kg6mti

Can anyone tell me a good place to get the best price on either of the two camera's below: Sony SPE-9100EX Speco HT-7815DNV Thanks!

I am probably asking for to much. I want to be somewhat discreet this particular camera is in in the rear of the home up high. So a good looking box camera with a decent enclosure could work out well. Currently I have Mace CAM53CIR mounted under the eave of a flat portion of the building. Thanks!

That's what I figured and now several people have confirmed. Now the hard part is selecting a good quality camera. Thanks!

Is the condensation inside or out? If it is inside, is there any room in the housing for one of those small silica packs? Some people I scuba dive with use them in the underwater camera housings and they help. Also you may want to try taking the camera apart on a low humidity day, letting it dry out, and then sealing all seams with some silicone upon reassembly. Of course if it condensing on the outside of the lens none of this will help. The condensation is on the outside. The site where the camera's are located is near the ocean. At night this time of year is get cold out. The condensation is not so bad that the camera is worthless it just doesn't look as good as it could. I have other CAM53CIR camera's around the outside of the house because of their position they are protected more from the cold and look great at night. During the day all the camera's have a fantastic image they are all very clear. It is basically the couple of camera's that face west directly towards the ocean that get the most condensation. It's not spray directly off the ocean I am not fortunate enough to be that close to the water. However I would imagine it has something to do with the direction of the air movement off the coast. I have even gone out at night and wiped the lens off and then those camera's look great for the rest of that evening. So basically I know the camera is working good.

Style wise that camera is very similar to the Mace CAM53CIR that I currently have in the position that I am looking to replace. I am happy with the basic performance of the CAM53CIR. The main problem that I have is cold weather condensation. I appreciate any input you have though.

Simon woo, Thanks for the post. I am guessing that is not an outdoor camera? If you put a camera like that in a housing wouldn't it block or interfere with the IR LED's? Thanks!

Problem resolved. Thanks!

Back on topic. Does anyone have any other information about good outdoor cameras. With the input I have recieved so far I can't decide the route to go. 1. Day/Night Outdoor color IR camera 2. High Resolution outdoor color. It appears that I might need to use a heated housing to resolve my issue with condensation but I have not been able to confirm that, Any ideas?

The CCTV system is in a remote location area near the Northern coast of California. More often in the winter months than others there are frequent short power outages. It would not have been a wise idea to have the primary disk storage be off site and still be able to reliably store video. Do you have any other questions about my system? I don't consider it "nitpicking" at all. It is perfectly normal for another user to ask questions or have comments on a posted configuration. At the very least it might give other users idea's or allow the owner of the system to find methods to improve performance or system integrity. Sharing idea's and providing constructive criticism is what a "forum" is all about. The "forum" should provide a vehicle for all it's users to gain knowledge from each other by openly expressing opinions, asking questions, and posting new idea's without the fear of being ridiculed or harassed. I am certain everyone has heard the phrase, "There is no dumb question.". That phrase should be every "forums" slogan. Generally a question seems dump when the person that reads it already knows the answer. If a reader knows the answer they should politely post a reply to help out. There is another phrase that goes along with this. "If you don't have anything nice to say, Don't say anything at all." Thanks!

Thomas, Please refer to my original post: "I am able to store video off site from the remote network automatically." It does not say that the Geovision system is directly writing to a off site NFS share. Thanks!

The Geovision system does not directly write to an offsite NFS share. The video clips are moved to a offsite NFS share via an AT scheduled event on a regular interval. I am also working on an application that will allow me to move video automatically on certain alarm conditions. I would imagine you ask the question to lead into the discussion of how am I writing video via what would be considered a slow Internet connection to an off site NFS share. Am I correct?

Thomas, Thank you for your input. I can appreciate your position and will constructively take your advice. I would however like to take a quick moment and point out some minor details. I clearly stated in my post to CSG that I am not going to squabble at all. I have no argument the user CSG. If CSG has any interest in offering any supportive information I would more than appreciate CSG's insight in CCTV equipment. The next item that I would like to point out is that by outlining my system configuration I was not even remotely attempting to declare that my expertise with system configuration had anything to do with having any aptitude with CCTV equipment. I even stated that I have little to offer with respect to CCTV equipment. I am simply trying to learn more about CCTV hardware. I am certain that every CCTV professional at one time knew very little about his or her field. I was merely attempting to point out that I am not just your average users off the street who decided to drape some coax around my house to spy on my neighbors. The installation I have has been installed with as much professionalism as any system that I could have paid a license installer to perform. My weakness is that I am not familiar with different aspects of the camera's. There is a large selection of camera's available and different camera's offer different capabilities for certain solutions. With that said I will now retreat to my time out room.

