rory

Perhaps disable the built in IR and add a couple cheap IR cameras just for their IR (Dont tie in the video). Eg. use the old Nuvico, but leave the video disconnected. Then you can adjust the IR to the perfect position without moving the camera's view, and with 2x 30 degrees may get better IR spread

Wireless over cell service

Something isnt right, there should be some diminishing IR light off to the edges. The IR in your image just ends. Check gamma, AGC, etc. Throw everything back to default for the night test

remember that lens is 2.8mm, about 90 degrees or so depending on how he focused it, so the IR width is not bad, just doesnt seem to be reflecting off anything.

352x240 resolution, while D1 is 720x480

resized but CIF View My Video

AGC: low off may make it too dark, also may disable the Day Night function high AGC means more noise at night under low light as it compensates, and more glare in the day possibly. Sens-up: OFF SSNR3: if there is alot of noise at night, try turning it on and see how it is, if it is on by default leave it on, wont affect that brightness. What other SSDR settings does it have? Turn it to SBLC if it has that, or BLC, and turn that up higher if it has an individual setting for it - that will help with that backlighting issue. I havent used this camera though, they can all be a little different with how the settings work. Also the image above look like CIF blown up?

Lets go back to the original images for this thread Actually there is not much light in the CNB image at all, but there is some right by the camera on the eave ... get that out of the video image and perhaps it will then switch to BW. Zoom it in a little to get past that. lots of light in mine, but most of it is far away from the camera

Here is another example of where different mounting locations determine whether it switches to BW. Its difficult to see at that size but the top right is very noisy. Actually in BW it is noisy also but not as bad, after all it is low light. Left is with halogen on, right is with it off and only some light from a spotlight around the corner. although this brings out the noise a bit better (I dont have any large images of that right now). Both using the same filters. And this shows the light, light is the dark areas, notice there is less in the bottom right image, the one that goes to BW. and yes I was still working on christmas day

Yes still color.

eg. its very dark in most of this image but its seeing the garage lights. generally its so dark its hard to see to walk, yet it stays in color.

Its the same with all the monalisas, its just how it is. I had 10 monalisa box cameras, same thing as 5 different sets of the domes over the past year. Color is noisy under low light, and they dont switch to BW if there is a light in the view - doesnt have to be enough light, just a light, even if the light is 100 feet away. Heck I got some noise in my video with a 500 watt dusk to dawn light, but thats the same with alot of the newer cameras, their gain is adjusted to high I guess. one thing to note, different codecs will show it up the noise more or less. But there is noise regardless of how it comes out after compression. turning the contrast down and brightness up on the DVR helps also.

Thats common with the VBM and VCM 24VFs if it stays in color under low light. Happens alot. I Have some at one location, some nights they goto BW, but most nights they stay in color, but its too dark for its color and it gets noisy.

The trick with them is this. IMO. 1-They are good in full light in Color 2-They are good in very low light in BW Anything inbetween becomes noisy. In fact I found the DFL-20s to perform better in color in low light, but that is for indoors .. I think its a default AGC setting issue, its maxed out for ultra low light .. But then for that to work it really needs to switch to BW, and many times it does not if there is even a single small light in the video.

Another reason I stopped using Geo, its a PITA for that same reason. Also VLC will play it but ... upside down. Only fail safe method is to use the Ezviewlog player. Even with the EXE or installing the codecs manually, Windows Media Player can try to use other codecs especially if you have things like the Klite Codec Pack installed. If its a moderately clean PC then should be no issue. Unfortunately the Ezviewlog Portable Package on my site is old (8.1.1), and it tends to fail with newer video. If you have access to the Ezviewlog backed up for another video from your DVR, then just copy it and remove those videos and follow the same method I used here: http://www.bahamassecurity.com/software/geovision-software/ezlog.asp I also have something called GeoShare, but again it used regular Media Player, also it was designed for older GeoVision Video, and for an Optical drive instead of a USB drive. All it really does is auto run the codec installer then open Explorer so you can manually click on the video to play in Media Player. Codecs in that case are old, though there is a chance they will still work, depends on what codec you were using and what version Geo it was. http://www.bahamassecurity.com/software/geovision-software/geoshare.asp Otherwise, here is another way, using Media Player Classic. I used this method the last time I had to share some video for the cops, was for 8.3.2. I changed the layout and folder names to make it easier for you to understand. Again no replacement for the Ezviewlog, and this isnt on my site. Contains 3 folders: 1-GeoCodecs: in this case it is 8.3.2, if you need another version, get the codecs from your DVR, or download the correct version from my site - http://www.bahamassecurity.com/downloads/geovision-downloads.asp 2-GeoPlayer: contains Media Player Classic. This is used to play the file. It should just run on computers with existing Media Player installed. 3-GeoVideo: contains the video file you want to play. And 2 files: AUTORUN.INF - this is optimized for a USB flash drive. PLAYBACK.CMD - This installs the codecs and opens the video in the player. Here is the ZIP file, it contains a dummy video file, delete that and change the video file name in PLAYBACK.CMD to your video file name. http://www.bahamassecurity.com/dl/?q=GeoPlayback.zip

