MaxIcon

A good bet for power supplies is ebay. I usually buy ones rated for higher current than needed, as many of the Chinese supplies will fail in a few years if run too close to their spec. The manual shows this: 18 Watts (center positive 12 VDC), 2.1 mm pin-type female. If this is the standard 2.1x5.5mm connector that's a de facto standard on CCTV gear, there will be lots of them out there. So, a 12V, 2A (24W) supply would be a good bet. If you can find one with the right connector, so much the better, or you can connect up the right plug yourself. All the cables look pretty standard - RJ11, DB37, BNC, S-video. Most of these can be bought from someone like monoprice.com. I usually don't trust ebay for inexpensive cables unless I'm familiar with the vendor selling them, as you can get some real junk there.

I'll second the Panavise mounts if you don't need something super-strong/vandalproof. They're very flexible, reasonably sturdy, and not too expensive. I used to need to mount cameras in a variety of settings, and some combo of Panavise parts nearly always filled the bill.

One possibility for the blue tint would be to remove some of the residual visible red in the 850 nM LEDs. The output spectrum from most inexpensive IR LEDs overlaps into the visible, as CCTV_Tech said, giving that dull cherry glow. If you filtered that part out, you'd lose some of the output power from the LEDs, but you'd also make them less visible when on. Not all cameras are sensitive to the invisible 950 nM wavelength LEDs, and the 950 nM illumination devices tend to be a good bit more expensive, based on what I've seen recently. As for alerting the criminal, that's a 2 edged sword. Many criminals are deterred by obvious video monitoring (meaning they go elsewhere to commit their crimes, not give it up), but if they're specifically targeting a location, they can take precautions if they know video is present (like masks and spray paint for the lens).

That looks pretty good for a relatively inexpensive 4ch encoder. I've been looking at those, but hadn't heard too much about them. Can you get the 4 video streams independently from a browser, or do you have to use the Grandstream app? I'm not sure how well the current NVRs support this brand if you don't have the video streams directly available. I've switched several of my analog cams to 1MP Vivoteks (IP8332 and FD8134), and the quality improvement is dramatic, while night performance is still pretty good due to ambient lighting and the built-in IR. They have a pretty good set of options and controls for the money. I've also got a 5MP Arecont 5100M, but it's pretty weak in the options department, and isn't as flexible as the Vivoteks so far. It's been a bit unstable, too. I'm thinking about a 4ch encoder to switch my other analog cams over to all-IP, but it would need to be flexible enough to work with the systems I'm looking at using (currently NV5000 or Blue Iris, neither of which supports Grandstream, I believe).

OK, I've tried a few apps for iPhone remote control and view of my setup (dedicated PC with NV5000, 5 IP cams (3 on the NV5000), Samsung standalone 4ch DVR, 4 analog cams (one twinned to the NV5000), and here's how it looks to me: Aver apps: AverViewer i-Viewer, DSS iViewer - AverViewer appears to be the newer of the two; both have similar functionality, interface, and setup, but AverViewer has some UI improvements like being able to touch a quad window and switch to the single window. Both crashed a lot. Plus: Free, faster frame rate than others, simple, easy to set up, can view recordings from DVR Minus: Not too stable, no flexibility in camera setup and grouping/viewing, no zoom, recordings stream very slowly (maybe due to my mediocre phone net), no local recording capability (just snapshots), mediocre image quality, can't view cams the NV5000 doesn't support. IP Cam Viewer Pro: A very nice little IP cam app Plus: Inexpensive (free version available), stable, nice user interface, very flexible in camera views and groupings, lots of camera setup options, supports many cams, PTZ support, records locally, good image quality Minus: IP cams only, slower frame rate, no access to cam's onboard recordings VNC: Remote control and view for the host PC Plus: Can be inexpensive, lots of versions available, can be very stable, very flexible, allows direct control of PC for access to all setup and control options, recordings, export, file copy, you name it, excellent image quality, lets me view my Samsung DVR remote console that's running on the PC as well Minus: Can be tricky to learn to use, can be more expensive, no local snapshot (except screen grab) or recording. For casual viewing, I'm mostly using IP Cam Viewer. Works great, easy to use, shows what's going on. If I want to see recordings (not too often), the Aver app does OK, except when it crashes, and viewing recordings is slooow. For overall control and quality (especially from a remote PC on a LAN instead of a phone), a VNC setup is hard to beat, since it lets me run everything.

