shockwave199

It depends on who you're asking. Not everyone here is a professional installer- not by a long shot. If you're asking why installers are still installing analog, that's one thing. There it's mostly about educating the client as best you can and then installing what they settle on anyway. If you're asking DIY people like me, there's a couple of answers. Analog has already been installed and that process is usually painful- one you don't repeat often, not to mention the money investment. When properly installed, either by know how or luck, analog can still ID. It's never going to compare, but it can still ID and do it respectably, too. And that doesn't spell 'broken' really, so the need to fix is less motivated- in the short term. I'm not gonna go into price because all things being considered, I can see where IP- most especially decentralized systems like mobotix can be cheaper with far superior results. What it comes down to is simple- every single person wants to see the best images they can. But they want it simple, versatile, and at a price point they can afford. And mostly, when the obvious isn't so obvious and there's a fear of the unknown, the average DIY person needs to be educated- well educated. Analog is being overtaken, yes. Completely? I'm not sold on that notion yet.

This is an old thread bumped, I figure to sell mobotix it seems. But the images you posted are screen caps from youtube videos. It's not appropriate to use them as an example or expect us to comment on that- not even applicable. Show us YOUR sample pics and footage and then we'll know how you're situated. I've grabbed better screen caps than those two images. Let's compare apples to apples here. Comparing recorded analog footage to screen caps of a youtube video...no.

What bosh do you have? Still not sure what I'd do if I had the chance to start over. One thing I would absolutely do is run cat5 for everything, so even if my analog gear went back up, it'd be easier to make the switch over. Frankly the wires are the biggest pain when you make the change, imo. I'm kind of like you, in that I have a ptz tracker and I really like having a ptz on the front of the house. It is so damn useful for me, I really don't want to give it up. My other cams are good, but my ptz is very useful for any fov I want at the momet. It's hard to say which way to go, so you'll have to make that call yourself. Good luck.

Who wants to listen to a half hour of a dog barking- most especially a judge? He won't. He'll listen for 30 seconds, if that. Your day long effort and expense will be wasted. Do what you will though. Good luck getting some peace and quiet.

And yet you have a clunky spot light that looks aesthetically nasty. Consider getting rid of the beehive right next to the brick in the corner there and placing the camera there, down some on the wall. Trade a beehive for a camera. Soon enough you won't notice the camera and it'll likely cure the problem and might even give a better fov. You can try painting and stuff to help your current position- you'll only know if you try. And maybe consider bringing down the saturation on that channel too. It'll dull down the colors a bit and make for a more natural picture. Good luck. Btw- you might want to consider trying right at the corner of the eave, just in front of the spot light. See what that does. Perhaps angle the camera down a bit to avoid any glare from the gutter.

^^ I'm guilty of noise revenge too. Loud fireworks in the middle of the night not only does the job, but it feels as good as slamming down an old phone when you hang up on someone in anger- something I miss too. But if your inconsiderate noise really bothers the heck out me, be careful, cause I'll put my antron up and run my cb with 500 watts under it's ass- and I'll come through your tv, radios, and any other orifice it can. Amazingly though, I'm the neighbor that doesn't make a peep. I just respond when you don't cease.

Just use a camcorder. I wouldn't waste my time trying for a full day of recording when no one is gonna watch all that. Don't make their moronic neglectful behavior with their dogs become your expense and problem. Surely you have a camcorder, or even your cell phone. For each recording, be sure time/day stamp is on and showing on the footage. Compile a bunch of events. It's best to do this at the times when a noise ordinace would apply- very early morning or very late night. 3PM for instance, may not be as compelling as 2AM. In court I think you can show the footage right in the camera or phone. Why dog owners are deaf to their own f'ing dogs is beyond me. I've knocked on many a door over the years because of A-hole owners. It's not the dogs fault, it's the morons who shouldn't own them to begin with. Good luck.

If all else fails, disable this option. And if ports have been forwarded, than for sure turn it off in the router/NVR [or dvr]. Hopefully no other wireless devices on your network depend on UPNP. I'm not saying that it's definitely the problem, but UPNP can cause odd issues sometimes. Good luck.

You'll probably need to move the camera forward- try all the way to the fascia. Also, a versital tape to try is gaffers tape. It comes in black or white and it's used a lot on stage because it doesn't leave residue when you pull it off equipment and wires. That's where I use it. It's a cloth type of tape and it because it's a mat finish to the tape, it may be less shiny and reflective than the paint on your eave/fascia. You can find it on amazon. But I'm betting you'll have to move that camera forward. And since you might have to do that, the next question is- is that really a good spot at all? Doesn't look like you're getting much of a useful FOV regardless, but it's hard to tell without a person in the shot.

