buellwinkle

I tried everything to get support for one of my customers and totally frustrating. I tried going through my channel as my distributor is authorized by Dahua, no luck. Tried entering the issue on their support site, no response (actually the customer got a response saying send camera model and firmware, I did but no further response). I even have an email address of one of their support people, no response from that. I'm hoping that they got it and they are working on it and we'll see. Did you try mentioning this FTP bug on their support page? They do respond once in a while but you have to search to see if they've responded after a few days. Actually I like the way Hikvision stores on an NFS mount because they manage it and playback is from the camera and way nicer than using FTP with Dahua and then sifting through many layers of directories and files. With the Hikvision you actually have a timeline with events that you slide and play.

I found the last one, now someone else has to find the Hikvision equivalent. Hint is that you'll never find it in the Hikvision.com website. I wonder if it has motorized focal length and focus like the other Hikvision bullets. Also wonder if it has audio and alarm i/o.

It's not a great value. The camera costs with the Hikvision costs about $169 each shipped, so that's about $1,300 and then the NVR should be about $450ish and 3TB HDD about $100 so about $1,900 in value for $2,500. The advantage of buying it separate is you can pick & chose which cameras to get (dome or bullet), you pick how many you want and the Hikvision version is 3MP vs. 2MP (1080P).

It's a such a great idea if it only worked. RTSP is not a supported HTML protocol. You can give people the RTSP string and they can see your camera using VLC, but you can't embed it in HTML. Also, some camera brands give you a streaming URL (not RTSP) you can put on a webpage, it's going to ask them install ActiveX controls or a plugin, may not work on other browsers, pretty messy. to do it right, you need to convert RTSP to RTMP which is easy enough, but you a need PC/server to run the program that does the conversion. Then it loads a flash or html5 player on the fly, not a big deal, done all the time across many website with webcams. Actually VLC can do this but it does so very poorly. I have an article on my blog that's a good starting point. If you don't have a PC or time to setup a streaming server, there are many streaming services like ustream.tv and others. Just use Google to find them. Some are free if you don't mind advertising but expect to pay a monthly fee depending on usage. I've never tried them so can't recommend anyone in particular.

And there's a whole new one, the varifocal model for $249. Anyone know what the Hikvision model number is for that puppy? The Hikvision varifocals tend to be motorized. Also, does it have audio and alarm i/o like the Dahua equivalent. Can you update firmware to 3MP?

I wanted a 12mm lens also, so I got the Hikvisions with the 12mm lens yesterday. Can't wait to plug them in and replace the Q-See with the 6mm lens. I got one of each, the dome and bullet. I'll do a review on them when I get them setup at our vacation home. I'm using it as sort of a webcam to see the lake and keep an eye on our dock. If anything it will be a change from my normal driveway shots. I figured it was easier to just get the right camera and lens and sell off the old one on eBay. Did you see that Costco has the IPC-HFW3200S (q-see version) for 349 for a two-pack. My Dahua distributors charge more wholesale.

Check out Swann, an Aussie company. They sell a rebranded Hikvision camera that is 1080P (2MP) and should be able to record and playback to NFS. I did a write-up on how to do this on my blog. Don't be confused about wireless, just avoid it and you'll be OK. My two biggest gripes on WiFi outdoors is a) you need a power outlet near the camera, b) power supplies hanging from outlets with wires to camera is ugly and anyone can just unplug them, c) weak radios built-in to cheap consumer grade cameras will have connection issues outside, d) you'll overwhelm you WiFi network in your home. Oops, went over two gripes. If you still have an overwhelming desire for WiFi cameras, look at Brickcom, they make really good WiFi cameras, but they won't be under 250.

Nice. Are they taking requests?

It's going to comparable to the E32 I reviewed which is 3MP but indoors the IR illuminators are actually way more effective as they reflect off the walls. The model I recomended does not have WDR, but not really needed indoors.

The ACTi IR outdoor domes (you can use inside) have SD card slots and come in 1MP or 3MP, for example the D71 - http://wrightwoodsurveillance.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_68_70&products_id=204 They are 3-axis so you can mount them on the wall or on the ceiling, nice clean look, well made, good service and support.

