buellwinkle

To monetize something like that you need to sell it to a hotel, restaurant, realtor something like that where they would pay you so they can include the feed on their website or paid to advertise on your site. It's expensive to do properly as you need serious network bandwidth to pull it off with enough clarity to make people want to come to it. I know someone that does this locally, 1080P feeds from 3 PTZ cameras, live to anyone that connects to his site. I'll send you the link if you want.

The camera works, so don't fear that. The firmware issues were options that don't do anything (they exist, but buttons, drop downs, don't work), there's some settings that don't persist reboots, many options that were irrelevant to the camera I have like audio options on a camera without audio. There are no show stoppers, nothing that will keep you from using the camera, but from my point of view, trying to figure out a way to resell them in the U.S., it was not ready enough. But look at the bright side, it's all firmware issues, things they can fix. The camera itself, at least the one I got looks identical in about every way to a Dahua HFW2100 and performed at least as well. Also, not sure if you are working with Cherry, but she is very nice and accommodating.

I have one, looks identical to a Dahua, has similar menus. Firmware is not ripe yet, needs a little more work.

Things have gotten complicated since the two popular brands from mainland China came to our shores, Dahua and Hikvision. There's 3 ways to buy Hikvision cameras, from lowest price to highest is a) get it from China via Aliexpress, these are Hikvision branded cameras, but no U.S. warranty and there's issues with installing US firmware. They tend to have a wider selection than OEM brands. b) get OEM versions from Swann, Lorex, Derytech, warrantied and supported in the U.S. but not by Hikvision. They tend to have limited selection, not the complete Hikvision line. Installing U.S. Hikvision firmware is frowned upon and may void your warranty, but works as proven by many here. c) get a U.S. Hikvision branded camera, supported and warrantied by Hikvision Physically, these cameras are all the same, but they all run different firmware and prices are different. If you are not sure, ask before you buy. From what I've seen on eBay and Amazon, what you see may not be what you get.

To get the 12mm, you have to get the Hikvision USA versions of the camera, they stock them in their warehouse, where I got mine. Places that sell the official version have all the lens sizes available. Not sure you will get as crisp an image using the varifocal lens, but certainly more flexible. BTW, I moved that camera to our lake home, but my wife liked it so much on the house that I'm going to get another 12mm Hikvision, a little pricy, but pretty sharp. I put a Dahua varifocal 3MP camera there and it's nowhere near as sharp, but you can still tell a car has plates, LOL.

That's genius because most mirrors already have power because of courtesy lights or remote buttons manufacturers embed in them in many cars. If I can tap into 12V at the mirror and this thing is so small, it would work great just stuck on externally on the back of my mirror where it can't be easily seen. Do they make a model with a lens on the flat side of the camera instead of the edge?

So I understand this, if I have the latest firmware, I can have it write to an NFS mount which is not even an option on the menus. Can you playback from the menus? What NFS are you using, one of the Windows versions, Linux NFS?

OMG, you sure picked the hard way to do this. Let me PM you the link to the SADP program. I finds all Hikvision cameras, you click on it, type in the address and gateway address you want, enter the password and 2 seconds later it's done.

Most domes yes, the dome you bought, no. You can surface mount it on the wall, as long as the lens points straight forward, you can tilt it, not pan it. Also, if do this, you have to make sure the dome is perfectly level as you drill the holes for it, another challenge. So what happens you are wondering, as you pan the lens, you have to rotate the lens, which makes the image more slanted the more you pan. So you think to yourself, I'll just rotate the camera to compensate, but rotating the camera change the pan/tilt, so you re-adjust it, and back to square one. I truly hate 2-axis domes, LOL, but they tend to be less expensive.

Cool, can't wait to see it.

They are awesome PTZ cameras because of the flat glass so you don't get the annoying reflections/streaking or whatever you call it of a typical domes. The biggest gripe is that you would think because it's not limited by the typical plastic dome, they would be able to see at the horizon or above, but what happens is that as you zoom in, the horizon creeps up and you can't tilt as high as an Axis Q60. If they can adjust the limits of the camera to tilt higher so it can look up a little, it would make it a lot more usable. Also, have you had a chance to try their new 3MP version?

Most network cameras including this one can SMS by sending a short email to your carriers email address, for example, I have Verizon, so I email to @vtext.com.

Look at my article called "Hikvision’s Built-in NVR Like Capabilities", it goes through the screens, steps you need to make it work.

