Kawboy12R

Looks good to me. The sunlit yard is washed out but that's not a big deal when identifying folks coming to the door and it looks like you've got good facial detail with a difficult background. The lens is more than wide enough but that's good for watching packages around the door. You should be able to work the lens around from that location to see the door and all the way out the entranceway if you want.

Axis models that work with Axis Camera Companion have internal SD cards and can also save to NAS if you want, all without a computer supervising things. You can, for example, save a continuous recording to one and motion events to the other for extra security. 64 gig SD cards supported on my P3364VE.

One thread mentioned 25 posts for the append signature option to become active among other things.

I understand your points, or at least I think I do. I was more of a programmer than network technician in university and I basically just dabble in computers now. It's hard to say exactly without you writing a looong explanation because if you don't then I have to fill in your blanks. Do you understand why I question the "need" for a computer with two NICs when most likely 99.99% of all network camera traffic will be between the cams, dedicated camera switch, and a standalone NVR? Unless my understanding of network traffic and the OP's intended homeowner-oriented use is way off base, the way I suggested doing it the router will probably see a very small amount of camera traffic unless remote viewing on something other than the NVR is common. While isolating the cam system to a separate subnet has advantages, don't you consider them offset quite a bit by requiring that an otherwise unnecessary computer be up and running all the time in order to take advantage of many of them? Now, if the NVR *WAS* a computer (not a standalone) and had to be on 24/7 anyway, then I see no real problem and quite a few advantages in doing a 2 NIC solution. For just running a few cams it probably isn't required, but the effort and small cost expended up front might save some problems down the road, assuming that the homeowner can install the card and get things reconfigured relatively easily. If I'm missing something here or weighting pros/cons incorrectly please point it out.

Unheated locations are quite damp. If required, I'd stick the dvr in, say, a cabinet with a lightbulb (preferably two) in it. That'd keep the heat up and the dampness down in the winter. Put a thermometer in the cabinet and fiddle with bulb wattage during the winter if you want to get fussy. The two bulbs gives you time to replace a bulb if one burns out.

If it were me I'd run the cams into the switch and the switch into the NVR, then plug the NVR into the router and only worry about running another NIC in the 'puter for the cctv traffic if I ran into problems with slowdowns or dropped frames under peak usage and/or router crashes. Not likely anyway because the cams are tied directly to the NVR via the switch and the router would only handle remote access traffic to the NVR, right? A separate NIC is cheap and isolates traffic but it might not be needed anyway. There's more than one way to skin a cat, er network though, but why tie outside access to the NVR to a NIC in a computer that then has to be on all the time? May as well just run remote access directly through the router if you don't have any troubles. If the computer IS the NVR then it makes more sense for a separate NIC for cam traffic but still might not be needed.

You're welcome. It would be fascinating to find that it COULD perform at that level. If not, the fine folks at Axis might be able to suggest another solution.

If the underside of the weather shield is white, a black magic marker on the underside of the part above and in front of the IRs will probably help if you want/need the extra extension and protection of the shield. QSee uses that trick on their 1.3mp bullets.

Requiring a pinhole camera to do this will narrow your lens choices and raise the light requirements substantially. Pinhole, zoom, and high-quality are hard things to put together in a sentence. Axis has a reasonably priced network pinhole camera (the 1214) with flexible mounting options. Skip to 1:25 of to see an example of the video quality of a name-brand 720P pinhole camera at roughly the distance you`re interested in. There is some reading material on the counter to inspect. Not good results, but you might be able to get very slightly better video quality from it than that Youtube video. Sometimes Youtube mangles videos a bit, and you never know what the camera quality settings were. You could assume that Axis had things cranked up and set optimally, but you never know. You can easily get one for under $500, but I wouldn`t buy one expecting to read a paper with it. Just use it as a standard for how much better you`ll need to get.

Looks like fairly normal night-time grain to me, plus a bit of fog or mist lighting up from the on-board IR. Throw in what's most likely some IR reflected back onto the lens from something to the right of the camera (the lighter part of the right side of the frame) and you've got a pretty good night-time image, especially from a cheap 5mp cam. Love to see some full-res snapshots.

After you shovel your driveway sit back with a coffee and watch yourself clean it at 8x speed.

And you want him to dress up like a chritmas tree..... " title="Applause" /> " title="Applause" /> Shhh. I liked his technique. Very subtle. Pretend to be his friend and then feed him advice that'll get him arrested in a silly getup. Hopefully we will get some footage posted.

