groovyman

Maybe the issue lies with the camera power source. How are the cameras being powered? Do they all have the same power source? Can you try connecting a camera directly to a monitor to see if you get an image?

Take a look at http://www.cradlepoint.com/ I use their routers w/ 3G/4G USB modems where DSL or Cable isn't available.

Are they rolling this out to all stores? Every Subway that I have been at in my area has a different system. I have not seen any of the back end stuff but every store has a mix match of cameras. ADT kit systems and lots of no name lip stick cameras and no name domes. Do you know what software they are using? No, it's not being rolled out to all stores, but it's available to all store owners should they choose to purchase it. Although most equipment needs to be specific makes & models, surveillance is not mandatory and the store owner can install whatever they want. These new DVRs are PC based with either Geovision or Hikvision cards. The dvr/analytical software was developed by these guys: http://ezuniverse.com/

Have you seen the system? I have and it's pretty cool. There's so much data and reporting it can make your head spin. I don't think the intent is to see what type of person is purchasing what. I think it's to collect the sales data and alert the store owner to when possible "shortages" are happening. Many different kinds of email and text alerts can be configured and the data can be presented in many different ways. The owner could then click on a link and go straight to video to review what happened. One drawback to their new surveillance system is that it doesn't support IP cams, but I believe they're working on it. In most stores this doesn't really matter though as they're typically around 1200 sq ft and analog does just fine when placed properly.

I've been educating myself on IP camera technology over the past couple of months and was wondering if I could get some feedback to see if my thoughts concerning file sizes and Internet bandwidth are in the ballpark. I know there are no precise answers as file sizes and bandwidth speeds will vary, so everything is approximate. From what I see (using storage calculators) video recorded @ 7fps with a 1.3MP camera results in roughly 3X larger file sizes than the same recording @ D1 with an analog camera. I typically see around 3.5MB per minute of video @ D1/7fps. On a DSL connection with 350K-500K upload speed, a 5 minute video clip (approx 17.5MB) can take from 5-8 minutes to download. So, am I correct in thinking that the same 5 minute video clip recorded with a 1.3MP camera will be approx 52.5MB and will take from 15-24 minutes to download? Do you see anything wrong with my math and, in your experience, are the real approximate file sizes close to what I've stated? Additionally, what will remote live viewing of a 1.3MP camera be like? I'm thinking it will utilize all available upload bandwidth & image refresh on the remote device will be very slow. I can limit bandwidth usage either on the DVR or router (or both for that matter), but I don't know how that will affect live, remote viewing either. Thanks for any insight that can be provided.

DOH! Now why didn't I think of that. You're a god among mice Hiro. For what purpose? How is this going to improve upload bandwidth that is limited to 300K-500K and improve playback of recorded video via the internet at those upload speeds? I'm eagerly waiting on this answer. You have no idea what I'm installing, if I installed it, how long ago it was installed, what the budget is, what it's used for, etc. etc. etc. Plus, there are many factors involved when calculating file sizes at different quality settings and framerates. This is not an exact science and many different variables need to be taken into account, but I guess you haven't gotten to that part in your CCTV 101 book yet. You show your immaturity with comments like that. No shiit? Is that a fact. And you absolutely do mean to offend. I can read through the BS, ehh? You said it, not me. Just calling you out as you put yourself on such a high pedestal, then sunk to the lowest type of reseller - get rid of what you've got, because it's all that you've got. Doesn't matter if it's proper for the environment. I said nothing to the effect of ripping off your friend and everything to the effect of you trying to get rid of your own mistake by pawning it off on someone else. That's just terrible.

You said it yourself: low light performance, FFmpeg encoder settings and the quality of the optics.

I'm not going to speak directly to the hardware, but can give some positioning advice. If you're using MP cameras I think your positioning is fine, except your missing the area where sandwiches are made for the customer. I've done alot of work in sandwich shops very similar to your layout and something many owners want to see is what's being prepared and what the customer is being charged. With this flow it appears the customer orders first and pays last. I've caught people preparing $8 sandwiches, ringing in $5 sandwiches, but still charging the customer $8 and keep the difference. I also see employees ring in a drink, chips, cookies, etc. instead of the sandwich and keep $5-$8 per sale. Along with having a camera on the sandwich prep area I would also consider capturing POS data from the POS system. What type of POS system do you have? This will determine how the data can be captured. Lastly, you may also want to consider having a camera on the hallway leading to the bathroom. That hallway is a huge blind spot and it appears that the soda fountain will be located there. Good place for something to spill and someone slipping. As luck will have it, if something happens it will be in the area that doesn't have coverage.

I would use the haltabb.com email address and server. The other services & ports might need SSL or TSS which isn't available in the Aver Nano email settings. SMTP Server: smtp.haltabb.com Port: 2525 Enable Authentication and use your haltabb.com email address as the ID and, of course, enter the email password. From: same email address as the ID. To: whatever email address that should receive the alerts The other fields (CC, Subject, Message) are up to you.

Yes, I'd try it.

Really. Hmmmm, pawning your mistake on someone else - a friend no less. You're not going to sell him the proper equipment for his environment? You're going to sell him your mistake so you can recover your $800? You're not so high and mighty afterall, are ya.....ehh. Just saying.....

Tom, do you need to forward ports to use email alerts on Aver DVRs? Also, the google smtp servers have many different IP addresses. I just pinged smtp.gmail.com and got 74.125.134.109, the second time 173.194.77.108 and the third 74.125.45.108. haltabb, just need to ask - what do you have for DNS in the DVR? Maybe the server domain isn't being resolved to an IP address? Just a thought.