Having NVR's with and without POE would be a good thing. That caters to both crowds. If you're not gonna match POE count to channel count, don't bother including it at all, imo. However, I often see people talk about dedicated POE that's just as cheap as built in. A good quality POE switch at a great price is one thing, but cheap crap is nothing more than cheap crap, whether it's built in or not.

I have a q-see 408 which is a DVR system, not and NVR. But initially, I had trouble with disconnections of other devices on my network. I tweaked these settings and maybe it's worth checking for you. As it pertains to port forwarding, I re-set the ports to only TCP, as was recommended by q-see in the manual. My wireless laptop started giving me 'server not found' issues, but since tweaking that setting AND turning off Upnp on both the router and the q-see dvr, WAN and LAN on my network has been fine. And be particularly aware of upnp on the router and the device. It's supposed to make communication between the two easy, but it can sometimes make things a mess. Consider turning it off on both sides. Good luck.

This is what I mentioned as well. Seems you have to buy two full kits to get the other four cameras But how good are the cameras and if they were sold separately, what would they cost? 200 balloons each? Maybe a little less, but at that point it WOULD be worth just getting a second package! And this offer has a 300 dollar rebate, don't forget. So regular price is over 1k. But this idea is headed in the right direction. Spec wise, the NVR offers much of what anyone expects, with the real plus being 8 POE ports. All one of these manufactures has to do is have an NVR such as this one, have four camera choices including a 4mm IR bullet, varifocal IR bullet, and a fixed & varifocal dome. Maybe even have a modest 12x zoom PTZ just to cater to that a bit without it being ultra expensive. And there you have it- total plug and play. As long as the cameras are good ones it doesn't matter if they're proprietary to the NVR- the choices are covered for most needs. And if they can go one step further by somehow accessing the camera menus within the NVR via the on board POE ports, they'll hit the jackpot. Anyway, bullwinkle- you give systems a spin for your blog. This seems worthy. If anyone is gonna do a review justice it's you. So, pretty please with sugar on top, try the f'ing package!

Well if anyone gives the swann a spin, report back. The 8 channel NVR looks good on paper, although they don't spell out FPS and I'm sure that's for a reason. Bottom line, the problem I'd have is you're stuck with only those bullet cameras which may or may not be any good, and @4mm so there's no flexibility. I didn't see any other Swann IP cameras available but those bullets, nor do I see them sold separately to fill out the eight channels. Maybe I'm missing something.

If you hooked them up to channels where the other ptz's are working, I would think it's the ptz's that may not be working.

Yeah, I wouldn't ever put the actual dvr in an attic. Just wire runs for dispersal, if it makes sense for the particular situation.

The cheap segment will remain huge, so I don't know if the curtain will totally come down on analog for a modest home setup. But for someone like me who will be interested in making the switch, all that really has to be done is to make the IP experience the same as analog. There's already easier things about it such as POE. Good quality hardware NVRs that have POE to match the channel count, somehow being able to get into the camera menues from the hardware NVR, mix & match cameras like analog can, and nice CMS for remote management. That's all a typical home user needs to float their boat but with one huge difference for the effort- a much improved picture. When IP becomes true plug & play without exceptions, that's when analog dies for the home user. Most often they want a box you plug into the router and you plug any cameras into that box. Simple as that.

I would only put wire through walls and install bnc/power on the ends once it's through- and it seems that's what you're going to do anyway. You might want to consider an upper floor install if you have an attic. For an example, I have a back bedroom on the second floor that we use as the computer/crap room. Actually now crap, no computer. But I ran cat5 to that room a couple years before, so there's the hookup for the dvr. The adjacent bedroom has a closet right on the other side of the desk the dvr is on. All wires go through to that closet and from there go up to the attic. The attic has two windows on either side of the house. This is where my coax exits house, with no need for holes in any walls. If I ever have to move, perish the thought, there's no repairs needed- just pull the coax back in. Point being, think of all possibilities when you decide where to park the dvr and route cables. There may be an easier, less invasive choice. Good luck with your install.

IP/MP may be gaining in popularity. It's hard to tell just by a forum. But your downside list still outweighs your upside list by a good deal, for the average DIY homeowner. Things on the IP side are gonna have to get a lot more user friendly and less proprietary. And the low light thing has to become a non issue and not remain a caveat. But, five years is a long time- maybe things will change for the better. I don't know of anyone who wouldn't want to see superb pictures and playback. Guess we'll 'see'.

