rory

seeing as most CCTV cameras are under 800x600 pixels, anything over 800x600 is really overkill

How much lot it could be ? I understand the best thing to do is to have a good camera plus 2 IR illuminators ? its been a few years, but probably about $1000 msrp.

if you want to spend some money you could illuminate it with IR, with some Extreme CCTV Infrared (now Bosch) .. but its ALOT of $$$$$ .. ive used for example the UF500's in the past and they could blast that area well, there are even the UF600's. But along with the price tag the bulbs go every couple years which is additional maintenance. But be warned, not every camera is made alike, not all cameras will react as well with Infrared, some are better than others and it has nothing to do with the price tag. eg. approx 200' from camera to gate using the UF500 (you can use multiple ones), ignore garden lights as they are useless, it is otherwise pitch dark. Ive tried this exact location recently with some $300 IR bullets and they dont even come close, even $700 Raytec White light cant touch this:

30-40m is a stretch for a turret IR dome, id venture to say it's more like 40-50' if you want to see anything. you would be better off with a decent TDN camera and blast the area with separate IR. Otherwise for strong IR built in look for a TDN IR Bullet, even then it can be a gamble, though less of a gamble then a Turret Dome. Bottom line is this .. as it is a no name brand, nobody can tell if it will work or not.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3144

1st one has ok specs, TDN, 2.8-11mm lens. But no manufacture name. Really depends what you want it for. Its a Turret IR Dome, it has its places, but its not for every application. ps. sorry no store links allowed (eg that show pricing)

Have you contacted DM about it? Sounds like a big issue.

Im not familiar with VLC nor do i use VB.net, im old school VB6, but why would you want to use the VLC api to capture stills, and what is the capture coming from?

Did you try a different hard drive yet? Like exporting to a USB Hard drive?

Still be careful whatever the rating. Seal the points of possible entry with caulking if they are exposed, such as a cable going into the back of a bullet camera, even some cameras with cable pass mounts, if there is a section which is exposed to rain in that bracket as some are, seal that up too, and with domes keep them away from direct exposure to rain if possible, under eaves for example are best. If you dont take precautions such as this, and a certain part of the camera did not have proper quality control or was loosened up by someone else between the manufacturer and you, then you may spend a couple days trying to dry that out or have to suffer the dreaded condensation.

There would have to be a huge difference for it to come close .. so I really do doubt it. But if you say so Ill take your word for it, but thats what im comparing it to. the dahua is 1/2 the price of the eb1304 and loaded with features. BTW they still sell the eb1304 in the US.

Not quite, in the case of the Qsee anyway, please see the other thread related to that. That is a Dahua DVR, it blows away Avtech and Avermedia in the sub $300 range, and at much less money, I know, I have one here, and I just chucked the AvTech, AND I have the EB1304's in the field. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23194

it uses an IDE power plug from the PC power supply.

Yeah that makes sense, I now remember them saying the non HDMI unit, the cheapest one, has no POS or Alarm, which is basically so its minus all the inputs on the back and minus the HDMI to keep the cost lower, which is fine for most basic apps. My colleague has a few of those on the way now, so will see when it comes. The one I have here now has the HDMI and alarm inputs. As for the camera, I could recommend a 3.6mm cheap Color IR, like in that image, though I dont know who sells that model in the US for retail. There are going to be many like it anyway, ofcourse never sure until you test them as cheap color IRs vary. Anyway this is the one in the images with 1/3": http://xtsvideo.com/viewDetailProduct.aspx?productId=XTS-B42-IR&categoryId=4

oh my bad, I was thinking cantonk .. But yeah Cantek, I used one of their Turret IR domes recently (from a NY online retailer) and it was complete rubbish .. kind of expected with that type of camera though. No idea how their DVRs are. I never could find a website for them when I checked.

You would have to buy it from china?

Regarding 700TVL, Probably not. Its like using a 520TVL camera and recording at CIF. Still only get CIF quality. But Id have to hold off from being able to say that with certainty until I test or see one in action in a real world application. 600TVL i use all the time now, but they are still just the same total effective pixels of say a 550TVL camera. Dont notice any real difference besides many of them have other features that make them better in some cases.

D1 is 720x480. 704x480 is cropped D1 or 4CIF. Some DVRs will crop D1 to 704x480, it is said there are sometimes 8 pixels on each side that are unusable. This is what I have read at least, and come across with a few various DVRs. What I have noticed is that with some camera chips there will be black edges either on one side or both or the top or bottom. Figure it must be a codec issue with the DVRs, this is common with Geovision, also Dahua, so I imagine there are many others. However on the Dahua for example, even at 704x480 and least 1 black edge still exists on at least one camera I tested. I would like to know more about this particular issue if anyone is more knowledgeable in that area. Strangly it is normally only in recorded or networked video, or saved images, hence it must be an encoding issue with the DVR? Otherwise I guess we have to wait until the DVR software or firmware is updated to support the new resolution. Is this going to happen? Not sure, as most high res cameras, 480-650TVL, are already 768x494 effective pixels and yet we are still using 4CIF or D1. What above D1 though, I did notice a 16CIF, but then that would be too much for these cameras. I guess i need to sit down and read this one day: http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.261-199303-I/en On that same note, I keep getting slammed with emails from the same companies in China about their 700TVL cameras .. LOL. In fact just now I got 2, 1 of them from the same company that already sent me a couple emails earlier on! The prices are still very low also, but more expensive than their other cameras, well only by like $30, hey its china.

