shockwave199

This blog from this member is a terrific resource for not only seeing gear and software first hand, but to gain a much better understanding of it all. Read and watch it all- http://www.NetworkCameraCritic.com This forum here is the place to go to fine tune your understanding- viewforum.php?f=19 If you're gonna go with MP/IP, a good choice, you have to hit those places to get your arms around it all. Good luck to you.

Well I've seen my name dropped in this thread a bit so I figured I'd say hello! There are SO many more qualified people here to help you other than me. Kawboy has you well covered so rock on. I do agree on planning ahead- consider running cat5 even if you're gonna go analog. At the very least, you can upgrade down the line much easier if you choose to do so. I will always concur- MP cams provide much better detail. There are a few reasons why I didn't and haven't switched over yet. Two years out I'm still not over the pain of analog child birth- I have no interest in redoing everything yet. I installed, I tweaked, I learned, and I spent about 1,600 bucks. I wanted to take a complete break from tweaking and spending, and just let the system do it's thing for as long as it remains problem free now. Some of that 1,600 bucks was wasteful double-spending because I didn't know any better, before I found this place. Anyone could argue I wasted the full budget on analog itself. But so be it- you make a decision and run with it. I'm also not unhappy with my results, so I'm not motivated to switch over to MP cams yet. I'm of the mind that if you install your key cameras well, they'll work for you- even analog. Mega pixel cameras with all their clarity still cannot change human behavior- masking yourself to hide identity or simply not truly looking in the direction of the camera for an ID mug shot. At that point you're looking at approx height, skin color, and clothes color- simple as that. Analog will deliver that if the install is well thought out. Where MP kicks serious ass is LPR on the move. That is really what I'd like to have, more than just clear fixed images. I can grab a plate any time of day very well, but put the vehicle in motion and it's all but impossible. That's where MP shines the most, imo. I also hate networking and I have everything and every user humming along now, so I HATE the thought of rocking that boat yet again with MP/IP networking concerns. I love the thought of plug & play NVR's but I need them to mature more, handling POE for all cam channels in the box, and being more open to third party camera choices. It'll likely be a couple more years before I really consider changing over from analog- due to the install, gear capabilities for what I want, and budget. I also don't need still-camera holiday picture quality out of my cctv system, in general. Plus, I'm a curmudgeon! No matter what you choose, as far as gear, I can't really say. I only demo what I get at the time. Gear choices are a personal thing, in the end. Best of luck. If I can, I'll chime in about your install particulars. Gotta run for now.

I'm not real good with this and when I got mine set, I left well enough alone. The only other thing I can think of is your modem. Is it a combo modem/router? If so, you'll need to port forward and bridge that as well- something I've never had to do but I've read many times had to be done. Best of luck. I know how frustrating getting it right can be.

The one where the girl is being dragged by her feet leaving a blood trail by something invisible was my fav. Sick, but cool effect. I used my cams to catch some fun halloween night as well- 5SwBF9CLI-8

Now this I like! JxdTQukpYI4

If your dvr supports it, try another web port other than 80. Some IP's don't like when you use 80. I use 89 myself.

Also, this is the best site to help you understand it all. View everything as many times as you need. Sections of interest- Edit- the vids are no longer available. A REAL shame as they were the best around. Oh well.

You probably need to use a dynamic address service. You port forward your dvr addresses in your router and use either http://www.noip.com/ http://dyn.com/dns/ Check and see if your dvr already has a dynamic service or two assigned in it. For instance, q-see offers it's own service. But you're losing remote viewing because your public IP address is changing every so often, so you need to use dynamic address service. At least, I'm guessing that's what's going on.

We've had sub zero temps here this week. Mostly 2 degrees and lower at night. All my analog cameras are fine with those temps, including my ptz's. No problems at all. Are MP cameras as hardy at extreme temps- cold or hot? Maybe you could report which cameras you have and how well they are doing. I don't know what it's really saying more about- the enclosures, the connections, or the cameras themselves. But I'm interested. Thanks.

