bob332

Looking to change out a DVR/Standard Definition setup (4 cameras, 1 DVR) with a setup consisting of 4 2-4MP POE cameras along w/ a 4-8 capable NVR. Main display will be a 50" 1080p. I have run cable before and plan to for this - will be using Cat5E Belkin Plenum cable. Plan to basically make another LAN as I really do not want the cameras on my main network for security reasons. Location will allow all cameras to get their POE connection from the NVR. Again, planning on NVR on its own LAN, but personally have a background in different aspects of computer networking, custom computer assembly, programming in different languages, familiar with Win2000, WinXP, Win7 and some embedded design and programming, but unfortunately not to well versed with *nix builds. LAN/NVR will be on battery backup. Being in Phx, AZ, heat will be an issue. There will be 1 camera that will get direct, unfiltered sunlight for a few hours a day. Today I went outside with an IR Temp gun and the wall directly adjacent to where the camera will be showed up @ 130F. I know many of the cameras are rated for 140F, this particular camera may get that warm or more than likely warmer. Are there any cameras that have a higher rating or should I just look for a different place to mount this particular camera? Anybody know where in the Phx, AZ area where I can buy the equipment local so I know what I am getting and not be surprised by ordering online that has a good rep? From reading it appears that many people on this forum like HikVision equipment and I have priced their items. Seems reasonable for the cameras to be ~$80-$100 for what I want but do not know exactly what NVR I want. The more reasonably priced the better, but I will pay what needs to be paid. Thank you in advance for your time, Bob Edit: I have extra computers - dual and quad core (do not really think that is an issue since I believe the camera does the encoding). Would there be any benefit to using Blue Iris on Win7 vs a dedicated NVR for what I am trying to accomplish? Also, while my wife is tech savvy, she is not tech patient, so if a certain brand of anything takes less time learning, that would be good, but I would not like to exchange ease of use to quality/reliablity. I have no problem getting deep into the camera, NVR, OS/Software (if on a dedicated machine) so she will have a fully working setup when she gets to it, it is just the end user interface that needs to be as simple as possible. Say for instance if something happened and she needed to give the police video on a USB drive, I would like for ease of use to be that if she needed to, she could find the necessary video on the different cameras and be able to output that video to the USB drive for the Police.

I was researching upgrading my SD Camera / SD DVR setup to go with a 1080p IP Camera / NVR setup (8 camera max, 4 camera necessary) and I came across a thread about a person who was going to go with a COSTCO / Sams Club setup and a helpful poster posted that he recently was able to fo basisically accomplish what I wanted with more industrial type equipment for his buddies house for ~$650-$700 - this is the post I am looking for. FWIW the camera system will be on its own GbE LAN, so I am not concerned with saturating the main LAN, so possibly even more resolution could be utilized ( depending on cost ). Please assist me in finding this post as it would be very helpful to talk to the the poster. I can make and run my own CAT5E cables using belkin plenum solid core cable. Display will be one of the HDMI inputs on a 50" 1080p. Thanks in advance, Bob

any of you people that run a day/night camera for a security system that has ir leds around it for night illumination, have you notice and increase in the amount of insects? i need to build some illuminators but am hoping it wont be a insect magnet. will probably going w/ ~940nm or so but will be testing w/ both 850 & 940nm - don't want the red glow but want to make sure my cameras will pick up ok w/ the 940. fwiw, they are low light (.1lux) b/w camers and the manf says there is no filter in them so they should be fine w/ 940nm, but i need to verify before i build them. i think a few insects are drawn to infrared along w/ some snakes - can they differentiate between a real animals infrared vs a led array of say 40 or so?

