Don Stephens

You don't need Lorex specific products. Any transmitter and receiver set will more than likely work with whatever you have as long as you purchase the correct cables to attach transmitter to camera and receiver to DVR. I'd be more concerned about the fact that you need direct line of site with analog wireless (no transmitting through walls), and the distances involved between transmitters and receivers. You also only have 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz frequencies to work with and only 4 channels on each one if this is an analog system. You're going to find yourself being limited to 8 wireless cameras max without beginning to run into issues with interference. If this is an IP camera system, you need access points and some networking knowledge.

Replacing that whole system would be expensive, but I've always seen dedicated units for security cameras as the way to go. If your computer doubles as something else, I would work on phasing it out. I usually don't recommend the PC based DVR route for anything less than large IP camera systems. In my experience, standalone units (multiple or not), are usually cheaper and a lot less of a headache. People can argue that you have multiple units to deal with instead of just one, but I've never really seen how that's any more difficult that actually building/assembling a PC based DVR; assuming you have the industry and product knowledge on hand to even do this. If I was in your shoes, I would probably buy a standalone DVR you to see if I liked it more than the DVR cards. Buy some higher resolution cameras with it. Worst case scenario, you hate the standalone unit and return it for a higher res DVR card.

Because of the finite availability/variety of 1080p HDCVI cameras right now, the test was conducted in 720p. Bitrate Type: CBR Bitrate: 6144 Kb/S Frame Rate: 30FPS HDCVI is much more of an economy HD option so it's never going to be as clear as HDSDI or IP, even at 1080p from what I've seen so far. It's still a monumental step up from basic analog and a great buy for your money. At the end of the day, I'm still going to tell you to go the safe route and stick with solid copper.

From a marketing standpoint, I think your company has a lot more to lose than it has to gain in the long term. I doubt very much that your existing customers or future customers are going to like the idea of outsourcing. Having my video feed being monitored by someone unregulated by my own country would also make me a little more than nervous to stay with my current provider. AT&T has really amped up their outsourcing game lately and their own customers have not been taking well to it. Again, from a long term perspective, I think your company is headed in the direction of putting itself out of business. It going to be perceived as greed over customer care.

Alright, I'm posting this in the spirit of sharing information here, not because I'm trying to sell anyone anything. The problem is that it's our company blog page and I don't know if that's going to be found in violation of the rules. I'm going to post the link to the video first in case the write up has to be removed. This is the actual video: You're going to need to go full screen on this to see everything clearly. As I mentioned, it's going to appear to be still shots. This is actual footage, just not action shots. This video was done to show the effects the cable type has on image quality so don't bite my head off because you can't see what passing cars looks like. This is the write up explaining the details of the test and the results: http://www.cctvcameraworld.com/hdcvi-cameras-cctv-cable/ Again, I'm sorry if this is found to be violating the rules but I'm not trying to sell anything as you'll see by the fact that our blog is the only working part of the whole site.

Sorry. I forgot to mention that 25, 50, 100, and 150 foot plug and play cables were all included in the footage as well. Everything was just tested indoors for the sake of being able to easily point out the video degradation, so it's all going to look like a still shot but it is actual footage. I will say that it's not as obvious outdoors but you guys can decide for yourselves if it's worth drifting from the recommended full copper RG59. As long as I can get the video editing done, I'm still planning on trying to get this all up today to share with you guys.

I compiled some video today testing various lengths of RG59 (copper clad), Cat5e, and Cat6. The video should be done being edited over the weekend and I'll do a write up on Monday. When everything's done and posted, I'll provide the link. Hopefully this will end some of the confusion since there seems to be a lot of different opinions circulating.

The paid app does a lot that the free app does not but as far as you're concerned, the paid app will give you the push notifications that you like.

I believe the default is set to 10 already. It shouldn't be a problem as long as their bandwidth can handle it (unlikely). If it can't, the solution would be upping the bandwidth with their ISP. That will probably be expensive considering the alternative.