Thanks, I'll check that out. I'm still just denting the surface on this. I don't know the differences in the T and non-T cards. Aver doesn't have anything I've found, and the spec sheets are different enough that it's hard to compare them. I should try their support and see what they say. This is the thing that's got me sticking with the NV5000, for all its limitations - being able to remotely manage both analog and IP, as well as viewing the recordings, all in one place. I also like the ability to VNC in to the pc to do the stuff the phone apps won't support. If I had the cash, I'd switch to all IP and not look back. It's getting cheaper and more powerful every year, though.

Current NV5000 specs show all 4 channels at 5 MP each. This is for the NV5000T card, and I don't know how that's different from the plain NV5000, if at all. I've been running a 5MP Arecont AV5000 on channel 4, and it seems to handle it fine, but I'm keeping the frame rate down to under 8 fps. I've found most of the features by browsing the setup options, and just go to the manual for more detailed explanations. Some online help on these things would be a nice touch.

I'll throw in another $.02 worth in on this. I'm just a simple home user and engineer on a budget, without the expertise all the pros here have (thanks to all for the education!), but here's my outlook. Long post... sorry! I've run midrange standalone analog DVRs for years, and I like them a lot. Plug and play, ignorable, always there when you need them, as long as your HD doesn't die. I spend too much time fiddling with technology as it is, so this has always worked well. However, the vendors usually quit updating them after not too long, so you get limited firmware updates once they move on to newer models. In my price range, the video quality has always been decent but not great, even at max quality and resolution. Exporting video can be a pain, the software and file systems tend to be proprietary, and you're stuck with their search capabilities, good or bad. They definitely don't have the flexibility of PC based systems, and all mine have quirky network access, being some years old at this point (newer ones are much better, I'm sure). I wanted to go to more cameras with better resolution while keeping my existing analog setups, and started shopping hybrid DVRs, so this forum is always the first stop to find out what's going on there. I like the sound of the Nano hybrid, but it seems a little limited in its IP cam support. You never find the warts in a system until you've taken it for a spin around the block, and a good hybrid 8 channel DVR can be a bit pricey, as are the more powerful cards. So, more resolution - IP cams make a ton of sense, despite their drawbacks. I stumbled on some good deals on used Vivoteks (I know, the pros hate them, but they really shine next to my old analog cams, some of which are very good) and on a NV5000 card, and happened to have a PC that works with it. I got a video extender card, for 8 channels total (0-4 IP and the remaining analog), though with lower frame rate and software compression only, which lets me split my cameras from my current system to the NV5000. I can add a second card for a little over $200 that will give me back my frame rates and more IP cams, though I'd probably need a faster PC then, and the price advantage goes out the door. The Digi NV software is really pretty durn good, so far, especially compared to a standalone's capability. Free with the card, no license fees, pretty good support, semi-regular updates, and inexpensive for the capabilities (since the PC was a sunk cost). I can see all the IP cams using their native browser support (Quicktime based for the Vivos, rather than ActiveX), connect to them through the web via IP Cam Viewer, connect to the NV5000 software on other PCs either through the browser support (on IE) or their remote console, most of which has run for days on end with no problems, and maybe use 3rd party software as well. I haven't tried their iPhone software yet, but it should be pretty straightforward. The multitude of connection options is pretty compelling, and even if the NV5000 PC goes down, I can still view my IP cams (which are recording on internal SD cards as well). In fact, that's one of the downsides of the PC/IP based systems - too many choices! I'll be months figuring out all the capabilities and limitations of the software and hardware at the rate I'm going. Luckily, they've got really extensive documentation. The biggie, though, is that my standalone Samsung SVR440, like the Sony before it, runs for years with no intervention, and I can't believe any PC system will ever do that. For now, I'm viewing and recording a bunch of cameras, analog and IP, and can switch configurations and layouts without going into the garage and messing with BNCs or network jacks. Maybe old hat to the pros with the high-end gear, but for me, it's like a wondrous buffet of stuff. It's a budget system, mostly used - not everybody's bag, I'm sure, but it's been a very good set of upgrades for me. I'm looking for an affordable hybrid DVR as an alternative, but that's another thread...

