erkme73

Using Kodicom 4400 w/4.13 p8. All has been working well for the last few years. Recently I jumped for a PTZ (PELCO-D). I can manually move and zoom without any issues. However, the "Motion tracking setup" tab will not allow me to "enable" any cameras. The drop-down box is empty. After doing some digging, it appears that the software only supports NIKO cameras - and if I choose the NK-97 SD in the hardware setup tab, I can then select the camera. But, then I can't control it. I can't imagine that I'm the only one asking this question, but I couldn't find any other posts on the issue. - Is there an .ini hack that would get the software to think the camera is a NIKO but still control via PELCO-D standard? - Will an upgrade to the 5.X software fix this issue? - Are there any other workarounds that would let me use the auto tracking feature? I also have a few other PTZ related questions... 1) After setting specific 'targets' on the PTZ viewing screen, clicking on each one will move the camera to the pre-set position. It will not remember the zoom setting. This means, if you're zoomed in and then click on a preset target, the zoom level stays. Is there a way for Kodicom to 'return to default zoom'? 2) If I'm able to get the motion tracking to work, is there a way to have it zoom in on the target automatically? 3) I have not been able to get the 'Auto Pan', 'Point 1', or 'Point 2' to work. Clicking the 'Point' one will start the camera spinning 360° on the second click. It will stop spinning if I click it two more times. Can't quite figure these out. Anyone have pointers? 4) The functions buttons seem to to have different values based on the model camera chosen under hardware setup. The most limited feature set seems to be the only one that will work (PELCO-D) with my camera. Are there any other 'models' that might work with more features? 5) Are there any better, more PTZ user-friendly DVR card/PC systems out there than the Kodicom? I saw a few on-line that let you draw a box around an area of interest on the screen, and the camera zooms in on the contents of the box. That seems much easier than the clicking of cursors with a mouse. 6) Are there any keyboard shortcuts for camera controls? Sorry for the noob questions, but this PTZ stuff is really cool! The only downside is I'm seriously considering changing more of my stationary cameras to PTZ and I can't justify it $-wise.

Bump....

[bump] any takers?

First off, hats off to Scruit for his multi-channel DVR dashcam as described in his thread here: http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=11052 While I certainly wouldn't mind having a system that can record every angle, my primary concern has been with defensive driving and protection from police who claim I'm speeding. Consequently, my version is only a single camera - out the dash with a 2.6mm lens to provide a clear pillar to pillar out the windshield view. The system is comprised of four basic parts: DVR, camera, GPS/Overlay box, and monitor. The DVR is an SD-based recorder (12 FPS @ 720 x 480). Can be found on eBay for about $200 to 250.00. It can be configured to record several ways. I chose to record upon ANY motion in the camera's view. This means if my truck is parked, and someone walks by, they get recorded. It records for 2-3 seconds after the motion stops. In my driveway, facing my garage door, it does not record at all. A 4GB card will hold anywhere between 2-3 days of solid driving, to 1 month of occasional driving. I have it wired to be 'always on' - though after about a week of not driving, it (along with the camera and GPS/overlay unit) will run my battery down. It is a little larger than a deck of playing cards, has A/V in and out - and a full menu with playback capabilities. The camera is a cheap $60 12V outdoor camera (also from eBay). I removed the outdoor housing, leaving just the postage-stamp sized PCB and lens mounted to the back of my R/V mirror. It's so small no one knows it's there. The camera has no microphone, so I use a separate $9 high-gain microphone (see picture below). Standard RCA video out will connect to the adapter cable from the DVR. The camera I use has night vision, but I had to disable the IR LEDS (reflection from the windshield at night). The GPS video overlay unit is from a manufacturer in England. The GPS unit and overlay electronics are inside a small box. It runs about $250 and has an external SIRFIII antenna. It picks up 6 sats on the 5th level of a 7 level parking garage! The manufacture that makes this box, has customized the software for me so that it now displays heading, speed, number of sats being tracked, and (very important for court) horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP).The overlay unit has a video in and video out jack. So the camera output goes to the video overlay box, the output of the overlay box goes to the DVR. The DVR output goes to a clip-on sun visor mounted 7" LCD monitor. The LCD monitor($60-$80 / eBay) is about .3" thick, and hides nicely under the visor. If needed you can flip it down, rewind the DVR, and instantly review any questionable event (i.e. did I really beat that light?) I've attached a photo of the components... ignore the garmin GPS. It's not part of the current installation. The pictured overlay box includes both GPS and overlay electronics. I have successfully used the video from this setup in court to prove an officer's laser gun was off. I've posted the video of the stop on YouTube here: Since Brett Darrow's run in with the police in St. Louis (infamous badgering by a Sgt who later lost his job due to the incident), i've recently added a concealed microphone to record conversations within 10' of the driver's door (with window open). The beauty of this system is that it's completely autonomous - and it's always on. It's also completely transparent - virtually invisible unless you know it's there. If it comes to my defense, you bet I'll use it... if it proves I was in the wrong, no one but me will know it's there So, why do I have this setup? Well... About 10 years ago, I had an elderly lady put her car in reverse, back up, and slam into me on a main road. My wife and I were in disbelief. We called the police and waited with the lady on the side of the road. "I'm sorry. I missed my turn and wanted to back up and didn't see you", she said. About 10 min later, she said "I don't really remember what happened. I stopped and felt a thump." I could see where that was going. We signed a hastily written contract on the side of the road that neither party would hold the other responsible, and left before the police arrived. That day I started my search for an always-on, always recording system. Thank God for the digital age.

