shockwave199

Yes, try 30 seconds- if for no other reason than decreasing file size. Anything that is moving will keep the channel recording as long as it's moving anyway, so you won't miss anything shortening up post recording. The shortest post record time helps save a ton 'o hard drive space. And for that matter so does other adjustments as well, such as making less critical camera channels CIF or HD1 at lower frame rates and lower resolution. Just because your dvr supports D1 30 fps on every channel doesn't mean you have to choose that for every channel. That'll eat up a ton of room in a hurry with mostly false triggers anyway. Budget out reasonable settings per channel. Maybe not every channel even needs to record either. Does that camera way up on an eave really need to record full time at D1 30 fps? Mostly likely not. Good blocking per channel helps too. As Matt mentions, you can mask out a lot of bushes and shrubs causing false triggers and still catch a human torso walking right past the blocking. You can even set a daily schedule of off time as well and save a bunch of room. I started recording my system in June 2011. To date, I've used just over 250gb of a 500gb hard drive- all done the way I just suggested. But I also get to monitor my cameras live a serious amount of time per day too. I also have a short 30 second post record time. I have my sensitivity settings per channel set just so, after much testing. I understand that it's not so much about saving hard drive space as it is recording possible problems whenever they may happen. But with exterior residential cameras set to motion recording- a good thing btw, things can be done to help keep down the files sizes and increase the time your dvr has to double back and start again.

Cool, but technically speaking it was Tom who gave the answer. I just chimed! LOL! Good for you. Dan

Be careful installing domes near security lights. This is a prime example of how a picture can go wrong with a security light overhead- and it's not that close but it still causes problems- The harsh light top left of frame is a security light on a peak and the dome is a good deal lower. Just be careful not to ruin your shot. I would go with a lower placement such as your second picture. The CNB would do well for you but your sony effio eyeball would probably do well too. Choice is yours. Good luck.

I'll be installing a ptz on my siding as well, but the bracket top and bottom actually lands perfectly on the flatest part of each siding slat. The trick to me is decent size length and width screws, so they get penetration as well as having a good surface area for stability with them being thicker screws. I sure hope that's the case anyway. Appropriate size screw would be the biggest concern. Good luck to you...and me!

I think your description is a perfect example of how fear can paralize you. I would only suggest you choose life over fear. Otherwise, get rid of your ptz. The worst that can happen is the ptz gets ripped off or destroyed. Not a big loss really- it's being wasted as it is right now anyway. Best case senario, it does what it's supposed to do, installed where it can help you the most. I also think that YOU may be more aware of the thing than anyone else would really be. You're not hanging a flag...it's a camera. In a couple weeks I'll be hanging my ptz on the front of the house. I'm sensitive to it being a larger camera than all the rest too, not to mention it's a domeless type. But from out at the street, it gets a whole lot smaller to the eye. And bottom line, I want it out there. I didn't buy it to point out a kitchen window, after all.

I agree. If the dvr failing is that much of a concern, pick up another one for backup if you need it and keep it off line. I would never put two 4 channel dvr's in line just to get 8 channels for redundancy. What do you do then, put two cameras in each position, side by side, in case the first dvr goes down? Where does that all end? Silly to install from that perspective, imo. If you want, put the dvr on a UPS if it makes you feel better that in quick power interruptions, the dvr at least remains powered up without interruption. This is a residential install, not fort knox, fas as I can tell. It's good to keep in mind that for all we do, for all the effort, if someone wants to break in- they WILL get in. They can take any number of simple measures to do so and make it tough to get caught, such as hoodies, masks, spray paint over the camera lens, smashing the cameras, or cutting the wires. Any of those launching an email to us? LOL-please. Getting in/out within 5 minutes is often enough time to score big and not get caught. People who do this stuff didn't just start that life yesterday- they know what they're doing. You can't cover all contingencies, in most residential applications. An alarm system and cameras- neither one will actually stop a problem if you're good at what you do....crime. Smash, grab, out- that's all it is no matter what the obstical. You want to spend some WELL worth it money before anything? Take a look at your windows and doors and their LOCKS. That's a good place to start and spend good money to improve. So we do our best. If it makes us sleep better at night, great. If it's a fun hobby, great too. But take a look at the nightly news and see how much surveillance footage there is, good and bad- and most times, BAD. Did it stop the problem. No, but it may help catch up to the perp after the fact. To the OP, I think you're obsessing over power used. Not sure why. Changing as little as two or three bulbs around the house to eco bulbs will probably make the added energy of a cctv system a wash. Or changing just one other wasteful energy habit would make room for a cctv systems power usage. Not really sure why the obsession about such a low cost thing as cctv. If it's that much of a concern, a pair of binoculars and a gun and sleepless nights on guard won't cost a cent in extra power usage- know what I mean? Move onto planning your system and accept a small increase in energy used. That's the price of doing business in this thing of ours.

