CCTV_Suppliers

I have a project using this type of housing... where can we buy them?

Here is the latest results on Hikvision IP MP cameras evaluation... Thus far 2MP minidome test is going great... the picture quality is exceptional and performance is very good... We used it with few different software titles and results were decent... What makes the difference is if the software has the drivers for this product and even more importantly, if it supports the H.264 version that this minidme streamlines.. Very easy to setup with switch supporting POE.. documentation is substandard and requires either tinker with the unit or to call their tech support for assistance. We are told that such documentation eventually will change, but for now it is useless... The packaging is ok... mostly made of plastic. The outdoor version of the same minidome is better made with more aluminum casting.. Most tests were viewed with MPEG4 format, as most software that we tested does not support H.264. Only two of the software did recognize this minidome and confirmed that H.264 stream and the storage file size. All in all we are very pleased with it... with sub-$500 price range for 2MP minidome does offer more functionality compared with other manufacturers offers... The regular IP cameras are much cheaper.. but we have not tested them yet... According to Hikvision, they also have 4-ch encoder that converts analog video to H.264 stream and assign IP... should have a sample on hand soon for further testing. This encoder will provide better solution compared to other encoders if someone is interested in hybrid system by using existing analog cameras and add IP cameras. Their analog cameras are priced very decent too... have various types and shapes of cameras... has anyone used them before and what do you think of Hikvision analog cameras? The only concern is if it will survive within warranty period... and how will they handle the warranty related problems... We will wait and see!

Actually I saw this camera over 5 month ago... It is available in U.S. and in very limited stock for not... It is an excellent piece of hardware and specs are real... the problem few months back is that none of their IP software really worked with this camera, as none came with the drivers necessary to recognize H.264 compression... I did see and played with it with MPEG4 configuration and I tell you, the picture quality was nothing that I have seen in the past. What make this cameras all that is not only its higher res megapixel technology or wide dynamic range, etc... but the lens, which is produced by Panasonic and it is true (3) three MP lens - very expensive combo, but it has its uses and for applications that call for it... If you need more info, let me know...

As a bullet camera, that one came close in specs and looks... sorry bud... do not have many variations of bullet cameras that fits the bill...

Wizkid cameras are still around and offered by Bosch... Never had any issues with them... and of course, they were not built to compete with high end ExtremeCCV product line anyway... I remember some posts in the past that some people were having some issues with these type of cameras... but since Bosch owns them now, the service and the support if first class... Hope this helps.

You did not mention what type of cameras you have in mind... If you use minidome type of cameras, some are rated to withstand decent high and low temperatures and exceed way over 110F at the high end.... If you want to use brick type of camera, then place it into a housing with heater and blower, which then will adjust the temperature according to environmental climate change.. Most outdoor minidomes already cover this base and some even come with additional heater and blower built in for more extreme temperature changes.. but dependent if you want a brick type of camera use, then select a decent housing with heater and blower..

Has anyone used Hikvision analog cameras by any chance? Looks like they have fairly good lineup of cameras in that category...

Working on them... we should have the tests completed early next week... Initial performance results are very good.. is I can see right now. We will find out the price soon enough... and hope it is not a deal breaker...

The outcome of the meeting well, was interesting... Only the time will tell if the warranty and RMA process does match up on the promise... I finally received two samples of their 2MP minidomes - ones for indoor and the other one for outdoor.. the construction of the product is ok, not something to be bragging about... However... We turned on the indoor version with ability to spit out H.264 video stream and run into our software, which recognizes this dome driver... took the monitor resolution to native 1600 by 1200 (based on max res for the monitor we currently use) and the result - well, outstanding. Of course the lens has a lot to do with such equipment and I am not sure if the lens they use is optimal for this product, but the results were admirable. The picture quality compared to others, including Arecont is excellent... Further tests were done on checking the bandwidth use and the file size being stored.. Besides obvious fluctuation of bandwith due to motion sensing, the rest worked exceptionally well.. for now! Today sometimes we will fire up the outdoor version with built in LEDs and see how this unit performs... More tests are needed... thus far, I like what I see... As for the pricing and availability, this should come together soon...

We do not care about Hikvision software nor I was aware that they had one... We have a software that is not license heavy and works fairly well.. hopefully we will have access to the code to make changes that we see fit... This software works with most IP cameras, but support only few H.264 streams, one of which is Hikvision. We recently tested their 2MP minidomes... looks ok and worked fairly well. Tested and confirmed that these minidomes did spit out H.264 video stream and the software was able recognize and store such video... very small file size dependent how you setup the camera.. This is nice and great, but we do not care for short term success... we focus more on long term effects of such product and how the manufacturer can provide a support in case of a failure... I know this, any electronics equipment is not if it will fail, rather when will it fail... and we want to make sure that companies producing such hardware are always on the edge in case if product fails and also guarantee that a replacement is available without draining our pockets for their bogus warranty tactics... I am not holding my breath about the positive outcome of this meeting nor have high hopes that this will materialize. I only hope that everything starts correctly and what they say and what they show will hold water. This is one of the main reasons why major manufacturers charge so much - to prevent shortage of cash to provide essential support and the do day in day out.. Lets see what happens...

Interestingly enough, I have a meeting with this manufacturer tomorrow on their IP lineup... lets see what they say and what they commit... and more importantly, how will they show us their warranty protocol or RMA system. We have been burned too many times by these type of companies and now we know how to put them on the spot. Most offer only one year warranty and persistency forces them to commit to three years warranty. However, I have yet seen one of them to come through on their warranty promise and it will be very interesting how this company behaves... Do not misunderstand the approach that we take... even major manufacturers have serious problems with their warranty and RMA protocols and even then, they still have to perform... Someone can have the best product in the market and means nothing if they do not have solid infrastructure behind it as a support mechanism. The problems start not when the product fails, rather how they behave at the time of the sell and even more importantly, ability to show and proof the viability of their overall offering - including the service, support, warranty to name the few...