It's a hybrid card. The basic version supports 4 cameras, any mix of analog and IP, through the PC and their free software. You can leave the analog input connected and switch back and forth between them if you want. There's a pretty big list of supported cams, though they don't support my Y-cam, an inexpensive network camera. My 1 MP Vivoteks run in both Onvif and native, and it handles my 5 MP Arecont pretty well so far. No license fees, which I'm pretty happy with. I haven't tried the iphone app for it yet, but will in the next few days. The software seems pretty powerful and stable, but I haven't used a lot of non-dedicated systems yet to compare it to - I've always been a dedicated DVR user. The remote console works well for me, and is also stable. I don't know if any of the other software systems support it or not. I've been pleased with mine, but I already had the PC, so the cost was low for the capability. It could use a higher horsepower CPU, though. There are a few downsides - you need a PC (dedicated is best), the cards can be finicky about what they run on, and like anything PC, you can spend a lot of time fiddling with it. It's limited to 5 MP per card (though it hasn't complained at my 7 MP so far), and it's PCI, which is a bit outdated. The PCI-e versions may be more powerful - I don't know much about them. In general, most PC systems will be less stable than a dedicated system, but are more flexible, especially about where you save to. I'm really liking IP, POE, and the ability to see the cameras from anywhere on the network or internet.

I've had good luck using Dorgem to record webcams. Free, reasonably full featured for what it is, and has been reliable for me in some time-lapse projects I've done. I haven't used it on HD webcams, just the regular VGA res stuff. Looks like the author has discontinued it (always a risk with freeware), but the last version is still available at sourceforge.

A bit outside your request, but the Digimedia NV5000 hybrid capture card doesn't charge a license fee for IP cams, and it has a pretty big list of supported brands. You can connect up to 4 ip cams per card and 2 cards per box, though it lists a 5MP max per card. I've got one running 2 Vivotek IP8134 (1MP ea) and 1 Arecont AV5100M (5MP) right now, and it's a bit slow due to the low power P4 3GHz PC it's in, but it's reading and recording all the cams fine. They're mostly running lower frame rates, though (to help manage the CPU load), and the card's PCI only. They have PCI-E cards, but I'm not familiar with them.

Firefox will work with many ActiveX cameras/DVRs by using the IE emulator addon. Google firefox ie addon to see what's available. Yes, it's a pain, but it gives some alternative solutions if whatever version of IE you're using causes trouble. I've also found that some ActiveX cams require the http:// in front of the ip address, while others won't work if it's there. It's a mess, and there's a lot to be said for avoiding anything that specs IE as a requirement.

I've got pretty limited experience with NVRs, having just started testing them, but what I found with the bundled software on the NV5000 hybrid card is that recording IP cams doesn't require a lot of CPU power, but displaying them does. With 3 1MP IP cams and an analog cam, I can display any single camera view with pretty low load, but if I put up all 4 in a quad window, the load jumps way up. Makes sense, since displaying the video requires decoding it, which puts a lot of CPU load on an older system. I'd also assume that the design and implementation of the codec would have a lot to do with the PC horsepower required, too, and you'd expect the high-end vendors to have better coding in their modules.

I've got some Sony DC54A cams; same thing but with a slightly different feature set. It's a great camera from its day, and they were pricey back then ($700 or so new). It'll perform very well with a good lens, and is pretty flexible for old-school analog, with a variety of auto exposure spots selectable, for instance. However, it's not a true day/night camera, so if you need night performance, you'll need good lighting. it's pretty good in low light due to the 1/2" ccd, but would be marginal for LPR if the conditions aren't ideal (true of most analog cams). I recently replaced mine with a lower-end 1MP IP cam (Vivotek IP8332), and the daytime performance is dramatically better, as would be expected. License plates are far easier to read (though I'm not using it for that specifically). Nighttime performance on the IP8332 isn't good for that, though, as the noise and resolution suffer at night, and the built-in IR washes out the numbers due to the IR reflection from the plate body. Plus, it's a good bit more expensive than a used DC50/54 should be.

The extra connector is for camera power. The camera should be marked with what it takes (typically 12Vdc or 24Vac, sometimes both), and may have come with a small power supply with a matching connector. Be sure the PS you plug in matches the power requirements marked on the camera. You should be getting a signal to the VGA monitor from the recorder whether there's a camera connected or not. Typically, you'll get some boot up screens showing the manufacturer's logo or whatever, then something like "Video Loss", and you should be able to go through the menus. Check the manual to make sure the recorder is set up for VGA output.

Here's Intel's compatability page for this mb: http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d845gerg2/sb/cs-020076.htm According to them, you can use up to a 3.06GHz cpu at 533 FSB if your BIOS is up to date. Looks like you can pick these CPUs up on ebay for $15 or so if you re-use your existing heatsink and fan. Be sure you get the mPGA478 version, as that's what your socket is, and there are other P4 3.06 chips with different sockets. This'll give you a fair bit of improvement over your 2.4GHz cpu for a small price, especially if your old FSB was 400MHz, but it won't be magic. Your hard drive interface and memory bus are still older, slower technology. If you want to keep expenses low, it's hard to go wrong with this approach. Likewise, if your CPU speed limited you before, this will buy some breathing room. Much more of an upgrade would require new memory, MB, cpu, and possibly power supply.

