shockwave199

If you have the camera and must install it, maybe you could run an extension cord to get power closer to the camera- if not right to it. It would be a drag to do and would require a weather tight enclosure for the power adapter out there- if it is in fact exterior. But if you have an outlet and you run an extension cord, it could be way to get the adapter closer to the camera. Maybe?

I don't think anything can be done really. Domes get nasty glare lines and bullets tend to wash out white. WDR will only go so far with full on sun blast. Might have to try a different angle or mount location. In fact for wide open FOV's, a bit higher up looking down and keeping the sky mostly out of the picture can help a lot. Even tree tops aren't needed. Account for the tallest truck you might see and aim the shot no higher. Good luck.

After three years, it might be a good idea to get a new ptz, one that's more plug and play user friendly. And it will generally look a heck of a lot better outside than the contraption you have pictured. But after skimming this very deep thread, I'd say the ptz just plain sucks and it's time, and was time for a new one. Good luck to you!

Cool it's fixed, but still weird to me. I have three IR bullet cameras that include some siding in the shot and never got that problem. But glad you got it sorted. Sometimes an inch either way can help. If it's a varifocal, sometimes it's even better to zoom in a bit and avoid obstacles. Getting that perfect shot in both day and night takes adjustment.

I never cared much until we got cameras at work, which I monitor. It not only made my job easier, but WAY more effective. And then I got to thinking, I've been sitting at work all night for years with no idea what's going on at MY home, so I installed a system. Now I keep watch of work and home. And the thing is, once you have 'sight', you can't live without it. When a camera is down or the internet is down, you feel blind and uncomfortable. And yet I saw nothing on screen for years, so you get hooked and reliant real quick. For me it's interesting and fun for the system itself. It's the gear and good pictures of what I need to see. But honestly no matter how good I can see, I know it's likely the recordings will fail me. You have only to watch the nightly news to understand that to most criminals, cameras are merely and inconvenience, not a deal breaker. The recordings are just a bit of possibility it might lead to ID. So primarily, I rely on them for keeping me on the front lines in real time, so I can make the calls and react in the moment, rather than relying on a recording to solve something terrible after the fact. Of course recordings are a must, but for me it's all about real time monitoring and that I really like a lot- the most fun of it. And I have two ptz's to play with as well, one at work and one at home. So I have a great time staying 'on the job' all night.

I use movie edit pro 17HD to do the vids. Great software and not expensive. As for alarms, I don't have any connected to the dvr as of yet. This spring I'll probably get to that.

My first thought was a reboot but I didn't want to suggest that unless you were at the end. Usually a reboot clears things. Hopefully this won't happen again. You should go to qsee and DL the latest firmware for your unit just to have it. Most times they recommend either reinstalling the firmware or installing the latest version. to clear glitches. Good luck with the weather- now it's your cameras that must hold up to what is thrown at them! And thanks for watching the vids. I'm just an amateur that did vids along the way, that's all. Good luck.

At the login screen, is your system ID all zeros? I believe it should be. I got locked out at first on my 408 when I changed this ID number, until I figured out that I shouldn't have- then I got back in. Also, have you changed the default PW? If you did you may have plugged in something other than what you wanted by mistake, in which case I wouldn't know what to tell you. On my 408, default settings is in the maintenance section of the menu, but if you can't do anything without being asked to login, that's a problem. Have you hit up support at q-see.com? Sorry I can't be of more help. Hope you get it sorted.

Are both cameras being hooked up to the same cable for comaprison? If a crude eye test shows one to be better than the other, I'd buy a second of the one that appears to be decidedly sharper than the other, and return the other one. A simplistic approach I know, but why dick around.

That's fine, but your opening question for this thread was whether a q-see unit is capable, and if there are any other comparable units. And that question assumes we're talking analog. But as usual, most people will jump right in and insist analog sucks compared, and to go with an MP system. My position is that mega pixel cameras installed well can be great, and analog cameras installed well can be great too. But to address where you're going now- in an emergency situation where career criminals strike in hoodies and/or masks, the playing field evens out. A mega pixel camera will capture fine detail of the hoodie or mask and do nothing better to ID a well concealed person. No cameras in that situation do much. The criminals know it and that's why crime still happens. Even alarm systems aren't enough to stop theft if someone is seriously intent on getting in. The best thing to help you NOT be the target of home invasion? A barking dog, plain and simple. Most often criminals avoid premises with dogs, not cameras or alarms. Dogs create unwanted noise and attention and certainly present the danger to life and limb- something that cameras, alarms, and yes- even guns in the home do not. Btw- I did look up at the camera when I snapped my picture. If I didn't, my profile is just as detailed. And so is a person wearing a hat. And that's not the only camera to catch the action either, which is most important. Increasing the odds in your favor- that's all it's about. Would I install professionally? No I would not. I might work for a good professional and learn the trade, but just because I installed my own system at home does not make me qualified to install for money on my own, nor would I want that headache, frankly. People do just that with a lot of different trades and mostly, they suck and the people who hire them get screwed. But to your question about an analog dvr, other analog choices, or a MP system- it's not rocket science and there's forums here that have examples of it all. I'm sure you can figure it out. The q-see you ask about could be fine- depends on your needs.

