dan732

If you have the -f models with build in Micro SD Reader, just buy a 64GB Micro SD Card and store to that per camera, clean, easy and no external servers or whatever to go bad or get hacked. You may have to buy SD cards to swap them out every so often, they do "wear" so it is best to buy a name brand one as well. And you can use the built in web interface on the camera to review footage and download clips to your computer as well

Thanks for the response. I ended up buying the DS-7604NI-SE NVR from Amazon after doing a lot more homework. I didn't like the idea of buying an NVR that was a little bit cheaper without POE capabilities and having to run wires to a POE switch as well... Too many wires! I bought a Western Digital Purple 1TB harddrive to go with the NVR. WD recommends their purple harddrive for CCTV systems. I also ordered 2 Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I cameras to start out. Looks like you are on the right track! Good luck

Here is a Teddy Bear camera on eBay, $400 USD it has a built in DVR just use mini SD cards http://www.ebay.com/itm/Spy-Hidden-Xtreme-Life-Teddy-Bear-Motion-Activated-Wireless-Camera-SC7002-HD-NEW-/181638759117?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4a8382cd

Actually for a low end analog system, that is not bad, I have seen worse, a lot worse and people think their systems are great, until I show them mine and their jaws drop I agree, go with 3MP or even 1.3MP Hikvision stuff, I have those cameras and they are the best bang for the buck.

Dust, heat, cold, moisture Just to name a few Plus a possible fire hazard Usually you can not have electrical appliances in the attic by code, depending on where you live A cool dry basement is the best place

One HD Camera Port? I guess maybe on the cheap junk DVRs but once you get out of the eBay realm of equipment you don't have that limitation If you are going to do HD, you should look into IP cameras, only thing is you will need to upgrade all of your cabling to either CAT5e or CAT6 cabling (computer network cable). I like HIKVision, they have nice cameras for the buck and are well supported on these forums. As for pricing, depends on what you looking and what kind of cameras Just simple bullets like the Hikvision DS-2032 would be about a $100 a shot A HIKVision 8 Port NVR with POE Ports (saves you on buying a switch) HIKVision DS-7608NI-SE/8P is about $400 A 2TB Hard Drive for the NVR about $120 CAT5e cabling 50ft $20 100ft $30 etc I would say a 4 camera system would be under $1200, eight under 1700 roughly Also those HikVision 3MP bullets, the DS-2032 will blow the doors off of the 1200TVL junk cams any day of the week. Once you get a couple of those, you will never look at analog again.

In an IP system yes This is an old analog system, all of the "brains" are in the DVR

That looks like a Zmodo system or a "knock off" of one Zmodo is nothing to write home about Did the contract adjustments work?

Have you tried a different port on the switch?

Did you test the drives in another machine? Also, if these are used drives, it might not be a bad idea to Zero them out, look for Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) it is bootable CD image Unplug the drive in the computer that you want to use and connect the drives you want to delete and run this utility (the CD will boot into its own OS and give you options, you can change the option to a single pass, it will be quicker and the larger the drive, the longer it takes) it is a dangerous utility so make sure you are deleting the drives you want, not your system drive (that is why you should unplug it)

You might be going about this the wrong way When dealing with companies like Google, never threaten legal action, that will get you no where, unless you have the bucks to go hire an attorney, if you do, just do that, don't threaten, have the attorney deal with the matter. This is what I did Search for you address on google maps when you bring up the map of your street and your private driveway, does it show your driveway as being mapped? A white line, like it is a road? Mine did, do on the bottom right corner you will see a gear and a question mark, click on the question mark, then click on "report a data problem" A little wizard will appear in the left corner stating to point to where the problem is on the map, another dialog box will appear and you select the reason and write it what is wrong. Just say this road is my driveway and please un map it. You may need a google account to do this though or an email account. Just follow through, they will send you a automated message about it being reviewed or whatever. It will take a couple weeks. I saw the changes occurred faster on the website then the mobile version, but they will sync eventually Google did not have any imaging of the driveway, they did not drive up it, but since the imaging is tied to the mapped data, I would assume that if they delete the mapped "road" that the imaging will go as well. Of course nothing is deleted forever, just ask the NSA Also you may want to do this for Garmin, Tele Atlas, free maps and other GPS maps, most of the GPS devices pull from these locations anyways. I did those as well at it was just as easy. Tele Atlas fixed the mistake in a day. It is not a bad idea to do these as well since they might be pulling data from each other. Also, post the driveway, it will help you if you do have people back there who are up to no good. The police will ask them "did you see the signs?" if the trespassers are known to the police, the police will ticket or put handcuffs on them. The signs allow them to do that.

The way I would approach it would be to do this slowly, build it as you go so to speak, so you are not buying 5 cameras or so at once. I would buy one Hikvision, impress the Mrs. with the quality of the video and night vision and let her demand that you buy more That is how I did mine, I bought a couple Hikvision cameras at a time until all my old cameras were replaced. I would do the driveway one first, since you do not have a camera there. Leave the others and replace as you go, why replace them now if they are still working? I did my driveway camera similar to yours, I went under the soffit at used Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I, the turret camera with the IR Array. I used a 4mm lens, you could use a 2.8mm in your situation and you would probably get more of your front yard, side yard as well with a wide angle lens Link to the turret camera http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hikvision-DS-2CD2332-I-3MP-IP66-IR-EXIR-Turret-Outdoor-Network-Dome-Camera-POE-/111360908513?pt=US_Security_Cameras&hash=item19eda09ce1 As for software, I believe that is a personal preference on here, I see people raving about Blue Iris, Milestone, etc. I use iVMS, I have all Hikvision NVRs and cameras now so I don't need 3rd party support. It does what it does, sure it has a slight learning curve when setting everything up, but I am network guy so this stuff is easy to me.

Glad to hear that you have everything under control Thanks for the follow up

I would consider Hikvision, they are worth the 3x extra cost, you will get 10x the value in the long run as well. You can use Hikvision's iVMS to view the cameras and iVMS PCNVR for a PC based recorder if you chose to. iVMS and iVMS PCNVR is also free (but you can only use Hikvision cameras) I bought cheap junk, it is all gone now, I replaced everything with Hikvision. Sure it cost a few bucks, but in the end it was well worth it. I wish I never wasted the money on the cheap junk, could have bought a couple good Hikvision cameras instead. You can also look at Dahua as well, they have a good following on these boards as well. Good luck

Here is the user manual for that PTZ Camera as well http://www.hikvision.com/UploadFile/image/2013061416164597242.pdf