custsrvcrep

"IF i rent a dedicated IP for $50/mo, then the problem will be solved. I'm looking for other solutions. I would rather pay for new technology instead of paying $50USD for ONE IP per month." A dedicated, private IP has already been quoted at $50 ADDITIONAL per month. The internet service itself is $30/per month, raising the cost of basic internet to $80/per month.

I hope if you have clicked on this post, you have patience ... as I need to explain the whole story to get a valid suggestion. When I installed my CCTV DVR in the country of the Philippines, I was able to use DDNS and access my system remotely over the internet. [iE: router worked, ports were open, everything worked, video visible]. With the shortage of IP addresses, the ISPs in the area converted to CGNAT (Carrier Grade Network Address Translation). CGNAT shares ONE IP address among an unknown number of subscribers. It uses its own internal service to route my traffic from the internet to my "internal" ip on their router. This PREVENTS inbound traffic originating from the internet. You can not access a camera or a computer behind their router. In other words, there is "no such thing" as port forwarding when you are behind a CGNAT. You cannot access anything beind your home router ... To be clear, NOTHING using a "dynamic dns service" will work. IF i rent a dedicated IP for $50/mo, then the problem will be solved. I'm looking for other solutions. I would rather pay for new technology instead of paying $50USD for ONE IP per month. Teamviewer works fine behind the CGNAT because it somehow pushes a connection between my computer and their servers (vpn?). Here are the ways I have considered to work around this problem without the additional IP. 1. There are IP cameras that PUSH video up-the-internet into the cloud (ie: dropcam). All the video is then in the cloud, available to be viewed from anywhere. I have been trying to find an adapter that would connect to the monitor-output jack of my dvr, and push the converted signal/stream to the cloud (in the same way as an IP camera would push a signal/stream). [in my example, I would be pushing one "stream" of a four-camera quad image -- the same image being monitored.] I have been unable to find such an adapter. (THIS WOULD BE MY SECOND CHOICE) 2. Find a CCTV DVR that connects to a server in the same manner that Teamviewer connects. The DVR would push a connect request to some server, which would acknowledge and maintain a connection. With the connection made from the dvr to the server, access from anywhere would be simple -- the same as if I access my computer via teamviewer. There are dozens of DVRs that claim to be "cloud dvrs" with easy setup and no port forwarding -- but so far, they all use their own proprietary ddns, which won't work with CGNAT. (THIS WOULD BE MY FIRST CHOICE) I have heard about xmeye -- but no one can tell me how xmeye actually works. 3. I am aware that I can use teamviewer to access a computer on the same network; then use that computer to access the dvr. This is not my preferred solution. 4. Place a dropcam in front of the monitor screen of the dvr and let dropcam record a 2nd generation copy of the activity and push it to the cloud. Not a good solution. 5. Connect a slingbox to the dvr. Slingbox maintains a connection like teamviewer. However, it would be only usable for live streaming as it has no storage capability. 6. Instead of slingbox, connect a Hauppage 1212 pvr. All output of the CCTV DVR would be stored on the computer attached to the Hauppauge and stored in the cloud. This requires a computer running 24x7 as well as the Hauppage unit. (I found an example of how to do this at http://slingboxreview.com/ ) NOW THAT I HAVE WRITTEN THIS RIDICULOUSLY LONG POST ... I am looking for better ideas and solutions, or existing applications that will solve the problem of accessing a camera/DVR behind a CGNAT. If you stayed this long ...thanks!

I prefer domes in most cases (and vandal resistant domes for that matter). Bullets are more acceptable if installations are really high. Bullets can be "bumped" if low; where vandal resistant domes don't have that problem. Wall mounting brackets are available for domes (since you don't have eaves). IMO

Even if you are not using IP cameras it can be done ... if you ran power to each camera from a centralized power point, it is very easy and convenient to plug the dvr and the power control center into UPS/back-ups. If the installer "cheated" and connected each camera's power to a power outlet at the place of installation, then you will have a substantially more difficult time making this work.

