zikronix

Z, the only thing you said that disturbed me was how nasty and disrespectful when referring to some guys who were trying to make a living by selling you a surveilance system. I had my say and that was the end of it as far as I'm concerned. Heh I just had to toss that in there.

For the record I wasn't in the market for a 5MP nvr...I just went to their website and saw it was coming soon. All I wanted was ip cameras 720P or better. Quickest satisfaction, at a reasonable cost. For me that happened to be the swann system. If I ever redo this thing. I might consider the dahua, because it fits my needs for what I want to do. It almost seems like you think this is the only dahua nvr, is that true? You thanked Tom for the info on this NVR and than you said that you won't be buying it because you picked up the Swann. If all you wanted 720p or better, did you look at the dahua nvr's that do not record 5mp's? I'm not trying to start anything with you, just trying to understand. No I know they make other items. When I went to their website I noticed the 3208 3216 and other nvrs...I saw the 52xx series was (new) but no one was selling it yet. I figured if I was thinking about going the dahua route I might as well go with their newer product, as it had 8 poe ports vs 4 wouldn't have had to buy another switch. And yes in the end I did pick the swann...It came down to, support, it does what I need and it was cheaper over all. I know there are better products out there and I know the swann has its limitations. That's not saying dahua makes bad products...I just found a product that was able to fill my needs. Sure I could have built my own box that slapped the dahua or swann around, but over all I want to take a page from the book of ronco...and set it and forget it. I liked toms input because its good to know that if I ever buy another one, I wouldn't want to buy 8 5mp cameras (which will probably be in my price range when its time to replace this one) and be disappointed. If it makes more sense...Champaign taste on a free beer budget.

For the record I wasn't in the market for a 5MP nvr...I just went to their website and saw it was coming soon. All I wanted was ip cameras 720P or better. Quickest satisfaction, at a reasonable cost. For me that happened to be the swann system. If I ever redo this thing. I might consider the dahua, because it fits my needs for what I want to do.

Both the systems can do all this...I work in IT. And while I can build and secure networks, configure routers, build and fix pc's camera systems are not my area of expertise....yet LOL I picked an all in one solution for the following reasons: Budget: I had a budget of...You better get this done right now. I don't care how much it cost WAF: Wife acceptance factor. See above Support: I can build a system but at the end of the day were are my warranty and support? With Costco and the swann I bought has a three year warranty, if I start to have major issues with it Im not SOL. (Warning Q2U, is going to get all mad) I knew what the alarm company was going to charge for an inferior product, so I decided to go at it my self. With a product that I can connect to the alarm if I want to. for much much cheaper. (end of q2u getting mad) One of the problems of building an item your self...or piecing it together if it dies youre stuck with who was the vendor and dealing with fixing it your self. Additionally you need to figure out how to make alarm inputs and outputs work (no pc board comes with those) so your either using ones on the camera...or modifying a serial port. Sure technically the most bang for my buck would have came from building it my self but only because I would have got a more capable system. For what the swann does...it does everything I want it to do and the most important feature it does....is peace of mind.

ok wow that's an expensive camera...what makes it so much money

No not at all. It came down to as I needed something with the quickness. The swann looked like a decent deal for what it was and it works well for my needs, and makes the wife happy (which is all that matters) I had a budget of "the best bang for my buck" I looked at building my own system rather it be with a product like blue iris or a dahua dvr. And while I work in IT, and deal with Public Safety on a daily basis, camera systems are something that are NOT my expertise. When I decide Ive out grown the swann system. I will look at something else...maybe something like this dahua, or something else all together. Toms info is good for me because when I was looking at dahua I noticed this NVR was coming soon, and the specs were enticing. Not that I ever plan to use 5MP cameras but its good to know the limitations.

Thanks tom for the info. I wont be buying this system because I picked up the swann from Costco. It seems to work well enough for me. This dahua nvr would be something that I might have picked up if I was going to go the separate camera and nvr route. Im still trying to figure out why blue iris is only 50.00 and others are thousands, but that's a different question for a different thread. Im new here and once again thanks for the info.

The pricing isnt as bad as I thought....

shocking....it looks the same as the swann lol

I would have bought them and had them shipped To you lol and you could have paid me

Added to the first post

Looks liek just the cameras

Im moving a camera that has it to another location so they can compare and contrast. Im a busy dude havnt had the time to move it yet.

He has been helping me with the soft right side...They have been awesome!

Both of the snaps posted are in the correct resolutions for the settings chosen (3MP and 1080p), so it appears this is what the camera's putting out. The question is what resolution the sensor output is before the firmware adjusts it to these resolutions. One or the other of those snaps is not at native sensor resolution. Blue Iris captures snapshots at the video resolution. It also won't allow you to set a different resolution than the incoming video; if you select something different, it switches back to the native video resolution when you click OK. I took a few unrelated snaps from BI the other night and verified this. Bitrate and fps won't make a difference in still captures. This isn't actually an easy thing to figure out without access to sensor details. Q, can you post a snap of the 720p resolution? Are there only 3 resolutions available, as it appears from the firmware shots earlier? I wasnt aware BI took at video res...so my bad there.

You're exaggerating...it's only been line 6,245 times you've told us that 6246 now....lol

For like the 10,000th time. The camera max snapshot / image capture resolution is not 3MP, its some other funky res. You must do your testing from the VIDEO SIDE. Like I said earilier set the camera to the highest res with quality to highest and a bit rate of 4096 or 6144 @ 30 fps @25 FPS and 15FPS take a video using ivms or the camera directly.

thats what I was saying...some one needs to take a video stream, because, the snapshot settings in the camera are different resolutions.

you cant take a snapshot. The snapshot resoultion is not the same as the video res. Take a video on the highest res with bit rate of no less than 4096 at "highest quality" @ 30fps do the same at 24 FPS, 20 FPS and 15 FPS The reason why for all the FPS is 24 is what roughly the human eye can see. 20 is the average that most higend systems record at. 15 is what most consumer systems record at. Take that video and upload it some where. so we can see the image and what it reports.

My nas does upload to a remote site. They have to find the lock box first, with the alarm blaring!

I also do that...and mine is also in a LOCK BOX BOLTED TO THE WALL!

People do that? Just go on the internet and tell...LIES. Cmon man. As you can see by my pictures I wasnt bluffing!

I updated the first post with pros and cons...and a link to the cameras and systems.

That may not be true...on the swann you can use onvif

Some things to think about if you have the swann and are considering the lorex. First some things we know. COMMON: The cameras appear to be the same The interface of the DVR is similar They both have loud fan noise Carrier level port blocking for the mobile app is an issue (can be fixed by changing the RTSP port to something other than 554) Both sold at Costco Most features available on both NVR, Such as email on motion, etc Currently cant use any other ip camera with either system PROS SWANN: Swann has a 3 year warranty and concierge support 24/7 Tech support via phone or email Alarm Ports Rumored 240FPS Cameras can be flashed, used with third party apps and are available for purchase Supports PTZ Cameras, supposedly can be used on the lan side. CONS SWANN: Stock Mobile app blows (you can use the HikVision app which is awesome, its just like the lorex app) 60ft ethernet cables Some cameras might have a soft right side. Fan Noise PROS LOREX: 50.00 cheaper than the swann was (I think) Stock mobile app looks better (Direct rip of the HikVision app) 100 ft cables Cameras might be a different batch and may NOT have the soft right side. CONS LOREX: Only a 2 Year warranty No Alarm inputs or outputs Doesnt support PTZ No Extra cameras availaible (at the time of writing) FAN Noise 120 FPS confirmed Cameras may not be able to be used with 3rd party apps.