mike_va

The last pic looks like a cheap cam with no ICR (IR cut filter). Results in color being off during the day.

yep

That was they key. Right clicked on the picture, changed brightness from 0.98 to 1.00 and problem solved. Tried exiting and restarting the client to see if it saved and it does (as one would hope). We also had tried playing with the settings the other night, but mostly just rough adjustments and not on the last 2% of the brightness scale. Then got hung up reading the manual about camera settings. Thanks! P.S. Digital zoom did not seem to make a difference in the brightness, unless it is changed to 1.00 first.

Anyone know how to disable this feature? Looks "brighter" but overexposes faces at night, to the point where you cannot see any detail. Camera (Axis P3346) looks perfect on other VMS. On Axis camera station, the image enhancement is off by default, and can be controlled by a slider. Looks perfect on Milestone too. Reading the manual I cannot seem to find the settings they mention, perhaps this feature can only be adjusted with Avigilon cameras? Thanks in advance.

May provide more than an amp for example depending how the protection is setup, and the exact nature of the overload. Keep in mind not all these cheap supplies are UL listed - and may very well be a fire hazard when overloaded. What UL refers to as sustained flame, as opposed to a little smoke. Not a good idea. You can get the correctly rated supply fairly inexpensively, and give yourself some margin - don't run a 2A supply at 2A.

I always enjoy your videos, you've clearly got the bug. For you amusement, here's some heavy duty IR (and a sensitive 1/2" camera), it's actually bouncing off the front of me and lighting up the driveway...

We have only a few cams with IR, get spiders. The rest with external visible and IR. It helps since if the IR is not internal it does not attract or light up the bugs. The other thing to try is running some analytics if you're having trouble with lighting or trees. Still gets captured somewhat but pretty easy to set up a rule to not respond. Try the free demo of VitaminD, still my favorite. Built in motion detection is just not worth the time and energy outdoors.

It really depends if you want IP or not, and the catch being you said superb...superb is the LTC0620 (have not tried the 0630) - or the corollary is how much light do you want to add? Lots of great night IP pics out there at slow shutter on the internet, NOBODY seems to specify the shutter speed (except IPVM, and maybe a few other savvy people whose livelihoods don't depend on this). Might hamper sales or relationships...put a Bosch LTC0620 against the others - at the SAME shutter speed - no contest. Have not tried the 1602 but the test pics I saw gave hope that finally there was a good lowlight IP camera. Even if it is not MP. Having said all that, it is not THAT hard to get excellent pics from even a Axis P1344 at 1-30s. Just add light. I have a P3346 on the front of the house - takes about 60W of CFL to get good pics at 1-30s. And that's nowhere close to the distance you are talking about. With that much light I can run a CNB in color and even turn the AGC down.

I have found an improvement, using one 3MP (Axis P3346) replacing 1.3MP (P3344). But this is a pretty wide FOV, I like having the extra resolution and don't want a lot of cams on the front of the house.

Nothing to do with TVL. I'd try a very short cable or a different power supply and see if it still does this.

I run 3MP cameras on it, for example Axis you can set up a view area of lower resolution. Most cams I've tried you can pull a lower res stream for Vitamin D, and record the high res stream using another program. A few times I've gone back to ACS just to get the higher res stream. Attached are examples saved by Vitamin D 640x480 and ACS at 3MP (both cropped, although one is a png converted to jpeg). Random guy leaving a flyer in the front door. At some point manufacturers are going to catch on to the idea that people like the idea of having cameras, just not the usability/functionality of the software - for a homeowner at least. But maybe this is to small of a market? VideoIQ looks interesting also, but Vitamin D is so easy to review (and save) clips. I've not seen much of an advantage with above 3MP, perhaps after they get the dynamic range/exposure issues worked out. Arecont is especially poor in this regard - certain areas just do not get exposed right, on wide scenes.

Also, if it's not obvious you can run the stream to multiple VMS (which is what I do). Axis cameras are good in that regard, in that they have a more than adequate frame rate. MJPEG to Vitamin D, 264 and MPEG4 to ACS. MJPEG gives the best picture, but full time recording eats up a lot of storage.