Unless I'm mistaken, no system goes to sleep and powers up and down. If you have a dvr, it will be on all the time. Cameras hooked up to it will be powered on all the time. You will not cut energy costs by using motion recording. Recording doesn't use more energy than not recording anything. At least I don't think so. Motion recording will spare you hard drive space though, so it is a good thing regardless tomotion record. Where you'll save some energy is getting good low light cameras witout IR. At night when IR comes on in the cameras- that will increase energy consumtion. Low light cameras with perhaps night light fixtures in outlets around the house will provide low cost adequit lighting to support low light non-IR cameras. Or in lamps, using low wattage eco bulbs can help too. How much electricity will a dvr and four cameras always on use? I guess it depends on the gear, but it's not much. I'd be surprised if it's equal to or more than 100 watt bulb being on all the time. Maybe even a 50 watt bulb- but I'm guessing. It's not high wattage to have even an eight channel system up all the time. Far as covert gear- that's somebody elses recs. I don't know. Careful with recording covert audio- it may be against the law unless you post the fact you're doing it.

This looks awesome, but I think it's discontinued. Maybe you can find it in stock somewhere though- f3nTyMSldX4

Even better cheap cameras offer better lens isolation than that. I thought you had domes with IR, before reading. I can't believe those are bullets. Whether it's good news or not, you need to take those cameras down and toss them right into the trash. That's the worst bullet IR I've seen. Most will recommend a CNB which is a great choice, but those cameras aren't exactly cheap @ around 165 bucks a pop. For a six camera upgrade, 1k can be hard to swallow. To upgrade to at least a USEABLE inexpensive camera if the budget is tight, I would consider either these from Gadspot- GS907CM @ 50 bucks- 560TVL High Resolution Rugged 1/3" Sony CCD True Day/Night Dome Color Camera with Smart Light Control • 560 TVL with full motion True Day/Night plus color images in low light without ghosting • Provides 3D-Noise Reduction to improve picture clarity while enabling DVRs to improve disk storage utilization • 3-axis for wall for ceiling mounting with flexible angle viewing • Lens: 4mm fixed • The infrared project distance is up to 30 meters (100 ft) • True Day/Night feature • Operation Temperature: -20°C ~ +55°C GS4030SM @ 60 bucks- 650TVL High Resolution Day & Night w/ IR cut filter (removal) CCTV Dome Camera with Smart IR • 650 TVL 1/3" WDS High Res. CCTV Camera • 3.5~8mm Varifocal Lens • Built-in powerful IR LED illuminator • True Day/Night feature with IR cut removable module • Weatherproof (IP66 standard) Good luck.

There are enough times in life when you have to do what someone else says. It's your home and your security. You put that camera where you want. If anyone makes a stink about it, let them know that a camera like this can help keep an eye on the whole block all night long, which keeps EVERYBODY a little safer and more secure. All at zero cost to THEM. So, hang that sucker.

Consider Soundy's advice and sure enough....

Yes to clarify, the hard shut down problem is an isolated problem to my dvr. Once or twice it was slow to come back up after a hard shut down. So I avoid it with a ups in line, which gives me time to get to it.

You mean a dvr card? My dvr is a stand alone unit.

Where to best point cameras is best know the user. However, I would consider full coverage around the house, such as plan one, only because once it's all installed the blind spots start bugging you rather quickly. It's the biggest reason why we residential installers keep adding and tweaking- the quest to see it all with no blind spots. Even the not so needed views that are blind spots just plain bug you. So yes, cover your critical areas for sure. But if you can, eliminate as many blind spots as you can as well. It may keep you off a ladder for a while. Get varifocal cameras. You'll be glad you did. Good luck.

