metafizx

hi, Can someone tell me what the legal requirements are for captured video, as being admissable as court evidence ? What is acceptable and what would be thrown out ? I have heard that these are criteria: 1. minimum 3 FPS 2. must be in dvr proprietary format (for example .AVI is _not_ valid since it is too easily modified) what about a timestamp? is that required ? and resolution, is there any requirement ? is watermarking mandatory ? what else ??

who has used Visec or ViewCommander ? any feedback on those ? I tried both evals, I kinda like Visec...

I have only played with 802.11G for IP cameras. I haven't gotten too serious with wireless, because of initial problems. I know there are other proprietary wireless systems out there. Everything I bought is plain old stuff for 802.11G networking. While it seems simple to setup and make it work, if there is a signal problem, it can be very difficult to solve. Also you cannot be guaranteed that a signal problem won't pop up in the future, intermittent or permanent. many things emit in the 2.4 GHz band (microwave ovens, wireless security systems, cordless phones, bluetooth devices), people put in wireless routers like they're eating candy. and construction changes/obstacles may cause a signal drop. The only self contained wireless camera that I have used that worked decent was the Axis 207w..your fav! I used it primarily because it a). works, and b). has a good image for the money. I also have experimented with a wireless bridge, using a regular wired IP camera which worked but due to signal problems I went back to direct wire. I would say this is a very good way to go, if you have the budget and room for wireless bridge, camera, power, battery backup etc...if the camera install is outdoors, it can be hard to implement this way. otherwise you need the self contained wireless IP cam. also getting uninterruptable power to it is something to deal with...(no POE with wireless!) I'd love to know a better wireless camera. I haven't tried Vivotek's stuff yet. Can you recommend one ? When I was looking at wireless cameras, it seemed that most manufacturers were creating a low end product, and were really more toys than anything else. Now it seems there are more products coming out that could be better. Meanwhile I still struggle with poor throughput problems on a wireless install.

to answer some of the questions... the purpose was to use the 207w in an outdoor environment. there was no housing available, so with very cheap materials, I came up with one pretty quickly. The camera costs under $300, and the housing materials were less than $20. ignoring my time, I think there is nothing this good on the market for that money. if I am wrong, pls tell me. (oh, and if you want IR then add the cost of the IR lens and IR lamp..) the 207w is the only low cost wireless camera I have used that seems to have a good picture and is reliable. it is also smaller than most. however no standard outdoor housing will really work with this, that is why I had to make something. so far it works fine, but I don't have it directly exposed to weather, so it is not a great test of "weatherproof". but it has been working fine for months now. time was a few hours to do a nice job, but I could make another one in less than an hour. as for the night vision part, I did put in a IR lens, and with the IR lamp it works great. you have to have the IR lens to make it see in the dark. with a stronger IR it would illuminate better, right now it is a little dim, but very useable. I am not sure I can get a jpg from it, because it is in my customer's home.

can you elaborate on "decent software" ? thx

I can't see where WiFi is good for IP cameras. at 54 Mbps, even with a half decent connection, it isn't anywhere as reliable as a wire. I have a wireless install that has made me pull out lots of hair. For the life of me I can't get the frame rates solid. Interference on the 802.11G band, I don't know, but it is just crappy. also most IP cameras use only WEP. maybe you mean some other kind of WiFi ???

thanks. that does make sense, depends on the case, and the legal wrangling that occurs. people tell me different things, it just seems like either they really don't know and are blowing smoke... This one company was telling me that proprietary video format and 3 FPS min were required. Then another company was saying that watermarks are required. I would assume the more bullet proof that your video is with these features would make it less susceptible to being thrown out.

I checked out the I-Flashback demo and it looked pretty nice. anyway back to this issue...mysteriously some of the 207w's still drop off and go to sleep for some unknown reason. I noticed the NTP time server was all zeros and the time/date was set back to some default time. It looked like it was trying to access the time server, and it gave up. Have no evidence that would cause any problem however. signal is strong from the AP, as the cameras are only 15-20 feet away. Frame rates are good coming in from all the cameras (3x 207w's 1x 221 wired). but then one of the 207w's frame rate will drop to nothing, and then go offline. Sometimes it comes back, but after awhile I have to reboot the camera. This happens on 2 of the 207w's.

it should be fairly weather resistant, as it uses an outdoor outlet box with a gasket. The acrylic lens is sealed, and the mounting hardware has rubber gaskets, so pretty sure it will keep out med - light rain. I wouldn't trust it in a all out downpour. this is meant to go under an eave or somewhere with some protection, not really designed to use out in the open. this housing is good enough to keep out dirt, bugs, moisture, winds, and medium level percipitation.