Yep, ZX-12R Ninja. White balance variables? Not sure what lights they like or don't like. Might influence a perfectly accurate description of a vehicle colour that you didn't snag a plate off of. For the nuances and pictures and details my memory doesn't hold, check out buellwinkle's blog at networkcameracritic.com. He reviews a bunch of Dahua stuff on there. Also, don't forget to read the comments. Lots of additional information comes out in the comment section. Same goes for the review of the HFW-3200C. There's also a HUGE thread on here about them and tons of people speak up with their experiences with different lens vendors, problems, etc. There's also a bit of an ethical debate about firmware flashing failures and returning bricked cameras to Costco. Don't worry, it gets back on topic. The IR-always-on-at-night is a "feature", not a failure. As far as I've read they all do it. Doesn't influence the way the cameras work, because if you force the cam into day mode at night then the infrared cutoff filter blocks the IR so it doesn't affect the picture. It'll just affect OTHER cameras without IR that can see IR that you don't WANT to see IR. Other than that it's not a problem, just kind of a bug that doesn't change the video quality. Not sure how long the 2100 series has been out or anybody that's been running Dahua IP cams of any flavour for a long time. The HFW-3200C bullet has external alarm inputs and outputs. Most folks probably won't use these unless they want to almost completely eliminate false positive motion detection alerts. Critical feature at times but probably quite uncommon in homeowner situations. Thx for pointing out the Gadspot cams shockwave. I'd looked at them before but they're unknowns. I've emailed them asking about whether or not their NVR software will work with my Axis cams or what other aftermarket software their cams work with. No sample video that I can find on their site or on Youtube either. The GS9405E would work nicely in my driveway. The 6mm max zoom on my P3364VE just isn't quite enough. I'm still looking for a good deal on a 12mm version of one of these.

They're kinda hard to hide though. If it were me, I might develop a fear of fire and then mount a few smoke detectors in the house. With cameras that record to SD cards in them of course. Video quality won't be network broadcast quality (you don't need that anyway) but most people would never think twice about them. Maybe even do an alarm clock, a pair of smoke detectors, a coat hook, or whatever. Lots of these things do 720p motion activated recording.

That DVR records in D1 from the cameras but setting the output from the DVR to the monitor as high as it'll go will give you higher resolution and better clarity when viewing multiple cameras on one screen. As well, there might be some benefit for retaining a normal aspect ratio on displayed video by trying different display resolutions and/or aspect ratios. You don't want visiting supermodels to look fat when you play them back.

Start looking at megapixel network cameras. You'll need a good long zoom lens to read a moving newspaper at 8 feet with a 1.3 megapixel camera. You'll need less zoom with a higher megapixel camera. You could read a paper at 8 feet with analog cameras if you want, but you'd need a much longer zoom lens. Remote zoom (preferably PTZ) and autofocus would help a lot unless you've got megapixels to burn.

Dahua 2100 bullet bugs, problems, and lack of features that I'm aware of- white balance tends to be off, IRs won't shut off at night even if you put the camera in day mode when it's dark, cams don't always shift automatically to night mode if there's white light around (must put manual schedule in the camera), no alarm inputs so you can't record via external trigger (PIR sensors, driveway alarm, door bell, or whatever), no varifocal lens (you have to pick a lens when you buy it or order one aftermarket and swap it yourself, but that's a bit of a crap shoot for compatibility), some small percentage of units have the mechanical IR filter stick one way or the other (quality control issue) and won't change, IR glare on the lens at night unless the top white weather shield is coloured black with magic marker or something similar (some Dahua resellers like QSee do this for you). Mostly non-serious fixable or livable issues unless you get a defective one. There're others as well in the firmware from what I hear depending on what revision is installed. Just "things that make you go hhmmm..." from trying to crank 'em out cheaply/quickly but still have them work decently. They are also hackable if someone with computer skills, the proper knowledge, and access to your network (possibly from outside via internet if you leave network ports open) wants to fiddle around with your security cameras. It's not like they're the equal of a $1000 camera miraculously sold for $150. If they had competitors in the same price range with the same picture quality day AND night with fewer weaknesses and better support (try getting firmware updates/warranty from someone other than the person who sold it to you) then the budget buyers on here would be excited about them instead of Dahua, but they aren't. Pretty good for a budget home buyer getting into IP cameras but not without flaws, some of which could be solved by buying something else at maybe 2-3-4 times the price (or more). Heck, even my Axis cams that retail for about a grand each have issues though.

I'm not saying that they are great, fast, or reliable drives, but WD certainly thinks so. They might need to tone down the rhetoric a bit if their overall failure rate is as high as folks on here find it. According to WD "They are optimized with SilkStream™ technology to capture data from up to 12 simultaneous HD video streams." That beats the bandwidth of 16 D1 channels by a long shot. I'm not saying you're wrong at all, just that WD believes in their green drives more strongly than real-world experience seems to back up.

Nice collection survtech, especially the first one, but I bet none of those jokers (and definitely not the last one), has the wit, sophistication, or panache of my favourite Guy Fawkesian with a Van Dyke, the vafrous, vagarious, verbose and ever valorous villain V. Ya gotta love the hat as well.

