todd2

Have a $75 avtech IR camera and just tried out the camera in full darkness. The picture is OK (cool demon eyes!) but I noticed that I can plainly see that each IR LED emits a red glow. Not ideal, even for non-hidden cameras. Is this expected in a camera of that price range or did I get ripped?

Many models of board camera have models with the normal screw lens, and several types of pinhole lens--conical, flat, etc. What I'm wondering is if with the pinhole models, is there a piece of glass or plastic in the hole, or is it just a real hole straight to the camera ccd? The reason I'm wondering is the use will be a dusty environment so I don't want dust getting inside. Needs to be more covert than normal lens will allow.

Ok thanks, reason I asked is I remember as kid building a little camera whose "lens" was a tiny hole. A pinhole camera. You can google this. So I felt I should check that there's actually something in the hole in this case.

I'm looking for a pocket-size DVR that is small enough to fit under the seat of a car with no ventilation, and records to an sd card rather than a hard drive. I need at least 2 channels, motion detection, and preferably > 400 lines of resolution. I will be running it off 12vdc. (Also, I'm not going to pay $900 for it. I did find one unit that fit the bill (for < $200), except that it only recorded at 320*240 resolution. Not sure that will be good enough for facial identification. Will be installed in car.

I was strongly considering the EB1304MOB mobile DVR (4 channel @ D1), which I can get for around [edit by mod-store link & dealer pricing removed] but the one thing it's missing is network capability. There seems to be huge price jump for anything else I can find that has network (ethernet) capability--like to $1200 or something just for a 4 channel. There were a few leads for a lower price mobile DVR, but they had only 2CIF and not D1 resolution. I really don't want a PC based solution because that burns too much power. The EB1304MOB does have a hard drive but I believe the unit uses about 2 amps @ 12V (without the cameras). The system will be running with the vehicle OFF only, so power consumption must be reasonable. Any recommendations?

Looking for a 4 or 8 channel DVR that will ftp or email images of reasonable quality (not just tiny thumbnails). I know of one that will ftp video files, but I don't like that approach because it only sends the file after the complete event (motion) is over. If the DVR is disabled during the motion event (say after 10 seconds) the video is never uploaded. The ones that send images I believe start sending as soon as the event happens.

I run my DVR on continuous record but also with motion detection turned on. That way, I don't miss anything, but also have a record of points of interest to look at. Problem is, the DVR fills up after a few weeks, and I want to save the motion detection footage to my PC before I wipe the drive. (Obviously, I can't save everything since I don't have 500gb of drive or DVD space to burn each time I wipe the DVR.) So, I tried to use "Video E Server" to do the download, but it's only set up to let you manually pick one event at a time to download. So, I downloaded some free software called "AutoIt" which was designed for GUI testing and automation, and wrote an AutoIt script that sucks down the exact event records that I need. In my case, Video E Server listed 800+ events, so I could have run my script, selected 1-800, and boom, I'd have all 800 events (each download from the DVR is by default 5mb) for only 800*5mb = 4gb of space which I can stick on a single DVD. It does take a LONG time to run, but not because my script sucks; it's because the AVC761 download speed is about 125k/second, so a 5mb clip takes 40 seconds to download. I can post the script if anyone wants it. You'll need to install AutoIt to run it.

I'm sure it can be written, but is any aware of software free to download that will extract motion detection events from an existing mpeg4 (h264) video file?

Using a low lux (.003 lux) B&W camera, I'm experimenting with tinted enclosures. In some cases, I'm applying tint to standard glass myself. In a brightly lit room, a limo tint (5% VLT) level seems OK. I assume this would be OK in daylight down to some level of dusk. What level of tint is usually used to obscure the camera position but still let enough light in?

I'd hoped to learn from the experience of others here, rather than go through the trouble of installing something that won't work (because the tint level blocks too much light). Isn't that the point of this forum, to share knowledge? What's the point of telling me to go try something myself? If I were new to flying R/C aircraft for example, and wanted to start with a fast aerobatic stunt plane, would you tell me to go try it rather than provide guidance to start with something easier to handle?

Already have a siamese cable (standard power/video BNC) run from a camera back to DVR. Is there any not-too-expensive way to pack a second signal onto that wire (and pull it off at the other end)? I realize the composite signal sits at 3.5Mhz--so the device(s) would need to freq-shift it at both ends. Possible?

The first link you provide, the EH5108H, doesn't appear to have FTP capabilityi. At least, it's not listed there. The second link refers to a 16 channel DVR, which will have a significantly higher price point, though I do see that it lists FTP capability.

Looking for: * Avermedia standalone Linux-based DVR (not a card, or a windows box) * 8 channels * capable of ftping images at good resolution on motion detection I get lots of hits on Avermedia & ftp for their cards and windows DVRs, but can't seem to find an 8 channel Linux DVR from them that does it.

