rory

What DVR are you using? rory

it looks pretty good actually, only issue i can see is like the others mentioned, height, where you will have an issue with lighting up the licence plate. If it was the same location, is the lens the same exact one? What F:stop is the lens? The slower the Shutter speed the more light the camera lets in .. so if you slow it down, you will see more, in for example image 1, in theory. I would try Auto first, then test it at lower settings only if it doesnt work in that mode. here is some futher info: http://www.cctv-information.co.uk/constant3/anpr.html Was the 1/250 setting bad as in still dark? Proper licence plate capture you want to get as low to the ground as possible, as low as 4 foot for example .. but like you said you will have other issues at that height. Rory

can you connect to the DVR at all, with Pinging the DVRs IP or Telnet? whats the internal IP of the DVR? whats the routers gateway? lastly, do you have VNC? That would be a last resort, I could get on a PC and look at it closer for you. Rory

Video Insight, VueStar, Say Security, i can vouch for all 3 of these. As for the big name brands cant say. I dealt with Kalatel before GE bought them out, was good back then, but when they got big under GE name, it dropped right off. I cant say how they will treat you as im not in the US, but email was never great, im a person that unless you reply to email, i dont know you .. Reason being Telco from here to the US are crazy prices. .. like $5 a minute, so its Email or Skype ..

I believe you can use Connexant drivers with it .. i had the card sitting here before and if i remember the Bt878 drivers worked .. but it needs and Intel Chipset or you will get errors .. use BTSpy, then install the btdrivers and use the text file saved from Btspy .. but you need the program software running when you use btspy so it gets all the commands. Then once it works and has all the channels working (can test that with AmCap or VidCap), then you should be able to use any of the generic software out there, even LuxRiot. Rory

Hi, Yep the PC "can" be reliable, ive had good luck with the Geo cards for the last half a year, the systems i installed have been running and never had to go back. Just installed a 480/480 16 channel 750Gb system at a night club which we upgraded from a stand alone system (GE) i put in 5 years ago, but he wanted real time, and the extra features, and higher quality evidence sharing, thats where the PCs rule, high quality back up, provided you are using decent cameras ofcourse. The cards are stable and so is the software, the Windows XP system needs to be "tweaked" properly and then you will not have any issues. You can upgrade the HDDs any time you need to, and if a better card comes out later on, then you can always switch the card out and not worry about a new system, unless you want to upgrade the PC guts also. They are always upgrading their software though, and adding new features and such. I run a 2 channel Geo card in my system , minimized, and its on 24/7. I restart it manually every few days or so, but with the PC systems in the field i set the DVR software to reboot once a day at a certain time, which varies from one to the next. You can however have the running without reboot for much longer, i just do it incase. The 2 chanell and 4 channel GV250's are 20fps, while they also have 30-480fps cards, the price goes up. The GV250s work in almost any PC, im using a 3 year old refurbished AMD 2.0 Ghz Via with 512DDR ram and a 128MB Saphire Radeon Video card. Note the Via Chipset PCs are much cheaper than Intel or SIS, but most 30fps and above cards dont work with Via Chipsets, hence using the 20fps card. I like the IR remote control that you can get along with the Geo cards, and the full screen feature with camera pop up and siren on motion, which goes back to multi view after a few seconds, as well as the start minimized or full screen in various user modes, so you can lock regular users out from the actual system part of it. Iview is also a solid PC card, i have a couple in the field and they havent caused an issue yet, they have been running since earlier this year. Less features but cheaper than the Geo. Im sticking with the Geo for now though. A Stand alone is nice for sticking in a closet and forgetting about it, the GE are rock solid in thar area, not cheap but good for a stand alone DVR and powerful remote software. From what you said I dont think the Avtech will work for your requirements, you might not be happy, i mean it is a decent DVR for basic Ops but has some limitations, primarily motion detection recording reliability and the remote software. The lorex will be same as far as limitations. A couple cheaper alternatives to the GE and Pano, would be the Nuvico and Sanyo, i havent used either myself but heard good things. It would be good to check some of the reviews on this forum for the 2 DVRs. If you dont mind paying the extra dollars then you could step up to the GE StoreSafe, it is 30fps, then there is the StoreSafe Pro which is 60fps. Using motion detection recording it will distribute the fps among the cameras which are picking up motion at the time. You can program the DVR using the network software also, from anywhere with an Internet connection, including changing Motion Zones, Recording Settings, Camera names, etc. Everything but the network and password set up, which inititally needs to be done locally. I used these for almost 5 years, until earlier this year when i switched to PC based for other reasons (35-45% on DVRs, 0% duty on PCs being a leading factor). The pano is more and i dont think its worth it. The DM also cost more than the GE but is not as good, it is imported from the UK hence the heavier cost. The cameras are another issue, you mentioned IR. What are the locations for each camera? Where and what is the IR camera going to be looking at, distance to object, trees in way, white walls or surfaces, etc? Rory

