shockwave199

How big is the area? I use a siren/strobe at home and have it set up to use it manually in case someone needs a wake up call outside the home. I show it in use in this vid. Skip around the video a bit to see it in action. They need a power supply other than the nvr/dvr. EYRGLlBj8Go

Yeah, but on that 4 way. They never recommend that. It's made to be full- two at least. Adapters are relatively cheap and they come in handy eventually with all this, even if it's not the problem.

Here's some reading that could help with those settings. And I do appreciate what you're saying about adjusting being a pain. No way around it if you need to tweak things though, unless your cameras have 485 and you ran lines for that. http://www.axis.com/products/video/camera/about_cameras/iris.htm Since you have no docs at all, maybe some of this pdf can help some too http://www.eclipsecctv.com/OSD-security-camera-578-explanations.html

Not to get picky, but your sample images showing what the camera sees needs to be a snapshot taken within the DVR software. Not from a digi camera taking a pic of the image on the monitor. Your earlier sample night picture was a picture from a digital camera taking a picture of the monitor. This I know, and is not an acceptable sample image to diagnose. To do so just for the menu pictures is fine. You have a long series of menu tweaking shots. It's obvious to see what happens when you tweak the settings right? It takes a lot of trial and error to dial in every camera for the best picture between day and night. It would be easier for you to try dialing it in than it would be for a back and forth here. And then every camera would be different because of differences in available light. Some might even be better in day mode all the time, if there's lots of light in the immediate area. It would be very tough to say exactly what would help each shot. Trial and error on your part. Also, you didn't mention how you're powering the cameras. Are they getting sufficient power? Long runs to the cameras involved here? Something is way wrong with that ticking, that's for sure. That spells a short life span if not fixed. Anyway, good luck.

Try individual power adapters for each camera. The 4-ways stink.

Any picture to show the image from the camera, only snapshots from the dvr. Menu no big deal- take a pic of the monitor. But not camera images- that needs to be real snap shots.

Is that night shot you posted just a picture of the image on your monitor? If so, it would be better to take an actual snap shot from within your dvr system. I can't get a real read of the white balance with a picture of the monitor. Every camera will need something different depending on what it's looking at. But if you take that camera for instance. What don't you like about the picture? Too noisy? You can try the NR setting on low to start and see if the image clears up. If it gives you a number scale from 1-5 or more, try increasing it step by step until it clears up a bit. If you use it too high the image will look excellent but you'll have motion blur because of it. Generally, you should just keep most all settings default. But NR can help clean up the night image when used modestly- if that's what you don't like about the night shot. What's in special and adjust menu?

Almost sounds like something is knocking into the metal case wall or something. You can't get any sense of where that sound is coming from in there? I ask again- is the picture doing anything weird while that is happening?

Why not just keep controlling it with your controller? If it works, it works.

Actually if every camera is ticking like that, I wouldn't bother worrying about picture at the moment. I'd try and solve that and if you can't, hopefully your seller can be helpful for service/exchanges. I hate to point out the obvious, but saving money can often come to this if you buy internationally. You don't know what you're getting and you don't have anyone on the other end when there's problems. Hope you can sort it, but that ticking....sounds like a ticking time bomb of trouble if you ask me. I'd be packing it up and sending it all back- if that's even an option. But if you can solve the ticking, THEN you can get into the picture side of things.

Sorry I can't be of further help. Maybe there's a setting in the dvr that you're missing. Good luck.

Sometimes in the quest for a great picture you can make it too sharp and that can cause image noise at night. It's a shame you have no doc for the menu choices you have. You can try noise reduction if you have it, but only apply it modestly if you have the option to do so, as that can cause motion blur if it's too strong. Any chance you can take the time to list the picture menu settings and what they're set at currently? And in that shot specifically, the IR is on or off? As far as the noise, I have no idea. If all the cameras are doing it maybe it's a power issue. But that I don't know- never heard domes making a ticking noise like that before.

Typically, in the dvr you go into the ptz settings, choose which channel your ptz is on, and in your case you'd set it as- Pelco-D Baud rate- 9600 Parity- none Stop bit- 8 As far as the address, when it's hooked up to your controller, you can take a look at the cameras system menu and check the address you have set. All that info is usually listed when you restart the camera too, which you could write down as you see it. Maybe it's 3, so try an address of 3 in the dvr ptz page and see if you have it. If every setting is matched up with the camera and dvr, then try reversing the 485 wire in the back of the dvr. It has to be correct between the camera and the dvr terminal block. Camera A to dvr A and camera B to dvr B. Otherwise you can't communicate with the camera regardless of settings. Good luck.

