vabch22

Very nice! Thank you for including some pics. In my mind, I don't need anything greater than your image samples (much better than the foscam/linksys/trendnet stuff I have already). I think I have it narrowed down to ACTi or AVTech, just need to decide and find the best price.

Thank you, I will look at the model. How big of a field of view do you need? What are the temperature ranges where you are? If you want to do facial recognition, etc, even at night then you might still need good IR illumination and you also might need to record at higher resolutions like 1280X1024 minimum. Most of the fixed dome cameras have pretty terrible integrated IR that is more like a spot light than a wide beam illuminator... lower end IR will also wash out faces, etc, at night. The better IR solutions have proximity sensors and will dial down the IR brightness when something is closer to the camera. Under $500 is tough. Most of what is in the market is priced in the $600-$800 range. The area to cover is about 27 x 16 (432 sq ft). I live in Virginia, so the temps range from 20F - 100F (+-) with about 70+% humidity on average in the summer. I'm not sure about facial recognition, unless it's the lower end of the $600 mark you mentioned. After browsing more threads today I've seen some good things about the ACTi TCM-1111/ACM-1231, Vivotek IP8332/FD1834V (support/quality issues maybe?), and AVTech.

Hey guys, I am new here. I've been reading what seems to be a ton of threads trying to figure out what to do. But as this is not my field, I am lost in the massive amount of options. I am hoping you can help point me in the right direction. I would like to find an IP cam for under $500 that I can use to monitor my side yard/drive way. I was looking at setting up a NVR and running new Cat6 LAN with a PoE switch. I plan to add another cam or 2 down the road, but my drive way is my main concern right now as multiple cars have been broken into over the last two weeks. I've seen posts on various manf.'s (AVTech, Vivotek, ACTi, CNB, Geovision, Gadspot, Panasonic, IQeye, Eyesur, etc), needless to say you can see why I'm getting lost. The only experience I have with IP cams are the cheap $100 ones I picked up which are fine for geeking around. Requirements: Price/performance - Sub $500 Reliable Dome/bullet (not sure if one is better for my needs) Day/Night (I will be replacing the old outdated flood light with a new one, so is IR still needed?) Any help or suggestions are welcome. Thanks again, and sorry for another one of these 'noobie I need help posts'. Matt