Razer_SE

Recording to local drives on the machines. Depending on the cameras on the DVR from 1tb to 3tb. IP cameras all use MD on the cameras. In exacq when you set the motion window in the client it actually sets the window in the camera, not locally. All motion on analog cameras is handled by exacq software of course.

You do not need much in the way of a computer to run the Exacq software at all really. I just VNC'd into a few of my servers to give you a better idea of the usage in the systems. My first system was running 23 cameras, 8 IP and the rest analog. One 4MP camera and 7 1.3MP cameras. It was running a quad screen rotation of all cameras. Processor is an i3 in these with 2gb of ram. Processor usage was 4% and would peak at around 10% during actual rotation to the next 4 cameras. This is a prebuilt system from them. The systems I'm building are really reusing older DVRs that we are moving away from. These are a couple of years old, Pentium Dual Core systems with 2GB of ram. The one I looked at was an e5500 processor. There are 5 1.3MP cameras. At these locations we do not run the client software usually, just let it run as a service in the background. Sitting as they normally do it runs at 4% processor usage, pretty stable. If I open the client and set it to a six camera view so I can see all 5 at once it runs about 45% processor usage. All of these are also running the web service in the background too. If I connect to the older system in the office and rotate via local client on one PC, connect via the web page on another PC, and VNC in and open the client on yet another PC I can average 80% usage and see spikes close to 100%, but that is not normal usage at all. That is with the older dual core, the i3 handles that all much better.

Question for you all. I have a need for a camera that will be installed in a Kiosk and look out at the user, like how ATM cameras work. Currently they are using analog cameras and want to be able to switch to IP so my IP only DVRs can record the video, plus I want the quality of at least a megapixel. It would have to be very small though. Anyone know where to start looking for a camera for this type of use?

I actually had not thought of using an encoder at all, that would work great for about 45 of my kiosk locations as they are outputting analog already. Only issue there is that I have hybrid DVRs at these locations. The new locations I'm working on now currently are using basically a webcam, it is usb out only and records via the kiosk software. No way I know of to make those work. These locations are the ones I need most as my DVR is IP only, no way to connect analog. If I use the same camera as my other locations it outputs analog and USB though, then I could use an encoder. Have to see how that could work. Lighting is really not an issue, I can install whatever I need for lighting and the locations are like a phone booth for lack of a better mental image. It has a roof and three walls, only open at the front where you enter. We can install light right overhead, and the distance we need it to work at is only about 2-3 feet. Plus you have the 15" screen a couple of inches below lighting up the faces.

While a truly awesome solution, the cost is too high for my needs. I wish there was an M24 version. The locations are well lit at the kiosk so there is no need for a night mode. Still, that is exactly the type of thing I'm looking for, thank you for the link thewireguys! I do see some people selling the devkit that is apparently just parts, but nothing appears to really get much cheaper. I have just found the Arecont Compact series, at 3 inches wide, 2.5 high and only 1.25 deep it mat be about as small as I can expect. IQinvision has the 5 series which seems close, but they may have discontinued it as it is not on their site at all now, the places you find it link back to the home page. Going to read reviews on the Arecont ones now.

We'll only upgrade for a year or two most likely, then let them go until they die. At 5-6 or more years old or more it's better to replace them at that point for us anyway. Then you get a fresh three years of warranty and software and such. You can also get discounts for buying in bulk so it's not too bad.

Yikes. I know that when you get a hybrid server now you get three years right off the bat and that is good for 8 IP cameras. For the servers I get with 16 analog inputs the extra years ore only $300 retail which is not bad at all for us anyway. That includes the 8 IPs it shipped with. The cost of a single cheap IP camera, so we are okay with paying that. Then you pay for each IP camera over 8. I'm up to 22 separate hybrid servers in service here now and I only have 30 to go or so. Another 20ish are IP only so I'm building those myself and just purchasing the licenses.

Quick question - I have a run at one location that is much too long for CAT5 so I looked and chose the Veracity Highwire Powerstar to use the existing coax when I upgraded to a new camera. That was about 35 days ago and the Powerstar units have gone bad already, I'd say they lasted three to four weeks before dying. I get no power lights at all on the base or the remote. While I'm trying to get them to respond so I can get them replaced, are there other options that might work better and or be cheaper? I found that I had to use power anyway as the powerstar could not deliver enough power, so the camera is not using POE (camera is ACTi 5211E) it is just wired directly using the Siamese wire already there. So if POE is not an issue, what other options should I be looking at? Run is about 600 feet long. I'm hoping the short life of this set was a fluke, but as it was my first go around with Veracity I'm not feeling so good about them now. Hoping for a fluke though!

