BennyBoy

I've done three of these and all were happy! http://www.intellicamusa.com/product_info.php?products_id=101 As for cameras there's a lot to choose from. I've had very good results with b&w box type cameras, I find thrm to have a lot of detail and work really well in low light. Around my home I'm using some .05 lux b&w cams with a single sv light 30ft away, and the area is easy to see. You can find this type of camera on Ebay for about $25.~$40. each. A nice fuji lens will run about the same. I've used this model and they worked well ; http://cgi.ebay.com/4-Panasonic-CCTV-Security-Camera-WV-BP554-Hi-Res-new_W0QQitemZ110275715951QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item110275715951&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318 GL.

12mm lens should do it.

Yes. this is normal. You can change them out for 950 nm, but some cameras/lens wont work right with the higher wave lenth.

Hi all, I've got 3 Ganz FC-62D B&W cameras for sale. There strong point is, Extreamly low light performance. $40.+$7 for shipping each or all 3 for $100.+ $12. for shipping. They have low hours and are in like new cond. please PM. http://computarganz.com/product_view.cfm?product_id=100

There Hikvision with intellicam firmware and a 3 year warranty plus Top notch support. I've only used the RTA series. I found it to do more than I ever needed. I'm happy with my 4 ch AverMedia, but if I needed more than four channels, I'd go with a G4!

I'd like to know if any of you have used one of these? if so, is it a good camera? is it really old or really new? I cant seem to find much if any info on this unit. A friend has one and wants me to buy it. Thanks.

I had a hard time finding any info on it. I found a PDF manual and a 2004 panasonic catalog listing it as there top B&W camera. When current it ran over $500.

WELL, now I know a little about it! It's the sharpest daylight camera I've ever seen(analog) with good dynamic range. At night, its a little more noisy than other High rez B&W cameras of today but it has a gain up function thats outstanding! It can amplify the darkest area and give a good usable image.

Stay away from any brand of cmos camera. Lorex is no better or worse than any of the other marketing big brands out there. You'll pay more for the brand name and you'll get less. I'd say any new camera for $22. will be junk. If you need good night time viewing? You can get a used high rez b&w box cam with lens for around $20. off Ebay.

D1 = 704x480 in the ntsc video standard. 720x480 = the ntsc DVD video standard. So the RTA/D1 will playback 30 fps D1 on all ch.

I've tried a bunch and the G4 are a good value. http://www.intellicamusa.com/product_info.php?products_id=101

You make some good points! I did feel the G4-RTA was a better unit but it cost me double what the Aver cost and it was only a little better in some ways and a lot better in features I do not need. I was looking at the future in terms of long term value, meaning I spend a little now and a little in a few years as to keep up with changing technologys.

Ok, so I've tried a few DVR over the last month and here's what I've found. Astak= Total junk! very poor playback when they work(I had three go bad). Q-See pro line 4 ch, works well but poor playback quality. Lorex= same results as with Q-See. Intellecam G4-RTA.= Preview was good and playback was ok. AverDigi EB1304net= Preview is good but with some mpeg4 jaggies(but not bad)and slightly soft(no sharpness adjustment).Playback is verygood and at 15 fps per ch @ D1 Its fantastic! The highest price was the G4 at $xxxx. the lowest price was the Astak at $xxx. The clear winner is the 1304 at $xxxx. with D1 record that looks really good. If one were to need a built in web server and really nice streaming quality, you cant go wrong with the G4! It really is a nice quality box but for me, the 1304 is a better value.

I've installed a couple of these for friends and they have no complaints http://www.intellicamusa.com/product_info.php?cPath=18_29&products_id=100

Great brand, but your better off getting a G4-RTA D1 as its made by HikVision but has Intellicams firmware and three year warranty and free DDNS service. I even think the G4 cost a little less. http://www.intellicamusa.com/index.php?cPath=18_29

I've done a bunch of research in the last month and the RTAD1 that I helped my friend install in his complex looks fantastic! I had a non D1 4 ch the the D1 series looks much better. In fact it was hard to tell weather you were watching the live view or recorded view. For the money, I really can see anything else blowing it out of the water. I dont see why Canada would be an issue.

I just did a wide compare with many brands and found by a wide margin, the 1304 is the best thing going for the money.(IMO)! I've only had this unit for a day, so far its a fantastic bargin. I've got the settings at max and at the 24 hour mark it's reading 9% of HD used. It looks like I'll get about 10 days with the 750gb drive thats in there. More than enough for my use.

I just got a G4-RTA 4 ch. I've master the workings of it in no time flat(very easy to use) My only issue is the preview quality is not as good as a strait hookup to monitor (camera to monitor). what I see is a slight ghost on the more contrast areas. The good news is, the recorded image does not look any worse. Is this normal for a higher end machine to degrade the image in the live preview mode? Thanks all.

My network buddy set it up. But I can only view via a web browser. If I had a Mac that was made in the last two years, it would be easy, as all I would need to do is boot into XP. My G5 will not run exe, so I'm stuck.

There just MSRP, and not what I payed.

I'm new to all this as well. I'm finding the markup on this stuff is super high. I dont see the value with some of these security companys? They charge double or triple for the units and if you have a problem a few years down the road, they come out and charge you again! A real racket(IMO). I've been messing around with a few DVR's and I'm finding the G4-RTA-D1 to be avery good value. I just did an install of an 8 ch for a friend and it looks great and has a simple gui interface. A couple of 16 ch RTA/D1's would run you about $5000. and there real good about returns if your not happy. http://www.intellicamusa.com/product_info.php?products_id=100 my $0.2

http://www.samsungcctv.com/product/file_data/manual/20080514_0_0804.SIR-4150_E.pdf

Are you sure you need h.264? I ask because I've been looking for a good 264 DVR myself and I'm finding the Mpeg4 units seem to have much better image quality. Dont get me wrong, I know H.264 is far better than the standard mpeg4 if implemented correctly. I'm finding the current DVR's under a $1000. do not have the processing power to give a high quality image. I use a Mac PC, its a two cpu G5 @ 2 ghz and for me to compress a 90 min DVD movie in the highest quality H.264 takes about 6 hours. The same movie in the same quality with Mpeg4 takes about 30 mins. both files look as good as the DVD but the 264 file is about 1/4 the size of the Mpeg4. My point is this, wait a couple of years for a H.264 dvr and settle for a good Mpeg4 dvr. If you must have one now, I feel the G4-RTA D1 is the best for the money.

Looks like the smallest file I can get on a cd is 128mb, does not matter if its 5 sec or 1 min.

Tried both outputs and no difference. I would think there would be an adjustment on the mother board to fix it but I'm not going to void the warranty by trying. The problem is a little like an old monitor with bad convergence. Also does it with a dvd movie(not as bad but its there). I could send a file from the unit?