buellwinkle

You are limited to about 60,000 cameras/port numbers with one dyndns name at one location asuming you use cameras with a single port per camera. Some cameras like ACTi require 3 ports per camera, so you can only have 20,000 cameras then per dyndns name. So if you can live with that limitation you'll be OK.

I review a lot of different cameras for my blog and if you truly want the best image quality then get Mobotix dualnight cameras for outdoors (D14, M12). They are cost effective for home because you don't need a separate DVR, you can use a cheap NAS drive or a even SD cards to record, the NVR solution is built in. No place I set them up at did people complain about quality, maybe they moaned over the price, but not quality. Also they are dead on reliable, no moving parts,I can see them working for many years. For indoors, they just released the S14, it's a camera you can stick inside a wall and then it has two lenses (for day/night) and they are tiny, so very little would show through the wall, maybe 1 1/2" diameter, that's it, much cleaner looking than a traditional dome. As for lighting, consider RayTec illuminators, expensive but high quality, good support. Don't know if they have any designer residential type lighting for indoors. You may have to get clever there.

I use ACTi NVR, easy on resources but only work with ACTi cameras. The other product that comes to mind is ExacqVision Start. If they support your cameras, it uses the cameras capabilities for motion detection and uses very little CPU power. Check the review on my blog and also download the 30 day trial version to see if it works with your specific cameras. Any software that processes images frame by frame for motion detection is going to be a cpu pig. What you can do is lower frame rates and resolution to lower cpu use. Also, some software handle multiple streams, meaning it can process the motion detection and remote viewing through a low resolution stream and record from the high resolution stream. For example, on my ACTi software, I tell it to record from stream 2 (1.2MP) but for remote viewing, show me the camera on stream 1 (VGA) so when I remote view the camera through their NVR software, the client PC is not burdened with processing megapixel resolution and it's easy on the network.

I'm waiting for their release in August. Axis does have that model dome, but the IR LEDs and Lightfinder are not available yet. If a website shows it for sale, it's pre-order. They promised one as soon as they are out. ACTi just came out with a cool camera I should get in a week or so, the KCM-5611, not a dome but impressive low light performance, 20m effective illuminators, 18X zoom, autofocus and 1080P. They've been taunting me with the camera for 6 months now, good to see it's out. $900 list, maybe $700ish street price.

My blog, which is free and also comes with a money back guarantee is more focus towards the home and small business market and there may be things of interest to you.

Sure, if the intent is to monitor movements without having to ID a ship, then thermal works. But it's not going to be able read ships names and registration numbers.

For a few bucks more, I would get the TCM-7811 over the TCM-7411 for better contrast, lower noise at night. Uses a CCD sensor instead of CMOS on the 7411 and it has IR lighting rated for 40m. The 7411 has WDR that the 7811 does not. I have some reviews on my blog and you can see an IQEye to an ACTi dome. For no IR, IQEye does pretty well but you have to get the model with the Lightgrabber feature, the Alliance Pro. Axis is coming out with a new P33 dome with what they call Lightfinder feature for good low light performance and it's 720P. Should be out in August. Samsung is a mid level player with analog, but not popular in the IP camera space. Everfocus, a DVR and analog camera company company trying to get into IP cameras. Sometimes these sort of companies OEM cameras from Vivotek or Messoa, or unknown companies in mainland China so while it has the consumer brand name on the outside, you never know what you get inside, like Toshiba is one that does this. Keep in mind on a few things, how soon can they turnaround a defective camera, 6 weeks or 6 days, are you going to get good support, will the camera be recognized by most software available. These are the reasons I stick with certain brands.

No, I meant cheap, haha.

Realistically, you only need to cover the narrow entrance to the harbor to ID every ship that leaves, enters the harbor. The only problem maybe a smaller ship hiding behind a larger ship, but that's outside of your control. Maybe have cameras from both sides of the entrance. There has to be electricity at the harbor entrance because there's entrance lights. Raytec's top of the line, the RM300 puts out enough for a 370M beam at 10 degrees. The same illuminator adjusts and can cover 30 degrees at 220M and anywhere in between. You don't need a wider beam because you are watching the ship as it moves in and out, so you don't have to see the entire ship at once. Then the cameras I suggested before like the ones from Cohu. Also, Mobotix makes very rugged cameras, no moving parts, no NVR or PC needed, like the M12 or D14 DualNight cameras. If they want to capture images of the ships as they move into docks, there could be cameras and lights at each dock location.

The camera should have two profiles for motion detection, one is "runtime MD profile" the other is "event MD profile". It's in a pull down where you set the motion detection paramters. The runtime one is typically used for daytime, the event one is used for night settings. You then have to create an event that switches the motion detect profile triggered by when the camera switches to night mode. This way you can have a more sensitive daytime motion detection and less sensitive to keep noise from triggering the motion detect at night. This is done under "event list", create one that is triggered by "switch to night mode" and check Motion Detect Profile MD1, MD2, MD3 and check "Change to Night Profile". One quirk of ACTi is you have to click Save & Reboot to make the changes permanent so don't forget that.

Wow, I had someone try to pick my nose once, but I wanted no part of that. You know the old saying, you can pick your friends, you can pick you nose, but you can't pick your friends nose.

