cctvfan

I agree it can never be an ideal solution. Yet I think it is a nice feature worth implementing. Most people won't mind if there's an hour or so slip during day/night transitions, as long as for 90% of the nighttime when it's truly dark they're getting more useful pictures. The benefit simply outweighs the problem you've noted. BTW why should image settings be singled out ----- other parameters like motion detection activation & frame rates that currently enjoy schedule-based day/night behavior run into the same issue anyway (the sun won't rise at the same time everyday just for these features Anyway, just my humble opionions. Would love to see Video Insight being the first product to offer the feature

Too bad while most DVRs have schedule-driven motion settings, none offers schedule-driven image settings. Maybe Extreme is banning (legally) all DVR manufacturers from putting in this feature

Rory, pls post your professional opinion on the new MPEG4(HQ) mode when you're done with evaluation. Provided your feedback is positive, is it possible to share that FTP site with us (anonymous login?). Never mind if the site is retricted to dealers like Herm & you.

Rory, out of suspicion that the version 2.8e I downloaded from Taiwan is different than yours, I went to the U.S. site and downloaded ver 2.8e there. Strange thing is, I now have version 2.8f installed, although the web site said 2.8e ! Despite this version confusion, I'm now seeing the Smart Search icon (magnifying glass in red sqaure background), and having fun. Thanks Rory!! BTW yours is probably ver 2.8f.

8-ch 120fps (1408xxx - forgot suffix). I hope I won't have to revert to 2.8d, but the smart search function is very tempting.

Rory, where can I find the Smart Search button? I'm using 2.8e (downloaded from Taiwan site not U.S.) but only see Time & Event Search buttons. Thanks

Because I read the SPECS... because it is a Bosch FlexidomeXT and it DOES NOT allow you to keep B&W full time. It is technology called NightSense (a.k.a. NoSense). Anytime light comes into the area of view, it flickers and reverts to color-when the light source leaves (car headlights) it switches back to B&W. Sometimes a hint of light will come into the area, and it will flicker. You can, however, turn off the "NoSense," but you then get a very poor color image. Very poor design and my last Bosch purchase. I can understand how frustrating it can be that a D/N cam cannot "keep B&W full time" while it's supposed to be in B&W mode. Try out the Sony D/N cams which allow you to choose the time threshold between 5s and 30s for color/B&W transition to occur, in order to prevent "hunting". Momentary strong lights like car headlights won't trigger a transition if they're shorter than 30sec, etc. VST_Man, I think Rory is getting at the difference between true D/N and others that simply switch to B&W. Non-Extreme true D/Ns also have different lux rating for color vs. B&W mode, so I guess he's not referring to Extreme brand in particular.

Because I read the SPECS... because it is a Bosch FlexidomeXT and it DOES NOT allow you to keep B&W full time. It is technology called NightSense (a.k.a. NoSense). Anytime light comes into the area of view, it flickers and reverts to color-when the light source leaves (car headlights) it switches back to B&W. Sometimes a hint of light will come into the area, and it will flicker. You can, however, turn off the "NoSense," but you then get a very poor color image. Very poor design and my last Bosch purchase. I can understand how frustrating it can be that a D/N cam cannot "keep B&W full time" while it's supposed to be in B&W mode. Try out the Sony D/N cams which allow you to choose the time threshold between 5s and 30s for color/B&W transition to occur, in order to prevent "hunting". Momentary strong lights like car headlights won't trigger a transition if they're shorter than 30sec, etc. VST_Man, I think Rory is getting at the difference between true D/N and others that simply switch to B&W. Non-Extreme true D/Ns also have different lux rating for color vs. B&W mode, so I guess he's not referring to Extreme brand in particular.

Steve solutions work. He's probably assuming your_program will spawn itself and returns right away; alternatively the script can put it in background (with your_program &). Otherwise the "duty cycle" may not be 30s, but something else, e.g. 38s if your_program takes 8s to complete.

Hi, I have a question as first-time Everfocus user. Is there a way to bring any camera to full-screen in the remote viewers (PowerCon or IE) by simply double-clicking, which is how 99.9999% of DVRs work? Currently I need to first switch to one-camera (full-screen) mode, then tell it which camera number I want ........ instead of simple "point & double-click". PowerCon even worse (than IE), I need to go into system setup to "permanently" assign a camera number to full-screen mode. Thanks in advance. Help much needed/appreciated.

Rory, thanks for the tips (saved for my next troubleshooting session).

I have seen a similar thread on this issue before but can't track down right now, nor do I remember the conclusion in the past discussions. I'm getting pictures in the remote viewer of most PC cards (incl. my favorite I-View) that would shift up and down slightly and periodically. The shift is tiny, appears to be one scan line, and looks like due to odd/even fields disparity. Yet very annoying and hard to explain to customer. Any workarounds? Signals look all clean to me, and BTW problem gone when an embedded DVR is swapped in. Thx!

