mshaffer

If you have a place to put a 8" x 4" x 16" cinder block near ground level, you can mount a camera enclosure to the cinder block so that the camera looks through the middle hole. I've done this before and it works great. If you put it a few inches off the ground, and something large on top of it, like a planter, it's impossible to detect. The only way the camera is detectable is if someone is driving at night and their car headlights point through the cinder block. That's the only reason I took it down.. otherwise it was completely covert.

I just saw the part in your post about being unable to upgrade the firmware. That is another problem we had. Their tech support sent us the newest firmware, in hopes that it would have a color defog. We weren't able to upgrade the firmware. When you log in to the camera, it's supposed to say "firmware update available" or something like that, if you have put the firmware on an SD card in the camera. We put the newest firmware on an SD card and put it in the camera. Then went into the software.. nothing showed up. It doesn't list the files on the camera or anything.

We have been using a Hikvision DS-2CD5085G0 8MP for a couple months. It's not the same exact camera but it's 4K and also a "Dark Fighter" version which is supposed to be especially good at night. Compared to the previous camera, a Sanyo VCC-HD2500, it gave more viewing time during sunrise/sunset. It also helped some at night. But, it didn't turn night into day or anything like that. It was purchased from B&H. One problem we had was that we found out the anti-fog mode only works in black and white. This was important for us and a big let down. When we contacted Hikvision technical support, the person didn't even seem to understand the features of the camera. I thought they would know if the camera had a color defog or black and white, but they didn't. Also, when I called tech support they wouldn't let me talk to a level 2 tech because I wasn't a professional installer. Even though we paid over $500 for the camera. They would only let us email their level 2 tech, who seemed to be Chinese from his writing. Another thing, the camera is called a 4K, but when it's in 4K mode the highest menu setting is 16384kbps. So it's barely 4K. The Youtube Live control center complains that the bandwidth isn't high enough for 4K. So we had to set it at 1440p mode to get it to stream to youtube with smooth video. Compared to the Sanyo VCC-HD2500.. the Sanyo seemed to have a more pleasant picture. Hard to explain since the Sanyo is lower megapixels. The Hikvision just sort of looks grainy. Don't get me wrong, it does look pretty amazing in 4K mode, but the Sanyo seems to have better color and a smoother picture.

I think the command would be ffmpeg -rtsp_transport -i "RTSP URL HERE" -vn -acodec copy output-audio.aac

You could use ffmpeg. Connect to the camera through rtsp with ffmpeg then output the audio to a file.

1) Buy a cheap computer 2) Install teamviewer on computer 3) Set up computer on same LAN as DVR 4) Load DVR software on computer 5) Use teamviewer ID to connect from anywhere with the same login info. Never worry about ip's again.

Hi I have 3 Sanyo VCC-HD2500s that I'm using for an airport live stream on youtube. I'd like to turn on the timestamp but it's not working. I've enabled them in all 3 cameras but it's they don't show up. Does anyone have any ideas? It seems like it should be simple. Is it possible they're only supported in jpg mode and not h264?

Hi, no I still have not been able to get the timestamps to work. I have a Sanyo 2100, 2300 and 2500 and the timestamps don't show up on any of them.

What brand cameras have the best filters for removing fog? I have a good view of the airport, but it's foggy a lot.

I figured out how to get rid of the fog without buying a special camera. I saved a screen capture of the foggy image. Then loaded it in Adobe Photoshop. I then added a "curves" layer and moved the blackness slider to the right a little. This elimiates the fog. Then I save the "curves" layer as a .acv file. Then I load the .acv file into ffmpeg and it applies the color curves to the video. Free and it's easy to customize..

Yes I might be. What models do you have?

