rory

Same exact camera, different housing. The VCM has an extra base so you make connections in that. If you are ceiling mounting the camera, then the VBM is fine as you can place the connections in the attic or ceiling, otherwise would need a separate gang box to place them in. Not sure about a soffit though. Good question and I dont have an answer for that yet. The CNB USA site still lists the 24VF. The 21VF is only 12VDC so that is of no use to me. The lens can be manually adjusted in that range, adjust zoom then focus. You will need to plug in a monitor to it to do this. If its just the widest FOV at 2.8mm then you can pre focus that in a controlled environment, if you want to zoom it in much more to say 10mm, best to do it at the location for best focus or setup something in the controlled environment at the same distance as the object to focus on. In most cases they will come pre focused from the factory to its widest FOV at 2.8mm. If they are not focused you would need to focus on the center of the image (I normally use a licence plate at 20' in my garage for example for a 2.8-4mm FOV), then make sure the edges are also focused by just moving the camera to the left and right to view the sharpness of the object you are focusing on - wide angles such as 2.8 can tend to be less focused on the edges, moreso on fixed board lenses though. Also test the focus in low light as well to be sure especially if you are going to need it for that application, although it is an IR lens and Ive had no real problem focus shift in low light with this camera, but sometimes you may not get it 100% focused and in the low light it can make a huge difference, also with Infrared.

Ok i installed the 2 HUGE programs here, the server, and the live viewer. Seems there is no web browser access so have to use their Live Viewer. The port used is 8000, or the first in the list of ports in the server network setup. Ofcourse I had no cameras to add to it or anything so just going by what I could do. Install the LiveViewer, run the setup tool and add a device. See images below. As im on the local network I used auto and it found the software as that model, tried entering manually also and that was the only model it would connect to - I guess that is the free version of the software, 4 cameras max. Or you could connect directly to the IP cameras also using their model types and IPs and Ports. Also I port forwarded 8000-8004 to my local IP and I can connect using my DynDns address instead of the local IP. I tested that port 8000 can be connected from outside also, 8001, 8002, and 8003 also, but 8004 is never open. Those ports also added to Windows firewall. Didnt get a chance to test the actual software from outside though.

Looks like you use Alarm Record Config, then select Motion Detection, click One Week, add the device and channel and then Start Record Plan. I set to "5" for stay time so videos files are smaller. Guess would need to read the manual to totally understand how to set it up and use it though I dont have the time LOL. Also you can play back the files using Playback and Activation section, then convert to AVI from there if needed. So yes very basic but seems to work. I only tested with a Dahua OEM'd DVR.

that 3.6 is probably on a 1/4" chip so it wont be wide angle like a 3.6 1/3". You could always change the lens for a wider fixed lens, though you may experience some blur on the edges especially with the 1/4" chip.

have you tried the Dahua PSS Software? http://www.dahuasecurity.com/download.aspx?p=fwyxz&p_kind=4&c_kind=17&c_kind2=139

No its green, I would stay clear of them completely.

yeah stay away from ANY green drive, AV or not. I switched one problematic green WD AV drive to a basic blue drive (only thing available here at the time) and it fixed the problems I was having. As mentioned get the blacks if you can. The AV drive did not seem to be an issue for general PC tests but after a few weeks of trying to find out why my recordings were skipping I tried an external USB 5400rpm drive and the problem did not exist anymore, so thats when I ditched that AV drive and got whatever I could get my hands on, and problem was fixed. BTW the green AV drive was 90mb/s max read and the blue was 135mb/s max read, not that it matters so much with recording, the 5400rpm USB drive for example was much less, I think around 45mb/s.

Thanks for the great review. Next, some screen shots and image samples?

Hi First, no need to reboot every day, 7 days is fine if at all. I normally do 7 days but PCs DVRs can and have been running for much longer without reboots. Second, is this a legit Card? Third, it seems the video card does not support Direct Draw overlay or it is having issues. Can you get a different Video card for it? Is this XP or Win7 or other? You can disable DirectDraw overlay in the System Configure section, though cant recall 100% if that option is enabled with version 7.0. In some versions there is an option in the menu item for Tools also. I take it that it is still recording anyway, as that is just for live view.

