need camera and HKVSTAR help what to chose??

[DavidH 0]

I have just sent back 4 anran cameras http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171038455656?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 and I am waiting for a refund as after a firmware update they failed and said I was using xiongmai pirated software. The suppliers could not get them working and I had lost trust in the product.

 

I came across this company http://www.hkvstar.com/category/ip-network-camera.html and they seem very professional and good looking cameras etc. Anyone bought one of their 3 or 5mp IP cameras?

 

Not sure on prices as yet probably more than the anrans but hopefully they work.

 

Any other suggestions for cheap cameras? I really can't afford most listed in the sticky such as acti, axis, arecont etc. etc.

 

Thanks

 

David

[buellwinkle 0]

Can't tell you what to buy and don't know the UK market, but from my experience, buying cameras from lesser known brands is a crapshoot. They tend to be less mature, may be less responsive in support, are typically smaller companies with smaller staffs and worst, at least for me is lack of 3rd party support for NVR software, for smartphone apps, etc.

 

The least expensive cameras I've had good luck with are Hikvision and Dahua. Chinese or OEM versions of this tend to be more affordable. Like I said, don't know the UK market so don't now where you can buy these, but Google is your friend. Also, I love eBay, but sometimes, after you received the goods, rated the company, I find most of them are hard to reach for support and warranty for example a year later, especially in a situation where the manufacturer may not provide direct support as is the case with many companies in China. So chose someone you trust to buy from.

[DavidH 0]

Thanks buellwinkle for the reply. I would love to buy proper branded ones but they are a crazy price. I am either not looking properly in the UK or very few CCTV companies here realise there is something better than analogue.

 

I was considering even trying to locate good companies in the USA or elsewhere to try yet another import. The anran ones appeared reasonable for the money as I paid as much for them as the Ganz analogue ones they replaced and the picture was better not miles better but better. However, I do see some pics on this forum from even 1.3mp ones that appear better than those 2mp ones.

 

I like the sounds of the hikvision ones may need to start emailing companies world wide for prices. So far this new company seem very efficient quick with the live chat quick with price lists etc. and they say they are one of the largest suppliers of home security in China.

 

Can anyone verify that? Just tried to attach their prices etc but pdf is not allowed on this forum.

[DavidH 0]

ah found a flaw with the hikvision after reading your reviews buellwinkle. They dont appear to have a BNC output. I want to run an analogue signal into my TV distribution system as I cannot see how to do that with a digital signal. The digital info goes to my PC where I record it onto a 2TB hard drive. I have set up a good fast LAN for this and the last cameras only used about 10% capacity for 4 of them on all the time and recording. I wanted to only record when motion was detected but again this did not work on the anrans.

 

Or another option that I had on the analogue Ganz was to record only a few frames per sec then when motion was detected to record at highest fps and quality. Why the IP cameras I bought could not do this I don't know but that was when I got the firmware update and they all failed etc.

 

David

[buellwinkle 0]

There are some cameras that have analog and network output. For example, I have the Dahua ipc-hfw3200C and it has analog output. The price for these are more because they are feature rich, like varifocal, audio, alarm IO. I can't say which is the least expensive Dahua with this feature, but a local Dahua reseller can help. In the U.S, these can run in the $300-350 range last time I checked. If you are buying quantity, I can put you in touch with a wholesaler in China that can help and if you buy say 10, you can get it for a lot less. PM me as I don't like putting contact info on a public forum out of respect for their privacy.

 

The review has more details but here's the pigtail connectors