LittleScoobyMaster

Just following up to see if there is any word on the firmware upgrade to turn off IR on these? Excellent! I have just received word from the Senior Product Leader at HikVision USA that the firmware update to turn off IR will be added before the end of the year! "first of all, thank you for your detailed feedback. We have had that feedback from other customers as well and we truly appreciate hearing the concerns about our products as well as what customer desire to see in our products. The concerns you raise are valid issues with integrated IR from both a performance and application standpoint. This upgrade has been in our roadmap and will be available in a firmware upgrade (v5.1) before the end of this year."

Just following up to see if there is any word on the firmware upgrade to turn off IR on these?

Anyone here have any success with 940nm infra red and the Pani WV-SC385? With my 850nm illuminators, the WV-SC385 picks up the IR amazingly. But with a cheap $79 IR-200-940, the WV-SC385 could barely see at night except for the first 10 feet from the illuminator. I'm hoping the problem is just due to the IR-200-940 just not being very bright at all. Anyone have a WV-SC385 viewing 940nm illiminators with no other light in a scene? I'd like to see some snapshots for comparison if you have some. thanks

Looks like it's been another 2 years. Raytec and Illuminar still the top 2 picks?

Do your self a favor and Google CCD Sensor QE (Quantum Efficiency) and look very close at graph's showing variation of quantum efficiency with wavelength of a CCD I glanced over this one: http://blog.astrofotky.cz/pavelpech/?p=864 Interesting topic. Not sure I understood all of it but if the takeaway is to have a specialized camera for different needs, that's understandable. But, since 850nm works very well with my WV-sc385's, I think I will most likely just order more of the same and not bother with 940nm. I want IR that all my cams can use and 850nm seems to be an ok compromise. What needs to happen for all future cameras to be able to see 940nm adequately? I didn't quite catch that from the article but I'm sure it was in there somewhere.

Just completed a test of 940nm on this camera (Panisonic WV-sc385). Failed miserably with the IR-200-940 ir illuminator. Not sure how other 940's will fare with this cam. Hopefully much better.

Been trying to take that step for years now. Maybe someday. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for sun damage to siding, otherwise you could just replace the hacked up holey bits with new stuff.

Can anyone tell me if ir illuminators can accidentally start grass fires when it's hot out and if they are too low to the ground, say, on speaker stands at 3 feet from the ground? These would be 67 led illuminators and it's hot outside, 80's at night.

I have a few older analog black and white bullet cams lying around but they aren't hooked up at the moment but I really need the IR for my WV-SC385's and with 850nm, they light up the area like a christmas tree, plenty bright. The other 2 cams I have are Hikvision HD-820's which have no way to turn off the internal IR yet (hopefully they add that via firmware). I could still determine where the IR flood from the 940 goes if I setup a test but I'm feeling so disappointed I don't even want to test at the moment. I really just want to put the 940 back in the box and return it tomorrow. The HD-820's aren't hooked up yet otherwise I would test them, waiting on some POE injectors. I could test them with my POE switches but I am in such shock and despair with how badly the ir-200-940 performed with my WV-SC385's that I have almost lost the will to live. I am trying to cope. I was hit with a $7000+ car repair (engine swap) today, and my last saving grace for the day was to be my 940nm infra red test. It too failed with the IR-200-940 and now my spirit has taken a dive it is going to be difficult to overcome, and all right before the holiday weekend.

I've consistently read how 940nm is supposed to be so much weaker than 850nm, but this was insane weakness. I'm still in shock. I've been meaning to perform a 940nm test for years now and I am completely let down by it. I was expecting like 40 to 50% of the brightness that 850nm would give, but I got like 5% of 850nm. (tiny fraction like you mentioned) I'm truly hoping that the reason is more of the fact that the IR-200-940 only costs $79 compared to the ~$300-$350 range I want to purchase for my next 940nm test. If 940nm is really this bad, I don't see why it even exists in the marketplace. So far I am truly disappointed with 940nm. It can't be this bad...It can't be...Can it? If it truly is just this tiny fraction like you have mentioned, and like I have witnessed today, when will it improve? Has it always been this bad? I now know EXACTLY how Otto felt in A Fish Called Wanda: R97TsVDC1BY

Wow. Completely the opposite experience that I had with the IR-200-940. Mine only lit up about 10 feet from the illuminator. Didn't even go out 30 feet. My little 67 led 850nm illuminators put the IR-200-940 to shame. You don't happen to have any photos of shots taken with the 940 by any chance do you? My cameras are Panasonic WV-SC385's and I have no way to determine if they are just blind to 940nm or not, but the fact that I could see the IR-200-940 fall off tells me it may not be due to the camera's but instead the IR-200-940 just not having enough light to brighten up my whole yard, let alone into the street.