No problem. First thing I learned about Milestone is you need to install what they call Device Packs, get the latest one, install it. Not sure how far you've gotten with the camera, but make sure it has a fixed IP, you can connect from the web browser, it works, you set password and you are happy with it. Then go through the Milestone camera wizard to add cameras in their management program, select manual, enter the camera IP, the user name (admin is default), the password (12345 is default) and click the auto detect button, forget what its' called and wait about 10 minutes as it tries thousands of camera choices until it gets to ONVIF (I love setting up ACTi because it takes seconds, maybe because alphabetically it finds it quicker), then click next and such to finish the install process. Once that works for you, you'll need to setup the motion detect stuff, the zone, the sensitivity, normal stuff people do on NVR software. On the client software, you'll need to put the camera in a layout to view it. Also, in the management program, you'll need to setup a mobile server so you can access the cameras from your phone or web browser. I have to finish up two more cameras reviews, but I'm going to do an in-depth review on Milestone because it is not the easiest to setup and hope that it helps people get started with it but once it's setup, it works really well and you can't be the price of GO.

That's what I'm talking about, a single box, size doesn't really matter, shoved up under the dash with two connectors for camera lenses with long leads so you can mount one in the front, maybe snake the wire and double stick tape it to the back of the mirror and another for the rear window. A license plate frame with just IR LEDs for night lighting and camera lens mounted in the rear windshield would be perfect. In the front you have headlights, usually HID on many new premium cars anyway. Man, we got a whole design team here, we just need someone to build it. BTW, Allen, I do appreciate your experience experimenting with this stuff, saves me from spending money on junk.

I tested these cameras with Milestone XProtect (GO version is free, next level is Essential, about $50/cam, smartphone apps are good & free), Synology Surveillance Station (about $50 camera after the first + NAS device, smartphone apps free, but so-so), BlueIris ($50 per server + $10 for smartphone apps, works OK, not full featured, but is a CPU hog) and finally writing to an NFS mount (free). I did not test their Hikvision PC NVR software because as someone said, when it asked to format the drive I was scared, I only have one drive on my PC. But what I've learned is what they mean by format is create a directory structure with a files that keeps track of stuff that may use 1% of the drive, not really a format like you would think would wipe out a drive. Worth trying, would do it if I didn't have some reviews to get out. If you asked me what would Buellwinkle do, it would be Milestone XProtect Go, free software, free smartphone apps, and live with the 5 day limit, rock solid stable product, supports many different cameras.

That's what I thought but I like to give them benefit of the doubt.

I've gotten burned buying these cheap ones before. They work great for a period of time and stop working. Anyone have experience with cheaper ones that work well? They have good ratings on Amazon.

They have two sites then because I was given a different site to get firmware from directly from their support people. Now we have to convince Maxicon to try it on his camera first, LOL. BTW, doesn't it concern you that the file sizes are totally different, like 18mb vs 12MB between HikvisionEurope and HikvisionUSA?

Really? On ftp.hikvision.com or for derytech?

I sent the request for this feature through my channel. As for 940nm, there was someone here that posted a company in Utah selling 940nm illuminators, not that common. I wonder if it is a lesser attraction to spiders than 850nm.

Are you going to try it on your Derytech camera? I would be concerned with installing a version from Europe. If you want, I can get you the latest Hikvison US firmware or Derytech firmware. Hate to see you brick your camera. PM me if interested. I checked, it's not available in the U.S. yet.

There are some cameras that have analog and network output. For example, I have the Dahua ipc-hfw3200C and it has analog output. The price for these are more because they are feature rich, like varifocal, audio, alarm IO. I can't say which is the least expensive Dahua with this feature, but a local Dahua reseller can help. In the U.S, these can run in the $300-350 range last time I checked. If you are buying quantity, I can put you in touch with a wholesaler in China that can help and if you buy say 10, you can get it for a lot less. PM me as I don't like putting contact info on a public forum out of respect for their privacy. The review has more details but here's the pigtail connectors

It's funny but I saw them for $169 on eBay yesterday so I messaged the vendor and they are the Chinese versions which is good price because my source in China is actually more expensive. Actual Hikvision branded U.S. camera are at least $100 more. So there's 3 types so far, I know, confusing but there's Hikvision USA cameras, Hikvision China cameras and OEM Hikvision cameras. They all have their own firmware.

How do you compare the Vivotek to the Hikvision cameras in terms of image quality at night. Last time I looked at Vivotek, the didn't fair well in low light but clearly technology has advanced since then and want to know if they are comparable, one is better than the other?