I certainly understand the merits of mega pixel cameras. If budget allows, go for it. However I still think analog can provide plenty of quality and having installed my analog system a couple years ago, I do not feel I must pull down the whole system and install an MP system. I don't mean to persuade you to a lesser quality system at all. These days it's a good idea to run cat5 lines and install MP cameras. But the choice of an analog system doesn't have to equal a terrible choice either. It can be effective as well. The b&w camera [color, but has switched to b&w nearing night time] is a two year old 65 dollar gadspot that I stepped in front of just now and snapped a picture. It has provided excellent detailed shots and continues to do so. The other two shots are from my ptz and it's zoomed into those views a bit which are approximately 100' out. The difference is, if the camera was an MP camera which provides more pixels for detail, instead of needing to zoom the camera in for the shots in real time, you can take a wide shot and zoom in on the picture after snapping it and still have plenty of detail zoomed in. So yes, start with an MP system if that's what you demand from your system. But good quality with an analog system for residential is doable too, if that's enough. The choice is yours. Best advice- know how demanding you are about what you need to see, install the best gear you can first, and be done with it. Good luck.

http://wifi-wiz.net/ Read and reread and it'll sink in. Good luck.

I'm a q-see user. I have a qs408, a lesser unit than the qt518, but I love the thing. I really think with any dvr, it comes down to getting a working one out of the box. No matter what you choose or how much you spend, that's not actually a given. I have lots of pics on my setup- have a look. May not be completely relevant, but it's q-see anyway.

I'm actually surprised the dvr doesn't have a log. I thought that was standard fair for all of them.

What brand? Perhaps try defaulting the unit out just for the hell of it. If it's an ebay purchase, who knows what was set before you got it. Full default wouldn't hurt.

Just keep the cameras recording so we all have something to watch....oh wait...

That's the cause. Some cameras without IR will have noise reduction settings that can help. But adding more exterior light to what the camera is watching should help improve the picture quality at night.

I suppose. Good luck to you.

Hold on- what do you have your recording settings at in the dvr exactly? I'm gonna guess you somehow have it set to CIF. Get into your quality settings in there and let us know what they're set at. Also by channel, adjust your brightness, color, hue, and saturation settings better. Your pics have nasty artifacts from what looks to be color settings that are too extreme. Of course analog is not MP quality. But analog should be better than that. A few of my older snaps- snapped remotely-

RMA the camera immediately with q-see. It is a defective IR camera and should not normally do that when it's working properly. Exchange for a new one.

From a quick view of the manual, check these parameters- On the recording config page- - For all seven days make sure the period is set 0-24 and check off detect. Set pre record to 5 seconds. That will add 5 seconds to the beginning of any recorded footage, which can help. On the motion detect page confirm these settings- - Period set. Make sure it 24 hrs a day if that's what you want - Region set. Check how each camera view is blocked for picking up motion. Configure to capture as much motion as needed, and block areas that aren't needed. - Sensitivity. Once you're done blocking, check to see if it's picking up motion consistently by walking in the shot and checking playback. If needed, increase sensitivity. See if that helps. Good luck.

Sometimes digital settings in cameras can cause motion blur, in which case lower fps can actually give you better looking frames to choose from for snapshots. To me it's all about the perfect snapshot for ID. You don't ID with picture in motion- you scrub through playback on a subject frame by frame for the best ID frame. To get that perfect frame, the whole chain factors in- the camera, mounting angle, lighting, cable, dvr, resolution settings, and fps. Assuming everything prior to fps is right, the only thing to consider is how many fps you're willing to settle on. The more you have, the better the chance one of those frames will catch a perfect ID shot. From 1-30, the choice is yours. I like 30 for smooth playback and of course wide open choices for a good ID frame. But 10 is generally plenty.

I favor the highest- which for my system at home is 30 balanced out with lower fps on other less important channels. But 10 fps is about perfect to me- not as choppy as 5 or lower, still smooth with plenty of frames to get a perfect snapshot, and yet file sizes are smaller. So if I had to choose- 10 fps.

Yeah I'm the same way. I rarley watch playback but I do check into my cameras each day just to make sure everything is working properly. I also monitor my cameras all night remotely from work.

I'm guessing they have OSD menu? You could try different day/night settings. Sometimes besides the usual choices there are different EXT [external] choices such as EXT1, EXT2, and so on. You could try them and see if it helps the camera make the change from dark to light more smoothly. Also there may be other settings such as these from a camera manual I have to try and see if it helps- Delay CNT – This setting tells your camera how long to delay before switching to either day or night mode. This setting is handy as it will prevent the camera from switching over to either mode too quickly because of a temporary light change. The higher the setting, the longer the delay Day-Night – Tells the camera when to switch over from day mode to night mode. The higher the setting, the less light that is required for the camera to switch over. For indoor scenarios, we recommend keeping this setting somewhere in the 40-75 range. For outdoor scenarios, we recommend keeping the setting around 150. Night-Day – Tells the camera when to switch from night mode back over to day mode. The higher the setting, the more light is required for the camera to switch over. For indoor scenarios, we recommend keeping this at 50-85. For outdoor scenarios, around 175. **** Please set the values between Day-Night and Night-Day to be somewhat distinguishable. If the difference between the values between these 2 settings are minimal, then you may have a problem of the camera switching between modes repeatedly. Also, you will notice that the Night-Day setting must always be higher than the Day-Night setting. This is a value that may take a few days to toggle with in your scenario to get the right setting