Did you happen to use the IR-200-940 $79 one, or a different one that is $79? This one has 198 leds. That RayMax 100 looks amazing from the specs. I wish it would come down in price though. Holy Moly. Well, I received my IR-200-940 illuminator today. Major disapointment to say the least. My little 67 tiny led infra red illuminator is far brighter. I realize the 67 is only 850nm and the IR-200-940 is 940nm and that I should expect it to be not very bright, but this was just ridiculous. I couldn't even bring myself to post any pictures because it was so disapointing. After about 10 feet, you couldn't see much of anything. My little 67 850nm units can see about 30 to 40 feet. Now I need to determine if my Panasonic WV-sc385 is just blind to 940nm, or if the IR-200-940 is just the underperformer of the year.

There is a low cost IR illuminator by CM vision called the IR-200-940 for $79. Basically it's just 198 940nm IR LEDS's with an on/off sensor. It's very low cost, but I'm curious what it doesn't have compared to the higher end models by Axton, Axis, Raytec, etc. Also, anyone know why BHphoto changed from Raytec to Axton? They used to carry Raytec in the $300 range but now they have Axton in that range.

I've replaced all the light switch covers and AC outlet covers in my house with really nice looking ones. I'm not that bad I guess. I just don't like drilling holes in the house in case I decide to change the IR illuminators to a new location or upgrade them, etc., same with camera's. And, I'm never completely satisfied with where I put stuff. I like to change things up all the time, and that's the main reason I don't like to make the holes. I re-design rooms and outdoor areas quite a bit, always trying to perfect a design, always tweaking stuff, never satisfied. It's probably difficult for many people to understand because it is a type of disorder most people don't have. It's the same indoor and out. I rarely hang new things up indoors unless there are previous nail holes on the wall already there. I like to look at a wall and have it be pristine with no defects, etc. It takes me hours to put a new picture up in the house because of this. I'm sure I'm the only one on the planet like this. Maybe if I see a shrink, they will take me to a house that has a million holes in it and say, get used to it. I dunno.

Not even hot enough to raise a sweat Good to know. I eventually plan to mount them on the house somehow. I just hate how ugly most surveillance equipment looks and I hate wrecking nice siding on a house, or drilling holes on the house. It's the bane of the industry unfortunately. I wish there was an alternative. How do most people overcome their desire to not put holes in nice vinyl siding? Is there like a psychologist I can see for this problem or something?

Excellent. Hopefully your channel will allow a higher chance of success than my e-mail messages. Has this channel worked in the past with successfully having a feature added to a firmware revision?

Did you happen to use the IR-200-940 $79 one, or a different one that is $79? This one has 198 leds. That RayMax 100 looks amazing from the specs. I wish it would come down in price though. Holy Moly.

Holy mack-or-roni and cheeseballs on a stick! I found an even lower priced thermal camera alternative. You need an Iphone or Ipad to use it. It's the IR-Blue. It has a very low resolution. Only 32x4 pixels I think. But these are no ordinary pixels. Instead, they are extra giant mutated mack daddy sized pixels from Mars. Anyone hook this up to your IP NVR's yet? The cost is only $190 built and even less in kit form. I almost wonder if there would be a way to combine a couple of these to make a 32x8 or 32x12 resolution or something like that. Hmm. It's like, looking through the eyes of a low resolution predator. This must be how their technology started out. To quote someone famous: "You are one ugly ******-******." Get to the chopper! Now!!!! -9-Te-DPbSE

I am trying to order some units for a project coming up. I will see if I get get my hands on a extra unit for you. Just checking if you ever received any of the Vario's. If so, how are they and I notice, I see alot of reviews lately about IP cameras, but when it comes to IR illuminators, not so much. Why is that and how can we change that? More people need to start reviewing their IR units me thinks. Maybe the forums here need an IR section. When I go to find info on IR here, it's vague as to which forum I should be in for that.

