Kawboy12R

My short driveway is 65 feet. My side driveway is longer, probably 75 or 80. My left neighbour has at least 90 but my right-side neighbour has maybe 55. Not many postage stamp lots here.

How long is your driveway? How far do you usually park from where you want to mount the camera? I think there's a typo in your original post. Your driveway can't be typical AND only 5 feet long. Lens selection will be much more important if your driveway is really, say, 65 feet long. That's a lot more typical for a city driveway here.

At 50 metres with a 3.6mm lens on an analog camera you'll be lucky to tell a person from a bush. Just because a camera manufacturer puts a 3.6mm lens in a camera with LEDs that they claim will put a little bit of light (probably in a pencil pattern) out to 50m it doesn't mean the camera is good for 50m. Depending on the detail you need from the camera you'll probably want to start with a good 5-50mm lens with focal length marked on the barrel. Then, when you see with your own eyes what 6mm, 16mm, 40mm etc gives you at 50m using the chip and lighting you think you want to use, then you can decide for yourself. There's no "best" lens for 50m, but a whole lot of choices depending on whether or not you want to count nosehairs or just see if someone is moving or a vehicle is present when a driveway should be empty, or whatever.

1. CCTV doesn't really specify the format of the video camera being used. You're talking about the difference between the "old" analog CCTV cameras versus the "new" digital network IP cameras. 2. HD network cameras, in general and under reasonable lighting, tend to easily outperform analog cameras, especially the cheaper analog cameras that come with mass market kits. There are exceptions of course, especially in low lighting, but there are some very good low-light network cameras as well. There's nothing wrong with a hybrid system, and if you pick the hybrid NVR based on the network cameras it supports (and you want) then you've got quite a versatile system. Just make sure in advance that the NVR supports motion detection with the network cameras you want to use. It's common for an NVR to be able to view the video stream but not detect/record motion events. It's either record everything or nothing unless you can record on alarm events using a PIR. Oh, and most wireless IP cameras are cheap crap. You're better off to use a wired IP camera and a wireless bridge if you MUST have wireless connections. Analog is simple and pretty much universally compatible. Resolution is low and therefore choosing lenses for distance shots is a bit more important than with IP cams. Network cams cost a bit more than bargain basement analog cams, but you can get really REALLY good performance (if not great selection) in the $200 range compared to sub-$200 analog cameras. If you consider the fact that live quality = saved quality with IP cameras and it takes more than a garden variety DVR to give you same-as-live recorded quality, well, I'm surprised that anybody without unreasonably high expectations from an absolute rock-bottom budget would choose anything but IP. The tipping point, IMHO, is in the number of cameras needed (hard to beat a Costco analog system for $800 with 16 cameras if you really need 16 cameras) and whether or not saved quality is of utmost importance. DVRs? Digital Watchdogs have a good rep. Some of the upper end QSee ones have good saved video. Aver is a good cheap hybrid but pay attention to their camera support list, especially which ones work with motion detection. Dahua makes a hybrid if you don't mind taking a chance with glitchy support for anything but Dahua network cams. CNB makes a decent lowish-light analog vandal dome. They don't hold a candle side by side with my Axis P3364s, but add just a bit more light and they're usable. Daytime performance (even live) doesn't come close to them, and they're only 1.3mp. Bosch makes excellent analog cams if you must have analog, but with excellent performance at $175/cam from Hikvision hi-def IP rebrands from Costco (Swann and Lorex) and VMS support from Blue Iris to Avigilon, why bother with analog? A cheap computer will give same-as-live saved video evidence from network cameras, too.

The only picture comparison involving Gadspot IP cameras on here wasn't a good showing for Gadspot. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=26231&p=215581

Two Velociraptors in RAID 0 is definitely overkill to record your three cameras. Overkill for a file server that does 3 or more cams plus other duties? Maybe, maybe not. Your current problems aren't caused by too-slow sustained drive throughput though because the stuttering cleans up after a short while. Even a single WD Red or Black data drive dedicated to CCTV recording should be fine for the cameras you're using and still have lots of extra speed for more cameras later, assuming that a single drive will store enough video for you. IMHO, the best way to speed up simultateous file accessing is to separate the data onto different drives when possible so no head thrashing. That kills HD speeds. Probably one drive for CCTV (probably only one or two clients and 24/7 use) with the number of cams you have and then RAID the "extra" drives for file/video serving for when the whole family wants to watch different movies while someone else decides to do a major file backup or something. RAID 0 or similar might not be required, but like a wise man once said- There's no thrill like overkill.

Yep.

First off, what's the hardware budget? Second, what kind of internet connection is available at your vacation spot? You'll need something with really nice upload capacity to send to your home in Vegas. If the budget isn't too small, if it were me I'd probably stick a few Axis P3364 domes up. Add an L, a V, and an E to the end of the 64 if you want Light (IR), Vandalproof, or Environmentproof. Great low-light capabilities without IR unless it's quite dark, built-in storage (64gig SD card capable so if they find the NVR you have backup video), alarm capable (records only when a PIR is activated- very important if you're transferring video over the 'net), and NAS capable (hide a NAS somewhere so they can't steal the NVR and cams and get all the video). They'll run by themselves or you can have a computer or NVR there to backup the data and make checking video easier. They also work nicely with 940nm (invisible) IR if you don't want to use white light or have glowing red LEDs for some reason. They're 1.3mp which is a nice compromise between detail and video bandwidth, which is also good if you want to mirror the recordings over the 'net. I've got a couple at my place that I like. Oh, and make sure the video system isn't your only security system. I'd consider it complementary to a monitored cellular-based alarm system hooked to the local police station. I'd rather scare them off with alarms or have the police catch them still in the act rather than have awesome video of burglars with masks on that had hours of free time because I blew my budget on cams and didn't pay for an alarm system as well. Make sure you post pics of your Ninja from the cams so we can verify the video quality, ok?