One idea went against what I wrote earlier ... there is a way to hide a second unit (dvr), but it would likely get discovered quickly. But if the 2nd dvr was set up to activate upon an alarm (panic button), the alarm condition would cause it to email or ftp snapshots offsite immediately ... IF I am on the right track, it would only email/ftp the images from One camera that triggered the alarm condition?? But if the four cameras were fed into a quad and then into the dvr, then the "one" camera would be a quad screen of all four cameras and that is the image that would be sent offsite. Even if they found and disconnected all equipment, hundreds, if not thousands of images would have already been sent offsite. Does this sound workable?? Related Post: 2nd unit http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33851

I'm helping a guy I have known for quite a while with a unique concern. He lives in a 3rd world country where police scams and setups are the norm. Two of his friends have been extorted recently and he is trying to protect himself. He has all the usual security measures (security gates, 4-cam cctv, etc.). However, police are changing their game to avoid being caught on video. They have been shutting power off before their illegal raids ... and dvrs, (and their hard drives), tend to disappear and never be seen again. ("What CCTV unit?") The procedure is to raid, disconnect the cctv, take the foreigner to the ATM, get money to "drop" the "case" (whatever they made up), and then dump the foreigner on the side of the road. His cctv unit has mail and ftp notification, but only for event triggered video ... which is likely too slow to get offsite before the unit is found. There is not enough bandwidth to push the video offsite in real-time (and delayed would be a moot point because the dvr would be taken before it could push the latest video). Obviously having UPS systems counteract the cutting of the power, but doesn't help the lack of duplicate evidence. The first suggestion was manually triggered outdoor solar lighting. I'm still trying to find an example that might work. Normally they are auto-on/off and that won't work in his circumstances. Then I suggested dome cameras that complement the look of his existing cctv system (and have UPS backups for these cameras) ... except to use cameras with a built in tf cards and with the ability to push still images by email or ftp ... that could be triggered by panic button. I looked for cameras but haven't found anything that show the ability to trigger via a panic-style button or that have low light quality. He can't hide the cctv unit; and he can't install a second hidden unit (with the cameras looped to the first unit that they can take). Attempting to hide it in the ceiling would subject the unit to extreme heat (excess of 100degrees). The same holds for wiring in a second out-of-box hard drive. I also thought about a USB camera mounted outside that once triggered, would snap photos ... but couldn't find anything that met these needs. He is not a million dollar CEO so the budget is under $1000. Some of the items I found: Zavio Video server (http://www.zavio.com/product.php?id=69) but can't see how it is manually triggered. Supposedly works with "Most" ip cameras. And a zavio article on time-lapse snapshots ... but no "trigger" method (http://videos.cctvcamerapros.com/security-cameras/ip-camera-time-lapse-photography.html) Panasonic BL-C160A Outdoor Lighted MPEG-4 Network Camera .... no card, no trigger mechanism, and bad night vision. The indoor products had the same limitations. This camera had 32g card, and 2 trigger inputs (assuming a panic button counts?). http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/847819740/ipc_hdbw3300_wholesale_dahua_ip_camera.html Any ideas or suggestions??? Thanks

Yes -- in my case I am a novice. I am not in the cctv business. But I thought I would share my experience anyway. In October 2007, I installed a 32-camera (4-9808 cards) system in my store. Later, I split one of the channels into 4 with a quad processor. The four cams assigned to this are outside and are cameras of low importance. This was my second experiment with a system. The first was a standalone 16ch system that I disliked immensely. I bought and installed all the cameras (except outside cams). I hired a local company to install bnc connectors on the cables I ran and to install the outside cams. There is 1.5Tb of space for recordings. Because of our settings, we get about 15 days of recording time. Is it perfect? NO. But when you compare my investment for this 35 camera system to having someone else install a "better" system, there is NO comparison. What do I dislike? Yes, I can talk bad about it as well. 1. I can't log DIRECTLY into the server running the dvr software and see the cameras as directdraw won't allow it through either remote desktop or vnc. 2. You can't REVIEW the recordings BACKWARDS. The standalone box had this and I miss it every day. When we discover stolen merchandise, we used to play the recording backwards from the point when we found the merchandise. Can't do that anymore. 3. A TRUE bandwidth hog - both for INTRAnet and WAN access. (REMOTE REVIEW via WAN is painfully slow compared to standing at the dvr). 4. Remote software needs a MAJOR rewrite to include new features, such as not automatically trying to load all cameras, or loading pre-set camera numbers for view. Wave-P hasn't been too receptive to the suggestions. It also acts "buggy" at times. 5. Capturing video for submission as evidence is difficult and bulky. This is probably one of the WEAKEST parts of this software. We have a time consuming work-around, but shouldn't have to. 6. Every other week, it "forgets" a camera and has to be restarted; and every few weeks, it gets mad at win-xp and requires a restart. Rebooting the system weekly seems to help this. But all of that doesn't prevent me from ordering more units for other stores. My application isn't a bank or a casino -- and our surveillance system is not mission-critical. But for me, it has been wonderful. It does everything that we need in a retail store surveillance system, for a price that a non-corporate store could afford. Would I prefer a full D1 system? OF COURSE - I would love the larger image size and greater resolution. Is it worth the extra money in our application? No. Overall - a great system for the money. I'm pleased I went with the WAVE-P cards.