I am not going to squabble with you about anything. Last time I checked this site was free, connected to the public Internet and all but one section is available to the general public. I have not demanded any information or service from any user. As the name of this site states this is a "forum" and in fact an open forum for the discussion of CCTV. I asked a question and some readers of the forum have made the individual choice to respond. As for CCTV I probably have very little to offer. As a Senior Software Systems Engineer for a major global corporation if you want any information about software development or software configuration management these are my professional fields. As a educated, seasoned, and certified professional in my field I will be more than happy to assist you in any way that I can with anything within the scope of software development for free if you have any questions. As for my CCTV system I have more than your average system in my opinion. Yet I am certain that it is small compared to most. And the fact that the system is 225 miles from my main home but constantly connected to my local network is what I feel makes it a little more advanced. The system that runs the cameras uses a Windows 2000 server with a Geovision GV-800 8 channel card connected to a wireless network via bridge. Using a DSL connection with a wireless router and a VPN wired router I maintain a constant IPsec VPN tunnel to my main home. My main home has a cable modem connection with the same wired VPN router and a wireless network. The main home network contains a FreeBSD (Unix) server that hosts my web server, ftp server, and an NFS server. Using the NFS mounts on the FreeBSD box I am able to store video off site from the remote network automatically. The entire remote system including the server, camera's, routers and DSL modem are backed up with enough power from UPS units to maintain power in the event of a power outage for over 1.5 hours. The complete system has been fail safe tested to maintain the power and restart itself in the event of a total power failure when public utilities are fully restored. As it would appear I am not a beginner when it comes to the system configuration. I simply do not have enough experience with the actual camera applications. I have pulled more CAT5 and coax than I care to image. I am ultimately impressed that you are a seasoned, educated professional in your field. It appears that you offered nothing and that is your choice. I would hope that you treat the customers that pay you better than a potential customer you have never met on the Internet. Keep in mind it is a well studied fact that a satisfied customer will only tell 3 people about their experience and a customer that leaves upset or disappointed will tell 50 other people. Thank You!

Is Rick "KrCCTV"?

Short Answer: A Professional Dealer / Installer ! If all I needed was a professional Dealer / Installer this site would be useless wouldn't it? Not to mention even if I had a professional Dealer / Installer I would still educate myself on the equipment and installation. I would never suggest anyone buy or agree to have any work performed unless they at least have a basic understanding of the items they are getting. Thank You!

Yes! This is good stuff!! I am really interested in the color only camera idea since I already have security lights that cover the area. The main problem I have been facing is that since I am close to the ocean in the cold the camera gets condensation on the lens. I have looked at the HEAT camera's and they seem like they will solve my problems. I just don't know what model to get. I am fairly certain that the main time I need the camera to have a great picture is during the day. But I want to be able to get a reasonable shot at night also. Keep the great ideas and information coming! Thanks!

What would I have to add to the VCC-5984 to allow the camera to function outside in a damp environment? The camera will be outside my home near the ocean. Thanks!

Ok, now we are getting somewhere. If I went the route of using a good color camera with security lights what camera (make and model) would any of you suggest? Thanks!

What??? I don't agree with your statistical or design analysis; people get suggestions on where to get stuff everyday. Members probably were'nt familiar with those exact models. -------------------------------------------------- To all who have commented. I have done many Google searches and found very little. The few online sources that I have found I have been skeptical about ordering from. I also posted in this thread the requirements for the camera's. I am not only interested in those two camera's. I posted the requirements and I am interested in any camera someone can offer thier opinion on that will sufficiently answer my needs. Now this thread has been viewed 308 times and only 13 replies. I just can't believe that there is nobody that has any concrete information to offer that can point me to a decent if not great camera that will work for my project. I belong to other forums for other hobbies that I have and those forums all have other users that can offer advice on different components of the hobby. Many time here other users offer little actual advice or commentary. Many time another user from the other forums doesn't know the exact answer but is willing to point you to a resource on the Internet. Hopefully it is infinitely obvious that anyone can use Google or Yahoo or any other search engine. I would hope that everyone also is aware that it can be tricky knowing what how and what to search for. These camera's are a great example. I noted one of them as a "Sony" and "rory" points our that it is not a "Sony" camera. But "rory" never tells me what make the camera actually is. From the post it appears that "rory" knows what make the camera is. I am not trying to be a "troll". I just figure that if this is a CCTV forum a user should be able to find information about CCTV equipment. Thank You!

Amazing 2152 registered user and nobody can provide any information on where to buy any camera's. So far I have only found one source for one of the camera's listed in my original post. This thread has been viewed 93 times and no real good information so far. I realize that these are lower end camera's to most of you "professionals" out there. But there is a saying that states, "Don't use a shotgun to kill a fly." Simply stated you don't always need a expensive piece of equipment to perform a simple function. Oh well I guess I am on my own. I do thank the one person that actually sent me a PM with the name of a place to order the 9100EX. Thanks!

I am an end user. I have checked Digitalwatchguard.com they are a great company but none of their camera's are sufficient for my requirements. DW has two camera's that are heated but they do not appear to be worth the price compared to other camera's. Specifically the two I listed in the original post seem to be good camera's from the specs I have seen and actual images I have been able to view. I realize that even the two I listed one is better than the other.

I have. None of the dealers on the banners offer these or even similar camera's. My specifications are simple: 1. Day/Night camera 2. IR capable 3. Heated housing 4. Reasonable price (under $500) The above listed camera's meet this criteria. Anyone have any real recommendations?

Come on all these CCTV experts and professionals and nobody has any input after 14 reviews of the original post. You guys buy CCTV equipment somebody must be able to recommend a good place to buy these or equal camera's. Thanks!

The camera that is currently mounted at the location is a Mace CAM53CIR not the CAM68CIR.

Below is the area that I need to watch. I will need to have IR support for night time coverage. The distance from the current camera location to the building in the distance is about 40 feet. The area across is about 20 - 25 feet. The issues I have currently are that the existing camera does a pretty good job day and night. The problems come in when usually at night when it is cold. The lens gets pretty affected by condensation and obstructs the view and effectiveness of the IR. In the specs for the CAM68CIR I notices that they specifically mention that the camera's IR and lens are mounted as two separate pieces that eliminates cold condensation that can cause image dysfunction and block IR reflection. budget is not the main concern. However I am not interested in a $1,500 dome PTZ camera. Thanks!