Yeah, I'll send Swann the same e-mail I sent Hikvision. So far no response from Hikvision USA.... Those turkeys. Anyone know if these HD-820's are sensitive to 940nm IR?

That's nice. I can't wait until I can get one of those. I'm noticing that there is also a kickstarter type campaign for Mu Thermal Cameras. They are attempting to get the price point of a starter thermal camera down to only $300 retail. It's only 160x120 pixels now, but I'm sure they will be able to up that to 320x240 over time with added cost. They are using smartphones and tablets to replace the internal components of traditional thermal cameras. This of course comes as no surprise as many smartphones and tablets coming out this year and next are starting to be as powerful as desktop computers and laptops from only a few years back, many smartphones and tablets now have dual and quad cores as well as high end graphics chips. Not quite as ideal as true thermal surveillance cameras, but it could help bring the prices down of thermal imaging technology quite a bit, which seems to be their goal. It will support H.264 streaming over wired and wi-fi it appears, so I would imagine it could be used with Geo\Blue Iris. Not sure of the release date yet. I'm going to join the kickstarter (indiego) to get one of the first releases. Should be fun I hope. I guess when this is released it will be the lowest priced thermal imaging camera on the market. http://hackaday.com/2013/03/06/a-real-thermal-imaging-camera-for-300/ http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mu-thermal-camera-a-great-tool-to-save-on-energy-costs

Yeah, I can understand the pricing thing. I know it's odd. On one part of the forum, we have retail pricing wars for cameras, and on other parts it's hard to get pricing, usually for the more high end equipment. viewtopic.php?f=19&t=35206 Maybe once these thermal camera's hit retail, we will start to see more pricing info on them like we are seeing with Hikvision, Dahua, and other cameras. So, I guess, the lowest cost thermal imaging camera right now is the $1999 MSRP WatchMaster IP Elite. That's tempting, but still out of my price range. Le sigh. Has anyone demo'd this thermal camera yet? It looks very interesting to say the least. I'm going to have to dig up today's pricing in case they have lowered since first introduced. I like how the case snaps closed in that video. It just clicks. 3iYqRCo3jZI

Jeepers Creepers. That seems high. The WatchMaster IP Elite thermal camera was only $1999 over a year and a half ago. http://www.drs.com/news/32812.aspx Would guess it would have dropped at least a couple hundred in the past 1.5 years, but not necessarily. My wv-sc385 didn't go down very much in 1 year, in fact I think it stayed the same. (regular ir ptz cam, no thermal) Was the resolution of the cams you installed much higher than the 320x240 of the WatchMaster? Have you ever done a side by side comparison with the WatchMaster, or is it too low end compared to what you usually go with? I'm mainly looking for something new to play around with. Regular IR is great but thermal imaging would be a nice fun toy to experiment with. I keep waiting and waiting. I think I would maybe bite for as high as $998.32 but not a penny more. "The WatchMaster® IP Elite, produced by the Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA) Group of DRS, is now available starting at $1,999 for the 40° field of view model. At this extremely competitive price, businesses, government facilities, schools, utilities and other organizations that require demanding 24/7 surveillance can employ thermal capabilities to help heighten their security. The WatchMaster® IP Elite detects infrared (heat) waves instead of visible light, allowing it to display a sharp 320 x 240 pixel image through haze, dust, smoke, light fog and dark of night, conditions that severely limit performance of alternative imaging systems in low-light and other challenging environments. RSTA’s infrared technology clearly displays potential threats that would be difficult or impossible to detect with conventional cameras. "

Any idea how much the very lowest price thermal imaging camera goes for?

Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. I wonder if they would accept donations to add the feature. I would be willing to send them $50 for the feature since I saved $50 off the regular Costco price for the camera set. I wonder how many hours or days worth of work it would take to add the feature. Anyone know?