shockwave199

That's a cute and snappy notion, but don't confuse where a product is available with the full potential of a product. You're not gonna find a q-see premium or elite dvr at Costco or Sams Club. You'll find value packages there, but that doesn't mean better quality isn't available from q-see. This can also be said of q-see dvr's. I think good quality can be had from either, but if you buy their cheaper gear that's what you'll get. If you're talking about a good 16 channel dvr, you'd probably do well with either a q-see QT536 or an Dahua FULL D1 16 channel DVR. The real question boils down to who would you rather put faith in for excellent, attentive, and fast customer support. If you're a homeowner, maybe a camera being down for a few weeks while you wrangle through the RMA process is ok. Maybe having no dvr in line for a few weeks while you wait for your replacement or a return of your fixed gear is ok. Maybe relying on amazon or costco will work for you. But if you're a business or even a homeowner with serious needs, then you have to consider some things beyond just the choice- like who will best support you after the dollars are spent. I think the quality gear is out there, but choose wisely where you buy it.

From q-see for the dvr you're looking at- It is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 and Windows operating systems, supports substream for internet viewing, and has mobile surveillance capabilities with the latest 3G/4G smartphones including iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android. It also has it's own CMS software. Which of those do you need or is it that you just want all of them available? Which don't PSS support? The thing you have to also investigate somehow is if you need a particular remote capability, you need to confirm that the latest version isn't buggy. Just because a q-see dvr now has an ipad app doesn't mean it's working to full potential and not buggy. That happens to be new to q-see, so I'd look at firmware versions of what you need and see where they're at and what fixes they tackled- if any. With my 408 q-see dvr, the latest version of mcs remote software is buggy. The older version that comes on cd with the package actually works better at the moment. So even though it supports a lot- maybe more than PSS, confirm that all is well for what you really need. Cause the apple and android apps are new and not mature by any means yet. Doesn't mean they don't work well though. Just judge more by the book, not the cover.

What software do you need and what looks more matured at q-see?

You haven't completely described the install. Is it always well lit, day and night? Are the lights out overnight? Do you wish to see well in low light over night? Is it a hallway or a wide open space? Is it wall or ceiling and if ceiling, what kind? How high? Do you need it to be vandal proof dome or will a bullet or eyeball type dome be ok and look ok for you?

Perhaps consider a gadspot GS814EF. It's in your price range and would probably be a good fit for you. Good luck.

Is the OP talking about fishing down through down spouts too? THAT I wouldn't do.

Try a gadspot GS752ET. Those are fifty bucks- cheap. Good luck. Think about upgrading your dvr too.

Personally I don't like the idea of any cleaning formula. I've used a slightly damp soft cloth but the best thing I use now is the eye glass glass cleaning cloth you get with glasses. Very soft and of course it's made for cleaning delicate surfaces. A quick dry wipe is all it takes. If your camera is outdoors you're probably getting tree pollen on the dome, which is really bad right now. It will calm down but for the moment, it's all but impossible to keep up with- even on car windshields.

Keep it up out of the bottom of the gutter and you'll probably be surprised how long it will last. I haven't done it with cat5 but I have with premade bnc/power cable on one run and it's been fine for a year now. Take care with the connection points at the camera. The run will probably be fine.

Cool, but could you drive a little faster- I'm stuck behind you. A few of my friends have mentioned the price of gas to keep their service vehicles going every day absolutely affects- and can kill- the bottom line. I feel for all you guys with trucks and vans. The gas budget can be a killer.

Oh ok. I mean, holding FPS suspect all the time on literally every retail site would be a real drag!

Well that one I did not know. Since FPS is commonly used, how can anyone know if the spec really means frames per second or fields per second if it isn't spelled out? And I always took IPS to mean images per second.

I hear you, agree, and understand. But I don't see things changing here. The best way I share my own experiences with the products I've chosen is to link to my youtube channel in my signature. Something like that or a blog is a fun and informative way to help fellow enthusiasts in a less restrictive way. Good luck and be well.

You might want to check the user settings in the dvr. For instance, mine allows for five users with different profiles such as passwords AND a choice of how many live/playback channels they can view. The options per user goes deeper than that, but you would give each guard location only certain channels to view and playback. Then it's just a matter of setting them up to remotely view- they sign into the dvr's web application and see what they're allowed to see. If they're each given a wireless laptop at their location and they're on that local network- bingo.