Anyone have experience with this company? Do they make good products?

I believe this is a linux DVR. Anyone know what file system is used on the drive? Is it a linux ext2 or ext3 format, or some proprietary format? I'd like to read the drive directly.

Have DVR with several BNC terminals on the back. Bought several 25' BNC to BNC siamese cables to connect cameras. I've found that I get occasional problems from loose connections between the connectors on the back and the cables. Occasional meaning that in practice it only happens once in a while but I can reproduce the issue by touching the cable end. (Yes the connectors are locked, give me some credit.) I don't believe its a loose connection inside the DVR since the BNC terminals themselves are not loose and the problem seems to happen equally between all the terminals (not just one or two). So, naturally, I assume the cable, right? However, testing the cable at home, it seems OK with the connectors I try. So all I can make of the issue is that the diameters or natural manufacturing tolerances between the cable and terminals must be off enough to cause the issue. I do find that if I connect an RCA cable with a RCA to BNC adapter (about 1 inch long) that connection doesn't have the problem, again seemingly implicating a terminal/connector sizing issue. Comparing the back of the RCA adapter and cable does show the gap is different between the shield and center piece of the BNC connector. So, just try some new cables? Cheapest cables that don't look like the same (probably Chinese) manufacturer are like $15 a piece (for 25' cable), so if it's something else I guess I'm tossing that money away. Anyone face this issue before? Is there a good name brand 25' siamese cable? (I'd prefer not longer since for my application the cable would have to be tucked away and longer cable just has more potential for voltage drop and other issues.)

After trying a number of different configurations, I find that the only way to avoid large blind spots and filming mostly interior of the vehicle is to point the cameras directly out the window from a close distance. Current plan is to have a pair on each middle pillar (between front and rear doors) where one of the pair points forward and one rearward, thereby providing complete coverage of each side. Only problem is that in that configuration, bullet cams are very visible poking against windows. Using a dome might provide slightly more concealment (though if the dome is tinted enough to hide the camera, I'd think it would hurt the lux rating of the camera). Also, the domes would probably be harder to mount as the dome base is large and flat, as opposed to the pivoting bullet cams with a relatively small (1.25 inch) base. Any thoughts? Thought about using static cling tint strips at the top of the windows (which could be removed at night) but not sure about the optical clarity. I doubt I'd get a ticket for having tint on a parked vehicle.

Thanks, but do they make a siamese cable using RG-179?

Actually, I don't want the RG59 style because the cables are thicker. I need to run it through the interior panels of a vehicle, so I need the thinner cable. I'm ok with a little degradation, but that's not what I'm seeing. I'm seeing an issue at the cable end (when I jiggle it around).

Have bought several low lux board/bullet cameras that use the sony ExVIEW technology and 80% or more of them have at least one "hot pixel" defect. This is a pixel block that pegs white on any dark background or in low light. For an $80 camera, should I be returning these until I get one with no defects? It doesn't seem like an isolated incident but a theme with the ExVIEW cameras.

I bought one online but it turns out it's a 4-pin and won't fit. I'm talking about a cable that has a little 3-pin connector on one end, and a bnc (video) and female power connector on the other.

Camera had been on for several hours and reached operating temperature. I noticed that when the sun went down, it wasn't picking up much of an image (mostly black). It was a low lux camera, so I was confused. I unplugged it, quickly plugged it back in, and now I got a good low light image. Is this normal to require a "reboot" to capture extreme light changes? (Clearly, the temperature was not the cause since it was only unplugged for 2 seconds.) Not sure whether the other camera was doing the same thing. May have been running at 11V, but that's within the 12V +- 10% specifications. Anyone seen anything similar?

The camera in question doesn't have any IR LEDs. It's one of those lipstick case tiny bullet cams of about 19mm diameter. The night view I mention is because it's an EXVIEW CCD with a spec of .003 lux. 11V at the camera.

End goal: to generate a Split Screen Image, both horizontal and vertical modes needed, clipped not scaled, from two non-syncgen'd B/W cameras. Requirements: * Low Power usage * at least 50C operating temperature * good video fidelity * Affordable price (the ovation product, micro foresight, is > $1000!, way out of my range) (Many quads have XxY pixels specified, but this doesn't indicate the input (analog) video bandwidth. If it's only 3.5Mhz, you'll have 300 tvl despite the number of pixels.) Don't need audio, or any other bells & whistles. Would like to have two units in one box, but I can't seem to even find one unit like that.

Temps inside the vehicle can reach 150F in the summer (judging by the steering wheel at least) but you can't put window covers on because then the cameras can't see or will have reduced coverage. How do I solve this problem? No reliable shade available. Are there spray on transparent coating that will block the heat from getting it? I could tint, but not the windshield or front windows, and then I would be screwed at night. I need some sort of removable static cling tint that the cameras can still see through during the day, but that I can remove at night, I guess.