Many ISPs will block port 25, as I'm sure you already know. With Gmail, I believe Port 465 is used with with SSL and port 587 with TLS. I'm not sure if those attributes are available in the Nano - I'll take a look later. The thing I like to suggest, and that you've already tried, is to use an email address and SMTP server of the ISP. However, it appears that Cox also uses port 465 with SSL enabled or port 587 with TLS enabled, same as Gmail. What a pain in the butt, huh? Does Network Solutions also require SSL or TLS enabled? I personally use Hostgator as my webhost and can use port 26 w/ SMTP. I've had no problems with that. Edit: It appears that network Solutions uses SMTP port 2525 or 587 without SSL or TLS, but server requires authentication. I don't know if Cox blocks 2525 or not.

I can't resist.....

Welcome. Always nice to see another Floridian here. With your background this shouldn't be too difficult to learn. In my opinion the hard part is choosing the right equipment for the job. Just like there's no "one size fits all" in networking there's no "one size fits all" in video surveillance. Just learn about the different features available in today's cctv offerings & decide what's important to you.

I can agree and disagree. There are different schools of thought - no right and no wrong, just depends on what works for the environment and the business. Just a little background on myself - I've been performing some loss prevention services for some of my clients who own small restaurants and the employees have taught me quite alot over the years. They can be very creative. I started doing this in 2007 and I've personally caught roughly 70 people from 30 locations stealing money, stealing bulk product (food, cleaning supplies, etc.), giving things away & doing things like opening late, closing early, clocking in or out for others plus other actions that cost the employer money. Something I've learned over the years when it comes to surveillance, even if the employees know the place is under video surveillance, sometimes it just doesn't matter. Either they don't care, forget they're being recorded, or think nobody is watching at that moment (which is usually the case) and that nobody is going to go back and review video (wrong on their part - done regularly and is how they get caught). I do believe cctv acts as a deterrent - for the mostly honest employees who might think twice about giving in to temptation, but the theives are going to be theives and try to figure a way to get away with it. Soundy, like you said "they may simply find more creative ways to hide it" and they do. But, somewhere along the line they slip and get caught. And, my feeling with covert surveillance: once the first person is caught everyone is going to know the cameras are there. It's hard to keep something like that a secret from the people who work there everyday. I have a couple of clients who say "make it easy to steal so it's easy to find" and others who say "make it difficult so they'll think twice" and believe if they make it hard to steal the theives will quit and find jobs elsewhere (which has happened many times after I've installed cctv systems). I find the best deterrent is to let the employees know you're watching by calling and providing some positive comments on the job they're doing. I like to put a positive spin on things for morale and to let employees know 1 - that the cctv system is being utilized, and 2 - that's it not just for "bad" purposes. So, different schools of thought. In my opinion it is up to the owne to ultimately decide was is right for the environment after options have been presented and discussed.

Well, if it's set on motion record at the lowest settings and there's no motion.....

Wonderful company - swapping out a hard drive voids a warranty. So silly. Absolutely. Yes, yes and yes. Most DVRs use BNC video inputs. The one they have now uses BNC. So, just make sure any replacement also uses BNC. This shouldn't be a problem as just about all DVRs you'll look at will use BNC video inputs.

It's simple - some DVRs have features that others don't. The Defender SN 501 supports 1 HDD up to 1.5TB, period. The USB port is used for backing up video, not adding additional storage. The 32GB is a limit of the OS on the DVR not being able to recognize a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB. Although it's possible to format a 2TB HDD as FAT32 using third party utilities the DVR might not recognize it. This 32GB FAT32 limitation has been around for a long time and is nothing new. Typically, to use an external HDD as additional storage, the standalone DVR would need an eSATA port and the feature to support multiple hard drives. There are plenty of standalone DVRs with this feature and even more that support multiple internal hard drives. By the way, I hate the BS marketing of that Defender DVR. They list "Recording Time: Max 2.5 years with 500G HDD." They leave out the part that the DVR needs to be set at the lowest resolution and frame rate to achieve that. Essentially, they may not be lying, but it's very deceiving.

The Aver iViewer is free. IP Camera Viewer is not free. OP was asking for an alternative

I've installed the Aver iViewer on several iPads and it works great. Image is nice and clear & actually looks much better than on some of my PC or Laptop monitors. I've also installed IP Camera Viewer which supports Aver EB, EH, NV, SEB series DVRs. I think the app cost around $5.

That's exactly one of my concerns. One of my corporate clients has many retail stores and we created a wall of monitors in their office that display real time video from each store, typically 2-4 channels from each location. At any given time they can be pulling in 72+ camera feeds via the Internet. The issue is upload bandwidth at the retail locations. As mentioned before, many have DSL with 350K-500K upload. I was thinking that remote viewing a MP camera would consume all of the bandwidth, or with bandwidth management the framerate from that camera will not be acceptable. Then if someone else connects with their phone, ipad or another computer the impact will be too great and hinder the stores ability to use the Internet. It was a little challenge to manage the bandwidth and get everything working properly with analog.

Thanks for the replys, much appreciated.

Try searching for Vivotek IP8332. Other sellers will appear. Also, you may want to contact Vivotek directly and ask where to buy.

You really put a lot of time, effort and thought into what you were doing. Very nice job.