Your input please

[blake carstensen 0]

Good evening!

 

I want to invest some time and money into a new surveillance system for our home. Consider me a consumer, and one that went against his own better judgement and bought a costco 4 channel 1080p NVR system by Lorex. After collecting dust for 6 months I finally installed it, and soon after - was having problems and multiple occasions.

 

The cameras are hardwired in - and the system is a set it / forget it kinda thing for me until something catches my eye to view the footage. Thats when I find cameras have not recorded motion when they should have, and become disconnected by themselves.

 

Anyways - I would like to spend 800-1,500 on a 4 camera system. My preference would be a set up, where my office computer is the control center with a external dedicated hard drive - but might be easier to have a self running "box" and I just tap into that box from my office computer and make changes so forth.

 

I have done my best (but I'm eager) to educate myself quickly on brands and what to look for etc. Price range could be the Hikvision to Axis brand. One thought I had, was to have 1 or 2 quality cameras, such as PTZ controlled which can follow a "suspect" automatically? And the other cameras could be a 2mp bullet type just for overall view.

 

Below is a link to one of the cameras which WAS working and DID record an incident at our house - this might give a gauge on the improvements some of your suggestions will make.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76516329/Clip.wmv

 

some of you deal with these systems all the time - and pricing / budget comes more intuitively to you than me finding a mass amount of suppliers / scales of prices for similar products (overwhelming). So before I spend money on cameras which fool the uneducated consumer (drawn to high MP rating rather than senor quality etc.) I'd like some input for you!

[Al Drake 0]

Good evening!

 

I want to invest some time and money into a new surveillance system for our home. Consider me a consumer, and one that went against his own better judgement and bought a costco 4 channel 1080p NVR system by Lorex. After collecting dust for 6 months I finally installed it, and soon after - was having problems and multiple occasions.

 

The cameras are hardwired in - and the system is a set it / forget it kinda thing for me until something catches my eye to view the footage. Thats when I find cameras have not recorded motion when they should have, and become disconnected by themselves.

 

Anyways - I would like to spend 800-1,500 on a 4 camera system. My preference would be a set up, where my office computer is the control center with a external dedicated hard drive - but might be easier to have a self running "box" and I just tap into that box from my office computer and make changes so forth.

 

I have done my best (but I'm eager) to educate myself quickly on brands and what to look for etc. Price range could be the Hikvision to Axis brand. One thought I had, was to have 1 or 2 quality cameras, such as PTZ controlled which can follow a "suspect" automatically? And the other cameras could be a 2mp bullet type just for overall view.

 

Below is a link to one of the cameras which WAS working and DID record an incident at our house - this might give a gauge on the improvements some of your suggestions will make.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76516329/Clip.wmv

 

some of you deal with these systems all the time - and pricing / budget comes more intuitively to you than me finding a mass amount of suppliers / scales of prices for similar products (overwhelming). So before I spend money on cameras which fool the uneducated consumer (drawn to high MP rating rather than senor quality etc.) I'd like some input for you!

 

I've had great results from dealing with this organization.

 

http://edigitaldeals.net/index.php/

 

I have spoken to tech support many times who were willing to share their knowledge and recommendations. I first picked out something that would have cost me more then I needed to spend and they directed me to a much better deal. They promise price matching to boot. Billy is happy to call me and speak for hours to make sure I'm happy. I've never dealt with anyone more helpful.

 

You are for sure going to get faster results than any forum I have ever posted to about anything. The only down side is they are on the left coast and I'm in New England.

 

Good luck.

 

Al

[tomcctv 190]

Hi you can find much cheaper than edigital his stuff is out of date

 

And as far as better than forums take no notice.

 

Since you already have some IP cameras then I don't see the point in wasting that money and look for a NVR which will take your existing and add something like axis to.

[Boogieman 1]

Hi you can find much cheaper than edigital his stuff is out of date

 

And as far as better than forums take no notice.

 

Since you already have some IP cameras then I don't see the point in wasting that money and look for a NVR which will take your existing and add something like axis to.

His unit is from costco, so he can return it and start fresh.

The lorex unit is not bad - its rebranded hikvision (before they switched to dahua)...The camera is simply mounted too high and has the wrong lens for the application.

[tomcctv 190]

Hi you can find much cheaper than edigital his stuff is out of date

 

And as far as better than forums take no notice.

 

Since you already have some IP cameras then I don't see the point in wasting that money and look for a NVR which will take your existing and add something like axis to.

His unit is from costco, so he can return it and start fresh.

The lorex unit is not bad - its rebranded hikvision (before they switched to dahua)...The camera is simply mounted too high and has the wrong lens for the application.

 

 

 

Problem with that is if he is not a business card holder then he only has 90 days ..... All Costco offer now is lifetime support

 

If system goes faulty it is protected by warranty for 12 months or length of manufactures warranty or if extended 2 years warranty is bought from Costco .

 

That's from a call to Costco

[blake carstensen 0]

Correct - My wife works at Costco and they have become more firm with returns due to people taking advantage of them (cant blame them).

