elproducto 0 Posted August 12, 2008 I am a newbie to security systems. I recently installed a 4 camera setup. I used an Integral DS XPRESS DVR. It was a previous system. The last DVR setup I used was a NV3000 for a client that just needed a DVR, I was very happy with the results. The new client is not to happy with the picture quality of the Integral setup. They thought at first it was black and white, the next complaint was that it was to dark and unclear what they are looking at usually more at night time. I was wondering if it was the camera or maybe the cheapo TV they have. I have Bosch Flexidome XF cameras with 520 TV Lines, 0.16 (F1.0, 30 IRE) LUX. I am leaning toward the DVR being the culprit of the diminished quality because the DVR card that is in the system support 20 FPS, so each camera is getting 5 FPS. What would you recommend I change to get better quality. It is also a dimly lit place. have include an attachment of the picture quality I am getting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnieweg 0 Posted August 12, 2008 It is very hard from a picture to troubleshoot the exact problem for the poor video, but you can quickly figure out if it is a camera issue, the cabling or a DVR issue. Take a good quality analog monitor out to the job site and a short coax cable that you know is good. Go to each camera location and connect directly to the camera and see what the picture looks like. If it is good or at least acceptable then it is not the camera. If it is the camera, try setting the camera to the default settings, check to ensure the auto-iris is working, properly set the back focus (so the images are still in focus when the auto-iris opens up), and all that .. this is all camera dependent of course. Next, reconnect the camera to the installed coax and go to the head-end. Disconnect the coax from the DVR and connect it to your monitor. IF the image is ok, then it is not the coax. It if IS the coax, try reinstalling new BNC's on both side or walk down the cable. If the picture is still bad, then that does leave the DVR but it could be multiple things. I believe the Integral Express Series DOES NOT have live overlay so the pictures probably look exactly the same live as the stored ones and all images are processed before you see them. I see that you are mentioning frame rate, but low frame rate does not cause poor images. It's both the image size and the amount of compression applied. If anything I would lower the frame rate to 1 fps for testing and then I would select the largest image size you can. Then be sure to reduce compression to the lowest allowed. Sorry, it's been a long time since I've configured an Integral box so I can't remember the actual settings. Now take a look at your images and see if they are better. If it still seems a bit funky, open the setting for the individual camera and set the color/contrast and all that to default. See if that makes a difference. Then tweak the settings to see if you can get a better picture .. i.e. color/contrast/brightness, etc... If none of this works, well then .. I wouldn't know what to say. As for the dark images at night ... there is one recommendation that always works and is fairly inexpensive and that is lighting. Dave Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnieweg 0 Posted August 12, 2008 I looking at your images one more time I do see a lot of artifacts (especially the lower right image) which would be indicative of the image being heavily compressed. Heavy compression makes a smaller file size, but the trade off is poor quality. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elproducto 0 Posted August 13, 2008 Thanks for the suggestion I am going to reset all the camera to default and check all setting. I noticed the pics I posted earlier are from when I used remote desktop to the DVR, this might attribute for the artifacts. I am including some new pics of when I am logged into the DVR, this will also show the night time quality. The quad picture is of what I is see after the DVR process' the video. The two pictures titled mt2 and mt3 is the actual live feed without the DVR process. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnieweg 0 Posted August 14, 2008 Well .. I have to admit I just don't know. It could be so many things. Did you happen to take a regular monitor out to the site and see what kind of picture the camera itself produces. You really have to isolate the issue to the camera, the cabling or the DVR/display. From what I see I am almost wondering if you are having more of a contrast issue than a dark image issue. The contrast looks very poor. This also could be caused by many things .. poor cameras, poor connections on the cabling, cabling distance. If you get a chance isolate it down to the camera, cabling or DVR/monitor let me know. Dave Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
