shockwave199

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Oh I see you may have tried amplified speakers. Have you turned on audio in the dvr? Is the volume up in the dvr? Is the proper channel active when viewing back- the one audio is recording on? Check any and all audio settings in the dvr. If ok, try a different cable and mic. Also- these mics need power too. The mic cable should be rca/power. On the mic end hook up rca/power and on the dvr side hook up rca into the dvr and power into a power strip, etc,

I would first try an amplified set of speakers- even a small set of pc speakers that must be plugged into a wall outlet should work. If you use only one of the pair of the speaker set, be sure it's the one that plugs into a wall outlet- the power one of the pair, not the other passive one. Beyond doing that, have you tried viewing the footage on the dvr remotely? You can look at recorded footage and back it up too. But first try the speaker if you need to confirm audio is recorded.

You get some seniors in rascalls for the early bird special, trust me- there WILL be trouble!

Btw, about what I mentioned earlier with a ptz. We have a goof driving recklessly on our busy streets at the moment. He's been asked to stop, which of course he hasn't. I didn't try to follow him with the ptz or auto track to get a shot of him. I pointed the ptz and just setup a good fov for proof, waited, and let him drive through the shot. Once I got what I wanted, I repositioned the camera. Simple. Without this ability I would never get the shot. Useful besides trying to follow the action. BUT, an operator still needed to set it up. I gotta admit, the pictures make me laugh man. I don't know why, but they do! LOL!

WHAT! Verison won't allow port forwarding on other ports besides port 80? I can't believe that one. To the OP, it's terribly difficult to walk you through the process here. Do you know anyone in your life who is good with networking- a gamer perhaps? People who are into gaming and xbox- they usually have no trouble port forwarding stuff. Watch as much as you can here- videos and all, especially under the advanced tab. You'll likely get the hang of it. Good luck. http://wifi-wiz.net/

What are you using to view remotely? ActiveX web app, or remote software for the dvr? Does the dvr have a sub stream for remote viewing, where you can dial back the quality for smoother remote viewing but it still records in high res? DSL is probably the hold up.

Well, that's assuming you're gonna mostly follow things in real time. Sure, that's part of what a ptz can do. But sometimes it's a simple need to point the camera at a different priority zone for a bit and keep it idle there to catch something and record it. It's nice to be able to have a camera that can be re-positioned at will, if you think you might really need that sometimes. Static cameras well placed is all you should need, but a ptz can be handy for further support too. You don't need to be sitting at it operating it like a mad man for it to still be useful to support even well placed fixed cameras. Just be realistic about what you really need- they ain't cheap either.

You mentioned you're in rural darkness at night. Rural darkness at night is like nothing else. My night here in NY is nowhere near as dark as night is up in PA at my dads house. Once you're beyond exterior light there, you can't see the hand in front of your face. So the first thing you want to do is be sure you have exterior light everywhere you plan to point a camera. That goes doubly true if you're gonna use MP cameras. Cameras provide a much improved night picture when you provide exterior light. Even if you buy IR cameras, the picture won't be as good in darkness as it would be with exterior light. At minimum, you should have a steady on exterior light at all doors to the house. On the sides of the house, you can have motion lights that come on only when something or someone trips them and the cameras there could have IR so they can see somewhat when the lights are off. But before your camera system, be sure you have proper lighting installed. Crooks hate that and cameras love it. If you thought my video had a good picture of the Dahua camera, considering the video for youtube is compressed even more, you might be fine with an analog system. If you want the much improved pictures an MP system provides, go for it. But a decent analog setup might be all you need and save you some serious bucks. So many times it seems people make installing a cctv system a HARD thing to accomplish. It doesn't have to be. Simply buy a full D1 dvr, good varifocal cameras, provide adequate exterior lighting, and that's mostly it. And if you can't get past the inherent 'fuzziness' of even the best that analog can give you, go with MP. But make sure your budget is that much bigger. The hardest thing should only be the physical pain of install. There's too much good gear for that part of it to be hard. Good luck

I think there's lots written here- do a search for each product and see what comes up. I've written a lot myself about my q-see thoughts and user experiences. Good luck.

Leave it to me to fill 3 minutes or so taking about....well.....a pole. LOL! These have been mentioned in the past here. If you have IR cameras, it's a worthy addition and makes quick work of cleaning the webs. LmtvtBUZxQI

I expect what I see in your videos. All of my cables are premade and what would be considered, low grade stuff. That was my fault in the beginning and now I'm using them until I have to replace them. It's been a little over a year now, so who knows. That being said, if you're using really thin cable, or if the cable is thicker but terminates to really thin bnc/power on the ends of them, that's the cheap stuff. It might be worth checking out a good cable in line and see if that doesn't help. Outside of that, it could be the dvr, the resolutions you have set per channel if you're viewing this remotely, or just the cameras not doing well. We have DW cams at work and they're ok, but noting to write home about either.

