Toaster

I've been running a Q-See QT528 DVR with varying camera's recording D1@30fps. Some of the camera's are CNB domes, others are Effio chip of varying brands (none of which I even remember anymore) This system has been in place for several years and it has worked fine, my whole family knows how to use the app, the web login, etc... I have become accustomed to the way it works and have successfully built the system over a period of time (I started out with all Q-see included cameras and slowly replaced them 1 by 1 over a long period of time). These are installed at my retail business, inside and outside. The only issue I've had with the system as a whole is for whatever reason sometimes footage stutters (drops frames) badly on certain channels or even across all 8 channels. Sometimes the footage is smooth and fluid and other times it closer to 4-6 FPS or maybe lower... very jerky? NO CLUE WHY OR HOW TO SOLVE. I recently had a couple of incidents where I needed clearer video especially outside to see license plates - which was impossible with my current system. So knowing that my system was ancient by todays standards I set off to upgrade or at least add-to it, a few high resolution cameras in key area's. I purchased a Swann SWDVK-849808 kit locally, which was 8x 5mp bullets with PIR, 8CH legacy DVR... The price was excellent and I know what the feeling is here about consumer level CCTV systems - I've been a member for a long time, even bought some of my replacement camera's for my D1 system from members here. BUT I again assumed even the consumer level stuff HAD to be an improvement over my aged setup. I installed 3 of the 8 cameras, in the key positions to test the system... I'm very disappointed with the quality. Yes the images are much bigger but the quality TO ME seems to be about the same... I'm shocked. I do not know who makes the swann dvr (these are BNC type cameras/dvr), I think some of the veterans here figured out the Q-see QT528 was actually made by Dahua, it just didn't have HDMI output. The Swann dvr does not allow me to save footage over LAN thru the web interface - only using the actual DVR and USB ports on the DVR? This can't be right!? The ability to pull off footage from the store while away is vital I would think. YES you can view recorded video over the web interface, but NOT actually save it via LAN/Web...? WHAT!? The camera's ability to view INSIDE where there is shadow and light is terrible. Shadow area's are INCREDIBLY dark while the lighted area's look fine, trying to adjust the color/brightness of the camera results in overexposed lighted area to get the shadows (not well lit) area bright enough to see any details/features (ie: a face) Now, after my long rant - I'm simply trying to get some help/advice here. Is this system worth trying to troubleshoot and tweak? I basically need 4 high resolution cameras that I can reliably get facial details and plate numbers. SUGGESTIONS?

Great news, and congratulations on the repair. I figured that MUST be what people use them for... but I wasn't sure if that board "IS" the camera, sounds like pretty much it is.

I never thought of that. " title="Applause" /> I will say this, along the same topic, I don't understand how CCTV camera's produce such radically different image quality versus a consumer grade camcorder. Watching CCTV footage from an analog system, then compared to some old home movies from a SD camcorder... wow.. the camcorder is so much better.

Is going from D1 to 960h worth it? Does anyone happen to have samples of 960H recordings to compare against D1 ?

Great find on the seagate. " title="Applause" /> I have not seen those locally, in my neck of the woods, I see the WD GPAV dvr series, though never on sale - but still, they are locally available from a big brick and mortar store. So there's that.......................

Looks like good coverage. When you say pipe, did you run cable inside pvc ? I want to re-run my house that way.........

I'm going to introduce a new concept to cheap and frugal. Personally I feel many of the more expensive brands have more inexpensive equal counterparts. Why? Because I think they are all made in China, and the same camera made by the same people in the same factory is put in several branded boxes and shipped around the world, including some generic eBay brands. I may be wrong ? But that's what I feel. That being said I have not done much experimenting with brands x,y,z... but when you see a $200 camera listed with same specs and parts as a $70 camera, it makes you wonder...... And I think that's what a lot of us non-professionals think. So in all fairness not everybody is straight out CHEAP, as much as feel they are probably the same as the more expensive counterpart