I installed the memocam, its okay but its a huge motion detector. Also has a short cable coming out the back of it, which can be a pain if you gotta get into a tight corner of an attack, unless you splice it then snake that extended cable. No PC connection like advertised, or least they say IP ready and its, well, not. You can take the Micro SD card out easily enough and then place it in a PC to be read by their software, but its propitiatory file type so need to use their software. Its just still images so it plays them one at a time, not motion video. I believe there is a way to get a direct feed from the camera though, didnt go that far with it as in my case didnt need that. Would I suggest it again? Probably not. They have a megapixel version for about $100 more so not sure if that has the IP feature, but they list the IP ready on ALL versions on their site. Nice marketing hype I guess. Maybe get a regular hidden camera then use an SD Mini Recorder instead. Also KT&C have all kinds of little mini cube cameras which can be easily double stuck inside anything you want. http://www.ktnc.co.kr/english/viewtopic.php?t=433 KPC-VSN500NH. They have BW models also. optional lenses or they show the types available for those cameras when ordering http://www.ktnc.co.kr/english/viewtopic.php?t=508

Well ive tested several so called GOOD new True Day Night Infrared Bullet cameras over the past few weeks and none of them can match the performance of an old school True Day Night Infrared Bullet .. i have them here also. I dont know what camera manufacturers are thinking but they are going backwards, BIG TIME!!! Not to mention i havent seen so much blatent misrepresentation of the facts pertaining the specs of cameras as there are now .. on OEM and Manufacturer websites .. its so bad now it is sickening, that so many are wasting hard earned money to buy something that doesnt even have certain features they claim, or can barely perform as they say. Manufacturers you need to start REALLY TESTING these cameras before you make claims and post marketing hype about this and that - thats all I have to say on the matter.

Ok so on the local network you can connect right? If so now you just have to setup port forwarding, as mentioned leave the DDNS for last. Add the DVR's IP and port 80 in the port forwarding section of your router settings. Your ISP might block port 80 so if it doesnt work you may need to change it to something else, like 81,82, 83, 8081, 8082, 8083, etc, If you go via the web browser though with those ports you would need to do IP:PORT From your local network, get your ISP assigned IP and test it here: Enter the IP and the port for the DVR, this will test it as if you were outside the network. If it says OK then you are good to go, next would be setting up the DDNS. http://www.websitepulse.com/help/gadgets.server-test.html Also according to madasafish.com they give you a free static IP, I would use that over a DDNS if you can due to the occasional downtime of free DDNS servers.

Yeah ive read the 8 pixels on either side dont contain anything useful .. but I guess D1 is a selling point .. when someone mentions the name 4CIF all they see is CIF

Perhaps you should ask Dahua

Yes Simplevue uses 7.0 Activex as its much lighter, but the webpage of the Dvr will be using the version of ActiveX for that Dvr, and there is a cab that needs to be downloaded to check the versions. So that needs to be installed (unless you manually edit the webpage)

Sorry but thats not totally correct. D1 NTSC is 720x480 D1 NTSC Cropped is 704x480 - Also known as 4CIF But the main thing is, the Dahua DVR itself calls it D1 in the menu setup, even if it is not 720x480, Full D1.

Another Korean Manufacturer on this forum mentioned at one time that the Monalisa is actually made by another Korean company?

Just an FYI i used a WD AV drive and it had issues with a Geovision DVR .. HD was fine otherwise, will never use it again, it was the last thing I would have thought would be giving me the problems I was having as it was perfect otherwise. I might try a Seagate next though, but definitely stay clear of the WD AV drives at least for Geo, I have a long thread on that here. Never had problems using standard drives though. Most important thing is to make sure the system no matter what HDD, that it is on a voltage regulator.

Dahua is D1 on the US side of the globe Well cropped D1 at 704x480 Also with the slim line the local encoding affects the remote encoding. It is dual stream but only if one counts the next to useless substream. cant speak for the others as Ive only used the slim line. Some of the larger machines also have a different processor .. for the faster real time D1 on all channels. And its a huge difference between 5 and 25fps ... least over here. But IMO quality matters more.

I dont believe so, though I havent had to and dont have one in front of me to try right now. Dont recall ever seeing the option though.

Did you ever test this? if so how was it? Thanks

id also venture to say CNB uses faceplate lux ratings. Most do now and dont say they do. Having used the VBM-24VF I can say its probably somewhere around 0.05-0.01 lux but then cant really say without a lux meter, just judging by past experience with exview low light cameras and the ones that listed both the faceplate and the regular. Either way they are more moderate with their ratings than others which in some cases claim as low as 0.0000001 lux That said, either way its going to be as good as or close enough to the VBM-24VF, so next question is how is the WDR and anyone used it before? Any videos or images from it? Id be looking at the 34VF model. I really wouldnt be using it for extreme low light apps anyway.

have you tried "Repair Database" yet? Also check your storage location/s is correct and valid.

check out the intellicam slim line DVRs .. good price and has the USB mouse and USB backup, remote software and browser application, and D1 on all channels - its their basic unit though, they have an enterprise one as well. Also there is a mac version of the remote software from the chinese manufacturer which was just released though its a bit slow and possibly buggy still.

yep send me a link to the software and I will see what I can do.