Most decent bullet or eyeball dome cameras with IR can throw to 10m and beyond. They're of course more effective at half that, less effective at the far end. Can't you supply exterior lighting? It will beat the hell out of IR at the far end where you might need to see better. And then if it's a motion security light that goes back off, your IR camera will at least provide a decent view...provided spiders don't make a home on it or it's not a foggy night. For some reason you got that little camera thing that won't do the job. Get a traditional bullet or dome camera- they will do the job better for you.

Will a traditional size bullet or dome work for you? Must it be a tiny stealth camera?

That's a very small camera and doesn't seem outdoor worthy. How and where do you have it installed? That would help determine a proper replacement.

There's your answer. Let someone who knows how to do it set it up for you. They can do it very quickly, saving you hours and maybe even getting lost in a maze of settings with no way of getting back out. It isn't really hard and I don't mean to frighten you out of learning how to do something fairly simple. But if you can farm it out to a friend to set up for you- home run. Good luck.

It is all but impossible to talk someone through port forwarding unless you're on the phone with them. This question- indicates a person who has no clue how to do such a thing no matter how much is written. It is doubtful the ISP will be willing to walk you through it. Most times it's not their router that needs to be set up, and you also need to set up your dvr and/or ip cams, which they don't know and don't care to know. Don't rely on their help. The very best you can do is find someone in your life who's a gamer or very good with tweaking router settings, wireless network settings, and port forwarding. HAVE THEM DO IT. There's a chance you could get yourself up to speed by watching all the vids at this website I'll post. This is the port forwarding section of vids- http://wifi-wiz.net/port-forwarding-and-game-consoles/ This is the section for IP cams- http://wifi-wiz.net/dynamic-dns-and-ip-cameras/ Watch any and ALL of them in the course and you may have a shot at doing this yourself. This helped me tremendously when I didn't know squat about it- so much so I did it myself with very little trouble. Watch all those vids and learn. Good luck.

The ultimate- SFpVYSsc57g

The thing about ptz's doing tours and scans is that one, it's constantly moving the ptz and will wear it down quicker and two, it will keep that dvr channel recording constantly from all the movement. You may be recording full time anyway, so that may not matter. Even though I schedule recording, I still take advantage of motion recording to help keep unwanted stuff from cluttering the hard drive. A ptz touring or scanning defeats motion recording. It's great if you're monitoring in real time and not recording, and then if you see something you can start manual recording. Or, just record full time and tour or scan all the time. I actually prefer to keep my ptz fixed wide on motion record, and then schedule auto tracking in the wee hours until daybreak. If your problem with the kids is rock throwing and breaking things, be careful you don't tell them about your cameras or they will become a vandal target too. Your cameras will become the documentation of the problems if other measures don't stop the problems. Good luck.

A camera shouldn't be such high maintenance when it's new. It's not the only camera that will have a great picture, and other cameras can provide that during all kinds of weather without a problem. What you have there are cameras that flat out suck. Get a refund while you can and get different cameras from a different source. Then install them, come down off the ladder, and enjoy not needing to tinker with them. Even if you like tinkering, it should not need to be done with new cameras that you payed money for. I suggest again- get rid of them and get your money back while you can. Good luck.

How has your house been targeted? You might be better off covering the doors and windows with cameras on your house really well, rather than put too much into trying to cover things 100' out. You could put one fixed camera specifically to see your mailbox or something, but at 80-100' your fov shrinks up and you can't cover much territory at all. That is, with a fixed camera. With a ptz you have range of motion, but like you said- you'd want it to have an aux/alarm so it could be called to a certain spot if needed. Without actually working the ptz, it's a crapshoot whether or not you'd get anything useable. I have a bunch of vids in my signature link. Maybe they'll give you some ideas. Consider no less than an eight channel dvr, good cameras, ample exterior lighting so the cameras see better, and maybe a ptz for your application. Good luck.

Broken wire, condensation- sounds like you need to get a refund and choose different cameras- from another source.

I wish you luck in that the only thing your cameras ever see is boring uneventful images. Whatever bad things our cameras may be able to see, may they never see it. Enjoy your setup.