QC444

This is tongue in cheek humor (for those who don't get it) So, I decided I wanted to install Video Cameras as a side line job. The voltages were only 12v DC and it seemed like a rather simple undertaking as long as you had common sense and at least a reasonable grasp on electronics, 120VA and 220v AC. So, all I had to do was get a license to become "Legit". Easy enough, right? Here's what's required in Florida...... Licensing Requirements: Age: Must be at least 18 years of age. Testing: Candidates must obtain a passing score on the Limited Energy (Low Voltage) and Business tests before applying for licensure. Passing exam scores must be less than 2 years old. Application Fee: If applying for active status, the applicant must submit a check for $300 USD payable to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. If applicant wishes to be inactive instead, the check must be in the amount of $55 USD only. Net Worth: The minimum business net worth requirement is $5,000 USD. Credit Reports: Applicant must submit a report from a nationally recognized credit reporting agency, which includes a public records statement that records have been checked at local, state, and federal levels. Those applicants wishing to qualify a business must also submit a business report. Click here for a list of approved credit reporting agencies. Insurance: The minimum liability insurance requirements are $100,000/per person for public liability and $300,000/per occurrence; and $500,000 for property damage, ora minimum combined single limit policy of $800,000. Applicant must also attest to obtain worker’s comp coverage or an exemption within 30 days after license is issued Experience: A person will qualify for a certified Unlimited license by meeting one of the following requirements: (1) Must have three (3) years of management experience in the trade of electrical contracting within the last six (6) years immediately preceding the filing of the application; or (2) Must have four (4) years of experience as a foreman, supervisor or contractor in the trade within the last eight ( years immediately preceding the filing of the application; or (3) Must have six (6) years of comprehensive training, technical education or supervisory experience associated with an electrical or alarm contracting business within the last 12 years immediately preceding the filing of the application; or must have at least six (6) years technical experience in related work with the Armed Forces or a governmental entity within the last 12 years immediately preceding the filing of the application; or have a combination of these qualifications totaling six (6) years of experience; or (4) Must be licensed as an electrical professional engineer for three (3) years within the last 12 years. Provide a copy of current electrical professional engineer license and transcripts showing electrical engineering work; or (5) Must have a combination of experience listed in 1-3 above totaling 6 years within the last 12 years. Applicants are required to submit copies of W2’s to verify employment with the qualified business. Submitting Application Form: Applicant must submit complete application form along with supporting documentation and applicable fees to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation at 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-0783 So, after careful thought and consideration of the risks, and that in this poor economy, breaking even would be a miracle...... LOL

I'm losing cameras to lightning. Lost 2 just today to a severe storm. I turned the power off thinking that would keep the cameras from getting damaged but it didn't help. I guess the only way to save CCTV outdoor cameras during thunderstorms is to have a cover ready and install a protectiove cover over the lens before the lightning starts. This is getting expensive.

I have a Q-See 4 channel DVR that I've since replaced with Chinese equipment (HikVision). I'm going to try and adapt this old DVR to use as a recording device for my Digital Television Anyone already done that? Know any reason it can't work? As far as I know I can even set the date and time to start and stop recording.....as long as the TV is on and set to the correct station of course.

I looked up my TV specs...... VIDEO OUTPUT ------ NO That settles that. I need a different TV. It has no RECORD functions either My TV is an LG ROKU TV. LC-32LB481U Never realized there was no way to use ANY DVR with it for recording TV shows. That seems very bizarre to me.

I have two HIKVision DVRs. Neither will connect ot my DVR on WiFi or over the Internet unless I allow connections to AmazonTechnologies. This bothers me. I paid for the DVR's and for the Phone, Why should I have to be forced to connect to a remote server in addition to my DVR? Seems like an invasion of privacy.

I sometimes need long rage IR illumination. 350ft or more. I would prefer a narrow beam spotlight type light that has a beam circumference of approximately 50ft at 350ft range. Anyone know of anything like this or if it's even possible?

Found one for $80 delivered.

Because I saw lightning take out at least one of the cameras. Lightning struck about 100 yards away. Only the camera directly facing the lightning bolt was damaged. Others, even closer to the strike, were unaffected.