I see what you mean. In my case, all 16 channels are used (2 x 8-ch cards). But I had similar experience as you described ---- if I left an unused channel "dangling" / unclosed, I'd get very strange effects on the remaining camera (e.g. ch7, if ch8 is unused). Cam 7 would change from very bright (almost saturated white) to normal brightness and then repeat again....

Good catch Rory! I meant to say PC viewers, as opposed to local NTSC video out. So yes, I'm getting the problem on I-View's local Witness Pro software as well. Forgive my stupidity, what do you mean by "all channels are closed"?

For me, I-View's audio works greatest --- both live and playback audio, and both in the IE browser and the dedicated remote client software (Freeview Pro). A few other units that claim to have audio support won't allow me to listen REMOTELY (neither live or playback) but only plays locally via the audio output jack on the DVR.

My understanding is plenum grades are FT4 rated and suitable for installs above drop-ceiling levels. In the event of a fire the hazard due to toxic combustion of the cables is minimized, as the fumes emitted might get into the air circulation.

Hi Cooper, I'm not just a fan of CCTV, but addicted to the History Channel too. So you can figure I'd love to find out what those old days were like for a CCTV professional. According to an article I read from one of the security magazines (Sec Sales/Integ ???), people in the old days had to troubleshoot cameras in the field using ****OSCILLOSCOPES**** What did they do with that?? Checking visually color bursts have the right phase?? Or signals below 1V p-p?? Anycase, would be nice if we can see some photos of security cameras (not those for broadcasting) in the old days. I suppose installers in the UK are most qualified to paint this picture for us, given their national success in this field.

Wow! Mil app! I hope I had exciting customers like that. You mean military vehicles use dual cameras these days? Or just special editions designed for Iraq so the front cam would spot suspected roadside bombs/IEDs while the rear cam confirms if it does explode after vehicle went past......

Thanks Rory! So what happened to the software designers at EF?? Are they out of their mind? So embarassing - customer asking why he can't do that (he's not entirely new to DVRs, but has been using other PC based systems, so that's the first Q he asked).

Talking about manufacturer's honesty, Panasonic has nothing to hide about what they actually mean by "image" or ips in each instance... See this bullet at the link below. "System Record Rates of 60ips (field), 30ips (frame), or 120ips (SIF) ..." http://www.panasonic.ca/English/Broadcast/security/recorders/digital/wjhd316.asp

My understanding is the same as Doug's, which he has nicely summarized earlier: 1 Frame per second = 1 Image per second = 1 picture per second = 2 fields per second The above is always true when people (incl. manufacturers) are "honest". I can think of these scenarios where they have the opportunity of becoming "dishonest" or at least vague/misleading ... a) Fields being elevated to be called "images". Some may argue that a field is still considered an "image" visually, except that it contains only the odd or even lines. Typically people would claim a system to be 120ips where in reality it's only 60 frame/s or 60picture/s. b) Some DVRs throw away one of the two fields when recording, and only write the odd or even fields to disk. A bonus of doing so is the motion blur problem while in pause mode(due to time difference between odd/even samples, unless the CCD is progressive scan) is eliminated. Now, the DVR manufacturers can boldly advertise a 120 field/s recording speed as 120 pictutre/s or 120 frame/s, because a single field is exactly what a frame is composed of (given one of the two fields is discarded). The above is just my humble understanding though.

Hi, am I missing somthing? Looks like some of you think it's logical for the DVR to reboot on video loss. Entirely new concept to me. The ones I'm using treat video loss as an event (like motion or alarm in's), and as such, you can program various responses the way you want -- email notify, alarm out, and of course start recording (on any combination of the remaining cameras that still have video). Nice feature I think, as a video loss may possibly be an indication of intrusion/ or at least an attempt to cut the video cable, etc.

Does anyone have seen a Live demo of this DVR, or have something bad to say about it? http://www.surveillance-spy-cameras.com/embedded-dvr.htm Looks like a good deal -- 480fps, H.264, pentaplex, full audio, 4xCIF (though it's vague on whether it can record at that res, or live display only). Another puzzle is it won't mention about motion search. Which OEM? (I know this forum is very good at this type of detective work

Thanks Rory. Obviously there're many DVRs out there which I know little or nothing about. So this feature is pretty standard on the GEs... Yes, I agree I-View handles multi-site very well, and I like the way how the IE and FreeView remote viewers behave consistently.

The GUI must support simultaneous playback of multiple AND arbitrarily selected cameras (say, cam 4, 5, 11 & 15 as a quad layout), AND also in a time-synchronized fashion too, i.e. when a bad guy disappearing in one cam should show up in another AT THE CORRECT MOMENT (accurate to the 1/10th sec The only DVR I've seen with the last feature (sync'ed playback) is Capture / Hitron embedded. I-View (my other favorite) supports multiple camera playback too, but unfortunately I can't get different cams to sync up (drive me mad). BTW, the above features are not specific to 16-ch, but it's just that for 16 channels, there is a higher chance multiple cameras would cover the same vicinity, and hence the sync'ed playback feature is more useful.