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Mobotix--- any others?

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Sure Axis, Iqinvision and Sanyo to name a few all have models that can. If that all you are looking for you can work your way through the various IP camera manufacturer websites. If you are looking for a recommendation then you need to give a better idea of what you are looking for.

 

that can record internally or to NAS?

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Well, I am really impressed with the Mobotix cameras. I am not a fan of the software. The concept of internal storage and recording locally to NAS fit’s an application I have.

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I beleive the bosch IP cams will record to an iscsi target, no internal storage though.. or at least not much

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Well, I am really impressed with the Mobotix cameras. I am not a fan of the software. The concept of internal storage and recording locally to NAS fit’s an application I have.

 

which software did you try? MxCC or MxEasy also you don't need to use the software you can do everything with the cameras web interface even with multiple cameras.

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Have been using the MxCC software. Had a lot of trouble with it crashing. Finished the basic course last month and I am very impressed with the equipment.

I would like some options of internal storage at a better price point.

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Although I have not tried it, the Vivotek cameras claim to write to local storage (SD) or to a mount point (NAS). Certainly inexpensive enough to try out and see. When I get less lazy, i was going to call my supplier and order one to try out.

 

Just understand that Mobotix is a complete NVR solution in each camera. Just because other cameras will write to a NAS, doesn't mean that it will have any playback capabilities. So you my just end up with a bunch of files and then rely on OS time stamp and local media player features to view the recordings, which isn't terrible. IQInvision claims to have NVR features on their higher end cameras but have not seen it and their prices are higher than Mobotix.

 

I love the idea of the camera writing directly to a NAS, but Mobotix is expensive. My home requirements are for 6 cameras, so you can see that 6 X $1,500 can be out of reach for most homeowners or small businesses. What I did was setup an Atom processor desktop (dual core, 35W consumption, the size of a Mac Mini at 7" square) and run BlueIris. This gives me a central place to view all cameras, a place to record to and a remote view capabilities through it's web server. So not as cheap as getting a NAS for $169, but for $350 I have a pretty decent solution with 6 cameras, 4 of which are megapixel cameras.

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Although I have not tried it, the Vivotek cameras claim to write to local storage (SD) or to a mount point (NAS). Certainly inexpensive enough to try out and see. When I get less lazy, i was going to call my supplier and order one to try out.

 

Just understand that Mobotix is a complete NVR solution in each camera. Just because other cameras will write to a NAS, doesn't mean that it will have any playback capabilities. So you my just end up with a bunch of files and then rely on OS time stamp and local media player features to view the recordings, which isn't terrible. IQInvision claims to have NVR features on their higher end cameras but have not seen it and their prices are higher than Mobotix.

 

I love the idea of the camera writing directly to a NAS, but Mobotix is expensive. My home requirements are for 6 cameras, so you can see that 6 X $1,500 can be out of reach for most homeowners or small businesses. What I did was setup an Atom processor desktop (dual core, 35W consumption, the size of a Mac Mini at 7" square) and run BlueIris. This gives me a central place to view all cameras, a place to record to and a remote view capabilities through it's web server. So not as cheap as getting a NAS for $169, but for $350 I have a pretty decent solution with 6 cameras, 4 of which are megapixel cameras.

 

Let's contrast

 

D24M-IT-NIGHT - Outdoor dome camera, L22 lens with fixed focal range, IP65 = 548 Euro

+ outdoor wall mount = 98 Euro

 

TOTAL for Mobotix = 646 Euro, approx 839,8 USD

 

IQA10NX-B5 - Outdoor doom camera, varifocal lens 3-12 mm, IP66 = 999 USD

+ outdoor wall mount in package

+ IQRECORDRSW = 99 USD

 

TOTAL for Alliance = 1098 USD

 

And in case of indoor application we can use IQ751V3NPNE, it has 1.3 megapixel and varifocal lens 4.5-10 mm = 898 USD

+ wall mount = 5-7 USD

+ IQRECORDRSW = 99 USD

 

TOTAL for IQ751 = 1004 USD

 

Let's compare prices with discount but not MSRP prices

 

And let's remember which of discount for IT range has Mobotix, as I remember it's 20%

 

IQinVision disctributors know IQinVision discount rate

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I love the idea of the camera writing directly to a NAS, but Mobotix is expensive. My home requirements are for 6 cameras, so you can see that 6 X $1,500 can be out of reach for most homeowners or small businesses. What I did was setup an Atom processor desktop (dual core, 35W consumption, the size of a Mac Mini at 7" square) and run BlueIris. This gives me a central place to view all cameras, a place to record to and a remote view capabilities through it's web server. So not as cheap as getting a NAS for $169, but for $350 I have a pretty decent solution with 6 cameras, 4 of which are megapixel cameras.

 

Do you mind sharing which cameras you use? I'm looking at a very similar setup and am torn between going the Mobotix route our a centralized approach.

 

As a side note, the other big benefit of storing locally on the camera is very little network bandwidth usage. Installations with 6 cameras (MP+) all streaming to a NAS or central NVR server, you really need to consider network infrastructure as some of these cameras will saturate a 100Mbit network very quickly (just because you may be only recording on event or motion, the camera still needs to stream 24/7 the the NVR), and your typical consumer grade switches and routers will not last long in such an environment.

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Have been using the MxCC software. Had a lot of trouble with it crashing. Finished the basic course last month and I am very impressed with the equipment.

I would like some options of internal storage at a better price point.

 

V2.4 has been working very well for me.

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I guess I should have been a little clearer. I like the idea of accessing the storage on the camera rather that a DVR. I have a bandwidth issue with one of my clients. The camera/NAS storage could hold the images on site and then downloaded when there is less network traffic.

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Do you mind sharing which cameras you use? I'm looking at a very similar setup and am torn between going the Mobotix route our a centralized approach.

 

I use mostly ACTi as the best bang for the buck for me. The ACM-1231 bullet cam, 1.3MP, IR illuminators, 3.3-12mm varifocal lens, day/night and outdoor, costs under $500 for outdoors, the ACM-4201 cube, 1.3MP, 4mm lens for indoors. The resolution is plenty for covering all sides of the house and certainly more than enough for indoors. Bandwidth is not an issue for the four (soon to be 5) 1.3MP cameras at 8 fps and my 2 vga cameras at 15fps. Even if it was, so what, get another lan adapter for your PC, put 3 on each subnet, but I wouldn't worry about it, my guess is the cameras put out 5 Mb/s, not an issue. They feed into a ZOTAC PC which is about the size of a Mac Mini (about 7" square, 1" tall) and has very low power consumption and an HDMI port so you can plug it into the big flat panel TV. The PC cost me about $350 with 2GB memory and a 320GB laptop drive. I then run BlueIris software, $50. What I like about BlueIris is that it has some good features for home use, like being able to turn on recording when you are about to go out and it gives you a few minutes to get out of the house. Also has a web server so you can view your cameras from your iPhone or Android phone, laptop, anywhere you have internet access.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like Mobotix, but mostly for commercial applications, like a few I'm looking at for a condo complex to watch over their common area, but their pool is like 50 x 25, mine is 7 x 7', don't need 3MP to cover my Jacuzzi, haha. The Mobotix image quality is very good, better than ACTi, but ACTi still holds it's own and I would say it's average from what I've seen of commecial quality cameras.

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