No frills simple free phone app from MEyePro, which gets me into my q-see 408 dvr when I'm on the move. Figured I'd link to my short demo. I'll be looking for better apps, but this one is doing the trick for now. 0WWc05QLd84

They are similar but may be a bit hardier. I haven't bought cable from them in a while, but it was fine when I did- actually nice thick cable but thin ends for power and bnc. Premade isn't the best way to go but if you must do it anyway, don't spend a ton on them cause they're all cheap anyway, and buy them closest to the length you'll need for the run. And always avoid extensions. You'd be better to do the cat5 type thing Tom mentions, or get these things and make your own- http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-WHITE-500FT-BULK-RG59-SIAMESE-CABLE-20AWG-18-2-CCTV-SECURITY-CAMERA-WIRE-/121037256708?pt=US_Surveillance_Cables_Adapters_Connectors&hash=item1c2e61f804 http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-Twist-on-BNC-Male-RG59-Connector-for-CCTV-cameras-/160984986516?pt=US_Surveillance_Cables_Adapters_Connectors&hash=item257b73f394 http://www.ebay.com/itm/320728001952?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 That's just a quick search- I'm not endorsing those sellers by any means. Do not fear 'rolling your own'. It's far better. Good luck.

I have the harbor freight one. Interesting that you got it rigged to a relay- pretty cool. The problem is wireless. Weather plays a huge role in this. Very humid nights will affect the performance. Dewy mornings, where the PIR face gets wet will affect performance. Extreme cold will affect performance. Daytime is when it works the best, I have found. Night time is less reliable. I have mine at approx 125' and it's not a clear line of site. Sometimes it's great, other times not so. For best results you should have a clear line of site. Try extending the wires to the receiver and put it somewhere that either shortens the distance to the PIR, or has a better line of site, or ideally both. Maybe a window ledge higher up or closer- or a perfect line of site. If you're stuck facing the PIR out there a certain way, than you'll have to move the receiver inside to the best position to make it more reliable. There are other brands of this type and they can be more expensive, but they still rely on wireless- and that makes it a crap shoot, quite literally. Good luck.

Every time you use the controller it goes back to the same problem? Once you re-install the camera, you might try taking the dome off and by hand, as you did on the bench, point the camera up two ticks. Replace the dome and that should give you a more level plane. The only time it should might reset is if you reboot the camera either manually, or if you lose power and it reboots. If every time you use the controller it resets, than I guess there's nothing you can do. But hopefully, when the camera is in place, point the camera up a couple ticks and if it holds, you'll be happier. You may have to adjust any presets you have once you do this, as they may be slightly off. I have a ball dome ptz that dose the same thing and I just did this manual adjustment, pointing the camera up two ticks, and it makes a big difference. Good luck.

How is it they are 100ohms?

First, you should use single length cables without extensions or adapters. Good prices on typical premade cables- http://www.gadspot.com/p-38-bncpower-cut.aspx Second, you probably have the wrong adapter from radio shack. I looked at their adapters the other day and not only were they grossly overpriced, they didn't have the appropriate adapter. Someone probably sold you the wrong spec'd adapter. Third, if you're looking to push 240' with a typical 4-way power adapter that comes with these kits, even if it's only one or two lines, you're asking too much. It's most likely why the picture is dropping out at night. If you're using single power adapters @ 12v 1a, you most likely won't fair any better. Try a 12v 5a adapter for extreme distance of 240', or get power right at the camera somehow. Or try using true 18/2 wire just for the power line to the camera. I wouldn't push power past 150' max with typical power adapters and premade cable in the box sets, and frankly I wouldn't go over 100'. Fourth, you probably have poor quality cameras who's IR isn't strong enough and therefore, even if they stay on in darkness, the picture will be poor and noisy. Adding exterior light will help night time picture quality. Or, invest in better quality IR cameras. Just to confirm, make sure all of your cameras IR's come on and work by connecting each camera to a good 60' cable and look to see that the IR's come on for each camera, and that ALL the IR's come on for each camera. Sometimes a few, half, or all a cameras IR's fail- even right out of the box with these sets. Good luck.

Gotcha. You got more snow? Our 3' blizzard has been reduced to plow pilings being most of what's left, after warmth and rain. That, and the minefield of potholes to avoid.