I've been reading for quite a while and wanted to do what's called a hybrid system (analog and network cams running on the same box). I'm a bit of an experimenter though and it seemed like finding a reasonably priced quality hybrid system that worked with the cams I'd been researching and liking wasn't going to happen. Not saying that it's not possible, but I'd either have to run with cams I hadn't researched or didn't like or pay too much for licensing fees or whatever. I was going to totally give up on them for home use but ordered a better DVR to blend two systems instead of going hybrid. Seems like that's what the local CCTV shops are doing locally if they have both types of cameras on a site. Something like an Aver Nano hybrid might work for you though if you can pick network cams with motion detection support from their supported camera list. It's not a long list and the stuff I wanted to run wasn't on it. Tom says that Aver 1.3mp network cams are available from England (not apparently for sale in North America) for $130 each. I've never looked into them and they might be indoor only and/or crappy in the dark. I think he was recommending them for indoor use in a store at the time. Lots of people are Dahua-Dahua-Dahua on here. Network cams available cheaply that actually work well in the dark? Tempting, right? They've got limitations, bugs, and support problems but if you don't expect heirloom-quality cams then they're a good value. You can get the 2100 bullets for about $135 shipped from China with your choice of lenses or $300/pair from Costco if you don't mind the 6mm lenses. Limited field of view compared to 3.6mm but better detail on objects at a distance, plus the awesome Costco warranty and QSee's support (hit or miss). They're also available on EBay for $170/pop with 3.6mm lenses (or maybe others on special order). Very basic cams with not many features or flexibility, but their detail is much better than my $135 VCM-24VF when live and you don't have to worry about finding a great DVR for equal quality saved video like with analog so they're light-years ahead of most analog stuff when reviewing footage for evidence. Their 3200C and 3300C bullets are more flexible and higher resolution and still good in the dark. Not perfect but good value for a $350ish dollar cam. If you've already got a decent modern computer laying around (preferably one you can dedicate for surveillance though), add a 16ch POE switch (most have just 8 POE ports) like a ZyXel for a bit over a hundred bucks or an 8ch with 4 POE ports to keep inital costs down (you can add a 2nd switch later or upgrade that one), $50 bucks for Blue Iris (or Zoneminder for free if you speak Linux), plus some cams and you're good to go. If you do decide on Dahuas despite their warts, the Costco/QSee 4ch network camera kit is hard to fault as a quick and dirty starter. Gets you decent cams up and running quickly and you can add/expand easily later with either another Dahua NVR or the switch/computer/software route. I sunk some money into a Lorex analog system for my home because that was all that was available locally at the spur of the moment. I wish I hadn't but felt I had to at the time. Throwing more time/money into better analog cams, rewiring for cat 5 (major pain as it turns out- wish I'd done it with cat 5 and baluns the first time), and I really regret taking the quick way out. I love it for knowing what's going on all around the house though. Great for keeping an eye out for the kids out playing, deer, the popular "WHAT WAS THAT BANG?" question in the middle of the night, etc. I ended up with a pair of Axis P3364VE network domes for a great price but they were still about a grand for the two of them after shipping. Muuuuch better quality video than my analog stuff and still good in the dark. I'm going to blend them with a couple of cheaper Dahuas in a little while and use a computer for an NVR but they're using edge storage at the moment (saving video to SD as well as a standalone harddrive so they're computer independent but I can view them at anytime from any computer in the house- a nice Axis feature). At the moment my analog system is my door monitor and covers less critical areas of the house. My wife thinks two domes over the front door is a little overkill though. I'll change it in a bit with a full-time network cam front door monitor (probably a cheap Android tablet) and ditch the analog there completely. I have no experience with the Ubiquiti stuff. What I remember hearing of it was pretty good though. edit- as far as cams freezing up goes, I'm north of you and haven't had any problems with my stuff freezing up. There was a recent thread on here about how cold cams can go and still function and it seems like many can work quite a bit colder than they're rated for and if they do freeze up then they usually thaw out later without damage. Most of mine don't have heaters and mounting them in sheltered locations works nicely. Literally had icicles hanging from one CNB and then the temp dropped to -20C and it still worked fine. -22C at another time (no icicles though) and still worked fine. Heaters and fans help in more exposed locations and for good vision when everything gets covered in snow/ice or driving rain. Good for getting humidity out of cams as well, but I've had good luck vision-wise with semi-sheltered cams, no onboard IR, and no heaters. Depends on if you need 100% 24/7 perfect visibility I guess.