Mike -- what's the max number of IP cameras you've used in conjunction with Vitamin-D on a single machine? Seems like there'd be a sweet spot, that if exceeded, would cause your system to be CPU bound trying to analyze too much incoming data.. I've got my 1.3Mp Basler that I'm hoping to put up this weekend and since it's not ONVIF compliant (and never will be) I'll probably try out Vitamin D again since I can't use it with my Avigilon setup that the other cameras are attached to.. The last time I tried the Basler+VitD, it seemed to use a fair amount of CPU to run their demo version with hard-wired ethernet (no wifi involved).. I'm hoping it'll be better this time around.. If you have a decent CPU that is not the limitation. I'm running an i7 with 13 cams (4 of them MP) and CPU is below 20-28% (just went and checked) - also running 12ch Axis ACS and 8 ch Milestone Go on the same machine. This thing is a monster, much better than an Athlon quad core. Issue is more HD throughput with VitD, added a seperate esata drive and it CRANKS. I can literally hold down the arrow key and race through the clips! Incredible. It's a Dell XPS8300 that I got on sale from Costco $800. Now on the other side of the spectrum is an old Mac mini core duo which can handle 4 cams max... FYI, they let you run the license on as many machines as you want. This is their policy as stated by tech support. Just for kicks was trying a striped RAID software array a few days ago with Seagate but it kept crapping out sending the Seagates back and going to try again with Caviar Black. The other advantage not often mentioned is that if you set up the rules good, you can literally have MONTHS of saved clips on a 1TB drive with this many cameras...you do this by setting up a rule as what is saved - e.g. person in certain area. Then other clips are not saved - erased after you hit the user defined limit. Here are those kids cutting though again today...try spotting that on Milestone or ACS, without spending your life looking at footage.

Bought 2 of these ~$6 units off Ebay "48 LED illuminator CCTV IR Infrared Night Vision", just curious to see how they would work. Took one apart and not the highest quality soldering job. Shipping was slow, but they arrived when the seller stated they would. The $6 unit states 20m (outside) from 48 LED's pretty ambitious... The Bosch is the wide angle version (42 LED's), stated distance 10ft. Current draw: $6 unit 200mA, EX12 300mA Both units were hooked to a 12V HP lab supply. Camera going into a 241S video server, pics are screen captures off the mac. Otherwise setup is pretty crude and for the ebay example you can see I did not refocus the lens for IR shift. You can also see some of the light reflecting off the top of the power supply, a few feet in front of the computer. Conclusion: the Bosch provides more light that is more uniform. I'm not sure what the Bosch cost when they were new, but I'm sure it was significantly more expensive.

Just today got an email of these two running through the side yard. They are under the impression that if they run they will not be noticed - they know the cameras are there. Anyway just nice knowing what is going on, this example is not a big deal of course. I don't see how people have the patience for normal software and motion detects...way too many false trips and who wants to spend their life looking through footage?

Not true here. Lately I've not been running the IR, and they STILL want to see the pics - in the latest case two young women checking car doors. They are very encouraging of the cameras.

You can always try out Milestone Xprotect Go, limits you to a week recording and local client but free. Also check out Vitamin D, which is my favorite just in terms of easy review and finding out what is going on (1 channel is free, but limited to CIF).

If the connector is truly shot, can you solder the wires directly? You can use solder wick to clean out the holes on the pwb a bit, might work if the traces/vias are still intact.

Will it play with VLC? One program (free) that works well converting certain files is Handbrake, I've used it to convert ASF. Don't know if either would help in your case though.

Some of my favorites in terms of low light are 1/2". I've never tried an Ikegami though. Post some pics of you get it. Lenses are not that big of a deal if you shop around and buy used. Look at C mount stuff also, tends to be less interest. You can also use 2/3, etc. Should not run you more than 10-20 if you are just looking for standard stuff. Longer >75mm can be a problem finding at a good price though.

You're looking at the right stuff, let me know if you find someone that will sell a piece of that. You'll need something that has a real sharp longpass cut. Most houses have light(s) outside where I live, in fact it is required by the HOA. I can't see that being an annoyance?

Those seem like they would not last that long at 8W and what appears to be no heatsinking. Do you really need IR? I run a couple of 30W CFL's out front plenty of light for my P3346 Axis in B&W or testing CNB's you can even run them in color. If you do, less expensive options at 850nm check out CNB MIR1000 (they have a little fan inside that keeps them cool). The only ones that don't glow red are the ones with the cutoff glass (take a lot of power generally, except for the HID versions which I have not tried) or the non surface mount IR 940nm LED's which are still going to be limited output generally. Let me know if you find a good source for the glass, I think it is called borosilicate. I'd love to put some in front of my Raytec. This is what the old halogen units used.

I have some big Raytecs and 850 is definitely noticeable...to the point where I've had kids in the driveway trying to take them...these are not like the coupla LED's that are in a bullet camera.

Mouser has them

You might consider a used Axis 241Q ~$200 or Avigilon, although I have no experience with the latter as to streaming MJPEG but 4 channels is priced well although more than $200. Says it does MJPEG but don't know if you need push or what it does.