Ill have to let him upload some from the Qsee but this is from the Dahua XTS branded model. Most of the cameras in these images suck so its just an example, plus some are pitch dark or close to it and one even has a missing IR Cut filter in the day. These were mostly saved as a snapshot while playing back in the main PSS network software: http://www.bahamassecurity.com/xts/xtssamplebmps.zip

Its a dahua DVR. I have the same one here, except its with HDMI. I get the one like you got for really cheap (sell retail for more though especially down here with 50% duty). These are the best sub $300 DVRs ive used yet, blows away Avermedia's EB models and many others Ive used or tested, even ones that cost alot more. In the US a couple others distribute these, or the HDMI versions, the most well known being Intellicam. The other, the one I use, is XTSvideo. Qsee may have customized the remote video software though so it might look different, but this is basically what it looks like from the manufacturer and other distributors: Yours should look somewhat similar? And yes they have the Mac version just released last month. However it is slow so I feel it is emulated, perhaps using some form of WINE. And oh yeah here it is their SDK in my custom software: I run this almost all day in full screen. Yes it has draw backs, such as when you change to variable bit rate for some reason it gets stuck on that, even when you set it back to CBR. Even a firmware update does not put it back as it just updates certain things. The PSS software is heavy as hell, hey it has 60MB of skin BMPs but it seems the developers used a Super Computer for that. I hacked some of the resource images out of it myself and made a stand alone version, no need to install the software (actually it comes like that, uses XML instead of Database and all dependency files included in the path), also made everything greyscale except the mouse over and that makes the GUI load faster. Additionally I got rid of the PTZ and other items on the right that we never use, its all in Skin files so you can basically change what you want, even the images AND the logo. After doing all that I found a new version on Dahua's website with more playback features and havent yet hacked that one. This new version still has that cumbersome playback but it also now has download directly to AVI. That whole player thing is absurb, but it still beats the features of the other DVRs in the $200-300 or so range. Ive found that playing it back in single view is best as then you can just click on a time/date file and it will play without asking to close or select a window. But yes multiview playback would be nice. Yes channel 1 IS D1 30fps with the others at D1 7fps, but overall it is cropped D1 or 4CIF, 704x480. It has a secondary stream but for most purposes it is useless, perhaps that is used for the mobile phones. Otherwise the same encoding for the local recording is used for the remote video. There is a basic option to change the bandwidth type, fluency, adaptive, or latency, I havent seen much difference. Pro is you can download all the software for these DVRs right from the manufaturers website, Dahua, and for me at least they have an SDK for download as well, which is great. I already added it into my Remote viewer, still working on that though, but I use it almost all day long on my computer to watch my cameras, no need for the PSS software except for admin over the network. Browser software is okay but it is heavy on some processors, I get 100% CPU on my computer, though it actually works better using IE Tabs in Google Chrome. Recorded video isnt bad, see a sample here using a low res color bullet camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KE9f8Z3bjs I have noticed these DVRs have alot of noise compared to others, especially under low light even when the area is blasted with Infrared, compared to the picture directly on a monitor - though they have a setting to adjust the contrast which does help. As for your cameras, they really arent wide angle as thats 3.6mm 1/4". If it were 1/3" 3.6mm then it would be wide angle. On that note there are many thousands or more Color IR cameras out there some the same price, I just tested 2 different cheap Color IR models and you can clearly see the difference. So to end, that DVR you got is actually being used by professionals, just as is the Avermedia and the Avtech (worst ive used). No its not the best in the world and the manufacturer even has better units with full D1 30fps on all 4-16 channels, but it is what it is, cheap and it works. Every DVR I have used from cheap to expensive has its flaws. Also there alot of DVRs out of China that mimick these in the features they have from the browser application to the encoding and other settings. Nice one with this is their other units have HDMI output which tested is a little clearer than the VGA in this case, but the composite output is still the clearest as these are composite DVRs.

That 3.6mm may have been 1/4" which would not be wide angle then. Check into whether that was 1/4" or 1/3". As mentioned 2.8 is wider but in a fixed lens there can be alot of blur on the edges, even on varifocal lenses at 2.8 there is a very little blur on at least one side but it is acceptable and much better than the fixed lens, though cameras will differ also. Check out the CNB VBM-24VF or VCM-24VF, they are vandal domes with 2.8-10.5mm lenses. Also KT&C have a TDN IR Bullet with 2.8-11mm lens, havent used that yet myself but am waiting to do so. 1.78mm or "fish eye" really does lower the quality of the image and the edges on those are blurry for certain. But if your goal is just to see what is going on then they will work fine. Some cameras you can add the wider lenses some you cant, for example the Fish Eye lens is much larger and wider and so cant fit on most IR Bullets or IR Domes due to the IR ring mostly, and also small bullets, unless you leave the front cover off. Additionally with the color bullet to get a focus it went to far in and cracked the fixed IR Cut filter which is a piece of glass glued over the chip's glass cover. For the record Ive recently tried a 2.8mm and 1.78mm fixed lens on Day Night IR Bullets, Color IR Vandal Dome, Color Bullet, and an Indoor Color dome. Actually left the 2.8mm installed on the indoor dome, thats the CNB DFL-20s, and that is mounted outside under an eave, but the client (my friend) mounted it and he knows the risks.

Yeah its supposedly 20-30% loss at 850nm from 750nm, and approx 50% loss at 940nm from 750nm. Ive used both and the 940nm seemed like it was around the 20-30% lower from the 840. Ofcourse it will vary from camera to camera and IR to IR.

Greetings Tina, as you are a new member please read the following rules before posting in the forums. Thanks. viewtopic.php?f=34&t=9805

You will get a better picture and setup using the VBM-24VF/VCM-24VF and separate IR. KT&C have a smaller IR thats cheap or CNB have more powerful ones that are a little more money. Otherwise I think this is the replacement, unlike the 2765 which was the one I used and didnt like, this one has the Eclipse feature and OSD. http://www.cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=388

they will need VOIP also or its gonna be a long distance call to another galaxy .. i dont even use a cell anymore