It's been a long road for you with this camera, so I'm kinda confused why you got a PT camera when you don't plan on utilizing it as such. I suppose if you can't get what you need from the camera you should just get a varifocal camera, aim it, and there you go. That's probably what you should have done in the first place. Since you've come this far, should you decide that even with its shortcomings you want to keep it in line, there is a workaround. Just program one position for all 32 presets for the longest dwell time each and start the tour. That will hold the camera where you choose to aim it for as long as you keep the tour going. Then if you choose to move it during the tour, it will likely return to the tour when you're done, but it will be the position you programmed in the tour. And maybe since it is a PT after all, you might have a couple other positions to add to the tour. Anyway, good luck with it.

Don't forget the q-see store. It may not have cheap deals like costco, but looks to be a full selection of their products and they are that much more favorable for support when you buy from them direct. Heh- they are actually way more expensive buying direct it seems. https://www.q-seestore.com/

Yeah, try port 9000. My qsee 408, the mobile port is 100 and it has to be port forwarded in the router along with the other port forwards.

Doesn't look like this camera has a menu preset. It has 32 assignable presets and you can program dwell times for them. That's it. So unless support says something different, I would try and program preset 1 to an overview position that works best for you. It may be that preset 1 will default to be the home position, if it will always return to a home position. Then from 2 on, make other preset positions. It may be that it returns to a home position and you can't change that. Or there may be an auto/manual setting. Not sure. But if you just want to manually move the camera around, make sure you're not starting a tour before hand, which could be the case.

There is a preset that will get you into the camera. Try 65. I would email them for the menu preset.

Zmodo site is horrible for anything. Couldn't even find a user manual pdf on this camera. Can you get into the menu for it? Try preset 95. You have to get into the menu and check the idle setting. It's probably set for a few minutes, so when the camera is idle for that amount of time it will go back to a 'home' position. And even that position is user programmable if you want. But what you really want is to set idle to none, or off. That will stop it from doing that.

Ah yes, I mised that. Have you looked at this- http://q-see.com/files/DeviceFiles/R-AndroidSetupNewweb.pdf http://qsee.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1035/kw/QSD9004%20asee/related/1

What phone do you have?

Use a cctv microphone. Simple as that. They work and pick up a ton of sound. Put by an open window, turn up the gain in the dvr, and you'll have what you need. Just make sure you're recording to a channel that has the camera catching the the action as well. Otherwise the audio recording could be of anyone, anywhere- useless for proof. You might do just as well with a video camera.

Yep- top of doors an awful good gauge!

True, and that's why I prefer bullets as well. But in a public location many times it has to be a dome. Lower the angle, but only enough to stop the glare. You want to keep peoples heads in the shot, even on the passenger side of the furthest car. Generally 7', enough to keep most people fully in view. So do it carefully and hopefully you'll cut out most or all of the glare and not at the expense of losing too much fov. If that happens, you'll have to move the camera to a different location.

Worst case scenario, view doing hand stands.

I believe wind chill only applies to humans because we're the only ones that can feel it. But still, that's mighty cold!

The face zooming and tracking is something I've been meaning to check out for a while. Zooming is an interesting feature, but it depends on the camera. This one doesn't do well- td7-oIEFmL4 This one is better- dG_3samgS0o And this I find more useful than zooming- ufFvOlWbkQI That said, you don't know till you hang it if it'll be ok for your situation. Specs aside, the best one is the one that works the best for that particular spot.

Congrats on the camera making it through Sandy. All mine made it too. Even last night- yet another near hurricane with exceptionally strong winds. We don't have rain storms anymore. We have near hurricanes every time the clouds gather. Totally sucks. The cameras take a lickin, but it sure would be nice if the weather were easier on them.

First make sure you have the sensitivity up- you may be missing events. Then make sure you don't have motion blocked out from where you want it to pick up. Check to see if you have a pre-record setting- it may be called pre-alarm or similar. If so, set it to 5 seconds. This will add five seconds to the beginning of the recorded event and can help. It will start your events 5 seconds prior to motion. Also look for a post record or post alarm setting. Set that to 5-10 seconds. That will add that time to the end of your recorded events and can help as well. If all else fails, what hard drive did you install- the recommended one for your dvr? It may be too slow to spin up and grab recordings quickly enough.