thanks, the max distance i need is ~30' from the front of my condo - that is the black hole area as i call it. the rest of the complex has ample lighting, but for some reason the lighting situation by my condo is bad - they either have a floodlight blinding me or nothing at all . sadly the economy here is starting to hit our complex as quite a few of the condos around me are vacant - they are still owned but nobody is renting them so i might contact the owners and see about them putting in some motion sensor floodlights to help w/ the cameras too as currently no porch/front door lights. crime has still not raised, but i would rather have and not need then to need and not have. as i drive around the surrounding businesses, i am seeing a lot of vacant office spaces - we live in a very nice part of town and have the benefit of 3 different police/fire depts being a "border area" but these vacancies are just now hitting around here commercially so i am expecting a higher crime rate soon. the sad part is is that i can't even contact the home owners association to put up better, larger box cameras i have to really help out the neighborhood. that is the frustrating part - i have some decent panasonic and diebold box cameras and a lot of different lenses that work very well w/ little light, but i have to hide the cameras from the hoa members.

thanks, will need to get in touch w/ them to see about pricing and if they will stand up to the additional heat, but the raymax 50 looks like something i could make work and the home owner assocation not see it

thanks, will be doing some reading

Superhad does not compare to Exview, totally different, exview sees much more in low light, but will pixelise in near pitch dark, however it will see something, and only requires a very little bit of light to see clear. KT&C bullet cameras for exview bullet cameras, BW bullets, and mini cube cameras. CNB for Day Night IR Bullets, Color and Day Night Domes. They wont send us samples either .. Sun is out almost every day here and havent had any problems yet. Sun can damage the iris/len though if looking at it direct for many years, only lost 1 camera lens from direct sunlight and it was 6 or so years later. how do they deal w/ a very dark image, w/ one very bright light? i can't control this 1 light - some type of floodlight, probably 100W or more that is directed right at me so i get a lot of bloom w/ the current setups. i know there is only so much a camera can do, but do the newer ones offer better back lit objects better either through different microprocessor control or ??? i understand what the specs say, but would you say in real world uses, given the same area, would your observation be that the exview cameras are 20% better? 10%? or more like 50% difference? just trying to figure out cost/reward benefits also, what temps do you guys get to? thanks again

anybody have any comments on this question? superhad vs exview in terms of low light? also, i know i am asking a lot of the camera due to temps, the fact that parts of the day it will be looking directly into the sun, and very low light - am what i am asking for too much in a sub $80 camera - i say $80 due to the amount of heat these cameras will be subject to and i know that is going to take a toll. i have tried to get samples, just 1, from manf, to test out, but since i am just a consumer, they won't send me anything. so doing testing on a lot of the cameras gets expensive since this is for home and it is not like i am making any $$ off the project. fwiw, after i find the correct camera, i can have the ennclosures made after i model them up - that part is no problem, just want to make 1 enclosure for the camera that does what i need it too because modeling up and having the enclosure made from Al is a time consuming process in and of itself. going Al because a lot of the thinner plastics just melt here in direct sunlight.... any other pointers from the pros?

i am finding a lot of them w/ super had also, how does that compare w/ exview? also, have you used the cameras? if so, how do they deal w/ heat? current cameras in the window sill(?) are in about 120-150F (direct sunlight) temps for a few hours a day for a couple months each year. thanks, bob

thanks for the info guys, will be looking for some decent lower res b/w cams. i have a few that are lower light but they are box and won't fit on the window sill(?) that these are mounted on, guess i need to look for a 1/3" board camera then? would it be the 380TVL units? is there a low, medium and high or just low and high resolution, because i have seen some that are rated ~380-420TVL and others that are rated ~550-580TVL. also i should note that these cameras are trying to see though a tint that is on the window, so i think i need to remove from the fov of the cameras and see what that does. last thing, one of my cameras looks out into the parking structure, and the dumb ass hoa has a floodlight aimed directly at me, so at night....the camera is looking directly at a 100-300W floodlight. any filter to help w/ this? i know there are always issues when you have to point a camera and the certain times of the day when the sun hits it, just wasn't sure if there is a workaround being that the lightsource is out of my control. thanks

