gilligan

I've got a computer repair and screen printing shop (semi-sharing the same space). I'm attaching a layout with some rough dimensions. I'm mainly concerned about the two front areas (with the entrance doors) and would like to have a camera on my computer tech in the back (this is also where our 3 year old hangs out) and eventually would like to have some eyes on the screen printing and embroidery production side just to see how projects are going. Outside (see attached) wouldn't be too bad, the neighbor to the west has some cameras outside now. I wouldn't mind having one on my connex box (freight container) as it has already been broken into. I'm mostly concerned about inside the shop itself. The drawing is crude and roughly to scale. That is bay window type areas that you can see crudely drawn in. This and the two entrance doors are the ONLY entrances into my shop (no back doors). Looking to get a 8 channel unit, not needing to fill it up but for future expansion. I have a cheap analog and a cheap IP camera right now that COULD be used depending on the system or I don't have to use them... not stuck on using them. Also not stuck on using IP vs Analog either. I guess, best bang for buck is what I'm looking for. What would you guys advise? I know I haven't mentioned budget but I don't really have a HARD budget. Cheaper the better as no one really WANTS to spend money, but I do want something good and usable. Obviously I have a good amount of computer experience and I'm not opposed to a PC based system if everyone thinks that's the way to go. I'm also fairly well versed with Linux and certainly not afraid of some command line (that's all my linux boxes run, no GUI's on any of my linux systems.) Ok... tear it up!

If you are trying to get the file out of your camera then you need to telnet in and ftpPUT the file into your ftp server. dig into the ftpput command.

Well, that was basically my decision as well. Thanks for reinforcing my purchase, much better than dreading it. LOL

But you don't HAVE to use POE. *note, I don't disagree with an optional version with the POE built in, I'm just playing devil's advocate.

And what happens when you make what you THINK is a great decision and you have done your research but there is no way to tell that for some reason the dealer is shutting up shop next week. Now you are just f'd? You can't get any updates and it's YOUR problem because you picked the wrong dealer?!?! Seems very dumb. I own 8 Dahua cameras and an NVR, but this is a slap in the face if they fault the end user for not buying their camera from the right vendor. I mean, THEY are the ones that sold to that vendor to start with... shouldn't the onus be on Dahua for making sure they don't just let anyone and everyone resell their product... IF they insist on putting firmware update responsibility on them at least. Imagine if you bought a computer from Circuit City and windows made you get your updates from them... where are they at now? Guess, you should have known not to walk into a multi-million dollar facility and trust them to be around the next day huh?

Not everyone wants POE and further more not everyone wants CHEAP POE. I'd rather spend the money and *know* that I'm getting decent power to my cameras. I do see the appeal towards the ease of install for some. Offering one with POE for every channel wouldn't be a terrible idea I guess... but maybe it's a supply and demand thing. Also everything I've read says that those POE "switches" are actually routers. Meaning that you can't access your cameras outside of the NVR. That doesn't work for a lot of people.

Join the discussion here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=34720

Most of those don't work for those of us in the US.

How can we tell who "official resellers" are? I just popped on Dahua's website and I'm not seeing any sort of "official" list.

Check the spec tab on the page, it says record resolution is 1080 and 30fps for ntsc, 25 for pal. Not sure why they bring up pal/ntsc. It must relate to refresh rate in europe vs usa for a display monitor. Pal/ntsc settings probably are locked in the mode based on what region it is sold in. The point I'm making is that it's (purposefully?) vague. It says: Recording Resolution 1920 x 1080 Recording Frame Rate Real Time: NTSC 30fps/channel, PAL 25fps/channel The 3208 can record at 1080 it can also record at 30FPS/channel on the NTSC model. But it can't do each channel at 1080 at 30 FPS. Those are two different specs that individually are perfectly factual and legit. But technically they aren't accurate together. But they weren't listed together technically. I may be picking nits but until I hear of someone actually recording 1080 at 30 FPS per channel (all 8 channels) then I'm still thinking it isn't and they are being vague on purpose to mislead.

Technically, that is listed as VIEWING frame rate, not recording. They don't talk about recording other than what I mentioned.

I emailed Swann... we'll see if they reply back. I asked them what the real FPS was on that system. They never really say. NTSC=30FPS doesn't really give many details. I even scanned through the manual and I don't see much info. 8 channels spread across 30 FPS isn't very impressive. Now if they are doing 1080p at 30FPS on each channel then maybe I bought the wrong system with my 3208... but I HIGHLY doubt they are doing that as no one else is. I have "used" a swann system at a clients restaurant and wasn't overly impressed but it was an analog system and I did not install it so I know very little about the cameras. It's different software than I'm seeing on that NVR but I really didn't like the software on the DVR that I've messed with. Very clunky.

I went with an 8 channel Dahua NVR. The thing that I question about this system and I sent them an email, is how many FPS at what resolution does it record? They never exactly state that... closes they say is NTSC 30FPS. That could be at 480 since it says NTSC. Or maybe it's like some of the other cheap 1080P NVRs 30FPS at ONE channel. Doesn't do much good when you have 8 channels to divide that with.

So technically they do become a standard 16:9 1080p 2mp camera. If the same lens was on a 2mp sensor in other words. That would work, I didn't realize it went 4:3 for 3mp.

I gotcha... yep, talking out of my arse as usual. I've just been reading this thread with much interest because I'm probably gonna pick up some dahua cameras soon and I really like the 1.3MP mini bullet for some internal applications but would rather a 2.8 or less lens for my application. Hoping these will just slip right on with out much fuss.

I'm talking completely out of my arse here, but could you not cut down the lens by a few millimeters to allow it to then screw down far enough?