I have my dvr and monitor on the UPS. My dvr doesn't like a hard shut down at all, so when there's an outage I can do a soft shut down, in which case having the monitor to see that bit of navigation is helpful. I also have six cameras on the UPS as well. Doesn't buy me much time, but enough to shut down properly if the outage goes on for a bit. Tell you the truth, it's all hooked up and it doesn't look particularly pretty, like if everything was in a power box, but it works so I leave well enough alone. When I fiddle with things, even for an improvement- it always makes things worse. However, I'd take the advice above over mine, for sure.

So you have to park your car out there too? I might be inclinded to use two cameras actually- if you can do so. One with an appropriate zoom to keep a close eye on the car/street, which looks like it's probably a loitering hangout to me. And a second one to cover the front walk up to the doors- perhaps the one soundy suggested. I assume the houses to the immediate left/right of you aren't yours. In which case yes, above your doors should be ok. The three exterior lights up there may be a bit annoying though. Try to keep the camera in front of them a bit, if you can. If the camera offers WDR and BLC, all the better to help with bright sunshine. Good luck.

PM sent.

A picture of the entrance would help for suggestions.

It might have been a shorter drive to the truck down the street!

You obviously put a bunch of thought into a 1k camera. Do tell what it is?

Most give you resolution choices anyway, so it becomes a matter of preference at that point too. Pick the best setting and roll with it. But if it means getting a large screen only to need a lower resolution to see a decent picture, therefore not utilizing the whole screen anyway...why bother having the large screen. It's the same thing with TV viewing too. In my bedroom where the bed is a ways from the TV, I choose 640x480 res and stretch it just to keep all channels and programming full screen to the 42" screen. I sacrifice high res for that. Other TV's in the house I don't. It's really what floats your boat, personally. Pick a resolution. They should all be an option in a good monitor to try. Or maybe...I'm not listening either!

I must be easy to please. I have a 19" wide screen monitor and everything looks excellent. And when you open a channel up full screen it still looks great, details don't fall apart, and it's LARGE. How much larger do you really need at that point, if you want detail and not just a big old view from across the room or office? I would maybe try a 23" but that's it. A 32" screen is a TV, in my book. Not for cctv viewing, imo. YMMV.

I generally use UPS, but most times I'll see which one is the cheaper way to go. Sometimes USPS wins- and they could use the bucks too. I've never had a bad package via USPS, and never from FedX either. UPS has delivered packages that got screwed up in transit and sometimes, just really DIRTY. Like, I have to wash my hands after handling the package. But FedX can be a pain here in that sometimes they force you to sign for it and won't leave the package if you miss them. That's a pain if you were really home and just missed them. So the choice is yours- any of them can hose a package. It happens. Choose the one the works for YOU mostly. Good luck.

Count me amoung the ebay gamblers at the 650 level, although I got a lot of money off with an ebay coupon and ebay bucks. But still, when it comes to buying from China or Hong Kong on ebay, bet as much as you can afford to lose. So far the camera looks and works excellent with all the options you would expect in a high end ptz. But will it work in a month, 6 months, a year and beyond? That remains to be seen. I have to remain optomistic at this point- I bought the thing. But either way, I'll check in and let you all know. I would recommend anyone here thinking about a ptz- wait to see what members come up with if you can hold out. From my perspective, unless you have a serious need for a ptz camera in a residential system, it's all about the ultimate cctv toy and nothing more really. The thought of controlling the pan/tilt/zoom is very cool. But when that wears off, the camera itself had better offer needed features to help your security beyond fun or cool. Full featured high speed domes do NOT come cheap no matter where you get them. Even if you get a quality ptz at a 300 dollar price point, it will likely be lacking some needed things to make it actually useful in a serious pinch- such as speed for one. The lower the budget for these things, the less they offer. So before you plunk down hundreds or maybe even a grand or more for a brand name ptz, make sure it will serve you beyond the fun of moving it around. Make sure you understand what you want out of such a camera and what you're GETTING out of the one you choose- because a good one will cost you.