PC will give you more features, though you may not need that, but PC based can end up being cheaper also .. depends on the system and card you use. The Specio 637EXs need alot of light, they used to be low light cameras but they changed that, so ignore any specs on them. They are high res and a decent wide angle, though since they are a bullet camera, the image doesnt compare to a Pro camera, such as a Box camera or a decent Dome. The lens makes a huge difference, and not all Domes will have good lenses either. Here is an example of a budget 1/4" Color camera 380TVL on the left, and the Speco 637ex 1/3" on the right. Note the wider angle of the 1/3" and the higher res (excuse lines in image as was bad wiring) But if you want to save some money, just get a regular color bullet camera (380TVL CCD without Infrared) and use that in areas where you have decent lighting. Then use BW where it is low light, and if its pitch dark, you will need seperate Infrared, but its cheaper to use motion lighting, or normal outdoor lighting. You get what you pay for, when it comes to CCTV .. the DM and Panasonics are very expensive, same as the GE, dont think you need that for your home. If you were going to spend that much, you might want to look at a PC based with Real time record and display in 720x480, and get a super fast PC. 1) View live feed from any TV in the house Run a RCA cable from the DVR location to a modulator (you can place the modulator right beside the DVR), then from the modulator run a RG6 Coax to the Cable TV Coax before it splits off out to your TVs. I imagine the AV Panel is where the Cable TV splits up, so run it there and use the splitter and a low pass filter, check out "Channel Vision". 2) View live feed from the internet (password protected) by entering an IP address. Most stand alones allow Password Protection for the remote connection, but the PC based units i have found to have much more user and password options. Either way get aninternet capable DVR and then make sure it has password protection for the remote connection. 3) Record complete footage from all cameras in full quality. The low end stand alone DVRs dont normally do that, generally they will do Quad mode or 320x240 on all cameras, or 720x480 in low fps (where 640x480 and 720x480 is high resolution). Depends on which DVR you choose. 4) Option to only record if movement in select pixels. Once again, you need a decent DVR to get motion detection recording. Most low end stand alones dont do it, or they dont work properly. 5) Ability to transfer all or select footage to DVD and removable hard drive. Depends on the stand alone, the PC based for certain, and even some low end Stand alones now have USB output for back up. The higher priced stand alones can also come with a CD, and some even more expensive ones like the GE have DVD as an option. I use PC based now for another reason, it has much better evidence sharing capabilities than the stand alones, even than the high end stand alones, higher quality video and images, as well as any kind of back up you want to use. 6) Ability to record off site if an alarm trips for instance. Depends again on the DVR .. where you are located and what your budget is. Once you determine how many cameras you will need, then can work that out. Geo Vision PC card software comes with a Central Monitoring software than can send videe on motion or alarms, and record off site. Also, even the AvTech software has a similar feature, where it can FTP or Email on motion. 7) 30 f/s Total or per camera? 30fps is a standard on all DVRs for the most basic. 8 ) Recording capacity at full quality one week (As long as 5 is possible) Depends on the DVR, compression used, if it supports motion detection, how many cameras are installed, whether they are color or BW cameras, Lighting situation on each camera, and hard drives installed. As for web sites, please check out our advertisers for products and pricing. Thanks Rory

i agree the members that come on this forum are very very professional .. I just left a Bahamas forum because it got way out of hand, and the owner/mod did nothing about it .. became a flame against the US from non Bahamians and all kinds of people came from yahoo etc, and had nothing to do with the bahamas .. course i wasnt a mod there IMO right now, PC based if you have access to parts and know how to set them up properly as a DVR, stand alone if you do not, and certain applications can call for a stand alone over a PC based. Then there are client preferences. You get certain features with Windows based DVRs that you generally wont find in an non Windows DVR, and depending on the Card or System will depend how reliable it is, and what features come with the DVR software. Things are changing quickly though and there are companies coming out with some really neat embedded non Windows systems, but then the Windows DVR companies are also coming out with new features also, and then there are the NVRs, though IMO most of the technology for those still has a way to go for clarity of remote recording. I use PC Windows based now, PC parts are Duty Free, while we pay 35% customs duty on other electronics. Another reason is the DVR software for the PC is more customizable and has the features my clients need right now, which cant be found in the embedded non Windows as yet. As for locking down the PC, i dont think i need to reinvent the wheel, here is a program that does that for you. http://www.winforcer.com/index.htm Rory

im getting Bad Request (Invalid Hostname) for the recorded file hostname .

