buellwinkle

Don't understand, you mean other software on your Synology NAS besides Surveillance Station or other software that can run on a PC like on Windows or other software that can run in-camera like Exacq Edge as thewireguys suggested? You said you didn't want to leave a PC running 24/7 so best solution is the Surveillance Station app for Synology. As for running on the Synology NAS, Zoneminder (free open source NVR software) can be installed on Synology, but it's a manual effort requiring serious Linux skills, not a supported Synology app that's a click to install. While possible, I can't in good conscious recommend it. The CPU requirements will overwhelm the Atom processors used in their NAS devices.

Really, 65' long? My city driveway going into our high-rise is the width of the sidewalk, maybe 10'. At our non-city home in the 'burbs, we have an exceptionally large driveway at 25', most are only 20', the local code minimum for a single family home. At our weekend home, the garage is flush with the street, no driveway, zero, zilch, nada.

There are several from Axis, ACTi, Brickcom, AVTech but they use an really bright white LED that's blinding at night.

AVTech is very specific as to what models from what vendors they support and for Dahua, they only support the 2MP mini dome, not the model you have. Doesn't mean it won't work, but there's a risk it won't work. You can always contact AVTech in Taiwan and ask them if they will support you for your camera. Their list is here - ftp://211.75.84.102/Temp/NVR_Compatibility_Public_20121219.pdf

It's all magic. For example, Mobotix cameras come with a random fixed IP in the 10. subnet, but for some reason, their camera finder program finds them, like magic because I can't even ping them from my 192.168 subnet. In a perfect world, cameras companies would just deliver cameras with DHCP by default.

One thing you can do is stick with one brand like ACTi and use their free NVR software that's pretty good and of course it will support their hemispheric cameras but limited to only ACTi cameras. Certainly more cost effective than paying 6 XProtect licenses, ouch.

I would not get a 24 port switch because most cameras are 100Mbps and having that many megapixel cameras, each one putting out 4-8Mbps on one switch is not going to turn out well. I would not get a switch with more than 8 cameras on it. If you have a lot of cameras, maybe get the Zyxel ES2108PWR. It's a managed switch that has 8 full power PoE ports and a GigE uplink port, runs about $240ish. Then get a small GigE switch to connect the various 8 port switches + the NVR or PC to it.

I use Synology Surveillance Station and it's quite good. Takes a while to figure out all it's features but I would recommend it. First camera is free so you can try it. One weird thing it does to be aware of is that it sets the camera settings to what you chose when you setup the camera, so go back into the camera to make it didn't change a setting you didn't want changed. Axis allows you to write to a NAS including Synology and manage the recordings using the ACC app, but you have to use their app. Without the app, Axis does not FTP videos or write directly to a NAS, so no other way to do it with Axis. Other camera brands do, not Axis.

Be careful who you buy from, many online resellers are not authorized which voids your warranty - http://www.acti.com/news/Announce/Caution_to_Customers_Regarding_Unauthorized_Resellers WrightwoodSurveillance is more expensive but they are an authorized ACTi reseller and has free shipping. You don't really need an 8 port switch if you all you want is one camera. I use this one at 2 locations because it's small and cheap. This is a sample on of what I'm talking about on eBay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-48V-0-5A-Wall-Plug-POE-Injector-for-IP-Phone-IP-Camera-/310687796850?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48566f8e72 For smart phone viewing, ACTi has a free IOS app that works together with their free NVR software.

I'm so sorry I didn't get back to you, thought I did. I did test Mobotix MXControlStation for you as it does support 3rd party cameras, but unfortunately, for what they call "generic cameras" it only supports ones with mjpeg streams, not h.264 and the Q-See does not have an support for mjpeg streaming. So if it's just for viewing and you have a television to view it on, here's the cheapest easiest thing to do. Get an Android miniPC like the UG802 (I did a review on this a while a go). It has HDMI out so you plug it into a TV and run an app like IP Cam Viewer that displays from many different camera brands. Cost under $50 and is very tiny, sits behind your TV and your TV can power it if it has a USB port. Software like BlueIris, Axxon, XProtect Go and such really don't use a lot of CPU if you are not doing motion detection and recording so you can get by with a pretty cheap PC, maybe even an Atom processor nettop for just 4 cameras. For example, I have an old fist generation i3 and I can display 8 cameras on BlueIris without no motion detection or recording and CPU use may be 20%. If you really want to get clever, BlueIris has a feature where it can re-stream video to RTMP protocol or you can use Unreal Media Server to do the same (free for 5 cameras I believe) which I did in a write-up for on my blog. What this allows you to do is write a webpage with the video embedded in the webpage. You don't even need a web server, you can just write the HTML page and double click on it and open it up in just about any browser and see all 4 cameras. Put it on a real website and you can see the video anywhere in the world you have internet access. So 3 totally unrelated very different solutions to the same problem. Hope one of them suits you.

We get them from www.wrightwoodsurveillance.com out of Chicago, $169 for the 3MP bullet, free shipping.

