Which format do you record in?

[Silence 0]

Hello,

 

I'm currently testing out some Vivotek Camera's(I'll upload pictures and movies to the Megapixel camera thread later) and was wondering:

 

1) What format do you guys record in? Jpeg? H.264? Mpeg?

2) What do you choose constant bitrate or a quality measure?

3) How many FPS? 5-10 ? Currently going for 5 atm. myself. after looking at http://www.panasonic.com/business/security/demos/PSS-recording-rates.html

4) Anyone point me towards a link which can help me understand the shutter speed? Currently set at 1/30.

 

I'm just trying to make sure I have the best video quality available, but would love some pointers to what is "best". Professionals aren't a option, as the most recent quote was 20.000$ and the one before that was 28.000$ for what I wanted( Ip camera's, UPS, PoE switch, remote viewing, server)

 

From what I read on the forums, it was mostly companies scaring people about H.264 and it not being able to record the full frame(?) - But furthermore that the H.264 is good for streaming, but once you stop and need to take a picture the quality drops significantly and therefore Mpeg is "best".

 

I know that there isn't a universal answer to the question as it depends on the situation, however what would be the best all-arounder?

[Korgoth Of Barbaria 0]

Shutter speed --> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6833159/60_dlugiczas_01.swf

 

Ignore polish text

 

So as You can see, faster shutter - more sharp picture, BUT faster shutter means - less light for camera. That's why its important to set shutter on night cameras. 1/5shutter will give you clear night shot with lots of blur. So for me, I set on camera "minimum shutter speed at 1/60"

 

On ACTi cameras You can send CGI commands to the camera at events. So You can set shutter 1/5 for night (good dark visibility on whole area), then set motion detection event on area near camera. If someone moves close to that - camera will switch to 1/60 shutter, so you will have clear shot on him.

 

Here is video from ACM-1231 1/25 shutter - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6833159/ACTi/ACM-1231/ACTi%20ACM-1231%20Night%20Time.mp4.mp4

And here TCM-3511 1/120 shutter - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6833159/ACTi/TCM-3511%20Indoor%20Night%20Office.mp4

[3RDIGLBL 0]

I love that last Dropbox link. No way in hell have I been able to get a clean picture like that with a 3511 with a fast shutter like. There is so much noise in the picture it's ridiculous.

 

I have asked them how I can repeat a clean picture like that with a fast shutter and no one has gotten me an answer. I have installed many of them and no such luck. I get some kind of noise pulse in every one of there cameras I've installed and I probably have about 80 of them so far. The pulse is almost similar to a 60hz cycle you would see on a bad tv except with out the vertically moving horizontal lines. I've power them externally, with the included ps and with Poe and always a pulse. This pulse causes motion to be triggered and the cameras record all night. Only way to fix it is with a shutter is 1/5 which is useless for anything faster than snail pace.

 

If you have gotten your 3511 to function like in the link I would love to know how you have each setting set. Besides what criminal moves as slow as the model in that video anyway and is that a pot plant on the desk

[alpine0000 0]

...and is that a pot plant on the desk

 

LMAO. Funniest thing I've read on here in a while

 

 

1) H.264 on my IP camera and motion JPEG on my analog cams that are hooked up to my axis 241q encoder (since the encoder cant do h.264).

 

2) I always choose the highest quality

 

3) 15 frames per second on all my outdoor cameras where i am most likely to need the video for police, and 10 frames per second for my indoor cameras. I could probably get away with lower FPS, I'm sure, but I seem to have enough HDD space right now for the retention that I need, so why not...

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Oh one more thing because I love that video so much. If it's so dark in there as they would want you to think then how does she make it through the office so easily without bumping into things and oh wait she actually opens the note pad and reads through it . I wonder how much back lighting they actually have in that video

 

Sorry for the thread jack.

 

I do use H.264 for all ip installs and typically MPEG4 for analog. FPS is rarely over 10.