jagbuilt 0 Posted November 10, 2014 My Swann cheapy home system is installed, but the video is bad in my opinion, I have replaced the Spaghetti string cables that ship with the unit with rg59 solid copper core, 95% copper braid security rated cable, and 18/2 twisted pair power wire... All 4 runs are under 70 feet, look at the night vision on cam3, it is by far the worst of the 4, but all ir's are pretty bad... There is no WDR settings in the OSD on these cameras, very basic OSD actually... Any and all tips feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks much guys... YouTube link to the video I made of the sample recordings... http://youtu.be/lJUI8zBfDa0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Don Stephens 0 Posted November 10, 2014 A lot of your IR for CAM3 is getting lost on the side of the structure. You can see the huge bright spot on the right side of the screen in the video. That's taking away from the overall effectiveness/disbursement of those LEDs. Adding to that, I'm pretty familiar with this camera. There's really nothing too spectacular about it. Once of the big problems it has is faulty IR boards. I would suggest going out there at night and making sure all of the IR LEDs are actually turning on. What is your big complaint with them? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jagbuilt 0 Posted November 10, 2014 Thanks for the quick reply! See how grainy cam 3 was at night? The motion detection records constantly at night, even if I turn the sensitivity all the up. Also, if you look at the other cams in full screen, there are "ghost, or echos on the edges on objects, like the bbq grill, orange bucket, mail box post etc... Look at the detail @ 25 ft. (My van on the driveway cam and cam1, and the lack of detail in the yard @ only a few feet away), leaves, etc... Neighbors driveway is blown out at certain times on the day, image is blurry at the sidewalk and beyond. I don't know how evident it is from your monitor, but the color shifting on the leaves, and so on.... P.S. All the led's are on and nice and bright. To me, the backyard camera looks out of focus. but I do wear glasses, so... Now, it does serve it's purpose as far as close range video of my property, but I could never recommend this system to someone looking for an economical system with 4 cameras... Is this about as good as it gets with this low end system? When they advertise, Man, they show crystal clear video, so I am wondering if it seems that I may have some termination issues, or power issues, etc... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jazzar 0 Posted November 11, 2014 have you provide swann with your video and info for a response from them ? Maybe they could give you some input. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
the toss 0 Posted November 11, 2014 Terminating in F then converting to BNC will cause some signal loss but shouldn't be an issue. The shifting colour on the leaves is called the "Moir Effect" & is symtomatic of poor image sensor resolution. You acknowledge this as an "el cheapo" system & I think the results you have are quite reasonable for a Swann analogue system. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
milkisbad 0 Posted November 12, 2014 Doesn't look THAT bad...maybe need an ir illuminator on camera 3. Since you have RG59 now, it gives you an easy upgrade to HD TVI or HD CVI. just swap out the camera and DVR. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Don Stephens 0 Posted November 12, 2014 I don't think there's anything that you did wrong here, or anything that you can do to make it better. This is just what you get with a system in this range. It serves a purpose but it doesn't come close to comparing with anything in the HD range. Like milkisbad has suggested already, if this is going to prove to be unsatisfactory for you, you've got the right cable in place to upgrade to an HDCVI or HDTVI system. Both are good choices and will give you much more of what you're after. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jagbuilt 0 Posted November 12, 2014 Excellent responses guys. I thank you. I had my suspicions that this was going to be about as good as it gets. I did contact Swann, They wanted me plug the DVR power supply into the cameras, and the switching power supply into the DVR, which i did not do. I didn't find that to be a good starting point for troubleshooting. (They are plugged in the way they are suppose to be, and I was a little apprehensive about it). It does serve it's purpose in the day time for sure. At night time, the driveway camera doesn't pick up motion, it just records constantly, and you can see a "dark fuzzy figure" instead of a person or animal. So, I will leave this be for now, and look at a different system in the spring... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ak357 0 Posted November 12, 2014 Excellent responses guys. I thank you. I had my suspicions that this was going to be about as good as it gets. I did contact Swann, They wanted me plug the DVR power supply into the cameras, and the switching power supply into the DVR, which i did not do. I didn't find that to be a good starting point for troubleshooting. (They are plugged in the way they are suppose to be, and I was a little apprehensive about it). It does serve it's purpose in the day time for sure. At night time, the driveway camera doesn't pick up motion, it just records constantly, and you can see a "dark fuzzy figure" instead of a person or animal. So, I will leave this be for now, and look at a different system in the spring... Check if DVR allow Picture Masking ! Picture will not get better but most likely will be brighter Example of Masking Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jagbuilt 0 Posted November 12, 2014 Masking. Yes It allows 4 masks per camera I believe. I will try that tonight... I'll post an image of what it looks like tomorrow. Thanks for the tip. Also, just in case anyone was wondering. I use the f-connectors to BNC adapters just because I happen to have a bag of Belden Snap & Seal f-connectors on hand, and BNC adapters are only a buck each)... I may put Snap & Seal compression BNC's on later, but they are like $5.00 or more each plus shipping. I love the quality of them, and have the compression tool for them already, but $50.00 to put BNC's on 4 cables is like a last resort thing... There are cheaper BNC's, but by the time I buy the compression tool, ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Don Stephens 0 Posted November 12, 2014 Twist-on connectors work just fine too, and they're re-usable. They're not so bad to put on when you only have a small number of cameras, but I'll be the first one to tell you that your fingers start to pay the price after about 10 cameras. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trooper 0 Posted February 6, 2015 as far I have seen with other Swann cams and systems that's about as good as it gets unfortunately. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
