Don Stephens

Unless you commit to having nothing but PTZ cameras, you're going to have to settle for digital zoom. The other option would be cameras with motorized lenses but much like PTZ cameras, they don't come cheap. You need to sit down and figure out what features you realistically need in the cameras. Once you know, people can start making specific suggestions. As far as getting everything on your TV and still being able to manipulate the cameras, the easiest way is to just plop the NVR down right next to it. If you don't like that idea, then you need to figure out a way to remotely control it like Boogieman said.

I'm looking opinions on Avigilon's "HD Bullet" cameras: http://goo.gl/K0aEOL I've never used their bullet cameras personally, and I'm curious if they're worth pursuing or if you guys prefer something different. Any advice or info would be appreciated. Thanks. Edit: I should add that the current project I'm looking at for them is a 150,000 square foot warehouse that is not climate controlled; cameras would be placed both indoors and outdoors around the facility.

Twist-on connectors work just fine too, and they're re-usable. They're not so bad to put on when you only have a small number of cameras, but I'll be the first one to tell you that your fingers start to pay the price after about 10 cameras.

Suppose bandwidth was unlimited. Would you change the recommendation? I would say CBR in that case, but I would also tell you to do whatever thewireguys tells you to do (haha).

The router that your cameras are connected to will need to be put into bridge mode. That will, more or less, just turn it into a switch. From there, you'll need to forward the port(s) you're going to be utilizing to access those cameras on your other router that's directly connected to the modem.

Awesome. Thanks for the info and video sample.

Good point although i run those cameras at 1080p anyways because it provides a wider angle of horizontal view... Don't get me wrong, I love the hardware, but sometimes I just don't understand how Costco is putting these systems together.

Haha. I think the guys that almost fell from the 69th story today may find it even more disappointing than you. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/phew-window-washers-safe-after-rescue-world-trade-center-n247136

This is part of what aggravates me about Costco systems. The cameras are capable of 3 megapixels but the NVR can only do 1080p.

If you can find a reliable HDSDI camera, I would say that IP and HDSDI are very comparable in image quality. I think your problem is going to be in finding reliable HDSDI models; I don't know of any so I can't help you there. HDCVI and HDTVI are very slight downgrades to HDSDI that you may want to consider as an alternative. I doubt you'd notice much of a change in picture quality. Both are made by reputable manufacturers and I haven't seen many complaints with either. My personal preference is IP for whatever that's worth.

The shielding would be a major concern for me as it's not copper. It doesn't surprise me to see this coming from Unix though...

Check your messages.

Again, it really depends on what resolution and frame rate you're after, but I get the impression that the bigger unit is more along the lines of what you want.

Holy %#(&.

The link you provided doesn't work.

My math might be off but I think the most you're going to get out of this one with 64 channels is about 15fps at 720p or about 7fps at 1080p. I'm admittedly not all that familiar with this model and the specs I can find on aren't very forthcoming. I don't know that this is your best option for a complete solution depending on the resolution you want and the frame rate you're shooting for.

I don't think there's anything that you did wrong here, or anything that you can do to make it better. This is just what you get with a system in this range. It serves a purpose but it doesn't come close to comparing with anything in the HD range. Like milkisbad has suggested already, if this is going to prove to be unsatisfactory for you, you've got the right cable in place to upgrade to an HDCVI or HDTVI system. Both are good choices and will give you much more of what you're after.

Thanks for the info guys.

What can I look at or where can I go to figure out how to do this. I'm aware of their abilities to do this, but I've never experimented with it myself.

The link you provided from Security Camera King's site is for a 32 channel DVR. I know it doesn't support 64 channels and I'm not sure where you're seeing that it does. The 64 channel NVR you linked to is actually a 128 channel NVR. It can do 30fps at 720p, and 15fps at 1080p. I imagine this would be more than sufficient as an upgrade to the existing system. If you want to go the PC based route, I would agree with you that you'd need multiple PCs to handle the workload. Dahua also manufactures 64 channel analog DVRs. You wouldn't necessarily have to use multiple 32 channels if you wanted to keep your existing cameras. What can you tell us about the existing cable? Is it RG59, pre-made, old Cat5 cable, solid copper, copper clad...There might be a more economical HD option for you to consider.

Post a picture. "Small black wire" doesn't mean anything to anyone.

Dahua's are nearly identical to Hikvision's. The interface looks a little different but all the features and usability are the same.

Anything that just records right to an SD card will probably be whats most appropriate for you.

A lot of your IR for CAM3 is getting lost on the side of the structure. You can see the huge bright spot on the right side of the screen in the video. That's taking away from the overall effectiveness/disbursement of those LEDs. Adding to that, I'm pretty familiar with this camera. There's really nothing too spectacular about it. Once of the big problems it has is faulty IR boards. I would suggest going out there at night and making sure all of the IR LEDs are actually turning on. What is your big complaint with them?

Neither of those is for exterior use.