USA Ed

I have installed 8 Mobotix cameras. 1 D16, 1 D 15, and 6 D14's. They do the job and seem reliable. The issue I have is with the software and they seem not to update the software often. With all the new technology out right now is Mobotix cameras even worth buying or should I move into something else at this point? Thanks for your suggestions and thoughts about Mobotix.

Have been doing more research and can't figure out if Mobotox is really any better than decent h.264 cameras / Setup. It seems that you will have much more flexibility by going with h.264 cameras because there are so many different manufactuers who make cameras under this standard Vs using a Mobotox setup and using only Mobotox cameras. This is assuming, and I may be incorrect, that if you go with a Mobotox setup you will only be able to use Mobotox cameras with that setup. Wouldn't it be better to just use h.264 for a 5-10 camera setup, and choose the best cameras on the market for each individual area.

I may go with a mobotix setup on my house, so I want to start with just 1 camera to see how they are. I would like to go with a high megapixel IP camera. In the picture you will see the front of my house, I want to put the camera to the left of the front door above that light. The light is on a senor and throws out about 120 watts. I would like to go with a dome camera for that location, or should I not go with a dome camera? Because I have the night light, do I need a dedicated night camera for the night or a dual dome camera, with both day and night camera? I do have street lights and I also have that 120watt light. What mobotix camera would you recommend, and what lens would be able to get everyone walking to the steps and up the steps. And also record them while they are directly in front of the door. Do I need a WDR camera because of the balcony? Any other advice is greatly appreciated. Please click on the picture below to expand image.

This is my mobotix camera at my front door. N32 black and white lens on the left. 90 degree D22 day lens on the right. Notice how the black and white lens brightens all the surrroundings up. I switched the D32 to a D22, bascially to a 90degree lens for the front door to give me much more view range. It was worth it to see if packages or if anything is left near the front door which I find important. You can see how much extra viewing you get stepping up from the D32 to the D22. Both are wide angle lenses. D32 lens on left, N32 lens on right. Image was saved as a lower resolution than above.

I got a dedicated black and white lens for night, makes a huge difference at night. Here is my mobotix d14 with dual lenses, left view is my color, which is OK because of the light, but look at the bushes to the right, you can't see anything. Take a look at the right image which is the black and white sensor / lens. YOu can now see into the bushes. Color will be OK if you have decent lights, but dedicated black and white is the way to go.

Here is an image from my Mobotix D14 with 90 degree color lesnes This is 2 lenses at same time, to give me 180 degree view of the front of my house.

I have a mobotix setup and was looking for a hard drive to record all the data to. I am giong to get a 3TB drive, but should I get the higher speed of a 7200 RPM or the more reliable and power efficient 5400RPM? I assume 7200RPM would only be useful when viewing video. What do you guys recommend for your hard drive RPM?

Tom, thanks for the advice, I was wondering if that SANYO camera will perform better with its one lens then a mobotix M12, that has a dedicated black and white night camera? Also, if you wanted to use a montion sensor to give you alerts and for easy viewing of those alerts, how would you do it with that camera?

Thanks for all the replies, gave me many ideas to think about. After long thinking and research, I think the best bet would be a Dual/night IP M12. I will have both day and night ip cameras mounted to the camera. A PIR sensor makes much sense as stated above, I also can use the voice feature of the camera. I am not 100% sure if it will make a big difference, but as stated above a dedicated night time camera may give me better video at night, even though I have the 120watt light. I will also go with the 90degree lenses. The only issuse I see here, and maybe someone can help out, is that should I buy a m12 now, or should I wait for the updated M14 version. I called mobotix today about the release date and they said around Christmas for its release. I am not in a big rush, but it would be nice to get at least one camera started. So if I am not in a big rush, should I wait for the updated M14 or just buy the M12? I may buy a few other M14's when they come out for other locations. Not sure if mixing and matching a M12 and M14 will add any complexity with the codecs.

I thought I would just build some kind of computer for saving the footage. I am a computer hobbyist so I upgrade all the time. I thought any PC can save mobotix data, one of their selling points is you don't need a crazy fast computer. But with only 8 cameras even an h.264 should easily be recorded with a dual core computer??? I also will run a seperate network for the cameras using cat 6 wire. I do want to go high end on this build, so I definietly want IP quality all around. I'm still up in the air about mobotix vs h.264. Not sure if the extra cost of mobotix justifies using their cameras and also their limited camera selection. But definitely IP quality is what I want.

Forgot to say, but I intended to install about 5-8 cameras around the house. I just wanted to start with 1 mobotix camera and install it before I made my decision on all the other cameras.

Surpised nobody didn't answer this question. I guess I will call mobotix directly. Is it true that mobotix will not help out small customers? This was my fear with going with mobotix, nobody really uses their cameras.

I want to install a decent security system around my house. My budget is max of around $1000 a camera, unless spending a little bit more would be advantageous. I am thinking of doing an IP setup, because I think this is the best way to go? I need mostly outside cameras to cover various parts of the house. I want to have good night vision to try and capture license plates on the street. I can use multiple cameras for this, so maybe a camera just for license plates. My questions are, what type of ip cameras should I buy? Is the Mobotix setup worth it? I would like to have a central computer to record everything. How many megapixels should I be looking at for this setup? What should I use to get good day and night recordings? There will be an outside light in the front plus street lights, so it is not totally dark. Do I need separate cameras for day and night to get best results? Is there a general understanding on what the best cameras are under $1000 dollars? For a camera getting people walking to the front door, should I use a special wide angled camera? Basically to sum it up I want the best cameras for about under a thousand each. I want to have a high tech setup that will eventually be connected to the web. I need to have decent night vision. I need a camera to read license plates in the street. I would like to have multiple cameras, one camera for people walking up to door, a couple for views in the front of the house, like pointing down the street etc. A camera for the back yard of the house.