fenderman

I love that fact the dvr was attached to an outlet controlled by a wall switch, which normally is a big no no, but here it saved the day because they did not see the lights flashing....

with a camera you need to consider network delay which depending on the camera and or software can be almost instant to several seconds....not good in your situation...

There is no reason to increase the customers bandwidth with an ip system. Bandwidth is only an issue for remote streaming and can be set to a reduced rate on the NVR. Analog has serious image limitations..yes when someone is close to the cam its ok, but how many times have the authorities not been able to identify a suspect because the image was too grainy...a properly installed ip system will run without a hitch.

Don't go the analog route. The hiks har good and can be had for about 175 (Costco) Read this on recording the hiks to nas. http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=1729...or just wait to Costco has the 4 cams + dvr on sale for 899. http://www.costco.com/Swann-8-Channel-3MP-NVR-Security-System-with-2TB-HDD-and-4-1080p-Cameras.product.100070789.html

Not gonna happen. The cheapest megapixel outdoor camera with ptz is 599.(only 3x zoom). Why do you need ptz? Go with fixed cameras.

Thanks lucky. Ill do that.

I am interested in this ip intercom/doorbell system. Looks like it works in conjunction with this indoor station http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/vth1560b-309.html#pic1 or this http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/vth1520a--170.html pretty cool. Would love to see it in operation.

wow, that made all the difference looks good.

Doesn't Foscam provide software for recording? Most manufacturers do. Assuming you're on a budget and not looking for corporate/industrial features, since you have Foscams, it's hard to beat Blue Iris for inexpensive, well supported software. It's not recommended for MP cams on old, low power PCs, so whether your 2 720P cams would be too much for your PC would depend on the PC's power. You can download a demo version to try out. If you check the BI user forum at cam-it.org, you'll see lots of issues with Foscams maintaining their frame rates, dropping out, etc, so you should test it out first. There are other free and cheap software NVRs that others can recommend. MaxIcon is right on. One other thing to consider is depending on your old pc it could be drawing significantly more power than a newer box. For example 100 watts at idle and with recording software 150-200. Running that 24/7 could cost you more than buying a newer intel system (third or 4th generation) drawing 30-35w at idle and 70 or so under medium load.

those cameras are ptz, pan tilt zoom, with optical zoom so the image is not pixelated.

compact fluorescent lamp...he is saying for outdoor lighting use LED light bulbs because it improves the night vision because of the ir light it gives off. They are priced ok now hand have many benefits including, low power consumption, instant on and long life.

Interesting, I did make the switch and noticed the difference but the leds were also brighter than the cfl so I didn't make the connection.

vga http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-ST124PRO-Resolution-Video-Splitter/dp/B00006B8BY/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1381292662&sr=8-14&keywords=vga+splitter http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-B114-004-R-350MHz-Splitter/dp/B00005V524/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1381292775&sr=8-24&keywords=vga+splitter if you want hdmi http://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Splitter-Ports-1080P-Audio/dp/B003LMN5N8

Hi, Some ideas. Parameter changes based on time of day, preferably sunrise/sunset using GPS coordinates. For example reduce WDR to 0 one hour after sunset. Improved noise reduction for night vision. Thanks

buellwinkle, curious about your thoughts on led vs cfl and how it affects the camera? Thanks

Good to see this...the more competition there is in this space (home/small business) the better it will be for us.

did you make the cables yourself? Make sure you are not using "crossover" cable Try resetting the camera. Make sure the camera is getting power by dimming the lights and see if the ir leds turn on. if all else fails you can try this...hook the pc up directly to the switch and disconnect the connection going to the router from the switch, leaving just the camera and pc connected to the switch. In your control panel network settings change the Ethernet adapter settings, right click > properties, select internet protocol version 4, >use the following ip address 192.0.0.1 , subnet 255.255.255.0 save. Now try sadp and/or logging into the camera via the default ip which is 192.0.0.64. Don't forget to change it back to automatically obtain ip address or you wont be able to go online

fenderman I am not afraid if my business eroding from the cheap stuff. I don't do residential anymore systems and I have no plans to do so in the future. Clearly by your statements you have never used or installed solutions for large customers. If you walked into one of my customers with Dahua and Blue Iris they would laugh you out the door. EXACTLY, I prefaced my original post by saying that I was referring to home and small business users not malls or very large retail. For the home stuff dahua and blue iris is way more than enough....BI can perform most of the functionality of your system at a fraction of the cost and is just getting better. But yes, for large scale systems you still have an edge. The video quality available right now for the home user at 300 bux is roughly equivalent to what you can provide today....the lines are becoming blurred very quickly. Yes your software may be a bit more advanced....but time will take care of that.... There is NO benefit to the home user going to the high end market