I was just able to finally update the firmware on a HD4000. Basically: 1) download the auto-ip update program from the url above. The update version allows you to upgrade the firmware while the previous version of auto-ip does not. 2) using the auto-ip program search for the cameras 3) if the camera appears and is blank in the name field, I called it Sanyo4000. Giving it a name appeared to make a difference, because then the firmware update button was not greyed out anymore. 4) I put the .bin and .hex files in the same folder as the auto-ip program. I also made a folder called vcc-hd4000 and put them in there, since I read on another forum that the auto-ip program is supposed to make a directory for you and you're supposed to put the .bin and .hex files in there. After I ran the search, it did not create the folders, so I did it myself.. not sure if that's why it eventually worked. 5) On the left side it will say "Update available". Click on the update firmware button in the upper right. 6) Wait about 10 minutes. A couple notes that may have influenced my success: I'm using a Windows XP computer that also has .NET 1.1 installed. I have triied vieweing the camera in IE on WIndows 7 and 10, but Windows XP is the only one where the zoom and other buttons work correctly. So updating the firmware might also work better on XP with .NET 1.1. Also, I connected the camera directly to my computer while doing the firmware update. I set my computer's IP to 192.168.0.10 and the camera was 192.168.0.2. Also, make sure you don't have anything else accessing the camera while the firmware is updating.

FYI, this is the latest location of the firmware https://eww.cnw.panasonic.co.jp/security/g/sanyo/certification/index.html

Nevermind, I just borrowed a Nikon 200mm lens and put it in front of the Sanyo VCC-HD2500p, and it works great. I just need to find a tube that will connect the two at the right distance.

I have a webcam going using a Sanyo VCC-HD2500p on an Orion Starblast 4.5 telescope. The problem is the view is too zoomed in. I can't find a telescope with a wider field of view. Is it possible to put a DSLR lens on my camera? The image is very sharp with the telescope but people have complained that it's too zoomed in. Thanks

I'm setting up an analog camera 2000ft from my house and I was going to power it with a solar panel near the camera. I just got the cable though and did a voltage test and it reads 12v through the entire 1000ft spool, using just two of the 24g conductors. So why can't I just run power from my house? For some reason I thought 12v would only go a few hundred feet or something.

Ok I was just looking in my NightOwl DVR, and have an idea. You can set it to record when an alarm is activated. Basically you would just need some kind of separate timer outside the DVR to activate the alarm when you want it to record. I have this timer, I was using it to automate feeding my koi fish.. NP-DTM7D24H (just google that) You would just need to wire the alarm circuit to the timer. Then set the timer to go off when you want.

I've been using Ispy to save a frame every 4 seconds and I can view everything that happens over the whole day by watching a ~10 minute video. It seems really customizable so you might want to try it if you haven't. I'm not sure what the maximum number of scheduled recordings is.

I just installed a camera about 3000' from the house. I would rather of gone with an IP camera but couldn't figure out how to make it work since I couldn't find any ethernet amplifiers that would go that far . I just used an analog camera and an amplifier. It is working pretty well so far.. This website sells a lot of wifi amps etc http://www.l-com.com/content/HyperLinkBrand.html Sounds like you have a lot of money so I would get a directional antenna and a big amp and send the signal back to the house that way.. I'm just a novice though so... you should probably just hire someone, they could answer these questions a lot faster in person by being able to see what is actually there etc.

Another thing I agree with the other poster with putting the cameras on the lower corners. If you put them high up it will be harder to see people's faces, plus it will make cleaning the lenses harder. It sucks going into your DVR to see what the latest motion detections have been and seeing hundreds of megabytes of spider webs blowing around.

BTW those eaves will make great places to mount the cameras. They'll be protected from weather and will be pretty hidden. This is pretty obvious but they sell cameras in either white, black, gray, etc so you might want to get ones that match the eaves. Guess that's probably pretty obvious though..

One thing I wish I did differently was to install separate IR illuminators. Those cameras with the IR LED's around the lens don't really light things up well at a distance, at least not the ones I installed. Plus the IR LED's attract bugs which will fly right in front of the camera and set off the motion detection in your DVR. Best thing would be to install IR sensitive cameras but put the IR flood lights away from the cameras. At least that's what I would try if I had to do it over again.

If I were going to do my system over I'd also buy one power supply unit for all the cameras.. it gets to be a mess around the DVR..

I don't mean to sound like a B&H salesperson, but if you go on their site and browse a bunch, you'll get a feel for what is out there. You can order from Amazon or something if you want. B&H just has things really well organized and they have reviews too.

Marshall Electronics VS-WC363 is a good quality 700TVL dome camera.