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4306/highpoint_rocketraid_2720sgl_sata_6g_raid_controller_review/index11.html

When're you getting married? http://www.tomshardware.com/news/recon-jet-smart-hud-glasses,23320.html I wonder if you could twist their arm for a pre-release lender or something?

I'm wondering about your SSD drive for CCTV and the eSATA " CCTV backup" drive. Not sure how things are configured or why you'd have a 2TB backup drive for a 128gig recording drive, but what happens if you take the backup drive out of the picture? Just wondering if it is waking up and causing the stutters when things first start to record. Also, an i3 isn't exactly overkill for a triple-duty server if occasional dropped frames are never allowed. And why is the operating system choice still up in the air if things are up and running and you're experiencing stuttering? Personally, I'd replace the Windows 8 option with Windows 7. CCTV stuff seems to be slow or stagnant when adopting new operating systems, so 7 might lock you out of fewer options. "Windows", "latest", and "greatest" don't always work well in a sentence together unless it is put together by Microsoft salesmen. I just got an i7 3770 system for basically the same duties you've looking for and stuck Win 7 on it. No SSD but the system drives are RAID 0. I'll see how they perform before deciding if they'll be data drives with an SSD main drive or if I'll keep them and put in a third drive solely for CCTV storage.

But at least they have good tech support. Here comes their tech support crew to the rescue. I don't think the vodka is optional, especially for the guy in the white shirt near the end.

It won't stop it from breaking but you can get accidental damage protection for your laptop. I think Asus still offers it with theirs. I got it as an option with my HP.

WTF Dahua, really... WTF That is what I call secure... And how else did people think they magically generated a one day emergency password without using a MAC address or serial number for each dvr? The only real surprise is that the 8888 portion is that simple. Regardless of the complexity of the formula, once the cat is out of the bag it isn't secure.

Hard to tell on my phone but it looks like a CIF resolution image to me. Any way to change your DVR to D1?

Have you tried swapping cameras around to see if the trouble moves with the camera? How about swapping BNC cables at the DVR? Does it use the same power supply as the other cameras? What happens if you swap power cords with another camera?

Cute one vector. Sometimes I wonder if the stilted posts with poor grammar but proper spelling come from Babelfish-type online translations. There's certainly a translation issue of some kind (computer or organic) that scrambles the logic.

Spam promotes itself so I'm a bit puzzled. Daviansmith just goes around telling people to ask a pro. I'm not sure what he thinks all of the folks are on here that do it for a living. There are some really sharp people on here.

The manual says it's HDMI.

Does the room have windows? Clouds vary light levels significantly. Duplicated footage could easily have light from a sunny or partly cloudy day when the other day was cloudy. If audio recording is involved, train whistles/school buzzers/church bells from a different day or time could be clues. Barely visible date changes on a flip-over desk calendar that're clear when zoomed in? Days crossed off on a wall calendar? Blown light bulb changed from warm white to cool white so the white balance is off?

From what I've seen, the Eyeonet stuff is Dahua product rebranded, or at least a lot of it is. There might be some exceptions- I'm not a Dahua expert. The QSee IP setup from Costco is also Dahua. Pick the features you want and your price point if you pick Eyeonet over QSee at Costco. The QSee kit comes with Dahua's low-end 1.3mp (hfw2100) bullets. The last time I checked Costco.ca had the Swann IP setup in stock, which is the Hikvision-based Swann setup that folks on here have been hot about lately and seems to be the best bang for the budget dollar at the moment. If you want to do some reading, search for Swann, Swann Costco or Swann Hik on here. Same goes for QSee, QSee Costco. Check out buellwinkle's http://www.networkcameracritic.com/ for screenshots, videos and opinions on the bunch of them. It's like the Coles Notes version of reading a few hundred posts on here.

Nothing wrong with the Axis cameras but if you can find someone to sell you Avigilon then go for it. MUCH better than the ACC option, although it's nice to have a video backup in the Axis cameras just in case. Can't comment on the difference between the camera brands but Avigilon software is head and shoulders better than the free Axis stuff. Camera pricing is in the same ballpark.

Axis P1214. 720P pinhole cam with edge storage. One piece solution because it can store the footage on a card in the camera. If you desire off-camera storage, hook up the cable and record to a local computer or NVR.

Sounds like your place is a good place for a camera system. The coven sounds interesting. No earthen yurts around here. I wonder if they give tours? I may've sold Costco another Swann system this morning. Someone was visiting my place and saw my setup and started telling me some of her stories about a crazy neighbour and their many many many cats using her extensive landscaping and flower beds for a litterbox. They live in the city and pets aren't allowed to roam free. One polite phone call later and he's screaming obscenities at her family and visitors and throwing pounds of roofing nails into their crushed gravel driveway after he sees them leave. She was asking questions about how to wire up a system so I think she's serious.

Communication eez everything and Sector's pics were the right 1000 words. Glad it is cleared up and simple. Worst case would've been if you'd bought an NVR with IP network cameras and needed new wires run. That would've been faster than installing the first set of shotgun cables (because it looks like a double-barreled shotgun) though because you could've just taped/tied the Cat5 network cable to the original stuff and pulled it through.