's normal.

With many cameras, it's takes a second or so to adjust for the bright lights of a motion detect light and that may wash out the subjects face and you may not catpure what you want. I don't know about you, but if it's dark outside and someone shines a 150W bulb in my face, I'm not going to be staring up at it, I'm going to shut my eyes and turn away, but that's just me. Besides, I always where a baseball cap when around surveillence cameras. The shadow from motion detect lights works great to hide half my face. Just get cameras with built in IR illuminators and it's not a problem. Also, depending on the situation, I would not want a motion detect light shining in my bedroom window at 2AM, so if you do go that route, make sure you are not disturbing anyone. Where are you getting the Dahua cameras and NVR from? Interested to see how it works out for you. I was thinking of doing a review on my blog on them.

Brickcom does not have a built in NVR, all it has is the ability to store video via ftp or a mount point, but no way to search for it or manage it in anyway. The closest I found to Mobotix is Axis products that support Edge recording. It stores the video much in the same way Brickcom does, but they give you an app called Camera Companion that glues it all together to allow multi-camera viewing and searching for recorded events. Not all cameras can pickup license plates as they are typically highly reflective and sometimes the built in IR lights will reflect off the plate and it will just look like a white box. This is the reason for specialized, high contrast B&W cameras to do LPR. The Mobotix B&W sensor is pretty high contrast and will work. To make out facial features at 75M, that would take either a lot of resolution or a telephoto lens, probably the 135mm on the Mobotix and even then I'm not sure as 75M is pretty far away. We are putting in a 135mm lens, the most telephoto that Mobotix offers to cover an area that's maybe 100' away. You may not be able to use Mobotix for this and want to consider an Avigilon, something with 16 or 29MP resolution or a decent 1080P PTZ camera like an Axis Q60 as those will easily read a plate 75m away or stick with Mobotix but get a heck of a lot closer than 75m. What I do to find out what I need is get a digital camera, take pictures at various focal lengths with a test subject, verify the lens focal length in the EXIF metadata in the photo and then set a tool like photoshop to crop to the exact resolution of the surveillance camera, for example, 2048x 1536 for the Mobotix 3MP sensor. Then you can see if you have enough resolution. For example, I have a 4:3 camera, has a 2X lens magnification factor or my DSLR which has a 1.5 lens magnification factor, so 43mm would be a 65mm lens. So I take the picture say at 32mm to simulate a Mobotix 65mm lens. I then use the Photoshop crop tool set at 2048 pixel width and 1536 pixel height. What's left is pretty close to what I'll see with Mobotix 3MP with the 65mm lens. You can also experiment at different resolutions like 5MP and see if that gets you there. A camera that I recently did a review on my blog on, the ACTi KCM-5611 may do what you want in terms of getting in close for a lower price. It has an 18X zoom, WDR, 1080P resolution and you can set patrols like a PTZ but no PT, just Z. It can FTP video, but again, no NVR solution in the camera, but they do provide a decent PC based NVR solution for free. Lastly, consider the lighting you need. To cover 75mm, you need a serious IR light or a series of lights at key spots you want to cover. Nothing I know of with a built in illuminator will cover anything close to 75m.

A lot depends on your needs. A good "value" camera is the ACTi TCM-1111 and you should find it for under $300 US (I have no idea what it would cost in the UK, but I'll assume that prices are relative, meaning a camera costing twice as much costs in the US costs twice as much in the UK). Also cameras from Brickcom are pretty good and sold in the UK. Axis will be debuting their first camera with illuminators next month, but for now, nothing. If you can find AVtech cameras, they are priced well, just not readily available in the US but maybe they are in the UK.