Wow, great timing as I finally heard from them just now. Both base and camera unit tested bad like I knew they would, but strange that both quit. The best part? They are out, and backordered. Estimated wait time is two weeks! That is amazing.

Thanks for the additional information and links, I may bee looking for another solution if the replacement breaks as quickly as the first. Also as an update I am still awaiting my replacement devices, it took about forever to get an RMA number, I shipped 5 days ago about 2 minutes after getting the RMA and I'm still waiting. The camera will be down a full month before all this is over with at this rate. Unacceptable customer service so far from Veracity, that alone will make me look elsewhere next time. I had to fill out a two page questionnaire and email it in and then they looked over it for two days before giving me an RMA. Good times lol!

You should be glad they posted some models and info and such as I'd never heard of you but now that I have I'm interested in seeing more of what you have to offer in cameras specifically. I will be in contact soon, I have need for quite a few cameras. I have about 700+ older cameras all told now, moving some to IP but others will stay analog.

Sorry for the delay, but yes it is fanless. I just got two more of them in yesterday so I opened one up just to double check a few minutes ago to be sure. Great switch for the money if you need managed. There is also a high power version of the switch, but so far I've never needed the extra power for the cameras I'm using. I think it has an MP at the end of the part number but I'm not positive.

Thank you both, I appreciate the links a lot. I;ll take a look and see if there is something else I should try. I thought I'd picked pretty well with the HighWire units and they worked great, were easy to install and such, until they just flat stopped. Kind of a big deal lol. Now I have had no success in getting a reply from them either, so that's not promising either.

For my smaller installs where I only need 4 cameras I use the ZyXEL ES1100-8P switch. It's only about $60 on amazon or wherever and it has been working great for me. My only wish would be that the indicator lights and the cables be on the same side, but whatever. For $60 I'm not going to nitpick too bad lol. 64 watt output is it's rating, I've used it with four cameras with no issues, but they are not real high power draw cameras either. Not replaced one as of yet and I have installed about 20 of them now. http://us.zyxel.com/Products/details.aspx?PC1IndexFlag=20040520161143&CategoryGroupNo=C6CF889E-2F7B-4CE4-B569-F87B1611773A http://www.amazon.com/ZyXEL-ES1100-8P-8-Port-Ethernet-Unmanaged/dp/B005GRETPO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336663087&sr=8-1 If I need 8 POE ports I use the Cisco 300 series switch, great price and performance and not had one fail yet. About $260 but a lot of options and a big step up form the one I use above. In some cases though I'll use two of the cheaper switches as they can basically do the same thing for $120 or so less. Managed is sure nice though, but I have other options for remote power cycling and such so I don't need it every time. http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-SF-302-08P-SRW208P-K9-NA-Managed/dp/B004496TFS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336663435&sr=1-1

Quick question, I've installed easily over 60 of the 8332 cameras now and had zero issues. Yesterday two out of the five cameras that worked great in the shop were messed up after install. The hue is off, and off badly. On the latest 1.09 firmware they are all pink or rose colored everywhere. I rolled back to an older 1.04 firmware and they are all grey, looks almost black and white except that blue shows up perfectly. I know this is hue being out of whack, but I've never seen a hue adjustment anywhere. It not software related as it looks the same in the camera as in does in software, and the firmware change will adjust it. Is it just two cameras that are bad, or have I just never seen the correct adjustment in the camera? Kind of funny, but I need to get it fixed lol. Thanks for any suggestions!

FYI - Changing back to 1.04 made a huge difference in my night quality, I think I'm just going to make sure they all go out with 1.04 on them and call it done as they work fine there. Other than this first issue I've never had the first hint of trouble with the 8332 cameras, I love them. I'm hoping there will be some others coming at around $300 that can compete at some point. The ACTi TCM-1111 is the closest so far, I actually like that one fine too though there is some firmware roughness yet that a couple of updates should fix. Took me forever to get a good night picture, but now that they are working well I may eventually move to them. Had to turn down the night mode exposure target a ton, but now they are working great for me.