Hi, if its this one: http://www.intellicamusa.com/PDF/jpeg2000-4manual.pdf from first glance of the networking section, it doesnt have an HTTP server, so you can only use the Client software. You need to port forward port 8000 to the DVRs internal IP which i take it you have set ,, if not, then ill take a better look later on. Rory

Please read this first. http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3301 Thanks.

i need a link to the DVR as from Intellicam's web site they discontinued that.

if i had all your emails id send yall this one .. http://cards.ecard4all.com/cgi-bin/newcards/showimage.pl?no=30740&q1=edec_christworldday_summerchristmas&cat=Events&image=/thumbs/edec_christworldday_summerchristmas/8549-007-01-1086.gif&title=Bright+And+Merry+Christmas+!&backgr=summerchristmas01.gif&tcolor=00009C&tsize=5&tface=comic+sans+ms&type=html&subcat=Summer+Christmas&log=ecard4u&newbgpath=new&newmuspath=eventsnew&src=&bigimagetype=new&DATE=[%20Dec%2025%20]&tempval= have a good one .. Rory

hi coop, it would get slightly dimmer as i turned the second one ..but sun was still too bright to get a good focus. i just screwed one into the other, then was twisting the one furthest from the camera. .. But imagine, ontop a ladder, hot, windy, a monitor and balancing the ladder on the grass lawn, trying to hold the camera as when back focusing it moves, and hold the filter infront of the lens without it hitting each other, which it did and the filter got scratched, oh yeah, and focusing the lens .. only bush and trees to focus on also at the 50mm zoom. Anyway, definately have to back focus these things at my place in the future .. then like i always did, focus at the location under low lighting. I focused the BW mode with IR on and stays focused enough in the day in color ... thanks Rory

ok so i tried the 2 circular polarizing filters, they didnt work, i mean it was too bright today. I ended up being there until 7pm anyway so I was there in the low light and pitch dark so took advantage of that. Ended up with the Computar 5-50mm i had it focused in low light in color and BW mode, crisp, but when the IR came on it had to be focused for that, will see tomorrow if it is still in focus in the day. The 5-50mm F;1.3 picks up more IR than the older Tamron f:1.4 which was on there for the past 4 or so years .. its also possible its an Iris pot issue though I really doubt it. I also tried the part that sais open the Iris up using the iris pot. well even in low light, i saw nothing but white light .. kind of scared me ... Though zooming into T and back focusing helped a little .. it was kind of in focus in W ,, but not exactly. Though it was close enough and could be focused from there. The polarizing filters did nothing in this sun light, but hamper me from focusing .. in fact, I could only get a decent focus in low light which was around 5.45pm when it was dropping off to night, quickly. It started getting dark 5.30pm, switched to BW around 5.45pm, and was pitch black by 5.55pm. The camera itself kept switching from color to BW back and forth for 10 minutes until it was pitch dark. The Sanyo's have a manual control but you need a switch to work it. So basically need to still focus the cameras here in low light, which this time of the year is 5.40-5.50pm. With IR i think the main issue is the focus shift, the new lens is f:1.3 5-50mm and the old one was f:1.4 3-12mm (set to 12mm) ... which also may be an issue and definately be an issue why you see more IR at night with the IR on. So i can get the camera to work day and night, but the IR comes on, another issue. Since my retina isnt that great right now. im logging off. Though its from the sunlight , .. way too much today, no clouds anywhere ..! Anyway .. Rory

not neccassarily better as a security product, i've had better luck with the Optex beams .. Optex' specialty is outdoor detectors .. but they cost a "bit" more .. for the most part, we dont want dogs to trip the beams for security purposes ... actually even birds trip the Optex 70T series, i have had a set here for years ,, one thing though, they last. Rory

other beams would be from Seco-larm, their 90' ers .. but they dont false quite as easy as the Optex 70' ers ,, http://www.seco-larm.com/E960LRb.htm They are cheaper than the Optex though. Rory

i had a client who has a few of their systems, worked well. They are a member on this forum so incase you havent tried to email them yet, try the PM feature. http://www.cctvforum.com/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1314 I never used the DDNS feature, always had Static Ips, so cant help there, otherwise systems with remote audio worked well. They were prebuilt systems from NetPromax though. Its been a while but i think we just entered any site ID that we made up, the IP, user and pass are the important thing. Rory