IPv4 is what has been the industry standard till now for ip addressing, IPv6 is the new specification. Check out this site for more details: http://www.ipv6.org/

I just checked out your site, cool !! the demo looks really good.

hi user1, do you have all the 207w's on one channel ? or on multiple channels (multiple AP's) ? may I ask what wireless setup you have ? that would be awesome. thanks....

just updating with what I've done on this issue, for whomever is interested 1. upgraded the firmware to 4.40.1 - this is the latest release (was 4.40) no apparent improvement, just did it 2. disabled UPnP which is not needed no expected improvement 3. verified that the wireless mode was set to "managed" (as opposed to "auto") Seems like the wireless throughput varies quite a bit, which causes the frame rate on the cameras to vary from 7-8 fps to less than 1 fps. Signal levels are 80% or greater, as the cameras are not far away from the AP. The closer cameras have a more consistent framerate of 3-4 fps. what I can't understand is if each frame is only 30KB, at 5fps the data rate should only be around 1.5Mbps. does anyone know what the overhead of wireless 802.11g is ? my next try is a different wireless router, instead of the access point.

luxriot works well with all Axis models. I have used Luxriot in installations and it works pretty good, not too expensive. people recommend milestone as well, although I have never used it. a cheapie program that works pretty good for the price is pysoft's Active Webcam for a mere $89. But beware it has some bugs.

thanks I will check that.

that's right. I put in a IR lens. Simply use a wrap of teflon tape to get the lens tight. you can get the kit from wilife

yes for the 207/206 but doesnt fit for 207w

I guess this is a matter of application. IP cams are great for some installs but the good ol' analog (cctv) cams to a network dvr is hard to beat. for example if a vandal destroys an analog cam, or it dies out due to environment, or other reason, it is way cheaper and easier to replace than a corresponding network cam. The network cam will be 2x the cost atleast, and will require a tech knowledgable about the system to install. I can go on and on, but I don't think you can say that network cameras are the future. There are good reasons to use both kinds, depending on the application.

They say that the 207W is not compatible with the Axis housing for 206/207

I am trying to come up with a decent housing for the 207W/MW. I found a few acrylic dome housings that might work, but adds $150 to the cost of the camera. I thought of just getting a PVC case from home depot and siliconing a window in the top plate. mounting the camera inside that. Worried about heat dissipation, which isnt much.

yeah but the 207 w is only $300 and the 211 w is $700 !

IMHO wireless is a no-no. I have tried to have a reliable network wireless camera system, but there are 2 things that usually cause trouble: 1. wireless may disconnect and not recover until the camera is rebooted. this can be a problem if the camera is located in a hard to reach spot. 2. wireless interference and signal variations can cause wide fluctuations in the frame rate. You never know when another wireless station will pop up in the area, and might be on the same channel. of course auto channel is supposed to take care of this, not all cameras are auto channel. various building materials and objects can create major headaches in getting sufficient signal strength. if the signal path is in the way of cars, doors and other barriers, the signal strength can fluctuate as the environment is altered (car parked then leaves, door open/closed, etc). also you still have to get power to the camera, so it isn't really "wireless", unless the mounting spot already has power. also keep in mind that each wireless channel (assuming 802.11 G) is 54Mbps. it should be isolated from any other potential users to keep the network free of unwanted bandwidth loss. maybe there are tricks that can make wireless stable and reliable, but I have not found this to be true. The main wireless camera that I used of any quality was the Axis 207w. Wireless Routers are notorious for dropping connections, and having issues with wireless. Just a never ending battle to get it working and stay working. I always seem to buy the worst wireless router on the market, there are so many duds. Never had a problem with wired network cameras. in the long run its cheaper and more reliable. I'd really like to know what wireless routers and cameras other people have been successful with.

with some ndvrs you have to port forward more than one port. there is usually the http port (80) and maybe a control port. make sure you are putting in the correct LAN IP address in the dvr, and have that same ip address in the port forward section of the router. also you may have to reboot your router (unplug and plug back in) to get it to recognize the port forward. additionally if you have dynamic IP service (which is usually the case for home users) then you will have to setup DDNS (Dynamic DNS) to keep track of the IP. most new routers will handle DDNS. hope this helps.

I am pretty happy with the Avermedia 1304net. it's a 4 channel. you can add more units to get more channels, the software allows you to control multiple dvrs. the web interface is good, and so far working reliably.

lots of stuff doesnt work on VISTA. it's a crime IMHO committed by M$. vendors are having a hard time being compatible. mostly display and security issues with VISTA, and also being "certified" by M$. if you want to blame someone, blame M$.