Thanks, problem is it's not electrical surge in the lines that's blowing them. It's Lens sensor overload from lightning striking too close in visual line of sight of the Lens. The equivalent of a high powered Laser directed right at the sensor. I could take out all your security cameras from the street with a common laser pointer (the ones facing the street anyway) Criminals are getting wise to that fact. Cameras are soon going to need auto shutters to shutter the lens instantly when the light entering the sensor exceeds a certain lux. That would protect them from lightning strikes as well. BTW....lightning can destroy a CCTV camera even if it totally powered off. I can have several cameras mounted at the exact same location with their lines running alongside one another. All the cameras facing one direction get popped. The cameras facing the other direction are fine. It may be possible to adapt fairly inexpensive photo reactive glass (such as found in welding masks) to shield CCTV cameras from lightning and laser damage

I'm so glad to see people getting around to this kind of thing. Any Internet device made outside the US and especially made in China is subject to backdoors and security risks. But we all know that. I doubt they even need a password. There are probably backdoors they can use to go around any password. What's worse, your DVR is likely programmed to "phone home" as soon as you get it connected. Putting the DVR on a hard to guess port might be a first good move. But a port scanner can get around that quickly. In order to reach the DVR, they have to have the port that it listens on. If you have a hardware firewall appliance like a Cisco or Watchguard, you can limit access to that port to specific IP addresses. Then if you set that appliance to detect and auto block port scans that will help. We see a large number of port scans on our network and it's probably the number one reason IP's get blocked. The 2nd protection you have is your IP address. Problem is, it's not easy to get a unique IP address on your phone and you may end up allowing tens of thousands of IP addresses to ensure yours is allowed through. Your cellular IP probably changes often. Check it at WhatsMyIP.org and make not of how often it changes. Basically think of password security like an open window. They're not supposed to come in through it but they will.

Not looking to get a DVR for M&M's palace. Just need a LOW cost 8 Channel system for my cheap home. Just wondering what software on the cheaper systems is "ok" and what really sucks. It's hard to tell because most wont show you any previews of the screens these days. Thanks

Hello, I purchased a WiFi IP Camera from AKASO. Sometimes when none of my devices are connected, it makes the same noises I hear when I'm zooming, snapping photos or panning/tilting. Sometimes it even moves. Oddly, it always seems to stop when I turn to look at the camera. My wife has told me it does this when I'm not home and noone in the house is operating any controls for it. My main concern is that to use thse cameras, you have to LOG IN to the manufacturers website. If you cannot access their website, the camera will not work. Doesn't that mean they can randomly view your video stream anytime they want to? I have the WiFi network secured with WPA and access is limited to the router modem by MAC addresses...however...the manufactuere has the MAC address...right? Should I be concerned or is it practically impossible that someone else would be viewing my video feeds? Thanks

Well, if I was the manufacturer and I "intended" to be able to view peoples private cameras, I would probably be able to suppress logs of my log ins and activity....this might be a bit paranoid....but again it's China so is it necessarily? Imagine if people who work for Lockheed Martin or any one of our defense contractors and they put one of these in their home which can also transmit audio..... I can all but guarantee you that while our government spies on us regularly, they probably have given ZERO thought to this.

Yes, send that junk back... Without any suggestions of something better I'm not sure this helps

My DVR is old. Are the latest DVR's any better and NOT false alarming due to rain? Of all the annoying false alarms, rain and shadows are the two that drive me nuts with false alarms. Thanks

Excellent post. Yes, I was referring to the DVR cameras. Not IP cameras. I think my cameras are too inexpensive to have internal adjustments. It's all done post image at the DVR I think. But on my QC444, it has these functions so that I can set the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation at one level for daytime and another for nighttime on a schedule. That functionality suits my needs.

Anyone have a good, used Dahua 8 Channel DVR they want to sell ?

I'm just replacing an already existing DVR and want to find one with lots of features. I'm mostly interested in the configuration software for viewing on a PC For example, I prefer software that lets me configure a DAY TIME color configuration (brightness, contrast etc) separately from the NIGHT TIME color configuration. Small things like this make a BIG difference. For example, the software that comes on NightOwl sucks. Hi. Dahua allows you to do that Each camera can be set to day or night ... Auto light adjust Thanks! Yes, I recall a long time ago someone saying that now that you mention it. Do all Dahua based DVRs have the same software? They are bit more pricey but I will spend the extra money if that's what it takes to get the features I need.