Just installed their latest NVR software that came out yesterday, 3.0 and it's awesome. Had some minor issues I reported to them, no show stoppers. One weird thing it did is the automatic camera finder changed the video settings on all my cameras to 640x480. I changed it back and all is well. Much easier to install than the old V2.3.

Check out Cohu (http://www.cohu-cameras.com/). They specialize in traffic cameras and they are heavily used around me in So Cal and have not only good low light capability, they do it in color. Unique functionality like a windshield wiper may also help in the coastal misty area. Keep in mind that no camera will work in no light. The closest to no light may be a thermal imaging camera like the Axis Q1910-E. It doesn't use light, it uses heat patterns. But not megapixels, heck, not even VGA/D1 resolution.

I have images from various cameras on my blog. Flat out, the best night vision I've seen is from a Mobotix B&W night sensor. Axis has some new cameras coming out soon with "lightfinder" technology. They should be out in August, and hope to review one then. Also, ACTi has their TCM-7811 which uses a CCD sensor vs. a CMOS sensor used in most megapixel cameras. Also, for covering a large area, the Axis speed domes do quite well in low light. Check out the reviews I did on the Q6035 and P5534 with available street lights.

Oops, may have pulled up the prices for the wrong model. Yes, they are all about the same price. The website says the lens is not included, but apparantly when you go to buy it, the lens is. If you get the TCM-1111, don't forget to order a mount for it. The TCM-4201 comes with a mount.

Not all in the same price range. The box camera is double the price of the other two and doesn't include a lens. I have the ACM-4201 cube, it's day only, meaning you need white light but has mic/speaker and PIR motion detect built in, while the TCM-1111 is day/night no audio at all, which means you have a choice of white or IR light. Motion detect lights appear to be the answer, but keep in mind, you won't have any lighting for pre-event frames (I like to record at least 1-2 seconds of pre-event video to capture what happened prior to detection as there's delays during detection), also during the first second or so when the camera starts recording, it has to adjust the exposure, so you may get an overblown image of the person you are trying to capture.

Ethernet cat5 is good for 100m, so 100' is not a problem. Could be you pulled the plugs loose or got debris inside the connectors as you did this. Not the best idea to run cat5 with the connectors on. Typically I use solid copper wire and then attach the connectors last. Often, pre-made patch cables with connectors already on them are stranded wire, not sure it's as strong.

The yard light will help a lot with making the scene look pretty, too bad people have to get in the way between the camera and the lights rendering them useless for seeing people as more than silhouettes. You don't need IR light as long as you have some direct white light, maybe a couple of 150W sodium lights aimed at the areas you want to record. There are very few cameras with built in IR illuminators that can hit that range you want, 100' with enough light. The closest is the ACTi TCM-7811 with a claimed 40m range, but reality is, companies rate their IR range based on slow shutter speed, so I usually use half the rated range. But say you get inexpensive camera, $100-200, instead of the sodium lights, you can add an $800 illuminator to make it work, at least you'll stay within the camera budget A Raytec RM50 should cover that area or maybe an Extreme UF500.

The Mobotix does need both sensors, one for day, one for night as they don't have IR cut filters in their cameras. If you have the room, any small camera will work. Check out the AVTech AVN80X, it has SD card storage, works well in low light and is quite small. Also, what's a very nice smallish camera that works really well at night, 720P resolution is the Axis M1114 (I have reviews on my blog). Keep in mind that analog cameras do better in low light than most IP cameras, so make sure you get a camera that works well at night and you have brighter lighting at the kiosk at night.

I've used an Atom processor nettop with integrated ION graphics to view 6 1.3MP cameras simultaneously and never had an issue with frame drops or any video glitches. So not sure that an external video card would have much benefit and would mostly be if you needed to have multiple monitors which on-board graphics typically do not support. Also used a 1st gen iPad to do the same, all 6 cameras streaming at full resolution with no video related issues.

The autofocus gets you close, you still have tap the +- buttons until it's right. I had the same issue with OpenEye autofocus cameras, it's very slow and not accurate. Once you set the focus right, it will look a lot sharper. What helps is to look at it on a large monitor and use their digital zoom and use that as a guide. It's not a good auto-focus system like what Axis or ACTi uses on their cameras.

Mobotix is presenting at a roadshow put on by one of the distributors I work with on June 12th. I can ask them about it then and maybe they'll bring a demo or provide one to review. Anyone that wants to attend, it's in Los Angeles. Here's a link the brochure they sent me - http://ipcamnetwork.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/surveillance-technology-roadshow/

Axxon is fine if all you want to do is view live video. As soon as you setup recording and arm the cameras, it starts dropping off at a steady 1 core per camera, not even the 2MP you have Sean, but 1.3MP cameras. If I disarm a camera it freed up the core. The behaviour is pretty consistant. As for BlueIris, your best bet is to email Ken at support@blueirissoftware.com and if you provide him remote access to the camera, he can see the errant behaviour and provide a workaround or provide support directly for your brand of camera.

Once in a while I shop in China, usually through Alibaba and now AliExpress. Luckily I never had a deal go south, they seem pretty honorable there. Some want international wire but more and more are starting to accept Paypal. For example, bought thousands of access control key fobs and I buy my holiday lights there (cool stuff not available in the U.S.).