2 1080P IR Bullets at Costco for 349

[Q2U 0]

Is BI able to work with the camera (if it supports it) to offload the motion detection to save on CPU, or does it require that it detects motion itself?

 

Blue Iris can only process motion detection itself.

[TidalWaveOne 0]

Another point to consider is that CPUs use a lot more power (and generate more heat) when processing, so your power bill might be a bit higher if your CPU is constantly chugging along doing MD... but it probably only adds up to no more than a few bucks a month... and of course the newer processors are faster and more power efficient which will bring the cost down.

[gencom 0]

Thanks all! I'm playing with Blue Iris now and will try out the Lorex cameras as soon as I get the PoE injector.

 

Which bring up a PoE question.

 

What's a good PoE switch? I can't decide. I see the cheap 8-port TRENDnet one but am concerned about the power as it says only 30 watts for all four PoE ports. I'm guessing that's not enough for 4 of these hi-def Lorex cameras. Perhaps the TP-LINK is better? It has more power but it has a lower rating on Amazon. Or should I get a gigabit PoE switch, because I will want to link all these cameras to an 'uplink switch' with one cable (with a gigabit connection) and don't want to worry about bandwidth problems if I add more cameras... how many 1080P cameras can 100 Mbit support anyway?

 

unless you need more than 4 POE ports. The Trendnet one from newegg $55 is works. I got my 4x swan and that POE switch and tested all 4 cameras at once and it has enough juice to power all 4 swanns.

 

I have it on for about 2 days and no problem. I have to take the switch/cameras apart and box it up till I"m ready for the outdoor installation. but the switch works fine with the cameras.

[TidalWaveOne 0]

unless you need more than 4 POE ports. The Trendnet one from newegg $55 is works. I got my 4x swan and that POE switch and tested all 4 cameras at once and it has enough juice to power all 4 swanns.

 

I have it on for about 2 days and no problem. I have to take the switch/cameras apart and box it up till I"m ready for the outdoor installation. but the switch works fine with the cameras.

 

I went with the Zyxel due to having more power.

 

Did you check the TRENDnet switch using all 4 cameras at night/in the dark when the IR LEDs are on?

 

Does anyone know what the power rating is on the cameras and the Lorex 1080P cams?

[Q2U 0]

...Does anyone know what the power rating is on the cameras and the Lorex 1080P cams?

 

6 watts max.

[TidalWaveOne 0]

...Does anyone know what the power rating is on the cameras and the Lorex 1080P cams?

 

6 watts max.

 

That's nice... I thought it would have been higher given the capabilities and all those LEDs. I guess the TRENDnet should work fine then.

[TidalWaveOne 0]

I just ordered 4 Lorex 1080P IP PoE cameras from Costco because I read that they would work with Blue Iris... so I hope that is the case or they will have to go back.

 

Now.... cabling question...

 

The cameras come with 100 foot cables, but if I use the cables and the camera breaks, then technically I'd have to return the cables to Costco too in order to get a refund, right? But I certainly wouldn't want to have to remove the cables after they're installed. Should I buy and use other cables? And if so, then what is a good cable for attic insulation in Texas where it can get over 130 degrees? Or should anything that's well-rated on Amazon work?

 

Also... 100 feet cables are probably more than twice the length I really need. Should I buy shorter cables for this reason? I would think sending power and data over a shorter cable would be better than a longer cable anyway.

 

Questions, questions...

 

And another question! What is the Costco return policy on these? I know Costco limits "cameras" to 90 days, but is this a "camera" in the sense that they're talking about (like your typical Canon, Nikon camera)?

[JoeyJoey 0]

You can make your own cables to the length you need, means you need smaller holes in the walls, easier to feed through places.

Or buy different lengths here: http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10208#1020814

[zikronix 0]

I just ordered 4 Lorex 1080P IP PoE cameras from Costco because I read that they would work with Blue Iris... so I hope that is the case or they will have to go back.

 

Now.... cabling question...

 

The cameras come with 100 foot cables, but if I use the cables and the camera breaks, then technically I'd have to return the cables to Costco too in order to get a refund, right? But I certainly wouldn't want to have to remove the cables after they're installed. Should I buy and use other cables? And if so, then what is a good cable for attic insulation in Texas where it can get over 130 degrees? Or should anything that's well-rated on Amazon work?

 

Also... 100 feet cables are probably more than twice the length I really need. Should I buy shorter cables for this reason? I would think sending power and data over a shorter cable would be better than a longer cable anyway.

 

Questions, questions...

 

And another question! What is the Costco return policy on these? I know Costco limits "cameras" to 90 days, but is this a "camera" in the sense that they're talking about (like your typical Canon, Nikon camera)?

 

Its costco you could return the camera missing half of it and they would take it back. Missing cables are not an issue.Costcos Camera return policy does not apply to these.

 

Shorter cable....I wouldnt do it. If you eaver decide to move the camera you might want that extra length. When cabling network you always leave a service loop....ALWAYS! You can runn your own cables. Standard UTP (what they supply) is fine. Im in arizona, houses here are cabled with UTP. Sure they could have used, Plenium, or Plenium STP or even outdoor rated cable. If you want to go down that road the cheapest place to get half decent quality cable is monoprice. And if your thinking of Cat 6...not neded dont waste your money.