read my last post here - http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=13173, informal testing but they are still working. i don't think they are designed for high heat so if one burns up, i won't be upset, but they are currently kicking

just wanted to update this post. the cameras are huntcctv cameras - their b/w board camers either the regular resolution or the high, not exactly sure and i believe they are of a bit older design than the current ones - need to verify this. but, the cameras are still working and i just took some temp measurements as it is 110F outside right now and they are in direct sunlight as it is 15:30 my time. my infrared thermometer reads up to 180F on the front of the camera in certain areas, but mostly ~120-150F - quality of image is still good and they have been on 24/7 for some time now. no warping of the plastic lense and still very sharp. there is a slight amount of air moving around the cameras as they are inside but not much - very little as they are behind the drapes and blackout curtains. we keep the condo @ 80F so it is not like it is super cool in here either. surprised they have lasted this long to be honest

i would d/l and read the manual. seems that some dvrs can only handle up to certain size drive. i have a edsr1600 and in the manual it says it can handle up to a 320GB drive, but doesn't mention speed or buffer, which really shouldn't matter if you are putting in at least what is in it already speed wise.

thanks for the info. checked/modified it and still the same. it is ok as now it basically covers the area that is my walkway and not the main sidewalk for the most part, so that is all i am really concerned about

i am in the process of setting up a everfocus edsr1600 dvr along w/ multipled ~550+TVL B&W cameras, some board, some regular cameras and w/ lenses from 2.8, 3.6 and some varifocus lenses. having one of the board cameras mounted w/a 3.6mm lens out the front of my condo and the dvr's sensitivity on that particular channel set to XHIGH, the motion record still won't kick in until people are about 15' or less from the camera, even thought when you are watching them on the monitor you can see them for 50' or so, if not more. is there any way to get any more sensitivity out of the setup? would a lense w/ a smaller fov work, like a 6mm or so? also, does anybody know the "qualifications" that everfocus uses w/ the motion sensitivity and am i losing some of it by using just b& w cameras as i am limiting the data w/out using a color camera? also, this may be a dumb question but i am assuming that a "XHIGH" sensitivity would mean that it is more sensitive, but am i reading it backwards and should use "LOW" so a small amount needs to change in the fov for the dvr to kick on? also, in the dvr setup manual, it claims that permanent record needs to be on for the motion recording to work, but i am experiencing the exact opposite, if i have permanent record on, then motion will not trigger the higher quality recording as it is set up in the dvr menu. the only way to trigger motion record is to have permanent record off. also, fwiw, i have manually edited the channel this camera is on so the motion area is only about 2/3 of the fov. any help would be greatly appreciated

man, i wish i had a use for one of these but simply don't. very cool though good luck

my favorite is no-ip.com. been using it for years and it has never failed me. but this is on my home setup so i do run a "ip update client" and am not doing it through the router. free and easy

about the best i think you could do was grab the best frame you have and then take it into photoshop and mess some filters in there, but don't expect much more than the blob of a face you already have. if you just watched this last weeks americas most wanted, awm sent either a frame or some video to a guy in @ nasa that all he does is clean up images supposedly, and his still looked pretty bad... imho, unless this guy killed a person or did something of equal severity, the police won't care and won't do much for you. unless somebody in your office knows this person by the way they walk or some other feature, i am afraid you are sol. sorry....