One of my biggest issue with them, is they dont switch to BW unless it is very dark .. and then comes the noise in color ... they do have an external switch mode though, but IMO a photocell switch would be 10x better than its built in video switchover - even the Bosch $2000 camera, I had to switch that to photocell switchover as it was using video by default, but unlike that camera the CNB doesnt have that option. Only things you can do is: 1-change DN switch to 4 2-change DNR to high. 3-Try adjusting the AGC to lower. 4-SBLC also brightens it up a little (with some artifacts) I didnt have as much time as I would have liked to play with them, but putting the AGC right up to the highest it stayed in color in next to no light, while turning it back down it switched to BW. SO I imagine turning that down some from the default, may help. If it gets too dark, then adjust the GAMMA to .35 and see if that helps. I started to play with them some but then the dengue fever epidemic cracked in so I stopped going outside at night for the most part.

I havent found any new cameras yet that give as good a daytime image as the older ones did in the past, well there have been a couple but those suffered at night. It seems the good night ones now suck in the day, the good day ones now suck at night - like there is a tradeoff for one way or the next. But ofcourse I havent used all the new cameras there are yet ... getting there one camera at a time though

Also take into account that different lenses make a difference as well. Newer lenses vs older lenses, AI motors or modules not working as good as they once did, older used chips vs new ones, etc. Also that not every camera might be focused 100% across the image, and some lenses may never allow them to be. I had 10 of the same cameras and maybe half were a good focus and the other half were so so, no matter what I did - same lenses also. But its still good for a general idea of how a camera compares to other ones. The easier to recognize, and more potent test, will come with the low light. BTW ... IR off ... IR on ... BW bullet

another comparison .. for color ..

so anyone tried it yet? comments? feeback? suggestions? hatemail??

for sharpness these are the main areas to focus on CNB is the sharpest of the first 4. Although the front grill of the Samsung almost looks a little sharper.

Interesting indeed. I had to laugh at first as we all know how manufacturers like to hype their products as being this and that, but going by that first video (2nd one, not too sure what was up there) it does look impressive. D1 I imagine right?

and you maybe could watch 121 cameras in one view

The real question is, who makes it? Where is the software screenshots? Has anyone ever used it?

I wouldnt use anything BUT 7200rpm for modern DVRs. That said, 5400rpm should work. WD blues are the most common here so thats what Ive used in the past without issue. For 2TBs though we are stuck with greens. I did a speed test and the Greens were around 90 MB/s max speed with the blues at 135 MB/s, but then just a couple years ago the average SATA drive was only 55 MB/s anyway. My USB 5400rpm drive worked for a test with Geo, didnt leave it on for any time though, thats around 45 MB/s max speed. Granted thats the read speed and write can be less, and for video recording write is all that really matters. And oh yeah an IDE drive I had to put in an old DVR a year ago, that was a new WD IDE drive and it was only 30 MB/s. I just tested this 1 year old SATA drive in my P4 PC and its 82 MB/s - honestly not sure if its a 7200 or not but it was second hand. Back in the day the Kalatel DVRs only worked with 5400rpm drives but thats mostly because of the age and also the power supply, then they had upgrades for the power supplies to fit 7200rpm drives. So if you are really concerned about heat, then perhaps try a 5400rpm drive, but if there are issues then you need to address the hard drive first.