It doesn't record continuously, only when it detects motion, so it won't write that much and with ACTi NVR software, you won't notice the additional workload. Don't now if it lets you write to an external disk as it only shows internal disks in it's interface. For my driveway, I use porch lights setup on timers that come on dusk to dawn and I use Cree LED bulb from Home Depot and that combined with the IR LEDs works great. There are cameras from Axis that will do this well, but expensive. The Axis P3364-LVE is 1MP, has excellent low light capabilities, has IR LEDs but can cost 2-3x what the ACTi costs. Axis has a camera app called Axis Camera Companion (ACC). You use your PC to install the app on the camera and you insert say a 64GB microSD card and the camera does all the work of motion detection, writing to the SD card. To view the recordings or the camera live, you run Access Camera Companion on a Windows PC that gives you NVR like functionality but you only run that when you want view the cameras, not all the time as the cameras record without a PC. Downside is there's no web interface to ACC. If that price didn't scare you, what we actually use is Mobotix D14 DNIGHT (D15 soon or now), costs more than the Axis camera, but is really good at recordings in camera or to CIFS NAS drives. You can view recordings from the camera's web interface or through their PC software. At night it switches to a b&w sensor for great low light sensitivity but no IR LEDs built in. You can get a Raytec RM25, runs about $350ish and can light-up a driveway sized area. Tell me if that scares you or not because there's one camera that has a hard drive built-in for in-camera recording but more expensive than Mobotix.

I also reviewed one of those Foscams and it wasn't bad, but still, a low end camera and my experience has been they don't last. If you are looking for a lower cost camera, the best I can say is either a Hikvision IR dome or an ACTi IR dome. The Hikvision dome should cost about 175 and the ACTi about 229. I know the ACTi costs a little more but is 3 axis, the Hikvision is 2 axis and limits your mounting choices but both do well. The reason is these are more commercial quality and you won't regret the decision long term.

What misses the boat for me with BlueIris is synchronized playback meaning you can't view playback on multiple cameras at the same time, with BlueIris, you can only view one at a time. The timeline feature is lousy. Other than that, it's worked well for me for years and Ken has been improving the product dramatically. But your goal is not features or which product is best, you clearly want free or as close to it as possible. The best value for free is Axxon, free for 16 cameras, get it here - http://www.axxonsoft.com/ It has some advanced features. So what's the catch? Not the easiest most intuitive product to setup. But not totally free, requires Windows to run and Windows is not free. So what's 100% free, the open source project for Zoneminder. Runs on free open source Linux. Works well but again requires a bit of work to get cameras setup and does require some Linux knowledge. Has some unique features, but not the best looking interface, but it does what it it's supposed to do. The other way to go is going to sound weird, but may work best. Get ACTi NVR3 software, it is very good, has synchronized playback, a nice timeline feature and will support the two ACTi cameras. Then get Vivotek's free NVR software for the 8 cameras and run both on the same PC.

The Hikvision versions come with their SADP software to find the cameras, with Lorex/Swann they don't because they do not support you using the cameras without their NVR so you have to play games and set your PC to that subnet (192.0.0) and then log into the camera and change it.

Look at my recent article on my blog for using a Hikvision camera's built in record feature to a NAS. That may do what you want, sort of the NVR features built into the camera. Perfect for someone with only one camera. If you already have a PC running for something else, you can probably just run FreeNAS on windows and have it record to your PC without you even knowing it (until you run out of disk space, LOL). For $169, it's not a bad deal. The ACTi TCM-1111 is sort of it's way out, the E32 would do a lot better there, a 3MP bullet from ACTi or even their 1MP E31 but resolution counts outdoors. With 3MP, the ACTi would be able to ID someone about 20' away, the 1MP may only be good about 6-7' away. Figure a typical car is 16' long, if they break into your trunk, you may not be able to ID someone with a 1MP camera with a typical lens. ACTi provides free NVR software, but you still need a PC to run it. I've run as many as 6 ACTi cameras with their NVR software on a small Intel Atom based PC the size of a book and worked well so you don't need much.