What you need then, is a standard alarm beam, yes it picks up dogs, something like this will do it, dont use the PLUS versions as they are much better for security and generally don't pick up dogs. These T versions pick up birds so they definately pick up dogs and cats. http://www.optexamerica.com/products/prodpage.cfm?product=ax70t Or use a standard motion detector, that will pick up anything that comes by. http://www.rokonet.com/Item.asp?pid=54&plid=2&fmid=25 they are very very cheap and work well. Tie them into a relay (check rat shack) and find yourself a dog whistle that has alarm inputs and then you are good to go. Check stuff like this http://www.familydefense.com/bark-free.htm http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=high+ultrasonic+sound+frequencies&btnG=Search Rory

ive used something that you place out in your yard that detects noise (such as a dog barking) and then sets off a loud dog whistle that only dogs can hear .. but trust me if you test it out in normal mode (non dog wavelength) it dang hurts your ears .. i threw it out as it never worked anyway ..

is it december already happy and merry this and that then

What type of compression are you recording with. I have a client with 13 cameras ... 640x480 recording with Geo Mpeg4, 4 color cameras, the remainder are BW ... and recording Real time 30fps per channel, on motion detection .. in highest quality recording setting. Its a night club so its open 4 nights a week and thats when the majority of recording is done due to motion, it eats up the HDD on the color cameras especially one of them that is better than the rest with full lighting, file sizes for 5 minutes can be 287MB, BW file sizes are around 90MB for 5 minutes. Addtional occasional recording on the off nights are from low lighting such as pixelising, as well as 24/7 securuity walking around the club, particularly on a couple cameras. Motion is set to almost highest sensetivity. Im getting 11 days with 750GB. Remember the recorded video is in real time though, if i set it to 5fps on each camera, id get more than 3 months as the recorded video sizes drop drastically, by a couple hundred MB, tried it already, but the client wants highest quality and real time as they used to use embedded units, the reason for switching to PC based was this, as well as upgrading options. Note: Pixelising and Color Cameras decrease length of recording, with motion for Pixelising, and color for either motion or continuous. The higher the quality video of a color camera (such as high res in full lighting), will also raise the image size resulting in shorter recording. Using Mpeg 4 over Wavelet or MJpeg will result in longer recording, and in most cases can be as high quality, depends on the DVR used. Tested on the Geo the Geo MPEG4 in640x480 is as good as the Wavelet, with higher compression. Other DVRs will differ though. Rory

You are correct about Java, though I have seen the Javascript server push stuff work well, still not as full featured as the ActiveX. Here is my demo for the GeoVision ActiveX and Java based ... http://www.bahamassecurity.com/ie_browser_demo.htm Rory

think we asked this before, is this an embedded unit or PC based? If it is embedded then all the below info will be the things to try. If it is a PC based DVR then you would also need to look at Firewalls and Norton's issues, as well as any other software you may be running on the DVR. Port 81 will only work if you set that as the HTTP Server Port in the DVR and Port Forward it in the Router to the DVR's IP. If using the browser then you will need to add the Port 81 after the IP address or Dynamic Name, seperated by a colon. Same goes for Port 80, if it isnt blocked or isnt being used by another program. Are you certain this DVR has an HTTP server for the web browser? I would definately try telnet to it first, and then Client Software if telnet connects. 1-Set Internal IP in the DVR, make sure its the same range as the Router. 2-Port Forward to the HTTP Server Port, and any other Ports, such as the Client Software Port. 3-Telnet to the individual ports and see if it connects. eg- c:\Telnet IP PORT 4-If it connects (screen clears and you may see a cursor or other text appear) then try the Client Software, make sure username and passwords are set correctly. 5-If you are certain it has an HTTP server then try that only after you have tried the client software. 6-If it is an Embedded DVR and Port Forward doesnt work, try setting the DMZ to the DVR's internal IP. 7-If it still doesnt work, if you are using a Dynamic DNS name, try the direct ISP Ip address instead - not the internal one, try the ISP assigned IP. 8-If you switched it to port 81, and are trying it through the browser software, make sure to put the port number after the IP address of Dynamic Name - eg, http://IP:81 9-If you cant connect on the Client software, also check the Port number it is using and make sure that is port forwarded. Rory

actually with a single channel DVR anda Mux, you have all the features like that, i still have 2 of them in the field and they always worked well. Depends what brand you use, they were Kalatels Muxes and DVRs.