bike_rider

Yes. You can write to the SD card and have video stored on a PC running Blue Iris, and record to a NAS and record to off site as needed. You left out - "get an email on my phone with images" and yes you can do that too. Frankly, the firmware on the Hikvisions is so far ahead of what was available just a couple of years ago from most companies, if I had to do it again I don't think I would even bother with an NVR or PC for home. Get some cameras with SD storage (and maybe PIR on a couple), a NAS to hide in the house and go with that. Live with it for 3 months to see if you really need to have a central station (aka NVR or PC)

Mine took 21 days to get. Did you get a shipping confirmation with tracking number?

For this level of device, POE is POE. You'll be fine.

I'm recording to a PC using different software, but as a rough estimate I get about 50M per minute of recording. So: 1,000,000M/50M/min = 20,000 minutes. That's 333 hours or 83 hours for each camera.

Samples part 2. I'm not sure why the bottom of the 16mm image is dark. Might be cloud shadow, might be my finger over the lens. This might be the best lens in the set. The 12mm isn't great. There is a lot of edge softness. I don't have any samples of the 2.8mm because they do not fit correctly. I dn't have a comparable sample from the 3.6mm because it is installed in another camera. The 3.6 works well, but does have some port holing effect.

At promised, I've taken a bunch of sample images from the pack of lenses I bought. I was concerned about IR coating too, until I realized that lots of cameras with M12 lenses have built IR and very few aftermarket lenses mention IR coating. From that I guessed that many of these board lenses have IR coating and do not bother to mention it. The couple of lenses that I tested in the multi pack (2.8, 3.6 and 12mm I think) do fine with Ir light. Now, on to the samples. Part 1. (The crop is because there was somebody in the image.) The 6mm aftermarket isn't quiet as good as the original. You can see the blur in the sign on the left. OTOH, the aftermarket seems to have a little more contrast in the center. The aftermarket 8mm looks good. The clouds rolled in while was testing, but in bright sun there was purple fringing on the right side of the images, around the bright white trim. No samples of that.

I finally found the manual on the web site and Switch by Period isn't even covered. I'll just play with it.

Does anyone have the manual to these? I've tossed mine and I'm trying to figure out how the "Switch by period" function works. It looks like I can set a start time and an end time for when the camera is in B&W mode. The way it seems to work is that I only get one period, say 00:00 to 06:00. I'm going to try 18:00 to 06:00 to see if that works, but I wonder if anyone can look in the manual to see if this setting is valid.

It means exactly that. SD cameras are tolerant of lower quality lenses. MP cameras can see the difference, so it isn't a pure marketing ploy. Not all lenses are created equal.

Do you mean IPC-HDB3200CN? it supports 2.8mm/3.6mm/6mm fixed lens. know of any website that has these available in the USA? any specific specs of these lenses so we can look around? Amazon B&H

Thanks, but it does switch under very, very low lighting. It is all in one's definition of "dark". When I get final position on the camera I may put a neutral density filter over the sensor. gabe, if the light source in the the frame, I expect the camera to be reluctant to switch. I'm still playing with the "Switch by period" feature to see if I can get it behave.

Sorry man, busy weekend with chores. But hey, the tomatoes got transplanted and the cold frame is setup. I did remove the 2.8, it just doesn't work. The 16mm is mounted, but the image is a little soft. It might be out of focus. I'm on vacation next week, so I plan to wrap all my testing and get these things mounted. FWIW, as others have noted, it can be very difficult to get these cameras into night mode. The sensor is too sensitive to things like porch lights. Even with "switch by period" it doesn't want to switch to B&W.

I can only speak to the bullet cameras. These cameras use an M12 AKA Board lens mount. These are inexpensive and easy to to find. Deal Extremem sells a multi pack (part 15774) for $14. - 2.8, 3.6,6, 8, 12, and 16mm. The dx 2.8 and a "Gino" brand 2.8 from uxcell, via Amazon, did not fit properly. It is impossible to screw them in far enough to focus - they are too long.

Curious which 3.6mm? the $2.70 or the $2.10? Don't know. I bought a bag of lenses for $14. Part 15744. Deal Extreme has all sorts of interesting CCTV parts.

My order of lenses from DX came in (17 days from Hong Kong). The 2.8 just doesn't fit. The 3.6mm is good. It covers about 75 degrees of field of view. Sometime this weekend, I'll play with the 12mm and 16mm lenses.