A port scan will determine if the router is setup correctly which to me is the first step. You can do it yourself, but then you would need to be on someone else's network to do it, can't effectively run it from your own network. The best tool is NMap, Google it, install it, learn to use it, not the most intuitive. Goes without saying that you have to setup the complete TCP/IP information on the cameras including the correct subnet mask and gateway address. Do an ipconfig command on dos if you are running windows or in terminal on a mac, run ifconfig to see what these parameters are on your PC/Mac and use them on the cameras.

I had 2 people come to me and say we should paint the white community cameras brown to match the walls and pilasters the are on. When I mention that cameras are as much a deterrent as they are for evidence gathering, they both said leave them white.

That's definitely a cool effect. There's gaps between the lens and the lens or the hood that separates the lens from the IR LEDs. How to fill it is a science experiment, maybe tape some foam around the lens to act as a hood.

If you PM me your external wan address (you can use whatsmyip.org to find that), I can run a port scan and tell you what ports are open.

I believe for the moment it supports only Axis cameras. Their software assumes the camera is doing the work as they don't currently have NVR based motion detection so they can't just add any camera but I like where this is going.

Wouldn't hurt to give Swann support a call to see what can be done. I do know that my Q-See works fine via ONVIF on my Synology NAS so don't think it's a Q-See problem.

The only problem may be trying to return the newly painted cameras to Coscto, other than that, there's no reason not to paint them.

What brackets? Do you mean the mount on the bullet or the 2-axis mini dome installation? When I did the review on the Costco Swann/Hikvision bullet on my blog, it was mounted under the eave of my garage which is about at a 30 degree angle no problems, same as any other bullet I've put there. The mini dome is different, you have to mount it level to the ground facing down. It shouldn't be on a wall or an eave that's not level unless you are cool with everything being on a slant. When I started to review the dome, I put a piece of foam under one side to level it. Hikvision sells a slant mount, have not tried it and they also sell a wall mount bracket but have not tried it either. Finding sources to buy this is the hard part. Distributors stock the cameras, not always all the accessories.

If you are doing so many installs, why not deal with a Dahua distributor? The prices will likely be better but you never know.

The issue is the jack on the end of the pigtail is too large. Are you proposing cutting the jack off on the pigtail and replace it with a keystone jack? Is that really smaller? Have you seen these jacks, I can post a picture if that helps. Frankly, I would be afraid to do this because a) may void a warranty, b) no specs on the wire colors, c) it's more than likely thin stranded wire, not fun to work with but maybe this is what the keystone jacks are better at.

Overall it's fine, the focus is set closer in, you can set it further away but honestly, I set mine for my driveway as that's my priority which sometimes makes cars further out seem out of focus. The bush that's close that's overblown may be causing metering issues making the rest of the scene seem darker so if you can avoid that bush, that would help. I would swap the Beemer for an Audi but that's just me, LOL. The other choice has to do more with tastes. By default, the cameras comes with contrast on low and WDR off. You can increase contrast for a prettier picture, you can play with WDR options. Also, the AE exposure reference or something close to that name, I usually make that about 100 for cleaner picture at nigh, some ACTi folks here make it even lower like 70-80, again, personal tastes.

I'm sorry, you didn't have the full model number before and they make several cameras including a dome with the 3200 designation, but no, that's a day only camera, no mechanical IR Cut Filter, it has a permanent IR filter and at night you can chose to have it switch to B&W but really makes no difference, it's immune to the effects of IR light because of that IR filter and you need white light to assist it. Actually it has poor low light sensitivity as compared to their 1.3MP Aptina used in the very similar looking but indoor only dome I reviewed earlier this year from Q-See. Also, they started making new models that nobody talks about here but they have a new 1080P and 3MP Aptina sensor so they seem to moving away from the Sony Exmor. the models end in 1, like ipc-hfw3200c is now a ipc-hfw3201c. I have not seen these yet through my U.S. distribution channel but I can get them from my Asian distribution channels. They have their mini IR dome that was previously available only in 1.3MP not is available in 2MP (1080P).

It may be a port issue and password issue. Seems like Dahua keeps a different password for ONVIF than for web browser access so try admin/admin, I think that worked for me even though that's not the password I use to log into the camera. Also, the port is different, if I remember correctly it's 9988. It's what I had to do to make my Costco Q-See special work with my Synology Surveillance Station via ONVIF.

Great deal, that's cheaper than just buying 6 cameras.

Pricing is all over place with Hikvision because they sell OEM and Hikvision branded cameras, both the same exact camera except for the logo but in the U.S. there's about a $100 difference retail.