Check out shockwave199's link at the bottom of his posts. Here's a link to a sample of his video quality. Scroll down until you see his Halloween video. IMHO, very good for an analog system. If I remember correctly he uses Gadspot cams that were under $100 each. $60 maybe? Some folks on here like the QVIS cams as well. Their vandal domes are under $100 and have a long 12mm "zoom" for outdoor distance work. With your setup it's going to be hard to cover it well with only 8 cams. I'd have probably 3 at the shop alone. One at the front at the top corner of your shop pic looking at an angle towards the road hoping to catch a face shot of someone entering the shop, one inside the shop at a wide angle showing everything that's going on, and one on the lower right corner of the shop zoomed close in on the road trying to catch the plate of everyone coming and going. Then I'd add a vandal dome cam over every door in the house. If you just want to start slow with a few cams, you might want to try and spend some extra money on a good cam with good zoom to hopefully at least catch plates and faces of people coming to "visit" up the driveway. Look and see what he's using for a DVR. Good cams with a crappy dvr are useless because of the mangled saved video quality. I've owned a couple of analog dvrs. One's a cheapo card that goes in a computer for my work system and that's crap. The other is a Lorex ECO 8ch DVR and that's a slightly better but still awful piece of crap for saved video quality. It also loses saved video events that actually ARE on the DVR but won't show them depending on review speed and direction. I've got a CNB dvr on order and I'll see how much better that one is. I've switching some of my stuff over to IP network cameras which save MUCH more detail than analog does. Gives a good positive ID much farther from the camera. As for max wire run distance, with analog cams it varies quite a bit on wire type, wire quality, and whether or not you're using passive or active baluns or other active video boosters. I've never done loooong runs but 500 feet is relatively easy using cat 5 and baluns of some kind, 1000' less so. If you decide to go network cameras with an NVR, you'll need an active repeater (probably just a switch) every 328 feet of wire because that's what the digital network requires. I'd recommend running cat 5e wire with baluns at every location though. The wire is cheap and it'll make it easy to upgrade to network cams in the future if you decide you need more from your system than analog can deliver. Spending money is quick and easy, but it's a real time consuming pain to run wires from building to building the first time. You probably won't want to do it a second time.

The video quality will have more to do with lens quality, the electronics in the camera, and how much quality a cheap DVR loses when converting the analog signal to digital for storage on the HD than TVL, but having said that, nowadays 420 tvl is pretty low end. Some really good quality analog cams are "only" 600 tvl. NTSC video is only 480 tvl anyway so anything above that has little benefit. I wouldn't expect to be able to ID someone with your system from more than 5 or maybe 10 feet away under good conditions unless you knew them.

CMOS and CCD aren't directly related to the number of TV Lines (TVL) the cams and DVR will show. You're right that if someone steals the box then your record of what happened is gone. You might be able to set it up to email snapshots of motion events to an email account. It's tricky to have it accessible AND secure. Not sure what it has for connections but you might be able to lock it in a steel box with a lock on it. If you want to still be able to see the screen then you might be able to set up an external monitor if it has a video out of some sort. If it's got video out then you might be able to set up TWO video feeds with a powered video splitter- one to a tv or dedicated screen in your living room (or near the front door) and one in the bedroom. Someone on here mentioned the idea of a setting up an obvious "bait" dvr and hiding the real one. If your current one won't do 8 channels like you want, it might be a good choice for the bait dvr. Setting it up as a front door cam with the built-in screen with another dvr hidden somewhere recording the rest of the cameras might be good, especially if you split the feed from the outdoor cam to the hidden dvr. Also, IP cameras with internal SD cards might be worth considering. That way you can configure things so that you've got storage IN the cams as well as in a NAS or computer inside. I've do something like that with mine. Store motion events in the NAS and a continuous feed at 1 fps at lower quality in the cam. Trash the cam? Record locked inside. Break in and steal the HD? Different copy in the cams. Throw in a bait DVR, some email notifications for offsite snapshot storage and a UPS running the system and you're covered fairly well, especially if the thief has an alarm system ringing in their ears to speed them up.

Anybody have any speed-related issues with ACC when watching sped-up video? When watching at 2x normal, it takes 30 seconds to review a minute of footage. The slowdown hits at 4x and above. It takes 20 seconds to review a minute at 4x with obviously some pauses in the footage with the busy wheel spinning on the screen occasionally. The big performance hit comes at 8x. For some reason, it takes 30 seconds to review a minute of footage at 8x. There are big pauses between the short sequences of sped-up video. This happens when reviewing footage from both the onboard SD card and from footage that is stored on a network share. It also happens when reviewing from my laptop on wireless or when wired to the router which has the camera's switch plugged into it. Just wondering if this is a network issue on my end or something that is a "feature" of ACC. The laptop has an i7 CPU and jumps from 5-20ish % utilization while reviewing a camera. Network bandwidth also jumps up and down a lot while reviewing.

What's the budget? Will you be doing the install? How're your computer skills?