voip-ninja

That might be worth a shot. I don't get the impression that there are many Milestone experts here, but you are right, perhaps worth a shot to ask the question in a new thread.

OK thanks. I would post a question in the Milestone forums but they are locked down from new users. Not a ringing endorsement of their support capability.

what pricing are you getting direct? http://www.techcctv.com Your pricing looks good! Do you guys offer any support on Milestone? I'm playing with the demo version and have a couple of fairly minor problems I'm trying to sort out. If I purchase it I would need to resolve them. Thanks.

I have never gotten any flack from the neighbors with my four domes on the outside of the house. Interestingly the only time a neighbor has asked me for "footage" was when her garbage can went missing on trash pickup day. Reviewing the motion detection footage demonstrated that it slid down the incline on the street during a hail storm.

OK guys, thanks for the info. The most distressing thing was that Synology must have set these options up for recording because those recordings play fine from the Synology web server. They do not however play on anything else, and since they don't play on the mobile devices I have (even via Synology's app) the recordings are useless to me. Fortunately the other MPEG4 option for the Samsungs seems to be more flexible, I can get those to play back in my other devices. Thanks for all of the info.

Does anyone know of special tools/filters for playing back odd MP4 surveillance videos? I recently tried switching all of my CCTV camera recording profiles (using Surveillance Station) to H.264. The videos seem to record properly and they play back within Surveillance Station tools properly, but if I download them to a desktop on Windows or Mac OS the video just shows a small horizontal color bar when played... like a filter, etc, is missing. I observe when looking at the recording parameters for H264 that the Samsung camera has been set to; Codec - H264 "Default Profile" ATC mode - Off ATC Sensitivity - Very High ATC limit - 50% 20 fps compression - best Maximum bitrate 5120 And under the "advanced" section - Bitrate control - VBR Encoding Priority - Framerate GOV length - 15 Profile - High (other choices are Baseline or Main) Entropy coding - CAVLC Anyone have any ideas? The properties seem to be set by Surveillance Station but I'd like to have useable videos that I can play back locally if need be.

okey dokey; http://www.pagefamily.net/temp/samsungdoorcamsample.mp4 In any event, I could not get these files to play properly using Synology's app (or other playback apps) on my iOS devices or Android devices, so I was forced to switch the Samsungs back to a different format. Still curious about what the hell is going on with the weird files though so if anyone has ideas would love to hear them.

Would it help if I uploaded one of the problem recordings and let folks take a stab at it?

According to VLC this is H.264 MPEG4-AVC (part 10) avc1 It can't play it back either. Looks like for these cams I will have to go back to crappy MJPEG since that's the only thing that "really really" works with all of my stuff. Disappointing.

Yes, Synology advertises different capabilities for different DiskStation units depending on how much CPU it has. However, that only results in a larger # of cams and a larger # of FPS for all cams combined. Even with the top end current generation DiskStations they still don't support higher than 1080P resolution. I am really thinking about giving Milestone a go on this i3 box that I have... assuming that they can support camera side motion detection. Otherwise I don't know that the i3 has enough juice to handle 4 cameras.

Well it's plenty for the typical home user... but the 1080P limitation is going to bite them in the ass with 3MP and 5MP cameras becoming more mainstream and more affordable. They have other issues too, such as their crappy performance with H.264 (remote viewing barely works with it on mobile devices)... inability to handle dual stream from most cams, etc. Their new iOS app is a disaster. It's like they fired the guys who did the original DS Cam and outsourced it to someone who had no clue of how to write a proper surveillance app. All in all the only reason I am still running it is that I already have it and don't want to build a dedicated PC for running security software or buy an NVR. I do plan on re-purposing an i3 based HTPC later this year and might give Milestone and ExacQ another go on that thing (they support camera based motion).

The Synology NVR software caps the incoming recording stream at 1080P, so you won't get the benefit of 3MP from your cameras. It is one of the biggest current limitations with the Synology software. Considering that the camera license fees for Synology are on the expensive side (compared to say Milestone or ExacQvision) the primary reason to go with Synology NVR is that you already have the Synology NAS and don't want to purchase a dedicated NVR or build a PC for capture.

How do you like the 3367?