after really looking at the cable pulls, i am kind of leaning towards cat5e....where do i find baluns that are 8MHz so i am not losing from the cameras? due to the way my condo is laid out, some of the runs are going to be a pita so figure the smallest, most flexible wire would be best. on the happy side, made my first mount yesterday and placed it in my front window sill (sp?) and this is going to work out excellent just getting the dvr setup the way i like. fun, fun, fun

i am going to be running 4-6 cameras around my condo. these will be on the inside or under eves peering out, not inside looking at the inside. the cameras i have are all b/w and rated at 550-570TVL and the pixel ratings are either 768x492 or 711x494. they are either the regular larger size camera in a body, kind of a box type setup and then i have a few board cameras that i still need to find/make enclosures for that are much smaller, but still appear to look good on the monitor but aren't as good w/ the lower light. for storage i stumbled upon an excellent deal on a dvr (everfocus - from what i have read at least decent for consumer use, please educate if otherwise) at an estate/yard sale so i can get rid of the couple of cameras i currently have up in a "jerry" rigged fashion connected to a multiplexer and s-vhs vcr (finally able to get rid of that ). according to the dvr manual, it can record up to 720x480 and i would like to have as much resolution as possible for the best possible picture. for an output i have a small, i believe 9" pelco b/w monitor or it will be going into my 720p lcd tv via s-vhs (not sure where i am going to put the dvr). i have the lenses i need and also have the install points setup to cover the areas i am looking to cover along w/ the needed light for the cameras and their abilities. i do have some of the rg59 siamese cable (i believe that what it is called - the rg59 w/ 2 copper wires attached to it) but do to its physical size i have held off a bit and then read a bit about daluns. i would much rather run the cat5e cable due to is physical size and the fact that i have hundreds of feet of it that is plenum (if that is even necessary) and don't want it to go to waste, plus i am pretty limited on the coax.... all cameras are 24VAC and runs will be at the extreme 100'. i have seen many different prices of the daluns and this is my problem. what do i look for in a dalun as i am assuming that will be the weakest link in losing video quality (again, please educate if this is not accurate). i see what appears to be the same dalun on ebay for ~$10 that i see in a "cctv store" for ~$30 - they appear the same externally and even some of the numbers on them. my question to you is are they the same? what do i need to look for in a dalun? i really can't find info regarding the resolution they pass and many just say compatible w/ coax cctv setups. also, is there any issue if i were to run video and power on the same cat5e cable to each camera? or should i just run video through the cat5e and then have power somewhere as close to the camera as possible - or does it matter as i have read that i really don't need to worry about voltage drop w/ 24VAC cameras and the short distance i will be running - but again, please educate. the other option is i guess i could just use regular rg6 and crimp on the bnc connectors and then run power that is close to the cameras too, if that would offer a better solution than the cat5e/balun setup. again, my main goal is the highest quality images as possible. there have been some interesting people around the neighborhood so i don't want to skimp in the area of the video quality in regards to the cabling. thanks and i look forward to reading your responses

one more question - the transformers i have are 24VAC 10VA, not A..... again, the cameras are 4W each, so how does this change stuff? what is VA= to? how do i figure out w/ VA and not A. if i did the math correctly, then each camera pulls .17A (4W/24VAC=.17), i don't think it is 24VAC/4W=6VA?, i don't know, maybe it is? i am doing this math from what i know which is dc, not ac, so not sure how that changes w/ things.....

excellent to hear that i can cut back on the amount of camera power supplies. and, fwiw, the entire system will be on a ups except maybe the monitor, but the dvr and all cameras will be on one

thanks for the info. thanks for the compliments, been a couple years of collecting parts to get what i have w/out paying lots of $$$, but i am glad i have stuck w/ i and can get rid of that old vcr since i am a bit scarce on the siamese cable, is it ok to run just regular rg6 or rg59 and then zip tie the power cables to it? i am assuming it is but want to make sure. also, would i notice a difference between rg6 and rg59? do i need to make sure it is pure copper because i have seen some that is "18AWG Solid .040â€

any place to pic up a couple enclosure for the small board cameras? plastic would be fine as it will be an indoor application. i can model up and have them cut out of billet Al, but if i could save the time and get a "generic" case/enclosure that would be excellent. i am pretty sure the board cameras are 42mm squared and have 2 boards, both the same size. thanks in advance,

amazing to see the 1.5TB drives coming online for less than $200 too. man, that is a lot of space