 

The user interface of the NVR system sucks if you ask me - my old DVR card I had 10 years ago bought from Ebay running BNC cameras was way more user friendly. Preference would be to plead with Costco to take the return (its been a year) or sell it, since I only paid $500can (clearance) for it - I can sell it to others on local used sites.

 

I'll post up a building layout so readers can see the location of the cameras - my intention would be to have two quality cameras down low (or low quality but adjusted properly to capture facial features at night) - and upper camera(s) would be intended to view the front yard and some of the street - offering a view of suspicious neighbourood activity / vehicles going by - since in my opinion, people sometimes poke around a neighbourhood before they do a B&E the following nights / days

[Boogieman 1]

Hi you can find much cheaper than edigital his stuff is out of date

 

And as far as better than forums take no notice.

 

Since you already have some IP cameras then I don't see the point in wasting that money and look for a NVR which will take your existing and add something like axis to.

His unit is from costco, so he can return it and start fresh.

The lorex unit is not bad - its rebranded hikvision (before they switched to dahua)...The camera is simply mounted too high and has the wrong lens for the application.

 

 

 

Problem with that is if he is not a business card holder then he only has 90 days ..... All Costco offer now is lifetime support

 

If system goes faulty it is protected by warranty for 12 months or length of manufactures warranty or if extended 2 years warranty is bought from Costco .

 

That's from a call to Costco

That is not true. Any costco member can return any camera/nvr system anytime.

[Boogieman 1]

Correct - My wife works at Costco and they have become more firm with returns due to people taking advantage of them (cant blame them).

 

You dont have to plead with costco. They will take it back. There have been several threads here where I told the member to take it back and they had no issues. They are only firm with specific electronics like TV's, PC's and PHOTO cameras as listed on their website. They will take ANYTHING else back. Just last month I was returning something and the folks in front of me had a DESTROYED cookware set. No problem. I have returned and swapped a huge 400 dollar brother fax/printer when brother could not fix it right. No issues.

[blake carstensen 0]

well I guess I cant say that I've tried so we will have to give you the benefit of the doubt

[Al Drake 0]

Hi you can find much cheaper than edigital his stuff is out of date

 

And as far as better than forums take no notice.

 

Since you already have some IP cameras then I don't see the point in wasting that money and look for a NVR which will take your existing and add something like axis to.

 

Edigital can provide you with anything you want. They have far more than what's on their web site. Have you ever done business with them? What about "price matching" is confusing to you?

[Boogieman 1]

well I guess I cant say that I've tried so we will have to give you the benefit of the doubt

There is no doubt. Try it.

[tomcctv 190]

well I guess I cant say that I've tried so we will have to give you the benefit of the doubt

There is no doubt. Try it.

 

 

 

I would call them first ..... Since it was a clearance item at the time that also changes the return ....

 

Can you take a picture of a camera to see what type .... As far as your images posted first it looks like a low stream ... What I'd footage like when download?

[Boogieman 1]

well I guess I cant say that I've tried so we will have to give you the benefit of the doubt

There is no doubt. Try it.

 

 

 

I would call them first ..... Since it was a clearance item at the time that also changes the return ....

 

Can you take a picture of a camera to see what type .... As far as your images posted first it looks like a low stream ... What I'd footage like when download?

Clearance does not affect returns at costco. Its really simply. As long as the item is not specifically excluded on their list, it can be returned ANYTIME.

[blake carstensen 0]

the settings i have for the camera are highest quality / 1080p 20fps I believe

 

Please be considerate that I've come to this forum again for help about surveillance system - I'm not here to be a part or even read a debate for the sake of a debate about Costco returns.

[tomcctv 190]

the settings i have for the camera are highest quality / 1080p 20fps I believe

 

Please be considerate that I've come to this forum again for help about surveillance system - I'm not here to be a part or even read a debate for the sake of a debate about Costco returns.

 

 

Hi. I think you will find its the NVR .... Does yours have POE ports.

 

If you are using software on your PC to view your unit then that might be set to a less res stream.

 

Like I said you might be better keeping your existing 4 cameras and going for an 8 way NVR and adding the other 4 cameras as you go.

 

What does your footage look like once burnt off from NVR ?

[blake carstensen 0]

tom - sorry to misguide with my photo of the screen, that is the monitor attached right at the NVR.

 

Right now the NVR is actually an 8 channel one - however I know as I add more cameras, I'll have to take down the frames per second.

 

the NVR is POE

 

the file export from the NVR is a .MP4 file - I then used online software to convert to .wmv for people to view online. the quality isn't much different from what you see on this file and the screen.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j8v7cwexol7tli2/Clip.wmv?dl=0

[tomcctv 190]

Hi how are you getting the file from your NVR ?

 

Also can you post a picture of you menu screen

 

See you also have a problem when motion is detected .... Try setting NVR to H264

[blake carstensen 0]

I'll snap some photos of the menu:

 

here is a thread I found that is similar to what I was hoping to do:

 

use of PCNVR software, a POE switch and IP cameras

 

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=39387

[blake carstensen 0]

Here are some photos from the NVR software