Thanks for the replies, I was pretty sure there was no adjustment but thought I'd ask. I also noticed that night quality was horrible on the 1.09 firmware after reviewing footage from last night so I rolled the worst one back to 1.04 and will see how that looks tomorrow. Not sure what went wrong on the two cameras, they were perfect in the office when I got them ready, but once up they are both doing the exact same things. Going to replace them I guess, I have more here ready so no big deal.

For what it is worth I have used a flip type of camera as a survielance camera with great results. This was a similar camera, but not the actual flip brand. 1080p, and I think it was $119. I connected it with the composite out to a coax cable via an adapter and connected it that way. Not recording in HD then, but I was just needing a basic shot and had it handy so I connected it to try. I worked for 2.5 years and was still working the last time I saw it. The only issue it ever had was the flip out screen went bad, all covered in lines, but it still streamed video just fine. The picture was definitely better than most cheap analog cameras though both day and night, though no IR ability. This was indoor use btw. That said, for $300 or so the Vivotek ip8332 is worlds better and works great so why bother with a flip nowadays? I wish for more MP like everyone else, but it's going slow. I have 16mp on my phone now, 16mp! I know there has to be a huge margin in the cameras, the parts do not add up to the cost by any means. It is what it is until someone turns it on it's head though. End the end most of the profit goes back into R&D and such I assume and there is some real long term support you are getting too, or at least hopefully getting. I would still like to see 4mp in the range of today's 1mp prices and 8-12mp as the real high end units. Gonna be a while though lol.

Did you try compatibility mode to see if that works? I have some DVRs that will not work in IE9 unless you click on the icon in the address bar that looks like torn paper, right beside the stop and refresh buttons in the address bar. Once I do that they work fine, other wise you get nothing, or badly distorted login pages.

I have camera mounts I'm using now, but they are the standard 10", or 250mm or so, mounts used for enclosures usually. I'm putting up a lot of IP cameras now and they are much smaller of course, they look kind of silly with a smaller IP camera on them sticking out so far from the walls. I need a mount that is like 6" long or so, roughly half as big a normal. Using them to mount Vivotek ip8332 cameras mostly, but there are some ACTi cameras too. Cost is a factor, I'll be getting a couple hundred at the least in the end, so cheaper cost is better in this case. Any suggestions on something that will fit the bill? Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions all. I think the biggest issue is that most mounts have a single attachment screw, I need two screws like an outdoor mount for an enclosure, but just not so long. I'm hoping what I ordered from the description will work for our needs. I'm also hoping that they are sturdy because I get wind moving my cameras now, enough to set off motion at times and a better mount will hopefully cut that down some. A lot has to do with mounting to metal buildings that do not have that much support to begin with behind the metal.

Not exactly lol. I'm well aware of how to use google-fu, I was just having no luck at the smaller mounts specifically with two mounting holes and for outdoor use. I was able to find a mount that should work, I ordered 35 of them a few minutes ago and I'll see if they do the trick. Most of the smaller mounts are the cheap-o stinky single screw mounts, much like what comes with the Vivotek cameras already and they are not good enough.

I have to agree, I have one of these alongside a couple of ACTi 5211e cameras and the Vivotek 8332 cameras and everything looks better than the 8362. The 8332 actually looks better than the 8362 and by a large margin too. Every time someone looks at the cameras they think the 8332 is 2mp and the 8362 is 1mp. That said, the ACTi camera mentioned in that price range would be much better, but they do have weak IR on those models but in my case lighting is good enough that I do not even have mine switching to night mode in most cases.

The long time to connect issue is just that it defaults to 300 seconds to attempt to reconnect, set to to 5 seconds or whatever and you should be fine. If it misses the first connection, or you've power cycled the cameras too and they are not fully up then you wait five more minutes before it even tries again at default settings. I set mine to 10-15 seconds and have had no issues. Why the default is five minutes is beyond me, they should adjust that for sure.

I have seen this reported before, and it is usually a AV camera. I am running 10 Exacq servers now and have had no issues at all with Vivotek and ACTi cameras. I have hears of AV cameras having issues with lots of VMS so I have never really considered them. Might try downgrading the firmware to whatever Exacq recommends, and I'd also lower the reconnection time on the Exacq software from the default 300 seconds I think it is to something lower so if you do power cycle it will reconnect faster.