Are there fans in these cameras and if so, is there a menu item to turn them off? Seems like a noisy fan sound. Is the picture okay on that camera when it's chattering like that? Maybe a cut filter mechanism doing that? I've never heard that chatter before! New one on me. As for your night shot, what if anything did you tweak in settings? It looks like you may have tried too strong a focus for starters. White balance might have been tweaked instead of auto. I don't see any problem with IR reflection in the dome, which is good. Unless it's in day mode and the IR is off?

You're quite possibly comparing that image, one that is not total darkness in which the camera still has plenty of available light to produce an optimal image, to your cameras in true, total darkness. Not a fair comparison. Your day shots look great, but they seem a bit on the dark side. Was it a very overcast day? Really though, you need to post the night shots so they can be analyzed. We have nothing to go on otherwise. Also, adjusting menu settings without knowing what you're doing is like entering a forest without a compass or breadcrumbs to lead out back out. First let's see the night shots. Then it may be necessary to default the cameras back to factory default settings and start over, touching little to nothing. And if you do need to tweak a setting, you need to write down every starting point so you can get back if you need to. Menu tweaking very quickly leads you into a maze you can't get out of if you don't understand what you're doing. Been there, done that. But first...all your bad night shots please. And if you could, please embed the pics in your post so we don't have to fetch them manually.

He's not gonna share the brand. It's a secret.

If you have existing coaxial runs, SDI is the way to go. assuming your old cable isn't crappy or damaged... and assuming it's actual rg59/rg6 coax rather than the little thin all-in-one bundle that came with your old costco kit. ^^That.

Force it to stay in day mode. The IR blowback looks really bad anyway.

Thanks. Analog can still get the job done.

You probably can't. With a dahua NVR, the two way in the NVR does not get recorded. You must have an audio camera in line, with a mic hooked up to it of course, to record audio/picture together. I'm sure it's the same for swann.

Frankly, I'm confused between your two cameras and which one was having the problem, from your description. But if more power got you there, cool beans.

Btw lucky- the bellport job ended up not happening. They got a foscam indoor wireless camera. I'll keep you posted for anything else. I'm working on scoring a huge estate down in the same area.

The guy who took the fence stopped by and returned it and apologized profusely. I accepted and will give him the benefit of the doubt and a second chance. All along it was a grey area of sorts, as far as him thinking it could be garbage. From his behavior in the footage, I know he knew it could be the wrong thing to take it. But mow on...and know I'm watching.

http://news.thelaw.tv/2013/02/21/is-it-legal-to-take-items-out-of-someones-trash/ What I do is on pickup day, I keep my cans on my property until the morning, within an hour or so of the pickup.

That's an interesting interpretation Tom, but not the right one! LOL! The guy wasn't doing me a favor- he grabbed my fence for himself. It's quite a bundle of fence to carry, which is why I kept it there to begin with- so I didn't have to carry it back when I was ready to install it. He threw it on the back of his truck because there was no place else to put it and I can assure you, it's not in a dumpster right now- it's somewhere in HIS garden bed instead of mine. Not correct as I understand it. When you put your trash to the curb, you give up implied ownership of that material. Not only is it fair game, but it can be gone through for evidence collecting in a police investigation. When your trash is still on your property, it is not legal to take anything from it. Your property is considered private property and therefore, you can't take stuff from it. If the fence had been IN my cans, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Even though he still wouldn't have the right, I would concede that I meant it as garbage and let it go. But it's a fenced in area on top of cans, and it was there for over a month. They passed it many times and if it wasn't moving, they should have left it alone regardless. So at the very least, the kid should have asked me. It's quite obvious he knew it could be the wrong thing to do. He thought about it for a few moments, and decided to do the wrong thing. It's not the crime of the century. From my contractor, all I will ask for is a free lawn cut to cover the loss, and to not have these two relatively new guys to my property come back. Send me a different crew, these guys can't be fully trusted. Not to mention, I'm an easy customer. They've broken countless landscape lights along the way and leave big gouges in my lawn from the equipment and I don't complain. But this time, this is one I'm not overlooking. Well actually, I WAS overlooking- that's why they got caught!