Perfect... make sure whichever model you pickup, they come with full three years warranty... as both manufacturer warranties are three years... anything less then that should be a question...

AD ADCDH3895CN Discover domes are great performer.. the one you are referring to is their day/nigh outdoor version and it performs well.. I will say it is one of the best in its price range... with three years warranty, you can not get shortchanged on the support... The pricing should be around $250.. As for the Panasonic WV-CF294, it is yet another decent performer... However, plan to use it indoors... The pricing should be around $260. Both are very good performers for their price range.. Both come with 540TVL resolution cameras, very good lens choices.. and packaging excellent. I will strongly recommend both, AD the version for outdoor and the Panasonic version for indoor use... If need additional info, let us know.

Thanks for sharing bud... We are looking for few companies that are not considered as major manufacturers.. rather ones that have been around few years and may produce decent hardware.. We also are not looking for some cheap products either, rather what I like to call more cost effective pricing.. However, such pricing must be accompanied with solid customer and technical support and decent warranty support without any compromise... I have seen too many such companies come and go and only few that remained.. and even then, and this is may be due to our economical condition, are back peddling on essential services that we all need to keep buying their products. I have been pursuing Hikvision for the last few weeks... and trying to get the feel what everyone else think of their products... found some articles that were positive, but back track of the authors revealed that they were written by Hikvision or one of their main distributors.. I rather hear directly from the user and the installers... this group of people always share the real info and give unbiased opinions... and that is why I am asking and still researching... and thanks all for your comments. The industry standard is to have parts available at least for five years after a warranty period expires to maintain and fix products that we buy today. However, when we are dealing off shore companies, it is almost impossible to believe what they say today... as most pack their bags and leave the country as soon as they face heat from the customers... It is only shame that such companies take advantage of customers in U.S. and then they are gone... I am not sure if Hikvision falls in this category yet.. however, they do not look good thus far based on what I am reading...

Has anyone looked at the Pentax, Panasonic and even Bosch MP lenses? They really produce decent decent results... I personally like the Pentax lenses that are calibrated for MP cameras...

I'm not sure about the type of cmos chip but last I checked they were using the same Ti Davinci chip that they use in there DVR's What do you think of their encoders? The claim to their fame is that their encoders take analog signal and covert to IP and then compress to H.264 stream... I wish I had a chance to check this hardware... but I am pursuing to test the entire IP line, including these encoders... Are there any comparable hardware from other manufacturers, besides the majors? By major, I mean Bosch, Panasonic, American Dynamics, GE, Sanyo, Axis and few others....

Tailbone, what exactly happened with their technical support? The warranty protocol, product support, availability of the products, availability of repairs needed beyond warranty period (by the way, what is their warranty anyway?) are very important factors for making intelligent decision if someone wants to carry their product line... In general, I have been getting mixed reviews thus far. I also read articles about their product lines in different forums... Besides obvious positive comments that actually points back to Hikvision or to their affiliate companies or partners, it is very hard to get a good feel about this product line... Here is my take thus far... someone can have the best product in the world and the best performance under the sun, it means nothing if the support mechanism is not behind such product... that is why it is worth to ask as many questions about a new line to see how others feel about the same product... Thanks all thus far... if there are any other comments, please let me know.

Privatteer, thank you... I missed this thread... based on what I read, looks like mixed reviews at best. Does anyone know what chipset are they using for their MP cameras? Most of the manufacturers that we work with use Arecont chipsets... so I am very curious what Hikvision uses... I should have few samples on hand soon for testing... Not sure about their DVRs or NVRs, but the cameras are what we need... there are several manufacturers of software that incorporated Hikvision camera drivers, so we will have a chance to test them... What is their warranty on these cameras? How is their warranty protocol work and are they cooperative with advanced replacements during warranty period? Again, thank you for all your comments and point of references...

What are the lighting condition? Are there any lights near the area of concern or no lights at all?

No users of this brand cameras? Very unusual...

Any users of UVI (Unlimited Vision Inc.) cameras in this forum? Any pros or cons that we should know about? From what we saw, they are decently built and picture quality of the cameras were very good... just do not know enough about this brand... Any suggestions?

They are correct.. It is called DVR Uploader... basically you will install this utility in your local computer... you will connect to this DVR with your LAN (you have to identify its IP address of course) and then hit "Run" button and it does its trick... The rest is done automatically... We upgraded many of these series of DVRs and still do today... Use surveillance grade PATA (regular ATA drives), assign its Master and Slave configuration and then run this DVR Uploader.. The rest of the process is automatic... One other suggestion... The original external power supply comes with 5.2A capability. Since you are changing the drives, the external power supply does have life expectancy of no more than three years or may be four at most... pick up 7.5A version. This power supply will handle the additional load that you will need adding these hard drives... Any other questions, let me know.

SDII technology base cameras were the best of its time... so if you have access at dirt cheap price, get them... they will perform better than most hi res cameras of the day...

You can upgrade your drives using regular ATA drives. You also can take these units up to 1TB internal storage using two 500GB drives. Just make sure that you assign the drives master and slave correctly. Once done, head to GE website and download a utility that allows you to install via Ethernet only that picks up a slice of your master drive and installs files that are necessary for remote view.. Should be very simple process... and if you have any other questions, let me know.

The word from Pano is "soon"... and that could me a month or more... I saw the demo unit and we did some tests... SD5 is better than SD3... Price points from what I understood could be slightly higher or may even be the same.. it all depends what Pano decides at the end. From what I understand is that they are selling these new technology system in Japan already.