I just picked up a couple of CNB cameras which are older models, and I'm pretty sure they do not have the MONALISA dsp chip. D2815NVF, V2310NIR and a LDM-24VF ... Does anyone have any experience with these... The D2815NVF are all plastic and do not have the same build quality as the other 2... so I'm not sure whats the deal there. ANY HELP OR ADVICE WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

Is the joystick broken off? I recently bought 2 cameras with OSD, one (empire) has the joystick pigtail attached to the cable coming from the camera, just before the 2 regular video/power connectors. The other (a swann) has 3 connectors coming from the camera, video, power and a pair for the OSD remote control which you can mount inside next to the dvr using the supplied triple cable in the box. Yep, triple cable, not siamese double cable. Now, I can tell you than on the swann - you have to use its remote control (as far as I know), I tried hooking up the 2 osd wires to the dvr using the ptz controls, and nothing happened... but in all fairness I'm not a pro so maybe theres a trick to making it work like a different protocol or baud rate or something...?

No one has used these?

I'd love to see some pictures of the install.

That attitude is terrible. If you don't like helping or contributing here on this forum, or on any forum - then don't. It's a free forum and a free country - You decide to help or not, but complaining about it, well... that's your burden to bare. What I'm taking away from this thread so far is you started out as a DIY, decided somewhere along the way it was fairly easy work, you obviously took to it and understood it, and figured you could perhaps make a living or least a few extra bucks from going in to business doing this.. and that's fine. So you YOURSELF started out here looking for advice, and now decide to publicly lash out about that very topic. As someone else pointed out, if a failed business venture is your motivation, you've got a lot to learn about being an independent business owner. From personal experience, I'm sure others will agree, no matter what business your in - competition is part of it. And yes, competition from DIY'ers, fly by nights, 5% markup box movers - those are all your competitors. It doesn't matter what the occupation is... CCTV sales and installation, The guy who changes your oil in your car, or the corner grocery store. The key to any successful business is not eliminating your competition, the success comes in offering what they can not get elsewhere. And there will always be customers who waste your time and don't hire you, or don't spend money in your store - again, that's part of it. I'm sure you've done it yourself - how many times have you seen something locally, picked it up, read the box, then put it back and then ordered it cheaper online....? The retailer you originally saw the item at has rent, utility bills, stock and inventory expense, perhaps a sales team or worse is a self owned business, and instead of letting them make 20% or whatever the markup was - you ordered it from ebay or amazon.... We've all done it. Personally I think this forum helps your industry way more than it hurts or undercuts small independent owners of businesses like you. The people who are successful in a TECH BUSINESS are the smart ones who grow, adapt and offer CUSTOMER SERVICE. No business is made by the 1 time sale... All successful businesses have repeat clients, happy clients who up sale you and your product to others for you. Like I said, I'm sorry for your frustrations, but your attitude based on the original post is pretty bad... In the same sense, why is anyone here helping YOU? Maybe you are a competitor in their area? Maybe simply by these guy's helping you they took money out of their pockets? Did anyone tell YOU "NO" ? Or did you get the answers you needed, and ultimately enough knowledge to go it to business ??????? Seriously guy, look in the mirror before casting stones. Honestly, it sounds like you are not cut out to be a business owner. By your own admission - you wanted to be a tech to work for someone and not deal with the front end. Let someone else handle the public, and you just get paid to do the work. There is nothing wrong with that.

Assuming your DVR can record audio, you should have a standard RCA jack UNDER 1 or more of the BNC video channels. It should look something like this... this is a q-see qt428 image from newegg, just as an example. Then after you hook up audio source (your camera with mic) then you go in to the menu GUI of your dvr, and make sure your audio option is set to record. *NOTE: All this information is about Q-see because those are the DVR's I have, and are the only one's I am familiar with... I'm sure yours are similar (but may be different) so as always YMMV

So are we talking about only the pixim products, or are we talking about cmos cameras in general. Sounds like your saying the pixim brand camera's.........................?

The big problem with "budget" anything is whenever anyone mentions it here, they get slammed. Seems like everything low cost is junk in the opinions of the posters/repliers. That's why I asked this question, surely even the pro's MUST install analog, and if so, what are the suggested cameras.