AdamDaze

Good solution, what software on which os?

Mine is POE, yes, from what I've read the non-poe models have another "D" towards the end of the model.

Same vendor told me the 3332 has a longer warranty. Frankly it seems to be much of the same thing, I don't think theres two models on the official hikvision site.

Where from? And what price?

I ordered 2332, and its chinese. 12 at about $130 each i think it was.

Huh, I didn't know i3's did hyperthreading. That certainly helps.

Not as yet, seem to be infinite focus which means not great within 30cm, but thats not really their intended application.

Not off alibaba, no. Chinese firmware...but you can update the chinese firmware which has an english option, only difference is "Day of the week" display on-video, which you can disable anyway. You still get a numerical date/time, just not the named day of the week. This forum has a lot of "chinese firmware" users, so updating shouldn't be hard (or getting your hands on the latest).

Would a sf-300 be enough to cope with 12x 3mp cameras? Just thinking of saturating the link back to your main network / comp. Does it have a gigabit port?

Just bumping this up. I'm looking for a 12 port POE switch, low noise, unmanaged is fine. Recommendations?

Hikvisions got a good rep for a budget brand...I believe Swann and Dahua (edit, it's Swann and Lorex, Dahua are a seperate company) are rebranded hikvision. I just bought 12 of these ... http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=2135 See how they go. You can spend more, and get a lot more features (like on board SD, variable focus/zoom, motorised directional control (aka ptz) audio in/out, alarm trigger, seperate day/night sensors, etc etc)....but do you need them?

Cisco is a reputable brand that generally does what it says on the box, and has great support.

Review up from this excellent blog : http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=2135

They are cheap Hikvision domes.

For reference I believe hikvision is the OEM, swann rebrand them?