KPC 0 Posted November 3, 2011 As I have spare time in the evenings, I have been doing a ton of reading and research on this forum. I've been tinkering with a home system comprised of good deals as I come across them on eBay for good name brand cameras. I'm looking to add some more cameras and as I read on here there is so much love / hate for cnb I've noticed so many people making suggestions as to other brands such as this comment from another thread "I personally don't care for 90% of CNB's products... I've found others in that outperform for the same price range or cheaper but hey... whatever floats your boat." So what are these other brands?? Why hold out on posting the 'secret' that you have found better cameras?? To contribute to this thread about other cameras besides CNB, I've read about are the new Effio cameras. From what I read, Effio is mainly the chip inside the camera. I believe the effio chip is releatively new on the market. One particular camera that uses the effio chip are the Empire brand cameras. They have both bullet and dome (actually not dome but turret). These Empire cameras seem to be TDN True Day & Night, 700tvl, with built in IR, (not sure if the ir can be turned off, but I can always cover up the ir with tape), I prefer using seperate IR illuminators places several feet away from the camera to keep the bugs away from the camera when the IR is on at night. I've been thinking of giving one of these Empire cameras a try with the new Effio chip. on a side note about the ir illuminators mentioned above, I have not used any high end ir illuminators. So far I've bought up a few dead ir bullet cameras on eBay just for their working ir illuminators. That is cheaper than spending $100+ for a dedicated ir illuminator. KT&C also seem to be talked about that they are good quality cameras without paying for much higher name brands that 'break the bank' - sort of on the line of CNB but KT&C doesn't seem to be as talked about as much as CNB on here, but the people that do talk about KT&C don't seem to bash it as much as CNB It seems like the next price range up from the CNB, Empire, & KT&C, would get into the Samsung line. I am looking to pick up a few samsung cameras to try out but they are getting up there in price and that is hard to do on a side hobby budget. I'm looking for good cameras, not $30 cameras bought thru ebay shipped from hong kong. but I can't afford $500 for a single cam. What other brands are there that work well in low light (seems like just about all cams work good in daylight, what sets the good cameras from the bad are low light sensativity) as all the cams that I'm going to be using will be outside my house so I prefer an weather tight housing. I'm not too particular if it is dome, turret, or bullet. So beyond the camera brands above, what are some 'secret' brands that you guys are using. Remember, per forum rules, don't post links to stores as the mods seem to keep a tight grip on banning links to stores. If you want to contribute to this thread, please post the manufacturer and model of the particular camera that you want to discuess / recommend. A link to the manufacturers website seems to be allowed, but I'm still relatively new to this forum, so I'm just trying to follow forum rules. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 190 Posted November 3, 2011 effio are not what they are made out to be dont fall for the crap built in new york even the company you talk about has dropped to price by $40 in a month (must be for a reason) you have qvis Effio you have the winner5 and you have CNB which still just take the market Share this post Link to post Share on other sites