interesting... So loss of the last 5-6 second clip happens when power is lost... I suppose that makes sense. Even in your set up with the delayed power down circuit, you'll have the same issue. Short of having a battery backup, I suppose that's the risk you take. i wonder if any other DVR would be immune to this, though. Does your HD based system not loose the file it's writing if the power gets yanked?

\ Yup... give it a go, without batteries, just on acc power. It works 100% for me.

That relay/capacitor circuit sounds awfully familiar. i built one of those about 15 years ago on my first car for my dome light... so it would stay on for an additional 15 seconds and then fade off after the last door was closed. All new cars do that automatically now, but suppose I was ahead of my time back then. Have you tried running the DVR without all that work? I don't know how much more different the motorbike power setup is, but I'm not using anything other than accessory (ignition-switched) power to run mine, and I do not have any corruption issues. I don't recall if I posted this here (or elsewhere) already, and am too lazy to re-read so I may be duplicating. Because the constant on will drain my battery after about 4 days of not driving - which happens often when i go on week-long business trips and find my truck in the parking garage with a dead battery - I installed a factory-styled toggle switch that switches between constant power and accessory power. If I'm home, and driving every day, I leave it on constant. If I go to the airport and leave the truck sit for a few days, I'll bump the switch to accessory power. There's a bright LED to indicate which position it's on so I don't forget. In either position, it will be on if the truck is running. So worst case, it will still record while driving. No matter the position, I have yet to have any corruption. I don't know if that part of the instruction set is simply a disclaimer because it might happen, but after a year with two of these, neither have had that issue. One thing that I do not like about the recording is that every 5-6 seconds it creates a new file. And while that's probably a good thing in terms of corruption - i.e. if there is corruption it will only affect a very small part of the video - it results in something less than seamless playback. You loose about 3-4 frames as it stops recording the last segment and starts recording the next. You don't notice it in the video, but you do in the audio recording. It's almost like it skips a split second at each seam. It's not enough loss to miss anything important, but it is annoying.

Arg... well, I guess I don't feel so bad. I thought you got this from a dealer who was selling these at that rate.

Wow... I got raped! Send me a link to the supplier!

I was going to ignore that post...

I just got lucky that no one challenged the accuracy or signal strength. But, technically, you could have a prosecutor or judge who will not accept it without some reference to signal strength - or something that can prove it has an unobstructed view of the sky. Even though my video showed no obstructions, there was no telling where I had the antenna... No, it breaks the video up into these segments whether it's motion activated or fully on (manual record). The OEM says 2GB is the limit, but I put a 4GB card in it, and it recognized it, and records using all of it.

If you intend on using this in court, you may want to consider having the horizontal dilution of precision included on the video. It takes up three, maybe four characters on the screen, and will validate that the signal is unobstructed and true. Simon is a good guy, and top notch on customer service. If I had more cars, he'd have more business from me. As for the settings, I have the recorder set to the highest resolution, highest frame rate, with audio turned on... 704 x 480, 12 FPS. Now, just so you know, the recordings are limited to about 2-3 MB per clip... which is about 3-6 seconds of video. I suppose it does this to allow for writing over the older clips. Unfortunately, the clips when played on a PC seem to have a single frame missing between them. On the player, you really don't notice this (except for the audio recording which seems to miss a syllable every 5 seconds or so. It's a little annoying if you were to watch a TV show or lecture, but from driving video documentation standpoint, it's hardly noticable.

Then take a good look up "portable DVR" on eBay, and look for the one that looks like the pictured unit below. It's the one I use, and it loops constantly - recording only when it sees motion (or you can set it for constant). In case that doesn't show, it's the same one listed in the components picture of my first post in this thread.

It was quite an experience to see how they run their operation down there. Did you know that Johny Canoe's and the hotel they're located in have their own diesel generators to keep off of the BEC grid? They've been self-sustained for 20+ years. And at the kWh rate that BEC is charging, I don't blame them. I was there for a safety consult for their substation crew and management. Was only for one day. I stayed at the Orange Hill Hotel(?) or something like that. Nice view, but what a dump.