 

Standard Solid UTP

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10233#1023303

 

Standard Solid STP (Shielded) (Note: Requires Special RJ45 Connectors)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10233#1023302

 

Outdoor rated UTP (UV Resitant jacket and ground) (Note: Required a ground lug and usually a special RJ45)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10233#1023305

 

Plenium rated (Melt/Fire resistant jacket)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10233#1023301

 

 

This doesnt even begin to touch on dieletric insulated direct burial or overhead cable. Which is totally awesome...and totally over kill and totally over priced!

[TidalWaveOne 0]

Its costco you could return the camera missing half of it and they would take it back. Missing cables are not an issue.Costcos Camera return policy does not apply to these.

 

...

 

Thanks! That's what I wanted to know... but I already ordered some 50 foot cables from Amazon. When you consider shipping, it was comparable to monoprice, or actually much cheaper if you compare with monoprice 2nd day shipping vs Amazon prime. Even those 50 footers should be plenty more than I need. The 100 foot cables that come with the camera might be useful later or for something else so I'll certainly keep them.

 

I'm glad to hear I don't need any special cabling.

[TidalWaveOne 0]

I received my Zyxel PoE switch much faster than expected since they shipped it locally (seems like a nice switch, BTW - just wish it had 2 more PoE ports). My first test with the Lorex 1080P bullet and Blue Iris was successful but I am concerned about CPU usage... just displaying the video of one of these HD cams seems pretty CPU intensive even when motion sensing and recording is off. I wonder how I'm going to manage at least 4 of them?

 

What is using up all the CPU power? Is it the video decoding? If so, then can't that be unloaded onto a video card (hope so)? If so, which video card should I upgrade to? Can anyone point me to a good resource for CPU load issues?

 

Thanks again.

[Kawboy12R 0]

cam-it.org is a good resource for Blue Iris issues.

[night_solstice 0]

Check out this thread: http://www.cam-it.org/index.php?topic=4228.0;topicseen

 

The new direct to disk recording feature are helping people get some significant CPU % drops. The trade off of losing the overlays done by BI won't impact you as you can have the Lorex use it's own.

[zikronix 0]

I wanted to maybe try BI. but the problem is I have 8 cameras and i want more. I would like to think that a single xeon ivy bridge processor would cut it. but the more I look at it that doesnt seem to be the case.

I build and spec servers all the time...and it just seems kinda silly that I would need a dual or quad proc box to allow this product to be able to, record 8+ 2mp cameras @1080P min 20fps

 

What makes Bi so inefficient compared to other pc baced NVR. Im not bashing the product. I just trying to understand.

[MaxIcon 0]

Every software NVR is different, but one general difference is whether it's just a server or a client/server combo. Decoding for display takes a good bit of CPU, and BI's decoding/re-encoding is also CPU hungry. Some packages are just recorders/servers, and the client is a separate software package.

 

The BI direct to disk update doesn't re-encode, but it must still decode to perform motion detection (which also uses CPU power).

 

For example, my Aver NV6480 card in my backup box records 16 channels - 8 channels of motion detect, and the same 8 channels recording 24x7. These are running 10 fps, 10MP or so, for a total of 20MP on all channels.

 

The Aver (which doesn't do hardware encoding) is on an i3-540 box running Win7 Embedded, 4G RAM, on-chip video, and the CPU load totally depends on how many cameras are displayed:

 

1 camera window - 38%

9 camera matrix - 55%

16 camera matrix - 91%

 

The same box running BI before the direct to disk upgrade could only run 6 of these cameras at 6MP total at about 60% with no recording, 85% with 3 cams recording, and would still peg out the CPU at certain times. It couldn't handle one more 1MP camera.

 

The Aver card is expensive if bought new, but it's cheaper than buying multiple i5 or i7 boxes. The software is a trade-off as well; it's robust and supports many corporate/commercial features that BI doesn't, but doesn't have the multitude of user-friendly features and great user interface that BI has.

 

So, you really have to test each one using your setup to figure out how it will perform, and whether it'll do the job you need done.

[zikronix 0]

Every software NVR is different, but one general difference is whether it's just a server or a client/server combo. Decoding for display takes a good bit of CPU, and BI's decoding/re-encoding is also CPU hungry. Some packages are just recorders/servers, and the client is a separate software package.

 

The BI direct to disk update doesn't re-encode, but it must still decode to perform motion detection (which also uses CPU power).

 

For example, my Aver NV6480 card in my backup box records 16 channels - 8 channels of motion detect, and the same 8 channels recording 24x7. These are running 10 fps, 10MP or so, for a total of 20MP on all channels.

 

The Aver (which doesn't do hardware encoding) is on an i3-540 box running Win7 Embedded, 4G RAM, on-chip video, and the CPU load totally depends on how many cameras are displayed:

 

1 camera window - 38%

9 camera matrix - 55%

16 camera matrix - 91%

 

The same box running BI before the direct to disk upgrade could only run 6 of these cameras at 6MP total at about 60% with no recording, 85% with 3 cams recording, and would still peg out the CPU at certain times. It couldn't handle one more 1MP camera.