I believe the housings and domes are universal in the same series, so I imagine you can remove the current camera unit and simply replace it with the cam unit in the new one you are getting... then install the new camera housing with the older camera unit at the new location.

http://www.a1securitycameras.com/Axton-AT-7-90-850-Axton-IR-Illuminator.html

It's bizarre but ExacQ still haven't added Samsung SNV-5080R cameras to the compatibility list. I was going to evaluate their software last year but they weren't compatible with my Samsung cameras so I didn't bother.

Just want to add a bit to this thread myself. I have a smaller property than the OP (1/3 acre with 3300 sq foot home) and have a mix of deployed Axis and Samsung cameras. The Axis cameras I deployed (P3364-VE) are outstanding. I agree that the quality is very very good. As far as illuminators go, you can get some extremely good ones that are built in the USA and used by the government and military and they are not that expensive. They are weather sealed and warrantied I think for 10 years. http://www.axtontech.com/ I deployed one of these in the front corner and at $200 it's a great investment. It is weather sealed, projects out past 50' at a very wide angle and was only about $225 shipped. It runs off of 12V but they make PoE versions also. They also sell 12V distributed power systems if you need to run a large number of illuminators. Anyways, get an Axton illuminator to play with, you will be impressed. Also they are based in Utah and if you have any questions and call them they'll gladly answer any of your questions. I can second the other comments about integrated IR being a bit problematic since it attracts insects. I do get some insect activity around my Samsung domes that have integrated IR. You will also find that no matter how good the IR design is, with an integrated dome you are (at some point) going to get bleed through, etc. I think integrated IR is a fine choice for lighting up a small area like an entryway, but worthless for any real coverage of your property.

If your argument is that Avigilon is not well positioned for the small install DIY'er type, then yes I agree with you, it's not well positioned for that type of consumer, especially since you must engage an Avigilon partner in order to even get a price quote.

Well, I think a more accurate statement might be that Axis prices are readily available, and it's pretty easy to find genuine (new in box) Axis cameras that are heavily discounted. They are used in so many projects that there are always good deals to be had on eBay, etc, if you are patient. Also, I don't know that Avigilon offers something like Axis Companion that makes managing cameras and edge recordings pretty easy without having to buy a DVR or software package.

Generally speaking, the lower resolution cameras have traditionally offered better low light performance. Also, traditionally, Axis cams cost quite a bit less than Avigilon, especially if he doesn't want to spend the $$ on an Avigilon software license for his existing Axis setup.

I'll put it to you this way. I have two Axis P3364 deployed, both in locations with very large FOV (one is in my front yard/drive-way area and the other is on the side of the house overlooking the side of the house and the street). The one thing that 3MP or 5MP would do for me is that if I needed to ID someone who was across the street (like someone walking along) then I would be able to do that. With the 1.3MP you could tell hair color, clothing, etc, but could not make facial identification good enough to stand up in a court of law.... 3MP or 5MP, in good daylight conditions would solve that.... however, what are the chances I need to make facial identification on someone across the street? Someone eggs my house or does a drive-by from 100 feet away? I am more interested in ID'ing someone who is on the property, and for that the 1.3MP can usually get the job done. License plates however are a problem regardless of resolution... you really need a dedicated camera to get plate #s if that's your thing.

You have a very large FOV for the front yard... so the main thing that 5MP would do for you is give you more detail at the further distances making vehicle/facial identification a bit easier. Honestly though, I don't see that 3 or 5MP will be tremendously better than 1.3MP for your uses.

You still haven't explained why you are after the higher resolution of a 5MP camera in that location, what is the extra resolution going to do for you?

Light performance will be worse (generally speaking) on a 5MP camera than a 3MP or 1.3MP camera. The primary reason you would spend the extra $$ on a P3367 is that you need to make facial identification from a further distance. You can forget about more megapixels making license plate identification, you would actually be better off just getting a separate 1.3 MP camera and zooming it in with appropriate lighting for license plate detection (if that's what you want to do with the camera 4).

I would ask the installer to put his money where his mouth is, and put in the Axis and other camera next to each other so you can do a direct comparison. Axis is not the top end camera out there, but the optics and day/night performance on the current ones is pretty good for what they cost.... also, you are more or less assured that they work with every DVR and software package out there.