Spoken like someone that has NEVER used a professional solution. Image quality is not bad on the cheap cameras but we don't sell cameras we sell solutions. You can have the best image quality in the world and if you can search/export video very quickly the system is useless. The image quality on the cheaper cameras is on par with Avigilon when comparing the same megapixel camera. I don't run a retail store front. We have office space. I very rarely have to review video and when I do, its damn easy with blue iris. Please tell me how a "professional solution" will be any better. For home use its a non issue, there is no benefit to using Avigilon or any other over priced stuff. Again, we are not talking about a retailer like walmart etc (who btw still use 11 year old systems).... You guys just poopoo the cheaper stuff because you are afraid of your business eroding.

What is your definition of overcharging? Charging two 2-3 times the actual cost of the cameras/nvr + what amounts to 300per hour labor rates, when generally you pay someone 15 bux an hour to run cable and maybe 30 if they know how to program the ip stuff. Yes I know there are other costs to running a business etc etc.... Ive seen posts here where home users were charged anywhere form 7.5k to 15k for a four camera system....that's outrageous. Now if someone pays you that rate fine. But now, us small business owners and home users, can go out and buy a quality system for under 1k (swann Costco system as an example) or the Blue iris systems I build for my small businesses for about 1k....yes it wont have all the features that an aviglion system will, but it will come VERY close at a fraction of the cost. ive seen the video comparisons there is very little advantage of going with the high end systems.... now with acti releasing 5mp and 10mp cameras for under 300 bux the line is even more blurred. http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=1882 look, the expensive systems may have a place in large installations like malls, hotels, etc...but for the homeowner and small business person, its WAY overkill..... It was the same way with phone systems and alarms until the tech caught up so that we can manage it ourselves. I remember when we needed to pay for a 150 service call every time a change needed to be made to our pbx system or something as simple as adding a new line....its over.

Welcome back Chuckyyyy ! not really back....I lurk but it's all the same el cheapo stuff that this site has seemed to turn into. Don't want to comment on the design copying Dahua cams or the Swann, Lorex etc big box store systems that my grand mother can go purchase on her way to buy milk at the grocery store the ones who buy those can call the toll free number in the instruction manual and ask the expert on the other end of the line how to connect there $300 megapixel ip camera system so that they can see which dog is pooing in their rose garden Before I get hate replies....I'm just joking around...we all learn someplace and at least people are trying to get some good advise. Frustrates me when some folks reply who have no friggen clue what they are talking about but at the same time I guess is the reason why I'm in business. So all you folks who give bad advise keep doing it because it's good business... Peace Funny, you say you're joking around, but your knock the $300 ip camera....as if the fact that they only cost 300 is a problem. The prices are coming down, the quality is going up....The benefits of a 1500-3000 camera are marginal for the average person or business (just a few years ago it was all analog). For about a grand the average home user or small business can have a system in place that would have cost 15k several years ago. I don't see the problem....unless of course its the fact that installers can no longer get away with overcharging for their work as they have been doing for the past 30 years, cctv, alarm, phone systems.....

ip, way more options. SDI is very limited and more expensive. Unless you have problems running new Ethernet cable, go with ip.

modem>router>switch the pc can be plugged into the either the router or switch...but if its in the same location might as well plug it directly to the router...to take advantage of gigabit if you will transfer files over your network (between pc's_...

the secondary jack is for power if you are not using poe.

What I do is just leave the NVR port open. When and if I need to make a camera adjustment, I remote it (teamviewer) to the customers pc, and make the change. Many of my installs are running blue iris on a dedicated pc, so i install logmein...problem solved.