 

The Aver card is expensive if bought new, but it's cheaper than buying multiple i5 or i7 boxes. The software is a trade-off as well; it's robust and supports many corporate/commercial features that BI doesn't, but doesn't have the multitude of user-friendly features and great user interface that BI has.

 

So, you really have to test each one using your setup to figure out how it will perform, and whether it'll do the job you need done.

 

i sent you a pm

[bparanoid 0]

So are the Costco Lorex/Swann camera's iterations of the

Hikvision DS-2CD2012 or the DS-2cd2032?

 

 

I have read so much about the different versions that my heads now spinning.

[MaxIcon 0]

The latest Hik firmware, 5.0.0, still includes the 3MP setting, but it doesn't work any more. I never trust an X.0.0 software to be bugfree, though. Whether this will be enabled/fixed in an update, or they'll get rid of this setting, is anyone's guess.

 

This means the Swann isn't really either camera. If it were an actual Hik model, it would be a DS-2CD2022, but Hik doesn't offer a 1080p version last time I checked. I assume the Lorex is the same, but haven't tested it.

[TidalWaveOne 0]

Why is my Lorex 1080P (from Costco) so noisy at night? Is this normal?

 

The night samples here don't seem to be this noisy:

http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=1444

 

Sample:

http://www.wiersch.com/jpg/driveway.20130520_005602_1.jpg

 

"Digital Noise Reduction" is set to "Normal Mode" and "Noise Reduction Level" is set to 50.

[zikronix 0]

Why is my Lorex 1080P (from Costco) so noisy at night? Is this normal?

 

The night samples here don't seem to be this noisy:

http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=1444

 

Sample:

http://www.wiersch.com/jpg/driveway.20130520_005602_1.jpg

 

"Digital Noise Reduction" is set to "Normal Mode" and "Noise Reduction Level" is set to 50.

 

 

You will need to adjust it for your lighting condiditons. You have sharpness, DNR, and NRL to all monkey with. Swinging one way or the other can drastically improve or degrade video

[JoeyJoey 0]

Why is my Lorex 1080P (from Costco) so noisy at night? Is this normal?

 

The night samples here don't seem to be this noisy:

http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=1444

 

Sample:

http://www.wiersch.com/jpg/driveway.20130520_005602_1.jpg

 

"Digital Noise Reduction" is set to "Normal Mode" and "Noise Reduction Level" is set to 50.

 

 

You will need to adjust it for your lighting condiditons. You have sharpness, DNR, and NRL to all monkey with. Swinging one way or the other can drastically improve or degrade video

 

Do you have a good config all these options to make the video less noisy at night?

 

I would like the motion detection not to be triggered as often. I found by having WDR enabled even a little, the noise is greatly increased.

would DNR help, if so, what numbers are good starting points?

[MaxIcon 0]

You will need to adjust it for your lighting conditions. You have sharpness, DNR, and NRL to all monkey with. Swinging one way or the other can drastically improve or degrade video

 

This. You really have to play with it to figure out what works best for you. I set each slider to the ends and the middle to get a feel for the overall effect, then start fine-tuning.

 

Too much sharpness can be a problem when the video's noisy, as it really highlights the noise with sharpening artifacts (little rectangular bars and shapes), and makes it look a lot like motion at night.

 

I never saw much effect from noise reduction, but didn't mess with it much.

 

The other major trade-off is maximum exposure time vs noise. Longer exposures give much better night shots with lower noise, but cause motion blur and reduced frame rates. I never go below 1/30 second, as a low noise image that's completely blurred is not much good, but the Swann does tend to get pretty noisy at this setting if there's not much lighting.

[jdmz 0]

Can I use 48v PoE injector for this? I'm thinking of using this: http://www.amazon.com/WS-POE-8-48v60w-passive-Ethernet-Injector-cameras/dp/B0086SQDMM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1369625450&sr=1-1

Edited May 27, 2013 by Guest

[BrownNVR 0]

Hi,

 

I've skimmed thru all the pages but didn't quite see this question answered.

 

Will these be compatible with Q-See's QC808 NVR? I just need another 2 cameras and the price is good compared to getting another 2 from Q-See.

 

Thanks!

[buellwinkle 0]

Can I use 48v PoE injector for this? I'm thinking of using this: http://www.amazon.com/WS-POE-8-48v60w-passive-Ethernet-Injector-cameras/dp/B0086SQDMM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1369625450&sr=1-1

 

I was not able to open the page, but I'll assume from the URL it's that 8 port 60W injector that a few people have mentioned. I'm guess you should be able to put 6 cameras on it as you'll reach the 60W limit before using all 8 ports with this camera. You do realize you'll need patch cables and a switch or were you planning to plug cameras directly into your router? It's better to just get a PoE switch, less entanglement of wires and one less outlet needed. I paid $107 for 16 port PoE switch with full power on each PoE port.