Did you install the Vivotek software as well? On my older PC, their software had some background processes running at boot time that ate up a bunch of CPU and really slowed things down. After disabling them, things picked up quite a bit.

Assuming you really need a switch and not a router, there are lots of them out there. 100MB POE switches are pretty inexpensive, while GB switches are a bit more expensive. A couple of things to watch for: - Don't assume all ports supply POE, especially on the less expensive switches. Sometimes 4 ports on an 8 port switch will be POE for cost savings. - Don't assume that all ports supply full power at all times. Some switches will supply full power to the first 4 ports, then reduced power if you use more ports, or similar. This can be especially important if you're running cameras with IR or heaters, which increase the load when on. - Corporate grade switches often handle both the power and data loads of multiple IP cams better than consumer grade switches, but they're more expensive. You can sometimes find good deals on older models on ebay, but it's good to check reviews before buying, as below. Best bet for finding a good value is to go to newegg, drill down to switches, and go to Narrow Results on the left hand side. Click More Options, and select POE - Yes from the dropdown boxes. Then sort by Best Rating, find one that appears to fit your needs and budget, and start reading the feedback. Amazon is a good place to read more feedback, but their search and sort functions are terrible compared to Newegg's. Reading the feedback is an excellent way to avoid some of the noob pitfalls that you normally wouldn't figure out until after you hooked it up.

I'll take it, if it's still available. PM sent!

Not all have this, and the ones that do may differ in how they control and what protocols they support. You'd have to check the manual to know for sure. I've recently started using the Samsung Techwin SVR-440 4 channel DVR, and it supports PTZ using the Samsung SPD, Pelco D, and SRX protocols. I don't have any PTZ cameras, though, so I can't tell you how well it works...

I've looked all over (including Geo's site), and can only find the specs for the 320x240 recording speed (120 FPS NTSC). I'm assuming the full-resolution 720x480 speed is around 1/4 that, or 30 FPS total, but I can't find any documentation that verifies this. Can someone tell me for sure, or point me to more complete specs? Thanks!

Thanks for the link to the recent discussion and the realworld experience. I'm not necessarily after full speed D1, but I do want to know how slow the GV-800 will go with 4 cameras at full res. I'm a bit surprised GV doesn't give the complete specs - that's one of the things that differentiates the better vendors from the worse ones in my book.

Thanks! I thought it was a Liteon security recorder! I hadn't considered using one of these - I'll have to think through this one. You'd lose a lot of flexibility in frame rate, time stamp and such, but I can imagine the image quality is quite good.

What model LiteOn is that? I didn't know they made that type of recorder! max

I've got a dozen or so Sony HSR-X200 DVRs that I use to monitor equipment operation, and I need to buy a couple more DVRs. The Sonys appear to be discontinued, and I'd like something a bit more modern anyway. The Sonys are single-channel MJPEG recorders (here are the specs - http://www.123securityproducts.com/newsondigrec.html), and have worked fine for a few years now, but getting video off of them is a big pain, as it needs to be copied to a flash card, which is really slow. They've got an embedded web server, but it's a bit primitive. This is the only DVR I've used, so I've only got limited experience. I'd appreciate any advice on what would be a good brand/model to replace these with, as well as any vendor recommendations. I'm in Silicon Valley. The budget is around $800-1200 each, and here's some detail on the application. - Single channel is fine, but a 4 channel would be better if it would fit in the budget, as some of the equipment uses 2 cameras. - Frame resolution needs to be 720x480, and good quality is important. - 10-15 IPS is what we typically use now. - 24-48 hours on the HD is good. I can add HDs later, as the budget recovers, so smaller is OK initially if there's room for a second. - Networked, but only for limited use. There wouldn't be constant 'net monitoring. - Plug'n'forget is critical - no PC based systems, must be very stable. - Easy data copying would be nice - USB, CDR, or similar. - Continuing recording while viewing/copying is critical - triplex, or whatever. - They run full time, 24x7 - no alarms/motion detectors. - An archive area on the HD would be very useful. The Sonys have this, but I don't know how common it is. I've tried to research a bit (how I found this great site), but it's making my head spin. I found a Samsung that sounded good - http://www.samsung.com/Products/DVRs/StandaloneDVR/DVRs_StandaloneDVR_SHR_2040.asp - but it's Samsung GVI, which doesn't seem too popular with the regulars here. Anyhow, I really appreciate any help and advice. Max [/url]