If the wiring is already in, maybe SDI makes the most sense since it uses the same wiring, but you do lose some flexibility for example NVR choice, resolution (haven't seen 3 and 5 MP SDI yet). Here's what I would do. Hire an electrician to pull all new Ethernet cable, not a big job as they can use the existing siamese coax cable to pull the Ethernet cable through. I know my electrician can bang that out in a day, a couple of hundred at most. Also, with 2 & 3MP cameras, it could be you don't need as many. The best value out there now is the Hikvision IR domes and bullets, let me know if you need help finding them but for $169 they represent a good value, 3MP (or 1080P) resolution, good IR illuminators, good WDR capability and probably the smallest IR bullet and dome I've used. To record, depends on what you like. On the lower end, I've had a good experience with BlueIris, $50 per PC, runs on Windows, but requires a good PC for 16 camera, like an i7 so that drives cost up and higher power consumption. Also you want a PC with several drive bays as 1080P or higher uses a good amount of disk space. Don't know how PGE is charging you, but SDG&E is killing us here so power consumption is a factor for me. I've been moving cameras now from BlueIris to Synology NAS. Synology is part a class of NAS called Smart Nas and they have software on them called Surveillance Stations, $50/camera, first one free. Has some higher end features than BlueIris like synchronized playback, it's easy to use and the NAS devices have lower power consumption and you can use the NAS for other things like PC backups and such for your business. Also, I run Synology on an HP Proliant Microserver, why because it's faster and cheaper (you can find it for under $300 with 4 drive bays). You can also get a Hikvision NVR, a 16 channel, the easiest way to go with Hikvision cameras but it's like your DVR, you do give up flexibility of a software solution. If you want to go higher end than Hikvision, I personally use ACTi, their indoor domes would cost a small premium over Hikvision and their outdoor bullet or dome will cost about double but you'll get a much higher level of customer service and support. They provide their NVR3 software for free for 16 cameras which is very good and can run on a pretty small PC as the cameras do most of the work of motion detection and recording. If you want to go higher end again, Axis makes very nice domes, the P33 series or their lower end M30 series domes, again the price is higher over the ACTi, but you do get a better product. I use Axis now and then. For up to 16 cameras you can use their free ACC software which records from the camera to a NAS or local SD storage and you can view them from any Windows PC. It's free, but frankly, a good NVR solution would suit you better. If you want to go even higher, Mobotix makes very nice domes, now the D15, price again goes up from Axis, but this is what we use mostly, just a dead on reliable solid camera with great image quality. Mobotix has a decentralized approach, they can write to NAS and play back from the camera or via their free MXControlStation software for multi-camera viewing and playback. Because it's decentralized, there's less network concerns. The next worry is network, 16 cameras requires some consideration in switch selection and network configuration, something you didn't have to worry about with analog. Putting 16 cameras on one switch is possible but not recommended as most network cameras use 100Mbps and you'll easily exceed that with 16 cameras.

Those lower end Panasonic cameras have poor low light sensitivity. I reviewed the BL-C230 which would most likely be the same sensor but with pan/tilt capabilities. I use it for our weekend home to scan the area during the day but at night it's worthless and have a fixed dome with IR LEDs for that.

Sorry for any confusion but Costco.com in the U.S. (Canada has different deals), sells the Q-See made by Dahua, model IPC-HFW2100 and is 720P mini-bullet and it's $299/pair. Sometimes the also sell the mini dome for $199, 1080P, day only, no IR LEDs. Costco.com also sells Swann and Lorex cameras made by Hikvision, looks just like the Q-See mini bullets but is 1080P resolution (double the pixels, double the fun). They sometimes carry the bullets, sometimes the dome, sometimes both. Also sold in pairs like sox, $349. The difference here is Swann and Lorex chose to neuter the Hikvision camera which is a 3MP camera to 2MP (1080P). The Hikvision version can run in 3MP or 1080P, so no loss over the Swann or Lorex. Also, from what people said, if you use the Swann or Lorex cameras without their NVR, they will not support you. I think Lorex specifically says on their website that the cameras can not be used with out their NVR, not true but you can see where they are going. So what I pointed out is as an alternative you can buy the actual 3MP Hikvision dome or bullet in whatever quantities you want in the U.S. for a lower price than what Costco charges. Previously, people were looking at places to buy in China via Aliexpress.com and sometimes that can be annoying with high shipping fees, time zone issues in communicating, additional charges for PayPal use if they even take PayPal or international wire transfer fees and you would have to send the camera back to China if there's a problem.

Took me a month but finally did a how-to on this poorly documented Hikvision feature on my blog. It's pretty cool. From the camera browser interface, you can view a timeline to select video to play back, control playback speed, typical NVR functionality. On the backend, it records to a NAS that is NFS capable (or a PC running NFS software). This is great for those that just have a small amount of cameras that do not want an NVR or a PC running NVR software. Also, found a source for the cameras for $169.99 shipped, actually better than what Costco charges and from a U.S. source.

I hear ya, big fan of Costco. I may live in the only city our size (60,000) that hosts 2 separate Costcos. But Coscto makes you buy them in pairs like shoes, they always seem to run out and it's 2MP Swann/Lorex, not 3MP Hikvision.

It's a pain, but you need to set your PC/laptop to a fixed IP address in the same subnet like 192.0.0.65 and then you can connect to the camera at 192.0.0.64 from your browser and that will let you change the address to something on your home subnet. If it was a Hikvision, they provide software to do this, but not with Lorex/Swann that I know off.

Did a review on the D82 if that helps, same as D72 but with a varifocal lens.

ZyXEL ES1100-16P Unmanaged 10/100Mbps 16-port PoE Switch http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833181164

I ran ACTi NVR software on an Atom processor PC from 3 years ago so whatever you find will be fine.