The first item you linked to is IP65 rated. That would make me a little nervous to put it out in potentially harsh weather conditions. I've also never really never even seen a camera in that style that wasn't exclusively intended for indoor use; also kind of concerning to me. The second item you linked to says -25 C to 50 C. That seems to meet your specifications on temperature and if you like everything else it has to offer, I'm not really seeing the problem. If you heard that the -25 C tolerance is false, that's something else entirely. They seem to have left out the IP rating as well so who knows what kind of weather it's made to stand up in. I don't really have any suggestions for you since I'm not located in Canada and I'm admittedly not familiar with the retailers there. As far as D-Link and their cameras are concerned, the review on this camera says it all for me. They work just fine, but it never seems to be for as long as the alternatives in the same spec and price range. That seems to be even more true with their outdoor models.

This just sounds like the ISP is blocking the ports. Plenty of ISPs do this. Getting someone on the phone who can unblock the ports for you is a headache though, because most of them don't understand what you're asking for. In some cases, they'll just refuse to do it for you in which case you have to change service providers. Whether you have a static IP, dynamic IP, or are using a third party for DDNS management, the ISP will still have to unblock the ports. If you've done the port forwarding properly and still can't gain access, you need to get on the phone with your ISP.

You've gotta love Q-See's technical support... I don't know why you're having issues and I can't be bothered to deal with you. Thanks for contacting Q-See

I wrote an article about three or four months ago explaining how unrealistic it is to compare the two. They're meant for entirely different uses. Decide whether you want a camera for security or home movies. Discussion over.

CVI works on all kinds of cable, including cat5e and cat6 with baluns. The problem is that it doesn't work well. I wish I had pictures to post for you guys but CVI is actually really nice for the price. The systems Q-See sells are giving it a terrible name because of the cable they package with them. If it's not solid copper RG59, don't plan on having good results. If you're comparing HDCVI with HDSDI or IP, the HDCVI image will appear grainy next to them even when it's at the top of it's game. Still, for the money, I'll take it any day over 700TVL.

I see this being one of two things: 1. It's a contrast issue and can be adjusted if your camera has an OSD 2. What's more than likely the issue is damaged caused by sunlight. Direct exposure over time will burn the CCD/image sensor. If that's the case, there is no fix for it other than replacing the component which doesn't sound like it'll be a possibility.

I've always had very good luck with No-IP. You just need to remember to renew every 30 days if you want it for free. Here's the link to there site, plans, and pricing: http://www.noip.com/managed-dns/

PSS and SmartPSS constantly have new versions coming out. You might just want to ask Q-See if they have an updates version. Be prepared to provide your firmware version on your DVR.

I've been a particularly big fan of the Netgear Nighthawk since it hit the market. Of course, if you need something with more of a custom feel, the DD-WRT firmware for routers is always an option.

This was my worry with these systems. Seeing the cable that they provide, I don't see how they could produce the image quality that these cameras are supposed to have. Someone had said that these are HDCVI systems. If that's true, you'd have to use CCA or CCS RG59 at a minimum and only with smaller runs. In most cases, I found that runs over 100-150 feet needed to use solid copper RG59, otherwise the video started to degrade.

Camera model? Is it happening during the day/night/both? Distance it's transmitting? What's the output on the power supply?

Check for: 1. Hard drive compatibility 2. Damaged SATA cable 3. Bad sectors on hard drive

Tablet and Smartphone applications normally won't use what your DVR usually refers to as the "HTTP Port" (Port 80). There's usually a separate TCP port intended for mobile applications (often called TCP Port or Media Port). That will need to be opened just like port 80 is, and you'll need to specify that port number when adding the device in the app. If you don't want to open ports through your router, then you're SOL unless you want to make things super complicated. Port 80 is your biggest and most obvious vulnerability and if you're OK with that being open, then you should be OK with opening anything else.

I've never cut those apart before, but copper is copper. You just can't have metal on metal contact between power and video though without injecting power into video and getting a garbled image on the other end because of it. I guess what I'd really ask is "Why?". Why not just use the cable as is? And if it's because the cables spliced, why not just spend the relatively small amount of money and replace it with something that you know will work?

Dahua DVRs are capable of this function. They also have the push alert function for Smartphones that does the same thing more reliably. P.S. - Hopefully your post will quell all the garbage floating around on this forum right now about people being too paranoid about something like this happening.

What you need is just a basic resolution chart: images/imported/2012/07/197081_2.jpg