JimRockford

Alibi Witness vintage NVR so, think Hik. We've had these running out there for years and never encountered this exact situation. This NVR is commonly monitored from 5-10 workstations. On all of the workstations except one, audio and video works perfectly. On this one laptop, we can launch IE and both audio and video work fine. Then, after some period of time, perhaps an hour, or 15 hours, the audio will quit working. No x displayed, no, "unable to start audio," you can select audio and it looks like it would be there, but it's not. Reloading the webpage does nothing to help, nor does reloading via Ctrl+F5. Close IE, immediately reopen it, and the audio is back. When the audio is gone the browser itself will still play other audio. For instance going to a site with an mp3 playing. It will also still run audio on other NVRs that aren't Witness. If I go directly to a Hik/Witness camera, the audio won't play there either until I restart IE, so it appears to be specific to the plugin going to sleep, or getting stepped on in some way. These things may annoy me for a day or two, but never stump me for this long. I have uninstalled, reinstalled, reinstalled via Run as Administrator, compared settings to other machines, and can find nothing. Oh, and yes this has been happening ever since this laptop was new about 6 months ago. Anyone seen this one before? Thanks in advance.

It can be frustrating, Larry. All of these testers seem to be made by the same manufacturer, so it really comes down to who you trust most on issues. For instance these are the same device from two different sellers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZX3B81Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CIGSI70/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3EJ9OUSYS2KSW&coliid=I3Q7CV2OTUWVIM Even the model numbers are almost the same except one seller puts the letters after the numbers and the other puts them before the numbers. Of course there are several models and this is the high end. I have exchanged emails with the companies as well as the mfg and all the replies are in broken English, probably courtesy of Google Translate. I really wish Fluke made one. I ordered several last night that will be delivered tomorrow. We'll see how they hold up.

Yep. A lot has changed since I bought my old Riser Bond 1270 decades ago. They're still expensive, but back when I bought mine for TSCM work there were no inexpensive alternatives. Thanks for the lead on Byte Brothers. I'll take a closer look at what they have to offer. I own a HVAC company too, and it looks like they might have a solution my techs over there have been searching for. That was part of our challenge in finding a good tester. We wanted one that would drive the remote focus and zoom from the tester for all the brands we service. I'm really trying to spend less time at the desk too.

Thanks for the reply. I haven't used the Surface, but I've certainly been down the road of the PoE splitter. It can get to be a bit of a pain when you're 30' in the air on a pole, a ladder, or in a bucket truck, but I guess most all of us have sucked it up and done it. I hadn't thought about the Surface having that port. Thanks for the idea. I think I've narrowed down the model we're going to try, but it's really hard to get good input. It appears that there are several brands, but all built by one manufacturer which means it really comes down to who you want to deal with on issues and warranty. Unfortunately they all seem to be overseas. It's crazy what they build into these things now. I noticed two models have fiber testers and a Time Domain Reflectometer all for $600. I LOVE having a TDR available, but heck my Riser Bond TDR probably weighs 15# by itself and was $3500 back when I bought it. BTW, if anyone is interested, apparently H.265 compliance is in R&D for the testers and will be released locally (to them, overseas to us) in "3-4 months." Then it'll be another 3-4 months before being released over here in North America. It won't be a firmware upgrade and will require purchasing a new tester.

No opinions? I guess everyone pretty much uses their cell phones. Well does anyone have experience with Electop? According to their company this one pretty much fits the bill except for the H.265 support that isn't available yet. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CIG75TC?m=ADQJP9NWIFYM2&ref_=v_sp_detail_page

Well, as I was saying most of what we're putting in now is 4MP H.265 compression so it's IP. PoE to power the camera from the tester is important, WIFI is a nice plus. We still have plenty of analog testers lying around, but as long as we're shelling out the money anyway having the analog capability is certainly good. We'd like to be able to access the varifocal lens and PTZ function from the tester. I suppose pretty much the usual. Electop has a few that looked nice as does Woshida, but I'm not too familiar with those. Too bad Fluke doesn't seem to make one. Thanks for the reply.

Hi everyone, First, I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere on the board. I did look around, but most of what I found was dated and of course the technology changes so quickly. On a new contract we picked up we're putting in a lot of DH-Vision/Uniview 4MP systems and it's time to shop for a new CCTV tester. Unfortunately I can't seem to find any reliable information. Obviously monitor resolution and things like that are important, but then there seems to be an issue finding testers that have the protocol built in for the system you're installing so you can access the PTZ or varifocal lens. Also most of what we put in today is H.265 so that would be a nice feature, and of course PoE power from the tester to the cam is important. Would any of you be willing to share your thoughts on what you feel the best test monitor is now? Also I'd love to hear other tech's concerns. Thanks in advance.