rory

I dont like the Acti ActiveX. Its very heavy, one of the worst Ive dealt with. Axis on the other hand is great in that area. If you will never use the ActiveX then its no problem.

Although other factors come into play as mentioned, such as the chip and light handling, there is still a difference, especially when you need to work with the evidence, and when initially focusing the camera as well. In CIF mode for example, you wont notice a difference though.

764x494(380K) or 510x492 (250K) Effective Pixels, you decide

He probably meant KT&C, being a manufacturer like CNB that sells direct to the retailers and distributors, they are not expensive. You can buy CNB and KT&C from most online stores.

Yeah I hooked up a bad laptop hard drive to my PC last night with a Sata-USB adapter, locked my PC up until I removed it ... even the video i was watching was still moving ... but as mentioned on more than one DVR then it might not be that.

maybe disconnect the alarm inputs first. Also take the PTZ off. That doesnt fix it, perhaps the HDDs are bad. Are the systems on voltage regulators? Can you check to see if when it hangs, if it is still recording? That should rule out the HDD. Otherwise could try a firmware upgrade or reset to defaults. Could simply be a bad board though.

Luxriot is a server and it has live video. http://luxriot.com/eng/products/features/

Why no go? haha

Cant help on the software, but just wondering what kind of power supply do you have in them, also is it custom built yourself or purchased ready made? And how is the cooling in it? Would love to see some photos of that build

KT&C has a 100' (claimed) model for less. Not sure about the CNB models.

The WD AV drives dont work in all DVRs.

Can anyone tell what systems they are using? I see they are using Raytec Infrared, not sure about the rest though. Must be fun getting up to this PTZ

On the same topic, what about routers, is there a reason to use the switch instead, or is a similar router hard to find? Is it just for the POE in this case? I see they have a firewall that has DHCP also and 8 ports, just no POE.

just looked at your spec post ..... camera / power supply/cable $25. those cameras are going to give your problems. your power supply is too small for a start. for that distance Yep at that price they are throwing in the cheapest stuff they can get their hands on, thats why it has to be a 1/4" Sharp chip in that camera also.

I would use a better power supply and see if it helps, 500ma is cheap to buy. The other card may have been more forgiving with a weak signal. You could try connect it directly to the DVR though to double check first. If that works, get some RG59 siamese and use that instead of that DIY cable, as well as the larger or at least better Power Supply.

Those ready made cables can cause a weaker signal, especially with a poor camera.

It could be a really low quality CMOS camera with a low signal. Geo needs a good signal, if the signal is low it will still show on a TV or monitor, but not always the DVR. Just a thought. I never used a camera that didnt work though. If you plug it in right at the DVR does it still not show?

As far as I know it has a fixed IR cut filter - AKA IR blocking filter. I havent brought one home to really test yet, but if you remove the lens you may see a little square glass IR cut filter over the chip. You can remove that if you want, Ive done it with a color bullet I have here, but it might be tricky. Plus then the colors may be washed out.

Also they may have put in a limit on the number of USB drives, and it may mean paying more for additional ones. Just to verify its not the 3rd camera and driver in particular, have you swapped them around?

Maybe only 2 of your USB ports work? Is this a new PC or an old one? Front or rear ports? All ports enabled in the Bios? Do the cameras come up in my computer under USB cameras? Do you see any sign of them in Device Manager? The software may only be checking 2 USB ports max also.

True. Analog is max 720x480 though NTSC, just the 8 pixels on either side are not always useful so some DVRs will crop it, D1 cropped or 4CIF is 704x480. Another option is to get a hybrid, as in many cases for example a small staff kitchen, one normally wouldn't need more than a low res 400TVL camera in there, and if one wants a camera outside to see in low light, and not spend a fortune, eg they dont need to see the pimple on the suspect's face or the ant crawling on the ground, then thats another place one could save money. I agree the indoor cube 1.3's are not expensive, just need the light for them and good to go. Also depends on the type of customers in your area. But as for the Samsung SRD, not directly, though Ive briefly tested their Net-I ware software on my computer and its one of those apps I personally would stay clear of. Other than that the DVR specs themselves are very similar to those of the Dahua stand alone DVRs down to how many connected users are allowed, to the HDMI, to the dual stream (one being useless QCIF or CIF) and other specs. Not saying they are the same though as many of the DVRs coming out of China these days have almost the identical specs, but I didnt think these were made in China, but then who knows. Only thing is the Dahua DVRs are about 1/10th the cost of the Samsung units. Ofcourse though you get the Samsung name and warranty. If spending that kind of money though, Id probably just go with the exacq models. Never used them myself but what I did see on youtube from them looked impressive, and they come highly recommended. Ofcourse there are alot of good products out there today, and more to come in the future.

If you can afford it, and also remember to get Infrared or add alot of lighting outside for the MP which will not see near as much under low light. Otherwise, perhaps look at better DVRs and cameras, and by better that means something that does not cost $8,000 and CAN identify a suspect. Ignore all the recent marketing hype that one can only identify a suspect by using MP cameras as that total BS, we have been doing so without them for years now. MP is nice but its not for every application.

KT&C have pal models. They sell various fixed lenses for them. http://www.ktnc.co.kr/english/viewforum.php?f=81 http://www.ktnc.co.kr/english/viewforum.php?f=82 None of their mini color bullets are really intended for low light though. They have alot of regular size bullets though with Exview etc.

Going by the specs, is a bottom of the barrel really cheap Color IR camera. I wouldn't expect too much from it, especially outdoors, and its not a wide angle either (1/4"). Those are the kind of cameras for example we sell to the really poor people living in shacks with no running water, couple bucks more and a different brand can get one a slightly better camera.

yeah but by CRT we mean the CCTV CRTs, not VGA The portable DVD isnt better, least not the screen - as long as you are talking about regular LCD monitors and not a service monitor? Its just that its easier to get up on the ladder with, then again though its hard to handle up there also, but still lighter and smaller than the LCD monitor. If you can take the camera down and focus it even better. LCD monitors dont typically have a composite input though, and the VGA converters can really diminish the quality especially the cheaper ones. If you mean the laptop LCD, then its fine in some cases, but still if you are doing it over the network then its encoded video and that can not be as clear. If in your case you are focusing it after it passed through the Axis video encoder then that may be your problem right there, you need to focus it right from the video from the camera before it is encoded anywhere. In some circumstances it may be focused "okay" this way, but with the issues you are having I would go direct.