Thanks Judy. Seems there are very few responses to posts here anymore so I do appreciate it

I'm just replacing an already existing DVR and want to find one with lots of features. I'm mostly interested in the configuration software for viewing on a PC For example, I prefer software that lets me configure a DAY TIME color configuration (brightness, contrast etc) separately from the NIGHT TIME color configuration. Small things like this make a BIG difference. For example, the software that comes on NightOwl sucks.

I've been looking at several DVR's on ebay. ZMODO - ZMD-DX-SIL8 SANNCE - DH81S ANRAN - AR-V1008 SIKKER - SKR-D8008M-NH ($89.95) All are about $60 without harddrive except the Sikkar unit which "seems" a bit better. My main concern is the software (firmware?) where you set up the various things like motion detect areas, scheduling etc. I have a QSee that has a different camera color setting for day and night. I REALLY like that since I find that setting the brightness and contrast differently for night and day makes a HUGE difference. so that is an important feature to me. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to see the FULL set of screen shots with these things. Any suggestions? (HINT: I don't really need more DVR for my needs so spending over $100 is out)

I would bet it's an insurance representative. They periodically send goons out to photograph properties they insure.

Recently was given a box full of stuff that was headed for the compost bin. One item was a ProVisual DVR that seems to work but has no password. ProVisual has apparently gone through considerable lengths to make sure you follow their wishes on password recovery because there is no apparent way to do a factory reset or otherwise clear the admin password. Anyone found a way to do this on a ProVisual DVR?

I've been a long time fan of NewEgg, but no more. Lately, seems the only thing I can get from them is defective merchandise and VERY poor customer service. And it isn't just me. After Googling NewEgg complaints, it seems complaints against them have taken a sharp rise. What happened? Did they change hands? Stock holders demanding higher returns? I just received a hard drive from them and right off the bat it clicks. It's that hard clicking sound you hear from drives that are about to go dead or crash. From what I've been reading here's what happens at NewEgg..... They make most of their money from shipping...NOT from selling merchandise. So, every time they ship out an item and charge shipping, they make money because of the huge discounts they get from UPS and FedEx and USPS etc. When you have to RETURN an item and pay return shipping, the pot just gets sweeter for NewEgg. They make money on the initial shipping, AND the return shipping. When they offer FREE shipping, it's not NewEgg that's giving you free shipping. Instead, the item is coming from a 3rd party and they demand their 3rd party suppliers ship you the item for free. So you can see how NewEgg never loses. If you do an RMA you will see that they HIGHLY urge you to use THEIR UPS link for shipping the item back touting a big discount on the shipping and other "benefits". Problem is, the shipping they quote is the same or higher than if you went direct through the shipper. Also, a friend of mine bough an Windows Operating system from them. When he tried to Activate it, Microsoft declined. When he called Microsoft and spoke to a support agent, they advised him the software had already been activated....get this...over 400 times !! They also informed him that the item he had had been returned previously so someone bought it, took the product key, then returned it. Nice. Newegg refused to take the software back. He's taking it to small claims court. Also, one NewEgg support representative told him that sometimes people at the shipping warehouse will open the software and write down the Product Key before packing and shipping the product. Wow. If you buy an item with a Product Key you should always make sure the package has never been opened. (Although most shipping warehouses also have resealing machines so it might be hard to tell. Now in all fairness, I have purchased some other items from them without issues but it seems in general, their service is declining. I won't take any more chances with them myself. Have any of you found more reliable sources for computer hardware than NewEgg?

I know the difference between shipper and carrier. But if you want to point out in my post where I used the terms incorrectly I would love the lesson in grammar I just received a new hard drive from them that I purchased before the fiasco above came to light and as heaven is my witness, it's bad and I have to RMA it. I think I'll shop local places like Tiger Direct first from now on. The small difference in cost will probably be worth the hassle of return shipping and time lost. It may even be safer to purchase through ebay than NewEgg. At least ebay will definitely give you back your money as long as you return the item. A considerable number of people are recently claiming NewEgg is telling them their items were received back as damaged in order to avoid refunds. If true, that would be a new low but not so surprising for modern merchants.