bike_rider

Well, just about anything will be better than Lorex cameras. Can't make any specific recommendations without knowing a lot more about your needs and budget. Camera brands are definitely not all the same. What exactly do you mean by motion tracking? Do you mean a PTZ that follows things as they move around? Those are expensive and usually the wrong solution, because while it is following something moving over there -> it is missing something else moving over there <-.

That sounds like a router problem.

My GV system is acting very weird after 3 solid years. I've had the PC video blank out or get corrupted (while the machine responded well to remote commands), failure to boot, hard lock ups and now corruption in the recorded video (smearing, blocks of odd colors etc). The software is unchanged for at least 18 months, so I'm thinking the hardware is going bad. I do not want to deal with swapping parts until I find the problem (RAM? Video card? MB?) and I don't want to build a machine from parts. I'm thinking about something like this Fujitsu. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859115001&cm_re=fujitsu-_-59-115-001-_-Product $400. I'll just carry over the existing hard drives. thoughts?

Hope you don't carry your problems over to the new computer. With the hard lockups and corruption, you may have a problem with your drive. Have you tried running chkdsk on it or some other hard drive diagnostics? Thanks. Yes both drives have been run through their paces. OTOH, if the new machine locks, I'll know what caused it.

Yeah, that's next on my quick trouble shooting. Beyond that, I just don't feel like doing anymore troubleshooting. Since I don't do hands on IT anymore, I don't have access to a pool of testers from work. And, wouldn't you know, I tossed (properly disposed of) my old, old, PC last month. Oh well. I wonder what Amazon can sell me cheap.

Thanks guys. The current machine is not using on board video and memtest found no problems after running for 24 hours.

I have to agree, that mailbox is very tempting. I think anything in the keystone spot will end up being a baseball cap camera. If you put a camera inside that arch you are going to have serious back lighting issues. You mentioned not seeing who rings the door bell, so what field of view are you looking for. Depending on the budget, you've got enough profile details going on there that you could add a surface channel of some kind and stucco over it. What's behind that mailbox? Can you come through that wall?

If GV didn't change this between versions, look for the configuration of the playback software, it is a hammer & screw driver icon. On the config screen there is (was) an option for "auto playback next event"

Intrigued by the claims that the new CNBs vandal domes rock, and trying to not always buy the most expensive thing, I ordered a VBM-24VF to compare it to my existing flock of cameras. On paper the series looks great "low light", WDR, hi-res, back light compensation, etc. Around page 4 of the manual there is this one little line "Do not expose to rain." *&^% I know there are indoor places that need good cameras, but this non-weather proof feature does me no good since I want to mount it outside. The camera might be OK under a sheltered eave, but it might not. I'm not risking my money to find out. Oh well. Back it goes.

One more sample of the low light. One thing I noticed is that the camera did not resort to super long shutter speeds under low light, so there was no blurring as I walked back and forth. More samples showing a bit of how the camera handles back lighting. The windows in the background face south and the sun was streaming directly in. Otherwise, the room was slightly dim because all the curtains in the room were closed. My wife says she had better things to do.

Finally posting some samples. These show the low light abilities of the CNB camera. While the Panasonic 484 isn't an ultra-low light camera, is it a very good reference.

multiple sensitivity boxes - yes configurable frame rate - yes Windows Media compatible video - tricky. video has to be exported I think and then replay speed is often weird.

I played with it a bit. It allows you to store the video files on the local hard drive and another machine, via an iSCSI connection. On the GV machine, you must install the microsoft iSCSI initiator (available on the MS web site). This sets the remote volume as a local drive letter on the GV machine. Then set GV to connect to your iSCSI server. When the connection is active ( you can see this in the iSCSI Initiator program), go into Computer management, Disk manager. The iSCSI volume should show up. You need to create a partition, format the volume and assign a drive letter. Don't spend too much time wondering if the connection is right. If the connection info is bad, you will get an immediate "Connection failure" message. If you do not get that message, then the issue is partition/format/assign a letter. It worked for me for a while. I started having stability problems with my GV computer (hard lock up, screen frozen) so I removed it. The stability problems have continued (so it may be unrelated), and now I'm getting video smearing when I play back some logs. I think its time for a new computer.

I finally got around to testing one and I'm very impressed with the low light ability. Better than my 484s. The back light compensation is good, but not (I think) as good as the 484s. I would not say they have great wide dynamic range. I'll get some photos loaded later today. Overall, a very good camera and an excellent value. Rory, what's up with AGC DN? I'm not sure how AGC relates to the day/night function. Yes, if IGC is turned off, these cameras will not switch automatically to night mode. I think you could still put them in BW mode permanently, but that's not very useful, is it?.

Man, it has been a long day. I've been fighting with regular expressions and PHP for hours. After re-reading the fliers, the VBM is IP66 and TDN. I think I do have what I was looking for.

I could not figure out the difference between the VCM and the VBM and the vendor's customer service could not either. Maybe IP66 is the only difference. On the VBM there are gaskets around the dome and there is the rubber gasket that it mounts to. Maybe it would work. I'll sleep on it and decide what to do. Ah, the leaflets say the VBM is TDN and the VCM does not say anything.

the CNB is VBM-24VF I guess I'll be sticking with Pany for domes. Maybe I'll try a Sanyo next.

I can't imaging that is true. However, if it is, it would depend on your location.

I wonder if if might be easier to just remote desktop into a machine that has the all the clients on them.

Geovision has full support: live view, PTZ control, archived playback. They support WinMo, iPhone and I think BB.

Water dropplets are highly reflective, to visible and IR light. I do not think there is a solution.

[quote="tomcctv so its not the same as the first post. I didn't say they were the same. I said they were similar. You said they were "nothing like". Maybe it's a regional thing, but I don't see those two statements as the same.

this link to the pt head is nothing like the one in the first post. Really? I think the camera housing is very, very close to the OP. The PT mount is pretty close. (I'm discounting the lack of an arm in the second post as an optional accessory.) The proportions are off a little and there are some screw holes missing in the second post. I guess the question really is "What exactly is appealing about the first one and why not just order it from the original link?"

For comparison, I grabbed a pict from the StarDot GG Bridge view and compared it to my CP484. This before dawn, some light in the sky, but still darkish. It is about a minute after the 484 switched to day mode. Gevovision card for the CP484. At this point all of my cameras are showing brightness similar to the CP484. I'm only comparing light levels here.

Several of those images link to live feeds of the location, so it should be easy to evaluate them at different times of day. Tempting.