Have you looked at the helmet cams for sports applications? Even Sam's Club was selling them for <$100 if I recall right. They record 640x480 @ 30FPS and are completely water proof - the demos I saw showed underwater footage. They run on SD, and for a couple of gig will probably record more than any single ride. They're battery operated, and the rider must know to start the recording each time. But for that kind of money, clarity and frame rate, it beats having nothing. I strongly considered getting one for my road bike excursions (bicycle) - but most of that is done on paved non-vehicular roads, so traffic is usually not an issue.

I was there about 2 months ago on a business trip to visit BEC... The main strip (up by Johny Canoe's) wasn't bad, but boy, you head south of there, it got pretty interesting.

And the worst part is, they drive on the wrong side of the friggn road!

No way dude! Even after all these posts, my hat is still off to you...

Here's the link for the overlay box: http://www.blackboxcamera.com/pic-osd/gpsboxplus.htm This is their standard offering. Since I didn't need to input additional characters and was only interested in speed, heading, sats and HDOP, they were able to squeeze the electronics with my custom program in a much smaller box (see above) - about the size of a dollar bill by 1" thick. It also reduced the price a bit. The guy's name is Simone, and he's very knowledgeable and friendly. I told him I would give him credit since their component was the missing piece of my puzzle. Again, my primary concern is with what happens in front of me. Knock on wood, but rear-endings in parking lots and drive thrus have not yet yielded any 'close calls' or hits. More likely is to be popped by laser/radar for doing a 'few miles over' when the cop inflates the numbers. Ask yourself this... how many times have you been driving down the road - maybe a bit faster than you should - and suddenly you see a cruiser in the median ahead.... Simultaneously you'll think #@$!! while hitting the brakes. Only then do you glance down (nonchalantly) to see your speed. You have no idea how fast you were going when you first saw him (and he likely saw you). We all slow down - even if we're not actually speeding - when we see a speed trap. If you get pulled over, what are the chances you really KNOW what speed you were going before you hit the brakes? And, suppose you did know (i.e. had cruise set), try to prove it in court! An officers testimony in court is considered "trustworthy and honest" unless proven otherwise. Well, this is my 'otherwise'. Same holds true if you 'run' a red light. We don't do it on purpose, but sometimes we get caught on a short yellow. Well, my State's laws say if any part of the vehicle has crossed the white stop line at the entrance of the intersection BEFORE the light turns red, you have NOT run the light. In fact, if a vehicle on the cross street hits you in the intersection, it would be their failure to wait for an intersection to clear (if you can prove it). So, rewind for the officer to show your front end was in the intersection before the light changed, and you're golden. Look, I don' t make it a habit to speed, or run lights (last stop prior to this one was 8 years ago). But, given the unfair guilty-until-proven-innocent operation of traffic court, I'm moving the odds in my favor a bit. When the cop in my video finished writing my ticket, and I showed him the video, he said "wow, that's cool... our cruisers don't even have that!". I told him, "Yes, but you're missing the point. My speed was 4MPH slower than what you cited me for." To which he replied, "I test my laser gun every morning, and I have complete confidence in my equipment". He would not reduce the citation (which is all I wanted). After all, I have no problem paying for my actual infraction. So, off to court it went. After the court session, the officer came to me and said, "I have no idea why my equipment was off by that much." We then went outside the courthouse, where he let me play with his LTI 20/20 laser gun. Wasn't a bad guy after all. So, Scruit, your needs or interests are different from mine. I wouldn't mind having the extra views, but from my perspective (pardon the pun) I'm happy with this setup. I'll try to catch a screen shot of the rising/setting sun and will post it here. Rory, have you seen the video or read the transcript of what happened to Brett Darrow? If you have a moment, check out this link: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/19/1961.asp It made national news. While I respect law enforcement officers (I have three in my immediate family), I know how quickly an individuals rights can be trampled by an overzealous, aggressive, power-tripping, and yes, rogue cop. While every officer that has ever stopped me (and it hasn't happened often) has been nothing but professional and polite, if a road-side stop ever turned nasty, I want to be able to defend myself. Nesides, just because your paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you!

I put my windows down, yes, but no not my windshield. The camera is near the roof line, in center of the window. If water managed to get from either front windows to that point, I've got other problems. I have this installation in both my truck, and my wife's car. Mine has been installed for over 2 years - hers for just about 1 year. No problems with moisture or other electrical issues.

Call me a neat freak, but I try to avoid that (for other reasons). @ $60 for the camera, I'll take that chance.

Protected from? Keep in mind it's 12V, and hidden behind the mirror. The original enclosure (or any enclosed camera) is too big to fit between the mirror and the windshield. Discrete is more important to me than electric code compliance

From researching pictures of cards, and the description given to me by the seller - it is the kmc4400, I think.

I'm looking for the same software, which based on Kodicom's website is the "PDA DN Center". Unfortunately, I bought my pc-based system from a now-out-of-business glass store. I have no clue where the owner originally purchased this system. Can anyone provide a link? Thanks -

I realize this post is months after this thread has seen any activity, but I was hoping someone could explain where the text file is that will allow me to change the port from 80 to something a little less obvious. Thanks!