I don't do it for fun. Two cameras are prone to them- mostly because of nearby tree branches. If I'm lucky enough, I can skip the chore.

I found the pole in the brooms and garbage cans section of HD, not the painters section. I use some bug spray from there as well, can't remember what. It just includes spiders on the label. The problem is it doesn't last long. When it rains, it's over. This is the biggest reason NOT to have cameras with IR. But if you do, this can help.

The best thing to do is spend some time investigating user reviews on the subject. It's not a perfect science- users experiences can vary a great deal. But trends do surface when it comes to after purchase support, as well as overall quality of the product. The best advise I can give is that if you can't reach support on the phone within reason, it will be tough to solve issues you have in a timely fashion. Emails and support tickets are a slow train, man. Support chat can be helpful, but that can be a frustrating experience too. A person on the other end of the phone- the very best to look for. Otherwise, it can be a long process to get a replacement or send something in for a fix. Support, to me, is as important as anything else.

It also depends on what you consider fuzzy. Analog will only get so good. Post a pic from the cameras- that will tell if it's bad or your expectations are too high with analog.

Your cables might suck, sure. Get a a good one and see if there's a difference.

It looks great out of the box, but the moment you adjust the zoom, you are committed to adjusting focus too. So right away it becomes user defined in that respect. But thankfully the zoom/focus is easily set. Aside from fov and day/night settings, I haven't tweaked a single thing for picture settings. I don't really want to yet because I only have a netbook and I really can't see well enough to make the right decisions. But considering the picture right now, I'm just leaving well enough alone. Most times it comes down to doing less, not more, when it comes to a decent picture- IF the camera is good.

As long as your cables are typical bnc/power cables, most cameras will fit for replacements. The GS818P has a certain range- 9-22mm. Just know that the fov will be pretty tight at 9mm and be able to zoom into distant objects at 22mm. If your fov calls for that range, than fine- nice camera. Smart IR example- qq5DvdYiN6I If that's what you're looking for, consider a GS831SM or a GS830SM from them. I just replaced a camera with an Dahua-VDIC2 that's a 2.8-12mm and it's a nice bullet camera. Bottom line, you first have to know what distances you're looking to cover and buy a varifocal camera with the appropriate zoom choices to give you a good ID shot.

Remote views will only be so good- never as good as locally at the dvr. As long as you've adjusted settings to give the best view you can remotely, that's all you have. The more crumby thing is that the dvr doesn't have any remote software, as opposed to just web access. That's unfortunate. Web access is usually fine, but software is always nicer to use. If you can, maybe consider a dvr upgrade. And now that you know what you want and need, be sure the next one has it. Good luck.

That is odd for sure. Always rca far as I've seen on dvr's. Bare wires- huh.

If you want to save some nice money at the moment, they're having a 30% off sale on the GS5003. Nice camera. If you want a nicer camera, look at either the GS830SM for the eyeball dome or for the bullet look at the GS831SM. Those are just under a 100 bucks and they have smart light IR which is good to have. My opinion, of course.

Ohhhh, ok. Dyndns has changed and made it more difficult for ONE free host name, but it's still doable. http://dyn.com/dns/dyndns-pro-free-trial/ In an nutshell you sign up for a pro free trial, cancel within 14 days, and you get to keep one free host name. I've only had one .tv host name all along for my dvr, which is why I never realized anything changed. Bottom line, you can still have one free host name. But if you have more than one free host name, don't mess with them! I'd still choose dyn even though it's a pain to get the free host name. From the dyn forums- http://www.dyndnscommunity.com/questions/22142/free-hostnames.html http://www.dyndnscommunity.com/questions/20968/grandfathered-free-accountchange-host-name.html I've never had a single glitch yet and from what I've read about q-see's free DNS, whoever provides that, it down sometimes. It least it was frequent enough for me to not choose that option a year ago.

That's great for sure. But if you DO need to speak with someone personally because the beautifully printed documents aren't getting you there, then you'll see the less than good side of q-see. Q-see has helped me, but it was pulling teeth to be honest. Q-see has their own DNS thing but you're wrong, dyn.com is free- and it's by far the better choice from my experience using dyn with q-see dvr. They do update software and firmware, but don't confuse the 'update' dates on the help links with actual software updates. Only rev numbers/dates are the indication of updates. I'm not trying to argue for either choice- just trying to clarify if I can.