Mr. Anonymous

This looks like decent quality cable from eBay for $11 from a trusted seller... yes?

The second camera makes since now, I am doing a motion light setup as well for full color at night. After I have all that I will look into IR floodlights as a stealth option if I want to monitor activity without scaring off my target. Sounds like you have a good system worked out, I think these cams might be a good buy.

Your cameras; 752 (H) x 582 (V) that is full D1 isn't it? So that dark still is without the motion lights and just the IR?? If so that actually has some decent IR range!

That doesn't look too bad for $50 but I see some wasted money; there are useless IR lights. Says 420TVL I wonder how much clearer a 600TVL would look....

It is people like you that make forums so hostile! I only want to know how to set my system up not get into a full blown war of words with someone I no nothing about. Take time out buddy and chill before Mr. Stress takes your health off you Geeeeze! Haha, one to talk? Thanks Larry

I foolishly created my account with the same username I use everywhere else online... the whole point of this forum is security I don't need someone Googling my username and security only to end up in the back end design of my system haha. Will a moderator PLEASE contact me about changing my username and keeping my posts? Thanks

I'm much worse!

www.JustFuckingGoogleIt.com

If you Google my username you will find out a lot on me, maybe even be lead here if you throw the word security or surveillance in there etc. Photobucket is full of pictures that could help, I've had a problem on a stereo website like this in the past where I was tracked by someone who does not know me to my physical address to rob my gear.

I need a 4ch DVR for home use, I only have 2 cameras right now though (live view only). Cheaper the better and I've done a little research... I came up with this ZMODO 4ch 500GB (DVR-H9104UV) for $130: http://www.zmodosecurity.com/4-channel-zmodo-real-time-security-digital-video-recorder-iphone-android-sensor-alarm/ Now I searched eBay only to find tons of generic versions of this claiming to have the same features, all in different boxes/shells it makes it a bit hard to choose. I could get an 8ch generic with the same features as the ZMODO for $80 shipped, any advice??

Hmm never thought about re-sampling, I've heard of that with camcorders and key-chain video cams. Good point Nah not always, I have some of the best brands and product lines in my truck advaible to the audio industry so it depends on what we are talking about. I will take your advice and buy a $150-$200 unit, any sites you recommend buying from? Where what I see I know are good products and I don't have to fish them out?

I have my other method, a spotlight and a gun. Surveillance is just an added sense of security, I can deff say I do not need any motion detection or scheduling. Interface I could care less about as long as it functions, I'm a huge customer at Newegg they have taken monitors back over 2 years after I purchased them so I may try their DVRs. Raw specs are what makes something what it is, are you a brand name shopper? Unsampled D1 footage? They say real D1, do you mean recorded at a lower bitrate sort of thing? For someone who is new to the CCTV it might be best off to start small and really learn/see the difference for myself. Right now I have live view cameras which are doing me no good...what about a "cheap" single channel DVR? Get all the quality you rant about but dropping the channels I don't need/have cams for to compensate the price? If I can record just my Hitachi for now it will make me sleep better until I can afford to drop decent money on a multichannel DVR.

How much money do you think you are going to save on a cheap POS DVR versus getting a quality unit? You can buy a good 8 channel unit for $150. Link? Well seeing how I have $0 and am having a hard time finding work locally, a $60 D1 DVR might save $4,000 worth of AV equipment in my truck from being stolen. What's the difference between a $60 and $150 DVR besides it does not include a cheap Chinese HDD that I would rather install myself, a trusted model HDD. Then I can upgrade in the future to a better 4ch and use the cheap 4ch for just door cams where the target is so close extreme detail will not be necessary.

Yeah I don't live in a ghetto or anything, 7-15fps will be fine but I do PC repair and large HDDs are easy to come by so I might be able to slap a big daddy in there and go 30fps all the time. Does live viewing support 30fps or do you have to view at the same specs your recording at?? I'm going to look through those cheap H264 DVRs on eBay and see if any are D1

So in theory it should have the same 600TVL 1/3CCD quality as yours? That's not too bad, from what the 3rd story or? I'm going to use motion flood lights for nighttime footage, even infrared flood lights would work with these cams right? I checked out your daytime footage it's not too bad for close things like doorways you can see detail in the bricks, but again for faces no way (3rd story?) This is where I want to watch for activity, also face identification on the top door only. The blue circle is where I can kill two birds with 1 stone with a camera: The gutter drain tube provides a tad bit of stealth, but I want to mount two cameras here; one facing the stairs/top door and another out the back facing my truck (blue circle): I would need to put a wide angle lens on it to get from the back of my truck to the foundation I think, I already have a camera in the basement window for face shots/identification were the blue circle is: I was thinking I could fit two of those $40 cameras into a universal bubble/dome for about the same price as a VFL-20S since the $40 barebone cams are not waterproof:

I see, so a PC is not required got ya. Although what if I wanted to view in HQ from another PC? Access the same directly to the DVR off the telephone pole/modem I would on a cell phone or do I need to view through remote desktop? Is the extra stream lower quality/bitrate then the main? Thanks btw for answering all my questions guys!! So your 7fps is not MP it's stills? The advantage I see in a higher FPS is more angles to choose from of face shots, if you rotate your head at 7fps you will get 7 face shots...at 30fps I would have 30 shots to choose from (23 more choices for better lighting or less glare on a face).

Darn still up there in price I like the idea that 2/8 channels support D1 that's a great option if you don't need all 8 cam's in D1! What resolution size is HD1? So your mobile device accesses the DVR thrugh it's wifi radio not cellular? In other words I need to be in range of my router for it to work?

I'm going to research these budget models for D1 resolution, they all use H264 so compression quality probably is the same. Are you saying that your DVR records UP TO 30fps and you have selected 7? I'm a videographer by hobby and the more fps the better in my eyes, even if I have to manually dump my DVR every other day or something...as long as I can get 24 hours out of it I can dump the DVR when I come thru the door after work each day. Can anyone tell me how these DVR's use the cell phone stream? Do they have a cellular radio in them or is it accessed thru mobile wifi feeding into the network end of the DVR?

So "D1" = 30fps template? Honestly my camera's are not that great, I have an old 1/4"cmos black and white 380TVL Swann Secura Cam (SW214-SCC): I planned on picking up 2 or 3 more but a little better, not sure HOW MUCH better these are. They are 1/3" CCD color 600TVL, resolution 811x508 (ntsc) which is better then the 380TVL 510x492 just not sure how much better: The only camera I have setup that actually takes great quality is my Hitachi VK-C77U: Since I don't have a working system and never did...and don't necessarily NEED one, and money is an issue I might have to start small. The 1/3" CCD's might be sufficient on a budget DVR, and the Hitachi temporarily. Then when I get more Hitachi level cameras I can get another higher quality 4ch DVR, so I'd end up two two separate 4ch systems; one of lower quality. So can you can view all channels simultaneously in split screen over the LAN? Do these DVR's record all channels simultaneously as well or just the one you selected? No I would run one solid Cat5(or 6) cable and terminate it myself.

I was wondering about that, claims a good frame-rate but does not even mention the resolution/frame size! I noticed all these have a VGA and Ethernet connection. Am I able to view live footage via Cat5 to my PC or "DVR>Internet" "Internet>PC" in other words I have to have an internet connection? Running a VGA cable 2.5 stories upstairs would be a costly pain.

I'm using an old VCR as a temporary way of recording footage, a Sony SLV-N51: VCR's were mainly before my days, it claims "ability to make slow-speed recordings with fast-speed quality, thanks to its 19-micron heads" does that mean my LP/EP quality will be higher? What determines if I can use LP or EP the tape or the VCR?

I realized this was a really stupid idea today, I can only get 8 hours from a VHS it's way too much work. If I could of gotten 24 hours it would have worked...

That is what I will go with then, for the meantime I realized my VCR idea is not going to work I can't even get half a day out of a VHS tape. Trying to avoid recording on my PC so it does not have to stay running but I see it eventually going that route with more higher mounted cameras down the line. I'll still keep this ground level "face cam" recording on an off-grid DVR as an backup archive, the PC cams will be HD since web cams are the way to go with that it seems. I need a cheap DVR with just a few or a single channel...

I used your quote on an electronics forum, because I have a surveillance system thread over there as well. This is what I got in return: "yep ... that is correct : impedance matching unbalanced to balanced line drive (and vice versa) what they don't mention is the roll-off and degradation of signal with the type of balanced line involved . there is a difference between the way/method that dsl and ethernet is shipped over cat5 and straight guts baseband video . sure , if you want a picture that makes it hard to tell bonnie from clyde at a cheap price ... weeeelll ... i have seen video shipped over balanced lines ... it utilized "twinax" ."

Haven't tried the zoom but the AF works really good!