PeteCress

Motion settings only through web GUI ? that lame what do u do when u have 40-50 or more cameras kinda sucks I just finished reading an ACTi .pdf on controlling the camera via HTML commands. I can't command enough detail to say for sure, but I'd bet a few bucks that at least some motion settings could be controlled that way.

Which install did you use? I got a little case of mind-bog looking at the CD's directory. Server v2.3.01 . Workstation v2.3.01 . Professional v2.3.01 So far, I am favorably impressed with their documentation.... but I must have missed the explaination of what the various installs do.

Which version of Exacq are you using? For sixty bucks, I could rationalize trying "Start" just to see if there is any improvement. BI looked good for me (still doesn't look all that bad considering the price..) bco the support fora. But, unless I'm missing something, the web presentation leaves a lot tb desired. I haven't dug through Exacq's feature sets for the various versions yet, but a browser-based presentation for multiple concurrent users is a "Must"....

I started out thinking more is better rez-wise, but experience so far has been that 1280x1024 is really about the max when it comes to bandwidth. I tried my new 5311 at max rez and found, even just running locally, a 20+ second delay between something being in front of the camera and actually seeing it via Blue Iris. Right now, I'm running it at 1280x720 and the delay is minimal. At 640x480, of course, the delay is imperceptible. I have to wonder if I am doing something dumb LAN-wise. Does anybody else use BI with higher-rez cams?

Bingo... It seems tb an artifact of something to do with night. Re-focuses a-ok now that it's daylight. The owner of the biz where this cam is going tb installed would not buy in to a full PTZ cam.... but just the zoom/auto-focus on this one has me lusting again for a full PTZ...

Worked... Thanks! I even doped out the numbers at bottom of the web user's screen being the presets. Only thing I see so far is that, at night as it is now, the cam is not auto-refocusing and I had to open up the cam directly and click Live | PTZ | Refocus. Tomorrow we'll see if that's just an artifact of low light and/or night mode.

The cam actually came with a 12v adapter - and instructions on how to hook it up. The whole schmeer was $577 ($551 for the cam from CTI plus $26 for a bracket from B&H Photo. Can somebody explain to me why I layed out $914 for a Sony SNC-CH260 last year? I don't know that much, and I haven't given the ACTi a thorough workout yet. Having said that, what I have seen so far beats the Sony hands-down: there's just no comparison. Maybe something to do with durability? Or was it just stupidity on my part? Right now, I'm trying to get it working under Blue Iris. Got a pic, but no zoom capability...

That video pretty much sold me on the cam. It arrives Monday... but the POE switch won't get here until more like Friday...

That's it then. I order it today - as soon as I can get a warm fuzzy feeling about one of the vendors. I'll get the recommended "Building" bracket too - although I suspect I will be reverting to something more stable..... theirs looks kind of long tb hanging out there in 45 mph wind gusts. The 5611 looks to me like a good night-time critter cam and I'm thinking about one for the back yard - maybe in conjunction with a couple of those separate motion-sensitive floods that people around here typically have above their garage doors. My experience so far with IR has been that it's not really adequate for decent detail/motion without very expensive supplemental IR. Also, that little ring of glowing red spots seems to scream "Here I am: steal me!".... Edit 2012 08-01 1220: Just fired off the order to CTI: $551, no shipping, no tax. Same outfit I ordered my Sony SNC-CH260 from. Had a 'problem' with the camera and they were responsive and did the right thing. Quotes bc it was really RCI on my part, but it CTI handled it well.

Well, it's turning out the way I expected: a *lot* less simple than somebody like me who knows nothing would think. That being the case, I'm thinking "zoom" in a camera that's already designed for same. This one is looks like it has possibilities: http://tinyurl.com/d43y24m (Acti 35x Zoom: KCM-5311E) Going price seems tb in the mid-top-upper five hundreds. My reasoning is that with 35x zoom, there has tb a sweet spot in there somewhere and all I have to do is find it. It's overkill in that I will never use the two-way audio or IR night vision. The 15fps frame rate is more than will ever be used considering my bandwidth constraints. Other than that, would anybody care to comment?

The distinction between Manual and Auto Iris lenses is starting to dawn on me. But it would seem that, for an Auto Iris lens I would need a cam that has whatever it takes to drive it. But do I really want Auto? I'm thinking maybe not bc this cam is only useful during daylight hours and it seems possible that a single manual setting might accomodate the variation in light between full sun and overcast - if not with professional photographic quality, at least well enough to see if windsurfers are planing or not. Have I got it right so far? Either way, what am I missing here: Auto-Iris $60: http://tinyurl.com/c59czl4 Manual-Iris $165: http://tinyurl.com/c97h7gd Seems backwards on the face of it - which tells me that there's something I don't know.